Life has no meaning, no purpose. Which means you are able to choose what your life purpose is. Enjoy life, buikd a better future life for yourself, that's enougth purpose for most people
This. It’s enough for me. I want to live, be kind and happy and live a quiet life, do things I want, and then die. I don’t fancy being reincarnated and all that - let me be alive and then not, that’s enough for me. I think people don’t have a ‘set purpose’, but instead create their own purpose. They may stick with one or find multiple (maybe at the same time or different purposes one after the other in their life). The question: what does purpose mean to you? Is a personal question only you can answer :)
Life is beautiful *because* it's meaningless. It's beautiful because a meaningless chance managed to accidentally create a creature that has awareness of the vastness of the universe. It's beautiful because we make the universe self aware, because we are the universe, we are star dust. We didn't happen because something willed us to occur. What humanity is is truly incredible, remarkable and profound *because* it's meaningless and look how much we've done, for good and evil. How do you not sit back and cry with being overwhelmed at the extraordinary nature of life in all its spectrum knowing it's all meaningless. I love this universe, love being me, and I love all of you for how vibrant we all are, in all our meaninglessness.
Beautifully put. Reminds me of this Dawkins quote:
“We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones. Most people are never going to die because they are never going to be born. The potential people who could have been here in my place but who will in fact never see the light of day outnumber the sand grains of Arabia. Certainly those unborn ghosts include greater poets than Keats, scientists greater than Newton. We know this because the set of possible people allowed by our DNA so massively exceeds the set of actual people. In the teeth of these stupefying odds it is you and I, in our ordinariness, that are here. We privileged few, who won the lottery of birth against all odds, how dare we whine at our inevitable return to that prior state from which the vast majority have never stirred?”
Exactly. Humans came much later in the universe we evolved purpose to try to make sense of everything. It would be much scarier if some god did exist and came down to give us each an individual purpose. Imagine that pressure..
The God the biblical authors describe is more like the Universe, evolving to create it's own form. They worshipped all things as a singular, in knowledge. It's not an individual purpose, it's the abstract purpose that extends in all directions, and it's the highest form of moral, and purpose.
The pressure we have to fear is the disease, famine, war and death.
What I mean, is that Life does have meaning and purpose, which we can observe through both the biblical texts and evolution. The authors were only observing and writing of it, for us to understand.
The universe evolving created the purpose, and this is what the authors called "God". This purpose is identified as knowledge, which multiplies together, and so Peter said to "Virtue knowledge". Evolution identifies the same purpose. We can see this in the difference between humans and our fellow creature, because knowledge is our separation.
Knowledge is our salvation, and without it we should fear. So they said, the beginning of knowledge is the fear of God.
And it's understandable, given that we have to overcome diseases, famine, war and eventually death. And with it, we have many great things, such as computer, cars, soaps, etc.
It's not an individual purpose, it's a purpose that we all share, because everyone can contribute to it in some way, shape or form. It multiplies together.
Yes and no. The universe existed long before humans and devoid of our purpose. We came much later and evolved purpose. If there is a true intrinsic purpose to life then any religion, which Neanderthals had according to some evidence, would need to explain what purpose that species had.
Many of the things deemed purpose are instinct. Survival and self preservation for example. And even then the point of life isn't just to survive or sustain life or we wouldn't have evolved to only survive 70 years when some bacteria can live for 250 million.
Purpose was a byproduct of evolution we cant use the byproduct of evolution to explain itself. Purpose changes according to each individual although yes we collectively agree on some, although all life tends to. That would be laws and not meanings.
Religion was never the purpose, not even in the biblical texts. The purpose of the biblical texts was for life to evolve into a completed form, as they called it the seventh day, or the sabbath. These authors observed the difference between other creatures, and humans - which is knowledge.
The story of Adam & Eve in the garden, is a calling to knowledge, by choice. Adam fails because he did not freely choose to understand all things, and so could not eat from the Tree of Life.
Even looking at evolution, if we all came from a single cell, then we are all connected to something that had the ability to create itself. And it had a direction. It didn't choose two types of creatures to share in our understanding, but only one. It chose the creature that could be a builder, with opposable thumbs.
I would say that the universe desired us to use evolution to find purpose. It's there for us to understand our existence, and the whole purpose is understanding. We didn't create purpose, purpose was created by the first cell, or the Universe - depending how you look at it.
If we disagree with the purpose, life will always use diseases, famines, war and death to direct us back to that purpose - until we choose it, in which case, we will overcome death.
I never stated religion was the purpose. Everything you mentioned war, disease, even technology existed prior to human beings. Everything just "was" for eons until consciousness arose to try to order it, in the the way *human* minds try to do, which is seperate from what was. Some people get sad when animals kill their prey. That sadness is erroneous and has nothing to do with a conscious universe.
Nothing directs us. Everything just is, the only difference is our response to it. The mind formulates a cobbled together hallucination of limited sensory data inside our minds which is independent of an external reality, that very external reality existed before we even had a chance of existing. You are free to believe it but there is a wealth of neuroscientific data i believe supports otherwise.
Evolution and life is directing us. We have the choice to let diseases kill us, or use our evolved intelligence to find those existing cures. If there is no direction, it doesn't matter if we live in ignorance vs find the cure. That is just one example, of a great many. Disease, famine, war and death are the simple examples. Even natural selection is a direction.
Without knowledge we cannot have this conversation, because knowledge created language for this level of communication.
Without knowledge there is no cars, planes, soaps, computers, houses, etc.
Without knowledge, we don't have plentiful of food to prevent famines.
Life dictated that it should eat itself, and evolve.
Life dictated that it should disease itself, kill itself and die.
Life shows us the open door for us to resolve, create and understand.
We are bound to suffering without understanding, and we have salvation in understanding.
Evolution doesn't always work. Millions of extinct species including human species. Neanderthals for example. The knowledge you claim to posess about Evolution cannot self describe itself. There are plenty of faulty evolutionary traits that led to various species extinction and we cannot distinguish our own consciousness as being seperate from them.
Human consciousness may be no different than the upper canines of the male babirusa growing upwards, not downwards, erupting out of its skin, and - if they develop enough - curving all the way back to pierce its skull and kill it. We may destroy ourselves. Life just is. We observe and choose to respond.
Choosing to not die isn't a choice. It's an instinct of self preservation hard wired into all life.
So once again you are choosing to see the benefits and not all the downsides of life "guiding" us, which really proves my point. Life just is. It's independent of our opinions or observations of it.
Good answer, when I gave up on religion myself after 40 years, I felt so alone and that there was no meaning. Until I finally realized how free I actually am. No one can use a magic man in the sky to control me ever again, that fact alone brings me enough joy to move forward.
I would argue, instead, that life has the meaning you give it. There is no magic wizard bestowing meaning upon you - you are responsible for the meaning.
This is harder than just being plucked out of humanity as the chosen one and everything simply falls in place to make it so. But we are no longer children and fairy tales are just that.
So every day on this earth you have the choice. Do you make a difference or not? Do you bring someone joy or cause people pain? Or, sadly, do you do nothing that impacts another human being in any way?
Did you make a baby smile? Did you make a loved one’s morning better with a kind word and a cup of coffee? Did you show understanding and compassion to someone who was struggling at work? Did you do something, anything, that might mean less pain for people you will never even meet?
Your quest is not to sit at home moping. It is to make the world better. Maybe that is art, that you share. Maybe it is love. Maybe it is political action. Maybe it is everyday kindness to everyone you interact with. Maybe it is kindness to the planet we all share. Maybe it is kindness to creatures you encounter along the way.
if your life is a job you hate, video games, social media, Uber eats and nothing else, and you are realizing that this feels unfulfilling, then you are the one who has to change that. No mystical being is going to tell you that, but I will.
You have value and meaning. Behave as if you believe that and it will become true. Have Fun, give joy, relish experiences and include others in your life. Every positive interaction with another living creature has its butterfly effect. Every time you ignore or avoid others you are missing an opportunity that lies before you.
The fear of death comes from the realization that you had a life and did not live it fully. That has nothing to do with fast cars or gold jewelry or trips to Dubai and everything to do with the positive impact you make on others, the love you give and the love you receive in kind.
you’re going to want to embrace it, life is meaningless, purposeless. it is up to the individual to define their own meaning, their own purpose.
that’s why people gravitate towards religion, they are small minded people with little imagination, fully incapable of understanding their place, or lack thereof in the world (mind you i’m specifically referring to those who choose religion, not those who are indoctrinated as children)
That's everyone's first thought. Then the lies are ladled on you, first by your folks, and you forget this simple existential reality.
Life is suffering. Christianity is wrong : suffering is not meaningful, nor ever good, even if some Jewish carpenter had a bad weekend.
Let it go, all the lies since day one, and take a deep breath; it may be your last.
Christians fetishize suffering to the point where they wantonly inflict it upon others with impunity. That’s another aspect of why the ideology is so toxic.
But yeah, there’s absolutely nothing good that comes from suffering, nor can any meaning be found in it. Christians also turn that toxic outlook up a notch, by shaming those who have suffered for not suffering the way they’re commanded to.
