A question posed to me in the comments of the last post.
Is there a purpose to life without a God?
If we’re all running a race where only death awaits us, why not just stop now while we’re ahead?
These are all important and legitimate questions. I, as an Atheist and a regular Joe, dare not claim to be a prolific philosopher but do humbly offer my own answers (or in the worst case scenario offer questions for you to find your own).
It only takes one gaze towards the sky for us to realize just how small and insignificant we are in the grand scheme of things. We are to the universe like a grain of sand is to the beach. Human-kind’s existence on earth for ~200,000 years (or ~6,000 for Christians) is but a blip in the cosmic timeline. The earth has been inhabited by billions upon billions of species and life-forms that have come and gone before us. When the time comes for us leave this world, our existence like theirs will be next to negligible. The earth will continue spinning as it has done for billions of years and billions more. It may sound bleak but it is the truth that we live. What religion offers is a way out of this cycle of hopelessness. In death, we are reborn as immortals in a better world (of course to those who deserve it). Religion brings both a purpose to the life we’re living now and to one we will have after death.
It all sounds fine and dandy but the trouble I have with religion interestingly enough, is with the rewards it proposes of offer. Personally, I believe that religion and the belief in a heaven/hell and afterlife cheapens everything about the life we’re living right now. Religion is not necessary for a fulfilling life. Our motivation to live and prosper should not rest on a system of rewards and punishment; it should be genuine and intrinsic. What is more motivating and purposeful than living life expecting nothing in return when we die? I believe it would be arrogant for us to think we were entitled to enter a place like heaven if it did indeed exist. What’s more troubling is just the general idea of heaven. If such a place existed, would you even want to be there? Anything and everything that is worth living for is right here on earth and incidentally, also a sin. Given the Bible, I presume that in heaven there is no pride, envy, gluttony, lust, anger, greed or sloth. Perhaps heaven is God’s sweatshop, where we gladly work without complaining. Christians may believe there is a spiritual level of peace and happiness that transcends all the joys we find on earth but that seems like a cop out to me. That’s the thing about heaven; no one knows what it is or what people do there. Heaven is just some place dead people go and are somehow happy. How does it all work exactly? Do we just rise out of our bodies and turn into glowing orbs of thought? Or do we become thoughtless and forever euphoric, like in a permanent orgasm? People take it on blind faith that religion will handle all their problems in the end and that is the problem.
Religion is used to propagate the notion that having faith is a noble trait and quite frankly, it isn’t. In fact, religion is the only exception to this. In any other circumstance, having blind faith would be ridiculed and scoffed at. To plainly accept what is told to you without any evidence is truly ignorant. Critical thinking and skepticism is the foundation of modern technology and society. This computer that I’m using does not run on Jesus. The planes in the sky do not fly because we pray that they do not fall. How can you teach your children to not be gullible to idiotic claims yet at the same time be swindled of their common sense in the name of the Bible? There is no consistency to the Bible. There are people who believe in the literal truth of the Bible, word for word (the world and everything as we know it was created in 6 days, the story of Adam and Eve, Noah’s ark, Moses, the earth is ~6000 years old, dinosaurs were put on earth by the Devil to test our faith, crazy shit like that). I know there are more rational people who don’t believe in these things but nonetheless are still Christians. They may argue that not everything in the Bible should be taken literally but then that opens a whole new can of worms. The Bible is supposed to be the book of truths. If we start hand-picking what is real or not then who has the authority to do so and who is to say it isn’t just all lies? When you’re going so far as to claim the Bible as your guidebook to life, you simply can not acknowledge some of it and ignore the rest. While the idea of being a person of faith may seem romantic, it is not realistic.
Being Atheist is not about shunning religion but more about reserving judgment in respect for the truth. Humans do not have all the answers and probably never will but one thing is certain: religion poses more questions than it answers. Religion is a setback to humanity and civilization. Every major scientific discovery has been met and opposed by religion. There was a point in time when three letters, G-O-D was used to explain anything beyond our current knowledge. Why the sun came up in the morning, why the moon rose at night, why people are born and why people die. Over the years, science has proved that the sun does not orbit the earth and that the earth is much, much older than the Bible proposes. To say God is responsible for everything is not a simple answer. God can not be the ultimate answer because we are then left to reason why and how God exists. However, science strives to reach an ultimate answer, the theory of everything. Science is ever-changing and can be written and re-written. Conversely, religion promotes narrow-mindedness and is limited to the Bible; its view on the evolving world is forever static. In this day and age, G-O-D just doesn’t cut it.
The human mind is a beautiful thing. Atheists may demand evidence but they do not need to be physical. We as humans have only been given 5 senses in order to perceive the world around us but we continue to develop new tools to enhance our ‘sight’. We have the unique ability to project ourselves outside our bodies and view things in different perspectives. There are ways of proving things that we can not see. Billions of dollars were invested into the Large Hadron Collider in order to test high-energy physics and theories of dark matter and dark energy that can neither be seen nor felt. The force of gravity that affects us everyday is not visible yet there is evidence for it all around us. Science provides answers by reaching farther than our senses allow while religion provides answers by reaching back into its own empty pockets.