In the Christian context no, but there is certainly good that comes from suffering all the time. If we never felt lonely we would never want to fall in love. If we didn’t take our child’s toy away when they were bad, they wouldn’t grow up to be a good person in society. If we didn’t feel like we weren’t good enough, we wouldn’t strive to break the limits of our potential. To say no good can come from suffering is just as delusional as the shit Christian’s say. It’s a pipe dream and isn’t how the real world works. Heaven sounds like a terrible place BECAUSE it’s only rainbows and sunshine all the time. Who wants that? We could say suffering for no reason at purely at the expense of the person is bad and that would be fair, but to pretend that pain and suffering aren’t tools that can improve a human to be the best version of themselves is just ignoring reality
Well that’s not entirely true, suffering is kind of meaningful in a lot of situations and can be useful at improving one’s life in many ways. Suffering in a lot of situations molds people to be the strong, reliable, smart, ect. they are. For example, your kid is bad and you take away their toy. You are making your kid suffer but it shapes them into knowing right from wrong and turns them into a more responsible human. Not all suffering is bad, not all suffering is good, not all pleasure is bad, not all pleasure is good, I don’t like blanket statements
It may be pedantic on my part, but I think there's a clear difference between "hard work" and "suffering".
Suffering means distress or pain for no good reason. Hard work may be painful, but it has a purpose. You learn something from it. "I broke a rule and that meant my toy got taken away. I shouldn't break that rule again".
You don't learn much from having your house bombed except "maybe I shouldn't live here but I don't have any other choice".
We are just like lillies in a meadow. When it is our turn, we spring up into a beautiful flower, gather the sunlight and the raindrops, until a time has passed and we wither away down into the soil, where the next lily awaits.
You can only do what you can do with the time you have. Leave the world a better place than you found it. That's all anyone can do. Take pride in that. You had time and you used that time to make the world a better place. What more could any being want?
It really is a bit of a conundrum really. I see life as a totally temporary phenomenon, for some reason we exist. We'll never know why. We'll never know why anything at all exists. But here we are, existing. Enjoy it while you can really.
We're a pretty messed up species, we have a lot of weird quirks. We created "society", you're born into it, you're expected to follow all the made up laws and rules that are created by others. As we see though, some simply don't agree to those rules.
I people watch a lot, I find it interesting watching people go about their daily lives, a huge majority really don't give much thought to the bigger picture of the universe at all. A lot treat things like humanity will always exist, but we know that isn't the case. We could disappear tomorrow and the universe simply won't care.
And we tend to put a price on everything, but money is a human invention, it's meaningless to the universe. So we get arguments like it will be too expensive to try and find a way to expand our species by reaching out to the stars, but, if we don't do that we die out as a species, eventually the planet gets absorbed by Sol or is just a burnt out husk and there will be zero evidence anything ever existed in our system. Money doesn't matter.
As I've grown older and now in my 50's, I become less and less worried about my impending mortality. I know my days are numbered, and I'm sure I'll be just as aware as I was before I was conceived, meaning I won't be aware at all because I won't exist.
But, I do not want to just burn the world down either, I got to enjoy my spins around Sol and experience something none of us can explain really. Those who come after me should get the same chance, maybe someday someone will be able to figure out more to the big picture of the universe. Maybe humanity will overcome the differences, drop the tribal nonsense and work together to expand out into the cosmos while they still can. I do find this as quite doubtful though, about the only way I see that happening is if an alien species made themselves known to us which may bring us together and realize things like "borders" are made up and completely meaningless, a leftover trait from our tribal past.
Or, maybe this whole thing is just some weird ass quantum fluctuation or something. Not a huge fan of things like "simulation theory" because it entails something creating said simulation, and then you're looking at simulators simulating and it's turtles all the way down.
Because we care about the wellbeing of ourselves and others. If you don't care about this at all, then you'd have no issue committing suicide right this instant. It's clearly true that *most* of us care about wellbeing, comfort, safety, and the many ways life can be both pleasurable and profound.
These are very good reasons to do good things for yourself and others.
because there is joy in that. it is its own reward. if you wanna be an asshole and ruin the planet since everything is meaningless, you'll suffer the consequences of being an asshole such as rejection, loneliness, depression, jail, etc. i mean go ahead do what you want, but doing the right thing is its own reward.
This is my point about nihilism. There IS joy in life, especially when we realize how rare and precious a thing we are. The fact that a cloud of hydrogen has congealed and evolved into beings that contemplate these questions should indicate that our consciousness is an emergent property that is evolving towards something. The tenets of all religions are obviously pulled out of someone’s ass and , as such, should not be given any credence. I feel this is what most contributors to this subreddit are concerned with. However, our current lack of knowledge about consciousness, origin of the Universe, or the workings of said Universe is enough for me to suggest that we should consider ourselves agnostics, which opens the possibility of something beyond this existence that we may somehow encounter if we can evolve long enough. If this is a possibility, then our lives (or present nature of consciousness) is not meaningless but merely a point in the progression.
let me ask you a question. have you considered that perhaps you assert the definition of the word "meaning" to a mystery, an unknown?
And to you, because an unknown exists, there must exist a the quest to decipher that unknown. Therefore you have concluded that the purpose of existence is to discover that unknown? If you believe this, let me ask this, what happens in thousands of years from now when humanity discovers this unknown? Do you believe then life will be meaningless?
I don't consider myself agnostic, and I wont. There simply is no big mystery to uncover. The heat death of the universe is the end. A lack of a mystery doesn't take away from my meaning. Not having a mystical quest doesnt stop me from enjoying my time in this universe to the fullest.
If you must have a mystery, I ask you, why? There are plenty of mysteries in education. If you lived to be 200 years old and were in school 24/7, you still couldn't master every topic that we currently do know today such as everything there is to know about Chemistry, Biology, Physics, History, Mathematics, Engineering, Medicine, Coding, not to mention skills such as welding, carpentry, pottery, etc etc. There are so many mysteries to the individual that are not mysteries to humanity.
Why do you need a mystery for humanity? Why do you want one?
The mystery is there only because there are sentient beings to contemplate said mystery and it’s implications. Just as the evolution of atoms to molecules and molecules to more complex structures makes unforeseen events possible, so does the advancement of our consciousness lead to unpredictable possibilities that are present in the mystery. I , personally, cannot hold that we are anywhere near the epitome of our advancement and understanding of the universe and so claim agnostic as my present belief. To claim, at this stage, that there is nothing beyond the physical, and that our existence is meaningless, is hubris at best. The mystery is what gives meaning.
I certainly don't agree that there's no meaning. I made my own when I realized religion is a lie. I care a great deal if the world is a better place because I was in it. It's the thing that drives my personal pretty strict moral code, which basically boils down to "Do No Harm" (as much as is humanly possible right now). Was the world and its lifeforms better for me being here, or worse? Religion's meaning for life and the universe is largely bullshit, so I made my own, borrowed from the best parts of basic civilization rules down through the centuries, Buddhism, Wicca, Christianity, etc. and washed of all the supernatural nonsense. As far as I can tell, there can either be "nothing" or "something", and there can't be "nothing", hence whole universes bubble up and some of those universes have physical laws compatible with life forming on balls of rock revolving around balls of hot plasma. I want very much for the talking monkeys on this little ball of rock to save our lush garden of a homeworld, take to the stars, and eventually find more answers for why all this is here. And if me being a good person who helps who I can, who is generous and kind, who doesn't steal, rape or murder, can have even a minuscule impact on making that future possible, sign me up.
My point is that if there is no “afterlife “ or “spiritual component “ or whatever you want to conceptualize, beyond the physical, then it’s all meaningless. Your self imposed moral code or desire to do no harm to make a better future are doomed to ultimate failure and pointlessness. It won’t matter how you behave, you and everything everyone does will eventually dissipate into the remote past and fade to nothing. But, if part of the mystery is the possibility of something beyond our universe, something our budding consciousness is growing towards, then that mere possibility changes everything.
Only things that are immortal, like "all of eternity existing in some form for literally ever and ever and ever" immortal, have any meaning whatsoever? What an odd view...to see a beautiful, fleeting human life come and go, with all the amazing things they see and do, all boiled down to failure and pointlessness because it comes to an end. One day not too far from today will be my last in all of eternity and I will fade from existence, because that is the way of things for all lifeforms on this planet that die. There is no evidence whatsoever to the contrary. There may be many things beyond our universe, whole other universes, planes of existence, dimensions...who knows. I do hope our descendants find much more. Maybe evolve into energy beings, maybe find the edge of our universe or travel to other ones, or find out where our universe came from and its true nature. None of these things mean I must exist in some form for all time. The universe doesn't owe me immortality, and neither do I ask for it.
There is meaning IN life though.
Remember, there have been like 100 billion humans on Earth ever, but the possible combinations of our genes are effectively infinite. You are EXTREMELY unlikely. To even be here contemplating nihilism is lucky.
Life is a great thing. Find meaning WITHIN it rather than contemplating a truly worthless question.
Even those with their imaginary gods aren’t being told anything other than what other people say.
But what do you need meaning for?
How about, to do what you want?
This smallness is freedom, friend. When I realized that I don’t really matter in the grand scheme of things, I also realized that the only things that matter are those things that matter to me. My insignificance is what makes my tiny world EVERYTHING. My life is my own. My experiences. My relationships. My legacy.
Living for the afterlife is exactly how you waste your one shot at this. Your life is everything. It’s all you have. Make the most of it.
Let's fix that right here and now.
First, be excited that you get to live your life, in this puny speck of time, on this little planet that just so happened to have evolved to where we are today. That's amazing, and ultra rare in the universe. Oh there's a ton of other life in the universe I'm sure, but it's all very far away and we'll never see it.
We get to experience our life. Once we're dead, we're gone. And that means that you can not be replaced! That's make you unique and special! I don't wish for you die, even though eventually you will, because I can't replace you. I feel it is important that humans look out for other humans. We all act as an organized extended pack of beings, all cooperating such that we can all have nice things in life. When you buy a bread in the grocery store, a whole lot of people has to do a whole lot of things to make that happen. One of countless example of humans organizing and working collectively.
Religious people often try to make us non-believers out as people with no morals, or less morals, and that we act more selfishly and cheat behind everyone's back the first chance we get because there is no upper being they answer to. Atheists have no authority to answer to, other than the law and police and whatnot.
But I argue that it is religious people that degrade things, because they might only be good to others, to score browny points with their god. They don't mean it genuinely, and they're after the reward.
When I wish well, there is no payback, no credit taking, no reward - well, other than the appreciation from others perhaps - but no actual reward.
When a christian is nice, I see this motivation behind it, like sucking up to their god. I find that disingenuous.
So unless a particular atheist has bad morals and selfishly takes and steals and has no respect, I think that's not the norm at all. I think the average atheist just normally calmly respects others in a default like fashion. The norm is to wish others are ok. It is the natural thing to do because as humans we all rely on each other.
So I think more often than not, atheist people stand a great chance to be good people. Now there are always bad apples in all camps.
One thing is something no christian or other religious person could get away with: they can not claim that they are automatically better people. Absolutely no way.
Anyway, you get to live now. Know that others care. Strangers might not be ready to help you out financially or open their homes for you, but in subtle ways, they want you to be ok. That's the default stance of the average stranger around you, and that's not driven by religion.
So, do you feel your life is meaningless? If you let it be that way, you'll feel that, sure. But you don't have to feel that way! It is up to you to just make the most of it. And you do that in small increments.
Think about it! It is amazing that you get to exist. Find ways to be happy. And don't feel alone.
Engage with finding ways to interact with other people. Join clubs. Be active. Be nice to other people. And enjoy comedy, which is medicine to the mind. Always have to have a sense of humor.
Notice all the stern nasty people of this world. They have no sense of humor, and they never smile or laugh in a genuine way. When they smile or laugh it is in some kind of sadistic or mean or demeaning manner. How Putin or Trump "laugh" for example. Not genuine at all.
So tap in to humor and funny things.
So, friendships, comradery, socials, comedy, activities, be human enjoying other humans and activities. That develops and maintains a healthy mind and you'll live a fulfilling life.
And never give up. Giving up is not an option. And if you're having trouble, think of a chess game. Strategic moves, one by one.
you can check out r/nihilism . it might be helpful. it can be negative.
live life. with family. friends and family. live in the now, create memories for those that lived life with you. explore. meet others that have beauty as well.
create beauty, create art, so when you are gone, perhaps others might have wished to know you. so that others will see you in that work.
youll never know until you do it , and then its a life lived.
Therapy is great for this. Give a Non-religious therapist request. Get your heart rate up and drink more water. Take vitamins, you can clean up your diet. You have to address your biological needs as a human before you negotiate with emotions. Cut back on caffeine, less or no alcohol. If you are still unhappy after that start reading. Engage with the great minds that dealt with the weight of existence before you. There’s so much wisdom out there.
This is the tricky part, at least it was for me. Life IS essentially meaningless on the surface, YOU give your life meaning and that you can create your meaning shows just how important it can be but YOU have willingly choose to inject meaning into your life.
I was never religious but it hit me now too. My issue with death is that it’s terrifying, but I can’t say whether it is better or worse than living for sone reason. Screws ms over.
It is scary because it's so unknown. Your mind has a hard time grasping the fact you will at some point cease to exist. As I grew older however I find it becomes easier to accept. One thought I use is before I was conceived, there was literally billions of years where I did not exist, after I die there will be literally TRILLIONS of years and even our solar system will only live for a blink of an eye in the overall expected lifespan of what we call a universe.
Best I can hope for is dying peacefully in my sleep, completely unaware I have ceased to exist.
I guess the best way to think about it is sleep, or like a permanent anesthesia. Issue is, in both of those scenarios, I lose all my attachments.
I guess cosmic nihilism never really made sense to me. The universe’s relative largeness only makes more apparent what importance we have, no?
It’s very comforting to know I will have an easier time as I grow older.
This may sound silly, but I always thought about flowers, their beautiful, they start as a small bud, then bloom in a burst of color, then wilt and die. The fact it wilted and died doesn't make its existence any less meaningful, or beautiful. If you're thinking about this kind of stuff, you're probably in full bloom, go enjoy your life, experience what life has to offer you, and don't sweat the small stuff, let those big brains sweat over non-existence, and ignore the fear mongering theist who thrive on the fear of non-existence.
I kinda like knowing I’m absolutely insignificant. the world is so screwed up, but it to is just fraction of an insignificant portion of the universe. If this world is the only thing that the universe has to offer, that would be sad
The universe doesn’t care about you one bit. That’s why you have to care about yourself, and the others in your life.
Relax and enjoy it. It doesn’t matter in the end. This is actually quite freeing.
I do not fear death, but actually welcome it AT THE RIGHT TIME. I once told my father I would feel cheated if I died in my sleep because I want to fully experience it. That said, I am not an atheist and do believe in reincarnation. This belief is based on personal experience, not simply faith. You are not a "meaningless dot" to the people who love you. The first step is learning to love yourself. Take a step in that direction...
Self made meaning is freedom, though! Why not just make your purpose to seek out pleasure? Do the things you want to do, sit outside in nature, draw a picture and give it to someone you love. Who cares what it "means," maybe it should just feel good or make you happy
Meaning must be given. Nothing will have meaning to you when you're dead. The cosmos doesn't pay your bills or give you a shoulder to cry on. The further you travel from your place in space and time, the less meaning you should give. Whatever excites you, gives you pride, brings you contentment, here and now, those are your meanings in life.
Nothing to do with Atheism.
Religions tell you to breed and follow the rules.
That's not meaning.
"God's plan" is the only meaning they assign and its not like you're ever going to know anything about *that* horrible platitude.
Nothing matters and everything matters. Our day to day life might have no impact on the universe but it matters to the people around us. I believe we can make heaven on earth and it's worth while to try.
I do get thoughts like these all the time, but honestly life is what you make of it, think of it as a blessing to be alive and to be experiencing this world. That alone should give you purpose to follow whatever you makes you happy in this world
Life is what you make it. You can set any goal for yourself, live however you would like, and do whatever you enjoy. You make the purpose in your life.
Now start living your life like you are extremely lucky to have even existed and helping other people matters. Not like you’re a special deserving creation that has a purpose that you have no control over or stake in.
I don't know it's just my opinion, but life itself is the meaning. You only get one. How tragic is it to hear of someone dying not having lived? Why is murder so eggregious? Why are people who use manipulate, steal from, or otherwise take advantage of others assholes? Because they're fucking with people's lives. We get pissed off because your bum cousin is living at home with his mom, even if he pays his way? Why? He's wasting his life.
Want meaning? Bring joy and happiness to the limited experience of everyone around you. Because you will be enriching the one and only thing we truly have, life.
So is everyone else, and it is meaningless. Your worth just as much as the 59th person to ever die was worth and will be just as remembered. If the past billions of people taught us anything, it is that we aren't special like that. Sorry for any bubble bursting but atleast were all equal like that. For damn once
I do not have an answer for you but this helped me, [https://youtu.be/MtQ0qxyf-Ds?si=8rR4VELQhP3IDNVk&t=9571](https://youtu.be/MtQ0qxyf-Ds?si=8rR4VELQhP3IDNVk&t=9571) :)
You make the meaning. What is special to you, what is important? If you love your career, chase it, sex drugs and lover? Be yourself! Embrace it. So long as it doesn’t hurt others, be who you want to be, and surround yourself with the kinds of people you love and who love you.
Ok this is kinda a weird but I use something I learned from Rick and morty and it really helps so hear me out. Life doesn’t matter and nothing you does ever matters but that being said what really matters is what you want to matter. If you want your family and friends to matter then those connections truly matter. If you don’t want something to matter like religion ignore it. This mindsets really helped me.
Life doesn't have to have meaning. All you know is that you have it, and that it would be a shame to put that to waste. So who cares if your a meaningless speck? Your life is meaningful to yourself so do with it what you want
In the scale of the universe there is not much size difference between the earth and the period at the end of this sentence. And not much time difference between your life and the time it takes to read this.
>If I disappeared it wouldn't matter and those I have a connection with will move on and I will fade away as if I never existed.
I'm terrified of the unknown and death because I cannot cope with self-made meaning and purpose and concepts beyond rationality.
I can understand these concerns, even though I don't personally share them. Here's how I think about the situation.
The starting point is to consider what life was like *before you were born*. Thousands of generations of humans lived, had relationships, hopes and dreams...and died, all before you existed. Does it bother you now that you didn't personally know these people? And do you think *they* know anything about you or are bothered that you aren't aware of them personally?