Hope, motivation and the will to live should not be something you rest on the shoulders of myths and fairy tales. I find that there is more than enough motivation in all of life’s challenges, accomplishments, kinships, friendships and companionships, amongst other distinctively earthly experiences. Instead of throwing ourselves into the invisible arms of cosmic beings maybe we should look to make a habit of relying on each other. My religion is made up of you and me. Although I do not possess the power to answer all your prayers, I guarantee I will have the same success rate as God and unlike God, they will not fall on deaf ears. If you still don’t believe in the powers of humanity, I offer you this: I believe that being non-Christian is more Christian than being Christian. Only I can say I have no expectations from my good deeds. I’m not good because I believe in a heaven; I’m good simply because I am.
Today's track:
Architecture in Helsinki - Heart it Races
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
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8 comments:
Love this post. Love love love it. That is all.
Lol, I'm happy to see my monstrous comment yielded an even more monstrous post (size-wise).
Just a couple of counterpoints, though at this point I think we're in "agree to disagree" mode (though, I knew that years ago).
1.) You say it cheapens life, I argue it enriches it. I think there's a slight mix-up here with the perceived goal of religious types. It isn't (or shouldn't be, anyway) about doing "just enough" to get into heaven over hell. I think that's a misconception that too many people have. It's about trying to imitate a deity who represents the best of us, the most complete version of us. It's not about being good all year so Santa will bring us that Power Ranger Megazord we wanted, it's about saying "shit, that Santa guy, he's awesome. I wanna be like that, cuz he's such a good guy."
2.) Regarding heaven, there's nothing I can say here, because I don't know anything more than Joe Schmo. I will say this though, I don't think it's a cop-out, and I fully believe there is a state of being we can't comprehend.
3.) On the bible, I agree that it's taken too literally, but I don't agree that it's metaphorical. I think it is what it is, a record kept by humans. Look at our own textbooks or even newspapers of the same events of the same day in a modern age of video recording devices and public neutrality, and there's still bias and imperfection.
This is getting a little long, and obviously there is no evidence I can point to that will counter your points... because that's kind of the whole point. I can definitely see how the scientific community can be frustrated with the religious community for holding things back so often, lord knows (pun not intended) many of the younger generation religious types are too. My point does and will always come back to that one question though. "What's the point?" I can only speak from personal conviction, but there is nothing in this world that's "enough" to answer that. Maybe I'm cynical, but it all seems too trivial to me.
I guess, personally speaking, I kind of have to believe there's something more.
The irony in all this is that the root of all my Atheist beliefs stems from my attempts to "believe" in a God in the first place. The more I learn about religion, the weaker its case becomes.
I think the reason why attending church is mandatory for religion is because normal rational people need to congregate weekly just to make sure they aren't the only ones still believing in it.
Geez, where do you find all the time to write this. I will eventually read it all.
Probably at work when slacking off.
i think you answered your own question. if you have enough time to read, i have enough to write.
What is the point of life? Why do you need a point, there is no point! Why don't birds just nose dive into the pavement? If a bus heads toward you, your natural instinct is to jump out of the way.
Why do people make babies? Ok. The bible says so, but even Atheists do. What is the point in that? Nothing has a point, people just do it cause its animal instinct.
Once man has figured out more about the brain and the evolution of animal impulses to keep us alive, then will this be enough to reason why humans still exist.
Seriously, I struggle to even find a debate.
Not all religion is rigid and breaks down upon further inspection. Buddhism, for example, does not imply the existence of a God (at least Buddha himself could not answer anything about the afterlife). I watched a video recently challenging the view that we are scientifically insignificant.. basically, the combination of factors in this tiny corner of the universe is so stunning and uncommon that we really ought not to think of ourselves as mere dirt. Atheism is fine and dandy, but it is also a limited view .. when you do come across something scientifically unexplainable in your life you'll wish your awareness was more fine tuned. Christianity is more like a sheep control guidebook than an awareness tutorial, and Buddhism (zen specifically) teaches awareness without any rigid rules (even karma is more about helping the person restrain themselves than an actual irreversible energy). After you gain a certain level of awareness, the question of purpose falls right away.
Only someone who needs to be lead (etc can't feel for themselves the fabric of existence) asks that question. Also, the deeply analytical yet somewhat inept (emotionally unstable) cynics who walk around with a crutch, albeit on their own. The way I see it, there's this big bucket of Lego everyone has at hand, but because they are bound by religion, morals, and too much reliance on previously absorbed material - etc upbringing and past relationships (or any other philosophy that imposes any absolute limits) and desires, we use only a small set of those lego pieces.. science imposes the use of this set, religion demands the use of those.. art and philosophies seem to break the chains and allow use of more pieces, but people often become obsessed with these new toys so much that they toss their previous ones away as useless, only changing but not growing as artisans of life.
:-)
An interesting thought. I see how Buddhism can be viewed as more of a philosophy than religion. I agree that people in general should be more open to any ideas of purpose and life. I guess my main issue is with organized religion. Why subscribe to just one when your "chosen" religion was basically handed to you? No one learns about all religions before choosing one. They just go with what got to them first. I'd prefer to pick and choose the passages or ideologies that make sense to me and throw all the other superstitious mumbo jumbo out the window.
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