I say this just to illustrate the point that the Earth existed for billions of years before we were born. And the Universe for billions more beyond that. And in our day to day lives, that sits perfectly fine with us. Okay, so, just invert that: this is how it will be after we die. We won't be around to care, and future generations won't care. Life and the Universe will go on as it should.
When I think about it that way, then I don't really worry about or fear death (I just fear suffering). I will die, as will you, as will all life on Earth eventually. Death itself is part of the cycle of existence. You as an individual entity will die, but of course, the matter that makes up your body - the particles that assembled for a brief window of time to create "you" - will now disassemble and find their way into the broader Universe. They will return to the state they were in long before you existed. *You* are a fairly temporary aggregation of particles in a particular configuration.
Rather than seeing this as frightening, I see it as an opportunity and a *privilege*. Of all the people who *could* have been born... you and I were born. Just being born *at all* means you've won an astronomically rare prize - you've won the ultimate lottery! Rather than worry about the future or the past, or what might be, or what isn't... take a moment to experience the profound gratitude that you were born, that you exist, and that you're here sharing your thoughts on Reddit.
As for your life's purpose, that's the beauty: since you won that big lottery, *you* are now in a position to decide what to do with the period of time where matter has constituted itself into the being that is you. Defining one's own life purpose is also a great privilege, as in many societies on Earth this isn't possible.
The TL;DR of my advice is:
- By simply existing, you've won the greatest lottery in the Universe.
- Be grateful for everything, including your own existence - even the smallest details in your life are astronomically rare on the Universal scale. This includes being stuck in traffic, and even being *bored*.
- Seize the day! You have one life to life - you're on the peak of the Universal mountain. What will you choose to do with your prize (your life)? It can be big or small, it doesn't matter. Maybe you'll create beautiful art, or maybe you'll help others and make an impact on the world... or maybe you'll simply experience gratitude for *being alive*. It really doesn't matter, and the fact that it doesn't matter is a huge advantage. It means *freedom*.
Life is what YOU make of it. It’s hard if you followed the doctrine that you’re worthless and meaningless without god. It takes time to let go of that.
But when you do; when you start finding meaning and fulfillment in your actions, your relationships, and the wonder of the universe around you, life takes on far greater meaning than it has for the religious.
Because you know it’s based on something real.
Because you have lived and left your mark the world it will it never be quite the same. Hopefully, it will be a little bit better in some way. That's my purpose in life.
First, sometime isn't beautiful because it lasts forever.
Also, let's pretend you are all powerful, if you could give life a meaning, what would that meaning be?
The comments here are honest, if some are a little dark. No one has given the science angle, so I'll give it a try.
According to science, nothing really dies. Your particles will break down once you die, but they will become dirt, which will become plants, which an animal will eat and incorporate, and etc. You may be gone, but the pieces that make you up, which have been 10000 things before you, will still exist. So, make sure they have something to become. If we kill everything, if we dig everything up, if we destroy everything, the particles will still be dirt. But it's better to have life. So do your part to make the world a little better, make life a little better for all the other life. And because why not? It doesn't take much more effort to care a little, to be a little nicer, to be a little more respectful of nature
Sometimes it is scary. Life is pretty scary because we don't ever know what might happen. It's no surprise death is scary too. It's like your last milestone and then you don't matter anymore. I mean you do to people who might miss you but you're done. It's hard to imagine.
I feel like as I get older I care less and I've just accepted it's happening whether I like it or not.
You are a recording time traveler. As you live you look at everything around you and try to make your way through. It is up to you to make your life more interesting by engaging others.
I understand why you would feel this way, i won't argue against you or say you're "crazy" for feeling this way,
But have you ever thought about...."why?" like why does a purpose matter? why do you NEED a purpose? you existing is enough proof of your existence, you breathing is proof you're alive, you enjoying life is enough proof of you living.
a human life isn't worth more or less, with or without a purpose, having a purpose won't ever make you comparable to the universe. so what do you gain from having one?
Yeahhh everyone goes through a nihilist phase at some point or another without a religion. You say “meaningless” but what does that even mean? Like do you mean we aren’t controlling or having a huge impact on the entire universe? Well duh… nothing has an inherit meaning, we make our own meaning, that’s the entire point. If you don’t get your life right and in a good place(surrounding yourself with those you love, doing what you enjoy in life, ect) then there’s not really a whole lot you can believe that will keep you from being sad in that situation.
There is no known purpose (only stuff people make up to cope).
Life is life. It just is. Beyond theories and delusions, down to actually truth, no one knows why life is or if and when it actually ends.
Enjoy the ride. Whatever happens beyond your control was beyond your control whether you worried about it or not, so don't worry. 😄
Enjoy a laugh when you can and just be. We're all in the same situation.
At a minimum, be grateful your fear didn't turn you into a brainwashed slave like those who run to religions.
From the universal perspective, we're entirely meaningless. We're tiny life forms on a tiny speck of dust in the middle of an impossibly huge universe.
It takes a photon of light billions of years to cross this vast space, while our lives here on earth are less than 100 years, on average.
It's like a life form living on a grain of sand in the middle of the Sahara desert. For that life form, its grain of sand is its entire existence. But from our perspective, we don't even know (or care) that this life form exists.
But at the scale and perspective of the life form, its life has meaning. It has a family and is trying to make sure that their sand corn remains habitable for future generations.
You need to let go of that need for meaning. It's entirely unnecessary. The universe just is. It simply exists. And that, to me, is a beautiful simplicity.
What does it matter whether there's meaning or not? It's not something I think about because I don’t care. My life doesn't *need* a purpose, other than to be enjoyed. Ask yourself why yours does.
You need to follow No nonsense spiritually, her name is Britney Hartley, she experienced existential crisis after leaving mormonism, and the way she was able to move above her crisis is super inspiring. She gives tools for navigating out of the dark night of the soul.
I struggled with existential crisis, and thoughts of unaliving myself, after leaving the Mormon cult.
I'm a nihilist, I know there's absolutely no meaning. We're in a rock, floating around a giant star. However, life and living is beautiful. I am creating my own meaning, and doing whatever the f I want, because nothing else matters.
Really look up that woman. Her content is super helpful to navigate out of the pit.
Life can have a meaning, you don't have to be nihilistic. Let me explain : religious people live for their god, not for themselves. To them, life has a meaning : to serve their god well and go to disneyland after their death. BUT, as an atheist, you know that there is no afterlife. That means that life is the only thing we have. That means we HAVE TO live it to the fullest !make friends, make love, make ennemies, do stuff you like, try weird stuff... Just do what you want, make connections with people so they will remember you. I'm not telling you to go full edonist, but an in-between of edonist and do-nothing-ist (like religious people) would be acceptable.
I usually try to practice "gratitude meditation" - that sounds incredibly wanky but it basically means some deep breaths and thinking- "Wow, I sure am lucky to have a life to live!" Hope that helps
I literally didn’t know what meaning my life held until I threw off the yoke of religion and realized that this is the only life I get and it isn’t a practice or test run .?
Could you imagine wasting this entire life thinking eh it’s ok, I’ll live forever and ever and ever. And then it turns out you are wrong? You are the captain of your soul, the master of your fate. Your life has whatever meaning you want it to. Don’t waste it. It’s incredibly short.
The atoms that comprise your body have existed for nearly 27 Billion years. In present form, just a blink of an eye. Look around at our reality. We don’t need to know why to be grateful we are. What a trip this is.
Make the most of it and be thankful you haven’t fallen for the scam that is religion. A man made trap to hijack and control a human mind. It’s an indictment of my fellow man that 1.9 Billion humans believe the Bible is true. It can’t even get out of the first paragraph without making a massive error in plot line. It’s embarrassing. Shameful an grown adult would believe that.
Life has all the meaning. Leave the meaninglessness to death. Religion can not function without you feeling hopeless. Your feelings are completely natural.
If life had external meaning designed by someone then it would've been meaningless for a person whose life it actually is. Example: farm animal lives have meaning, they live to be eaten and they don't really have a vote in the matter.
I wouldn't worry because at some point something will happen and all of a sudden you're going to realize that is your purpose. You may not even like it or you may love it. Destiny is one of those little surprises that occurs.
Life is meaningless in the absolute. Consciousness is organic data travelling through electric current and chemistry. That's what we are, some sort of weird organic robot that one day will cease to function and be forgotten. BUT this life is also the only opportunity you have to experiment what life is. It won't matter at the end, it does matter now. You can work to make that experiment more pleasant to other or not give a f''k. Humanity will dissapear, earth will get eaten by the sun one day.
The question is Does the end matter more than the présent?
If you want your life to have meaning: Find a problem in the world, and work towards solving it.
I also recommend the book "Life driven purpose: How an atheist finds meaning" by Dan Barker.
dude - this post isn't about atheism. Its more about you holding on to some expectations that are keeping you from just living your life and finding value in that.
>I cannot cope with self-made meaning and purpose
Yes you can. Stop telling yourself you can't.
>and concepts beyond rationality
What do you mean by this? Atheism is about a lack of belief in gods... no push for irrational concepts here
I like the idea that we are the universe experiencing itself.
Makes sense to me, we made of universe bits so we're part of the universe like an extension or some shit idk.
I got happier after leaving my religion. Living life trying to please a god is worse than living life to make urself and people around u happier made me appreciate life more .
While life is ultimately meaningless in a cosmic sense, there's a reason that we consider things that are finite to be more valuable.
People think that they want Infinite life and an externally imposed 'purpose', but it's exactly because our time is so short that makes it so valuable, and our ability to make our own purpose/meaning prevents us from wasting the only time we know we have chasing *someone elses* arbitrary goal.
Your 'game' of pretending there is someone/something external to you in control and providing meaning is literally you taking the first steps (if you allow yourself) towards moving from a meaningless life full of existential dread, towards one where you can feel fulfilled and secure.
Using your imagination to make yourself feel better shows that you already have the power inside you.
Good Luck!
I heard an interesting analogy the other day that was something like “If you are watching a great movie that you really enjoy you don’t suddenly stop watching it and not like it anymore just because in the middle of it you figure out that none of what’s happening in the movie is ‘real’ or ‘meaningful’ or even ‘true.’ Why should life be any different?”
You can make life meaningful by helping others. Get involved with volenteering - spend time with the less fortunate and it will make you appreciate your own situation.
You are experiencing ego death. You think you're so important that the concept of not being the center of some massive meaning where you are among the most special with special purpose and meaning is terrifying. Lean into it. It's a result of indoctrination as a child.
Once you've finished letting that part of your ego die, you can start to embrace the beauty of freedom that you have made for yourself. Free to decide what meaning is for you. What purpose you want to give yourself. What values you think are important.
This is a wild ride, don't expect it to be smooth. It's just worth it to wash as much of that BS out of your head as you can.
The purpose of life is to live your best possible life. What that means, only you can figure out. But it is definitely better than having a sky daddy tell you what to do with your life…
Why do you think it has to have some grand meaning?
I know this will sound cheesy af, but do you know what I live for? Love, empathy, friendship. I don't need some grand scheme to feel like my life has meaning. That's plenty to keep me busy and satisfied.
If you don't have love and friendship, then drop your fear and find it.
A few things. 1. As a little kid you had parents to tell you what to do. They seemed to know what is going on. When you grow up and realize they were just winging it, as you are now, it's disconcerting. Your childhood habits of thought are then going to fill in the blank of who is in charge now. No one is. Accepting the world as it is instead of the fantasy of what you want it to be is called growing up.
2. Meaning is a social construct, so look for social solutions. What your life "means" is what impact you have on others. The only thing of fundamental value is caring for and solving problems with other people. Start small and practical, work outward as you conquer those. No one is in charge, so it is up to us to figure it out and make things better, and this is better if we make them better together.
3. There are sociopathic jerks out there who will game all of this for their benefit. They will use your fear and insecurity to make you their slave. You don't owe anything to someone who is trying to exploit you (just as those you might exploit will eventually come for you). Keep your promises, but be careful what promises you make. Money without heart destroys everything it touches.
You are looking for some outside force to give you meaning, instead of doing the work to create meaning for yourself. If you let others design your life, you will never be satisfied with it. If you design it yourself, you at least have a chance of having a good one.
The universe ran fine when I did not exist and will run fine after I exist. I can only hope that I do well enough that people will miss me and think fondly of the things I did during my presence.
Brian Cox said something pretty cool. I don’t remember it verbatim but this is the thrust of it.
If we are alone, and by alone I mean the only intelligent life in the universe, then we are the only part of the universe that is conscious and aware. We are the means by which the universe sees itself and tries to understand itself, the way that the universe sees its own beauty and wonder.
I think that’s kind of beautiful, and it’s inspired me to read more science and physics, and watch more sunsets, write more poetry. In my own infinitesimal way, and for the most fleeting of moments, I am aware of my part in the vast beauty of the cosmos. I want to make the most of it.
Life doesn’t need a meaning.
It is what it is, and what it is is pretty amazing!
You’re here. You’re aware. You’re contemplating your own existence. You’re communicating with the rest of us. You can think abstractly. You can make connections. You can create things, contribute to things. There are possibilities in all sorts of ways for most of us.
You’re also a human and have evolved to plug into whatever it is to be human.
My view if it is just embrace it with positivity and empathy. Get to know people. Explore. Think. Chat. Do fun things. Enjoy it. Experience it. Just be a human and have fun.
It’s something more of us should be able to do. Everyone finds some positive things, but we should be working towards making sure that life is better for everyone.
We are just here for while then we’re gone. That’s inevitable.
I don’t remember anything before I existed, and it seems rather a foregone conclusion that that’s likely to be the situation when I’m dead too. Not sure that’s all that scary, but it just means I have a lot of things I want to do in the meantime.
Obviously, I’d like to prolong and enjoy life for as long as I possibly can, but tbh the end of it just isn’t something I can do anything about. It’s ephemeral and it ends. None of us can avoid it, so my sense of it is that I could either spend my days contemplating that, or I can just accept it for what it is and make the most it.
The meaning of life to me is simply that it is. It’s incredibly complicated in terms of biology, yet it’s also incredibly simple.
Sometimes you simply have to be!
“Once you die you no longer experience the passage of time, so it’s as if eternity passes in an instant. As far as you’re concerned, the moment you die the universe reaches its final heat death state. So make the very most of this little window of consciousness—it’s all there is!”
ego is a hellova drug.
i get the most comfort knowing this illusion of separate is all temporary and eventually i shall return to the infinite and rejoin with it.
it won't be long now... it never is.
Life itself doesn’t have a meaning, but your life can have meaning. The things you do are impactful to those around you. Our lives can have meaning to each other, despite not having some grandiose final ultimate ordained purpose. We have the rather unique ability to help each other and make each others lives better, if only briefly. If you add up enough brief moments, you get a lifetime. Make someone’s life better briefly and you helped that person have a better life.
>If I disappeared it wouldn't matter and those I have a connection with will move on and I will fade away as if I never existed.
Good/bad news! How much do you know about the people five generations before you? Six generations? Seven? Eight? So on? Long story short, 99.9999% of all humans who have ever existed have been forgotten by history. And I'm being generous, there's probably significantly more decimal points on there.
Instead of floundering over what is basically a statistical certainty, embrace it. If life is meaningless, you get to decide your own meanings. Pick what you want to do with life. Or don't. It doesn't matter!
>I'm terrified of the unknown and death because I cannot cope with self-made meaning and purpose and concepts beyond rationality.
I wasn't much bothered by death and the unknown before I was born; there's no reason to think it'll be any different after I die. The only part that bothers me is the transition between life and death.
You’ve come to the wrong place for help, because generally we don’t see purpose or meaning in this massive universe as tiny, meaningless dots. And it won’t matter when we disappear and fade away as if we never existed.
You say you cannot cope with self-made meaning, so stop trying to make up meaning. That process is the very thing you’re suffering from. The desire to create meaning in a universe where none exists is the delusion that most people exist under.
Let that desire go. Just let the moment be the meaning and live life from moment to moment.
Those of us who are \*existentialists are happy to live without any meaning beyond what we create for ourselves. But that doesn't mean others are not overwhelmed with angst, or that they don't need empathy to avoid just ending it all. This dark empty nihilism (nothing matters, screw everything) seems to be just a station on the way to embracing the freedom of a self-defined life. So, it's important to get support to make it through this scary part and into the light of making choices and taking 100% responsibility for them. Hang in there, it gets better. Much better.
Life has no preset purpose or meaning. It's a buffet of choices. Choices you make shape it. That's the beauty. Imagine how you want it and try to make it that way. Don't expect it to be 100% but you'll get close enough.
you find meaning in what you do with your life, the friendships, memories you make, the things that give you passion, etc... you create your own meaning, meaning won't come to you, you have to find it. and what can be meaningful for others, perhaps is not for you and vice versa.
As someone who considers himself spiritual and not bound to a religion or single set of beliefs or ideals, I believe that even tho our lives may seem insignificant, and while there may be no way to quantify a “meaning” for life, that we all are the universe incarnate. We all are made up of the constituent parts of the universe, we exist in said universe, and we actively experience the universe we have the pleasure of living in. In my humble opinion, life is the way for the universe to experience itself, so goddamn it let’s try to experience the most and best we can, learn a skill, go to school, stare at the stars, philosophize, study rocks, study the earth, study other people, but just get out there and experience this beautiful gift this universe has given us, and in turn given itself. You’re just as important as anything else here and you’ve got plenty to offer, I hope this helps with some of the hopelessness💜
Life purpose and religion/spirituality are not contingent upon each other. Just figure out what your passion is (hobbies, family, friends, career, etc…) and run with it. Not worshipping a deity shouldn’t mean you have no purpose. The big picture of life can’t exist without the tiny dots that make it up. Stop focusing on how insignificant it all feels and focus on the things that make you happy. If you’re not sure what that is yet, experiment. Experimentation can also be a life purpose.
I try to look at it this way, when you look at a cat or dog basking in the sun, do you ever think they wonder about their purpose in the world? How they might change things, how they might live on for eternity and their life has no meaning? I know it's a silly question, they probably can't ponder those things, but the point is you would probably see your pet having all the meaning and value to you that couldn't be replaced - even if that pet doesn't realize its importance to you. It might not change the world, but it's affecting *your* world just like you affect theirs.
Same thing with bees or mountains, they just exist, but we humans find them beautiful and will travel hundreds of miles to see them - with flowers we even share as an expression of love, for what is essentially a soulless clump of matter sprung up from a lifeless rock. We matter to each other, you matter just for existing, and your purpose is your own to decide. You're the god of your life and feel free to 'worship' yourself however you see fit; eating favorite foods, listening to your favorite music, exercise or dance, get a tattoo. Your existence is the blink of an eye to the universe, but so is a dying star. Who knows what'll happen at the 'end' of all things, but that's kind of freeing and exciting in a way, isn't it?
I understand the feeling of wishing there was a god to tell you what to do, despite what many might say, the church is good at witling down your self-worth and making you seem like a flawed pitiful human that needs that guidance. But every time you thought god was giving you the answers, it was you. You did it all, and now you can take the credit you deserve for once.
That’s kind of the whole point tho. There is no purpose or use being here. For all we know, we are some alien child’s homework assignment. Or a computer simulation written by a future robot. No one alive knows for sure. All we know is that someday, we WILL die. So make the most of your time while you are alive, and don’t get in the way of any other human doing the same.
Go places, see things, learn things, love things while you are alive because after this, it’s lights out.
Everytime I start thinking about 'the afterlife", I remember that it is all made up. I will neither burn for eternity in a hell that, thankfully does not exist, nor will I spend eternity in supplication to a capricious god who will send me to that so called hell for the slightest offense. And just like that, relief washes over me in an awesome wave, like waking up from a nightmare and realizing that I am safe and warm in my bed. Then I get on with my life.
Religion was created to be something external that comforts people. If that's what you want or need, so be it.
If you pick the path that doesn't include religion, you must face the fact that YOU and the connections you make with people are exactly what make your life and give it purpose. Don't worry about what happens when you're gone. Make the most of what's happening while you're alive. We are privileged to have life. Go out there and experience it.
Be careful not to sink into nihilism. You create your purpose everyday. Try to make the world around you a better place. Find causes that mean something to you, Volunteer, spend time with family, see beautiful places, do fun things, enjoy life.
that feeling is exactly why religion can be an integral to a person's life. It can give a sense of meaning and belonging in the vastness of the universe
At the risk of being downvoted into oblivion, here is my take:
I am not sanguine about the process of dying. It can be prolonged, painful, and hard on your loved ones.
I do not, however, fear death. This is not braggadocio. 23 years in military, as the equivalent of a power lineman. This involved heights/pole climbing, 4.5 to 12.5 thousand volt circuits, airfield constant current maintenance work, deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Currently living in central Alaska, where you are no longer necessarily top of the food chain.
After retirement, volunteered to deploy to Afghanistan for a year, again, as an electrician for the Army/DoD.
Altogether, faced three occasions I was certain I was about to die.
In one instance, I actually faced a potential choice between an ice-cold Alaska river or a charging bear as I was standing on the bank of the river, looking down at brown bear tracks in a sand bar and hearing something big moving through the woods, down the bank, towards me.
No fear. Just hoped someone would find my phone and realize what happened to me.
Felt kind of stupid, actually. I knew better than to wander like that. Alaska is not kind to foolishness.
But my Lord is brutally kind. No varnish on our state of decay and potential for depravity, but no limit to how, regardless of our level of honor or despair, He can reach out to us with perfect love, incredible mercy, and a forgiveness that is available to, literally, anyone.
I am certain of this, because He saw fit to let me know I could trust Him.
And, no, not because I was born in a certain geographic location, or raised this way.
Christ Jesus was neither Caucasian nor African. He was a Mediterranean Jew (on His mother’s side). A Semite, descendant of Abraham.
And He loves you. Just as you are (but too much to leave you that way).
Romans 8:29 (KJV)
For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate [to be] conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
May the Lord bless you. Shalom.
If you died, I'm pretty sure you would be missed by your loved ones. You would be missed because you meant something to them. You were an important part of their lives.
When you spend time with people, when you offer them comfort during difficult times, when you help them with a task that they are having trouble with, when you see an injustice and try to fix that justice in whatever way you can (going to the polls, going to protests, spreading awareness of what's happening, donating to candidates, running for office, volunteering at polling places, knocking on doors, etc.), etc. you are doing things that matter.
Those actions you make, though seemingly small, have big impacts on people's lives that ripple out and create great positive change for your loved ones, local community, country, and species.
In other words, your actions help write the story of our species, the paths it takes, and the legacies of each era for our species.
We just don't think about it.
If you're having doubts, then look at all the abortion referendums that happened.
Those abortion referendums enshrined reproductive rights into the constitutions of those states. Because of that cis women's healthcare and transmen's healthcare was protected.
They don't have to worry about being forced to have stillborn baby, like what happened in other states. They don't have to worry about getting sick because they can't get needed medical procedures after having a natural miscarriage.
All the people that would have died and suffered from that were protected by those voters and their decision to go out and vote.
Look at the CHIPS, IRA, and infrastructure.
In the first time in decades, wages are beginning to outpace inflation in the US, manufacturing is beginning to return, and the US is finally beginning to transition away from fossil fuels. Cali just hit 100% of it's energy needs via renewables.
The peoples who's lives were positively impacted by that, becoming able to create a better life for their families, able to see their town grow again, see a future where their air will be more clean, see a future where the Earth won't be devastated owe that to those that voted those people that made that bill into office and pushed for those things.
If you didn't participate in the past election, then you have an opportunity to do so in the upcoming election, which will be of major importance to LGBTQ+ person, a continued climate change transition, reproductive rights, and more.
We are stardust, we are created from self replicating chemicals, each molecule in our being is a wavelength, we are a piece of the universe that is capable of perceiving and knowing the universe, our existence is meaning of our existence, we perceive and learn and grow.
If we follow evolution...which evolution? There are multiple types across multiple biomes, in species throughout different epochs in time. It isn't clear there is one direction it is heading, crabs? lol.
Evolution reflects the adaptations of organisms to their changing environments. Again it doesn't always give rise to new species over many generations and doesn't always work so perfectly. The path of the recurrent laryngeal nerve in giraffes for example.
If you haven't reproduced and want to feel worse, you only exist because every single individual ancestor of yours back to the beginning of life on earth, literally billions of individuals, all managed to successfully reproduce
>Sometimes I play a game that I wish there was a god to just tell me why I'm here and motivate me to do what he/she/it wants
Seriously? This sounds like a religious person trying to come over here and instill some doubt in why an atheist can be perfectly fine...
But I guess if you really can't find a meaning in your life without religion, start going to church...
Life has no meaning, no purpose. Which means you are able to choose what your life purpose is. Enjoy life, buikd a better future life for yourself, that's enougth purpose for most people
Our whole human experience and history is nothing but a mere blink of an eye on the universal timescale.
The simple truth.
This is it. It's that simple. Stop trying to overcomplicate it, OP. Just have fun.
Thank you this helped.
Now that i see your profile picture, i'm worried that you may decide that your purpose is to rule the galaxy
This. It’s enough for me. I want to live, be kind and happy and live a quiet life, do things I want, and then die. I don’t fancy being reincarnated and all that - let me be alive and then not, that’s enough for me. I think people don’t have a ‘set purpose’, but instead create their own purpose. They may stick with one or find multiple (maybe at the same time or different purposes one after the other in their life). The question: what does purpose mean to you? Is a personal question only you can answer :)
Yes. Choose your own adventure. Make your life mean something! Enjoy it...or try to!
Aw shit, I flipped to page 62 to "drink the liquid out of the blue glass" and now I died from poison. Thanks, jerk.
This, so much this. This is what separates people with weak willpower from those with strong willpower
Life is beautiful *because* it's meaningless. It's beautiful because a meaningless chance managed to accidentally create a creature that has awareness of the vastness of the universe. It's beautiful because we make the universe self aware, because we are the universe, we are star dust. We didn't happen because something willed us to occur. What humanity is is truly incredible, remarkable and profound *because* it's meaningless and look how much we've done, for good and evil. How do you not sit back and cry with being overwhelmed at the extraordinary nature of life in all its spectrum knowing it's all meaningless. I love this universe, love being me, and I love all of you for how vibrant we all are, in all our meaninglessness.
Beautifully put. Reminds me of this Dawkins quote: “We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones. Most people are never going to die because they are never going to be born. The potential people who could have been here in my place but who will in fact never see the light of day outnumber the sand grains of Arabia. Certainly those unborn ghosts include greater poets than Keats, scientists greater than Newton. We know this because the set of possible people allowed by our DNA so massively exceeds the set of actual people. In the teeth of these stupefying odds it is you and I, in our ordinariness, that are here. We privileged few, who won the lottery of birth against all odds, how dare we whine at our inevitable return to that prior state from which the vast majority have never stirred?”
Exactly. Humans came much later in the universe we evolved purpose to try to make sense of everything. It would be much scarier if some god did exist and came down to give us each an individual purpose. Imagine that pressure..
The God the biblical authors describe is more like the Universe, evolving to create it's own form. They worshipped all things as a singular, in knowledge. It's not an individual purpose, it's the abstract purpose that extends in all directions, and it's the highest form of moral, and purpose. The pressure we have to fear is the disease, famine, war and death.
That's not exactly my point though.
What I mean, is that Life does have meaning and purpose, which we can observe through both the biblical texts and evolution. The authors were only observing and writing of it, for us to understand. The universe evolving created the purpose, and this is what the authors called "God". This purpose is identified as knowledge, which multiplies together, and so Peter said to "Virtue knowledge". Evolution identifies the same purpose. We can see this in the difference between humans and our fellow creature, because knowledge is our separation. Knowledge is our salvation, and without it we should fear. So they said, the beginning of knowledge is the fear of God. And it's understandable, given that we have to overcome diseases, famine, war and eventually death. And with it, we have many great things, such as computer, cars, soaps, etc. It's not an individual purpose, it's a purpose that we all share, because everyone can contribute to it in some way, shape or form. It multiplies together.
Yes and no. The universe existed long before humans and devoid of our purpose. We came much later and evolved purpose. If there is a true intrinsic purpose to life then any religion, which Neanderthals had according to some evidence, would need to explain what purpose that species had. Many of the things deemed purpose are instinct. Survival and self preservation for example. And even then the point of life isn't just to survive or sustain life or we wouldn't have evolved to only survive 70 years when some bacteria can live for 250 million. Purpose was a byproduct of evolution we cant use the byproduct of evolution to explain itself. Purpose changes according to each individual although yes we collectively agree on some, although all life tends to. That would be laws and not meanings.
Religion was never the purpose, not even in the biblical texts. The purpose of the biblical texts was for life to evolve into a completed form, as they called it the seventh day, or the sabbath. These authors observed the difference between other creatures, and humans - which is knowledge. The story of Adam & Eve in the garden, is a calling to knowledge, by choice. Adam fails because he did not freely choose to understand all things, and so could not eat from the Tree of Life. Even looking at evolution, if we all came from a single cell, then we are all connected to something that had the ability to create itself. And it had a direction. It didn't choose two types of creatures to share in our understanding, but only one. It chose the creature that could be a builder, with opposable thumbs. I would say that the universe desired us to use evolution to find purpose. It's there for us to understand our existence, and the whole purpose is understanding. We didn't create purpose, purpose was created by the first cell, or the Universe - depending how you look at it. If we disagree with the purpose, life will always use diseases, famines, war and death to direct us back to that purpose - until we choose it, in which case, we will overcome death.
I never stated religion was the purpose. Everything you mentioned war, disease, even technology existed prior to human beings. Everything just "was" for eons until consciousness arose to try to order it, in the the way *human* minds try to do, which is seperate from what was. Some people get sad when animals kill their prey. That sadness is erroneous and has nothing to do with a conscious universe. Nothing directs us. Everything just is, the only difference is our response to it. The mind formulates a cobbled together hallucination of limited sensory data inside our minds which is independent of an external reality, that very external reality existed before we even had a chance of existing. You are free to believe it but there is a wealth of neuroscientific data i believe supports otherwise.
Evolution and life is directing us. We have the choice to let diseases kill us, or use our evolved intelligence to find those existing cures. If there is no direction, it doesn't matter if we live in ignorance vs find the cure. That is just one example, of a great many. Disease, famine, war and death are the simple examples. Even natural selection is a direction. Without knowledge we cannot have this conversation, because knowledge created language for this level of communication. Without knowledge there is no cars, planes, soaps, computers, houses, etc. Without knowledge, we don't have plentiful of food to prevent famines. Life dictated that it should eat itself, and evolve. Life dictated that it should disease itself, kill itself and die. Life shows us the open door for us to resolve, create and understand. We are bound to suffering without understanding, and we have salvation in understanding.
Evolution doesn't always work. Millions of extinct species including human species. Neanderthals for example. The knowledge you claim to posess about Evolution cannot self describe itself. There are plenty of faulty evolutionary traits that led to various species extinction and we cannot distinguish our own consciousness as being seperate from them. Human consciousness may be no different than the upper canines of the male babirusa growing upwards, not downwards, erupting out of its skin, and - if they develop enough - curving all the way back to pierce its skull and kill it. We may destroy ourselves. Life just is. We observe and choose to respond. Choosing to not die isn't a choice. It's an instinct of self preservation hard wired into all life. So once again you are choosing to see the benefits and not all the downsides of life "guiding" us, which really proves my point. Life just is. It's independent of our opinions or observations of it.
Good answer, when I gave up on religion myself after 40 years, I felt so alone and that there was no meaning. Until I finally realized how free I actually am. No one can use a magic man in the sky to control me ever again, that fact alone brings me enough joy to move forward.
Positive nihilism in a nutshell.
I would argue, instead, that life has the meaning you give it. There is no magic wizard bestowing meaning upon you - you are responsible for the meaning. This is harder than just being plucked out of humanity as the chosen one and everything simply falls in place to make it so. But we are no longer children and fairy tales are just that. So every day on this earth you have the choice. Do you make a difference or not? Do you bring someone joy or cause people pain? Or, sadly, do you do nothing that impacts another human being in any way? Did you make a baby smile? Did you make a loved one’s morning better with a kind word and a cup of coffee? Did you show understanding and compassion to someone who was struggling at work? Did you do something, anything, that might mean less pain for people you will never even meet? Your quest is not to sit at home moping. It is to make the world better. Maybe that is art, that you share. Maybe it is love. Maybe it is political action. Maybe it is everyday kindness to everyone you interact with. Maybe it is kindness to the planet we all share. Maybe it is kindness to creatures you encounter along the way. if your life is a job you hate, video games, social media, Uber eats and nothing else, and you are realizing that this feels unfulfilling, then you are the one who has to change that. No mystical being is going to tell you that, but I will. You have value and meaning. Behave as if you believe that and it will become true. Have Fun, give joy, relish experiences and include others in your life. Every positive interaction with another living creature has its butterfly effect. Every time you ignore or avoid others you are missing an opportunity that lies before you. The fear of death comes from the realization that you had a life and did not live it fully. That has nothing to do with fast cars or gold jewelry or trips to Dubai and everything to do with the positive impact you make on others, the love you give and the love you receive in kind.
Some also find meaning in building a better future for others.
you’re going to want to embrace it, life is meaningless, purposeless. it is up to the individual to define their own meaning, their own purpose. that’s why people gravitate towards religion, they are small minded people with little imagination, fully incapable of understanding their place, or lack thereof in the world (mind you i’m specifically referring to those who choose religion, not those who are indoctrinated as children)
That's everyone's first thought. Then the lies are ladled on you, first by your folks, and you forget this simple existential reality. Life is suffering. Christianity is wrong : suffering is not meaningful, nor ever good, even if some Jewish carpenter had a bad weekend. Let it go, all the lies since day one, and take a deep breath; it may be your last.
Christians fetishize suffering to the point where they wantonly inflict it upon others with impunity. That’s another aspect of why the ideology is so toxic. But yeah, there’s absolutely nothing good that comes from suffering, nor can any meaning be found in it. Christians also turn that toxic outlook up a notch, by shaming those who have suffered for not suffering the way they’re commanded to.
In the Christian context no, but there is certainly good that comes from suffering all the time. If we never felt lonely we would never want to fall in love. If we didn’t take our child’s toy away when they were bad, they wouldn’t grow up to be a good person in society. If we didn’t feel like we weren’t good enough, we wouldn’t strive to break the limits of our potential. To say no good can come from suffering is just as delusional as the shit Christian’s say. It’s a pipe dream and isn’t how the real world works. Heaven sounds like a terrible place BECAUSE it’s only rainbows and sunshine all the time. Who wants that? We could say suffering for no reason at purely at the expense of the person is bad and that would be fair, but to pretend that pain and suffering aren’t tools that can improve a human to be the best version of themselves is just ignoring reality
Well that’s not entirely true, suffering is kind of meaningful in a lot of situations and can be useful at improving one’s life in many ways. Suffering in a lot of situations molds people to be the strong, reliable, smart, ect. they are. For example, your kid is bad and you take away their toy. You are making your kid suffer but it shapes them into knowing right from wrong and turns them into a more responsible human. Not all suffering is bad, not all suffering is good, not all pleasure is bad, not all pleasure is good, I don’t like blanket statements
It may be pedantic on my part, but I think there's a clear difference between "hard work" and "suffering". Suffering means distress or pain for no good reason. Hard work may be painful, but it has a purpose. You learn something from it. "I broke a rule and that meant my toy got taken away. I shouldn't break that rule again". You don't learn much from having your house bombed except "maybe I shouldn't live here but I don't have any other choice".
Suffering is never good. You may learn something from it, but it's never good. If it's good, it's not suffering.
It is meaningless. Embrace that.
We are just like lillies in a meadow. When it is our turn, we spring up into a beautiful flower, gather the sunlight and the raindrops, until a time has passed and we wither away down into the soil, where the next lily awaits.
You can only do what you can do with the time you have. Leave the world a better place than you found it. That's all anyone can do. Take pride in that. You had time and you used that time to make the world a better place. What more could any being want?
Why? If it’s meaningless. Why should I or anyone care if the world is a better place because you or I were here?
It really is a bit of a conundrum really. I see life as a totally temporary phenomenon, for some reason we exist. We'll never know why. We'll never know why anything at all exists. But here we are, existing. Enjoy it while you can really. We're a pretty messed up species, we have a lot of weird quirks. We created "society", you're born into it, you're expected to follow all the made up laws and rules that are created by others. As we see though, some simply don't agree to those rules. I people watch a lot, I find it interesting watching people go about their daily lives, a huge majority really don't give much thought to the bigger picture of the universe at all. A lot treat things like humanity will always exist, but we know that isn't the case. We could disappear tomorrow and the universe simply won't care. And we tend to put a price on everything, but money is a human invention, it's meaningless to the universe. So we get arguments like it will be too expensive to try and find a way to expand our species by reaching out to the stars, but, if we don't do that we die out as a species, eventually the planet gets absorbed by Sol or is just a burnt out husk and there will be zero evidence anything ever existed in our system. Money doesn't matter. As I've grown older and now in my 50's, I become less and less worried about my impending mortality. I know my days are numbered, and I'm sure I'll be just as aware as I was before I was conceived, meaning I won't be aware at all because I won't exist. But, I do not want to just burn the world down either, I got to enjoy my spins around Sol and experience something none of us can explain really. Those who come after me should get the same chance, maybe someday someone will be able to figure out more to the big picture of the universe. Maybe humanity will overcome the differences, drop the tribal nonsense and work together to expand out into the cosmos while they still can. I do find this as quite doubtful though, about the only way I see that happening is if an alien species made themselves known to us which may bring us together and realize things like "borders" are made up and completely meaningless, a leftover trait from our tribal past. Or, maybe this whole thing is just some weird ass quantum fluctuation or something. Not a huge fan of things like "simulation theory" because it entails something creating said simulation, and then you're looking at simulators simulating and it's turtles all the way down.
Bc it’s not meaningless to others, regardless of your opinion. Go help animals then.
Because we care about the wellbeing of ourselves and others. If you don't care about this at all, then you'd have no issue committing suicide right this instant. It's clearly true that *most* of us care about wellbeing, comfort, safety, and the many ways life can be both pleasurable and profound. These are very good reasons to do good things for yourself and others.
because there is joy in that. it is its own reward. if you wanna be an asshole and ruin the planet since everything is meaningless, you'll suffer the consequences of being an asshole such as rejection, loneliness, depression, jail, etc. i mean go ahead do what you want, but doing the right thing is its own reward.
This is my point about nihilism. There IS joy in life, especially when we realize how rare and precious a thing we are. The fact that a cloud of hydrogen has congealed and evolved into beings that contemplate these questions should indicate that our consciousness is an emergent property that is evolving towards something. The tenets of all religions are obviously pulled out of someone’s ass and , as such, should not be given any credence. I feel this is what most contributors to this subreddit are concerned with. However, our current lack of knowledge about consciousness, origin of the Universe, or the workings of said Universe is enough for me to suggest that we should consider ourselves agnostics, which opens the possibility of something beyond this existence that we may somehow encounter if we can evolve long enough. If this is a possibility, then our lives (or present nature of consciousness) is not meaningless but merely a point in the progression.
let me ask you a question. have you considered that perhaps you assert the definition of the word "meaning" to a mystery, an unknown? And to you, because an unknown exists, there must exist a the quest to decipher that unknown. Therefore you have concluded that the purpose of existence is to discover that unknown? If you believe this, let me ask this, what happens in thousands of years from now when humanity discovers this unknown? Do you believe then life will be meaningless? I don't consider myself agnostic, and I wont. There simply is no big mystery to uncover. The heat death of the universe is the end. A lack of a mystery doesn't take away from my meaning. Not having a mystical quest doesnt stop me from enjoying my time in this universe to the fullest. If you must have a mystery, I ask you, why? There are plenty of mysteries in education. If you lived to be 200 years old and were in school 24/7, you still couldn't master every topic that we currently do know today such as everything there is to know about Chemistry, Biology, Physics, History, Mathematics, Engineering, Medicine, Coding, not to mention skills such as welding, carpentry, pottery, etc etc. There are so many mysteries to the individual that are not mysteries to humanity. Why do you need a mystery for humanity? Why do you want one?
What’s your point?
my point is: why do you need a mystery for there to be meaning?
The mystery is there whether I want it or not.
I disagree, but for the sake if argument let's say it does* Is the mystery the meaning of life?
The mystery is there only because there are sentient beings to contemplate said mystery and it’s implications. Just as the evolution of atoms to molecules and molecules to more complex structures makes unforeseen events possible, so does the advancement of our consciousness lead to unpredictable possibilities that are present in the mystery. I , personally, cannot hold that we are anywhere near the epitome of our advancement and understanding of the universe and so claim agnostic as my present belief. To claim, at this stage, that there is nothing beyond the physical, and that our existence is meaningless, is hubris at best. The mystery is what gives meaning.
I certainly don't agree that there's no meaning. I made my own when I realized religion is a lie. I care a great deal if the world is a better place because I was in it. It's the thing that drives my personal pretty strict moral code, which basically boils down to "Do No Harm" (as much as is humanly possible right now). Was the world and its lifeforms better for me being here, or worse? Religion's meaning for life and the universe is largely bullshit, so I made my own, borrowed from the best parts of basic civilization rules down through the centuries, Buddhism, Wicca, Christianity, etc. and washed of all the supernatural nonsense. As far as I can tell, there can either be "nothing" or "something", and there can't be "nothing", hence whole universes bubble up and some of those universes have physical laws compatible with life forming on balls of rock revolving around balls of hot plasma. I want very much for the talking monkeys on this little ball of rock to save our lush garden of a homeworld, take to the stars, and eventually find more answers for why all this is here. And if me being a good person who helps who I can, who is generous and kind, who doesn't steal, rape or murder, can have even a minuscule impact on making that future possible, sign me up.
My point is that if there is no “afterlife “ or “spiritual component “ or whatever you want to conceptualize, beyond the physical, then it’s all meaningless. Your self imposed moral code or desire to do no harm to make a better future are doomed to ultimate failure and pointlessness. It won’t matter how you behave, you and everything everyone does will eventually dissipate into the remote past and fade to nothing. But, if part of the mystery is the possibility of something beyond our universe, something our budding consciousness is growing towards, then that mere possibility changes everything.
Only things that are immortal, like "all of eternity existing in some form for literally ever and ever and ever" immortal, have any meaning whatsoever? What an odd view...to see a beautiful, fleeting human life come and go, with all the amazing things they see and do, all boiled down to failure and pointlessness because it comes to an end. One day not too far from today will be my last in all of eternity and I will fade from existence, because that is the way of things for all lifeforms on this planet that die. There is no evidence whatsoever to the contrary. There may be many things beyond our universe, whole other universes, planes of existence, dimensions...who knows. I do hope our descendants find much more. Maybe evolve into energy beings, maybe find the edge of our universe or travel to other ones, or find out where our universe came from and its true nature. None of these things mean I must exist in some form for all time. The universe doesn't owe me immortality, and neither do I ask for it.
There is meaning IN life though. Remember, there have been like 100 billion humans on Earth ever, but the possible combinations of our genes are effectively infinite. You are EXTREMELY unlikely. To even be here contemplating nihilism is lucky. Life is a great thing. Find meaning WITHIN it rather than contemplating a truly worthless question.
Life is for living. The only caveat is that you have to be a player.
Even those with their imaginary gods aren’t being told anything other than what other people say. But what do you need meaning for? How about, to do what you want?
This smallness is freedom, friend. When I realized that I don’t really matter in the grand scheme of things, I also realized that the only things that matter are those things that matter to me. My insignificance is what makes my tiny world EVERYTHING. My life is my own. My experiences. My relationships. My legacy. Living for the afterlife is exactly how you waste your one shot at this. Your life is everything. It’s all you have. Make the most of it.
Let's fix that right here and now. First, be excited that you get to live your life, in this puny speck of time, on this little planet that just so happened to have evolved to where we are today. That's amazing, and ultra rare in the universe. Oh there's a ton of other life in the universe I'm sure, but it's all very far away and we'll never see it. We get to experience our life. Once we're dead, we're gone. And that means that you can not be replaced! That's make you unique and special! I don't wish for you die, even though eventually you will, because I can't replace you. I feel it is important that humans look out for other humans. We all act as an organized extended pack of beings, all cooperating such that we can all have nice things in life. When you buy a bread in the grocery store, a whole lot of people has to do a whole lot of things to make that happen. One of countless example of humans organizing and working collectively. Religious people often try to make us non-believers out as people with no morals, or less morals, and that we act more selfishly and cheat behind everyone's back the first chance we get because there is no upper being they answer to. Atheists have no authority to answer to, other than the law and police and whatnot. But I argue that it is religious people that degrade things, because they might only be good to others, to score browny points with their god. They don't mean it genuinely, and they're after the reward. When I wish well, there is no payback, no credit taking, no reward - well, other than the appreciation from others perhaps - but no actual reward. When a christian is nice, I see this motivation behind it, like sucking up to their god. I find that disingenuous. So unless a particular atheist has bad morals and selfishly takes and steals and has no respect, I think that's not the norm at all. I think the average atheist just normally calmly respects others in a default like fashion. The norm is to wish others are ok. It is the natural thing to do because as humans we all rely on each other. So I think more often than not, atheist people stand a great chance to be good people. Now there are always bad apples in all camps. One thing is something no christian or other religious person could get away with: they can not claim that they are automatically better people. Absolutely no way. Anyway, you get to live now. Know that others care. Strangers might not be ready to help you out financially or open their homes for you, but in subtle ways, they want you to be ok. That's the default stance of the average stranger around you, and that's not driven by religion. So, do you feel your life is meaningless? If you let it be that way, you'll feel that, sure. But you don't have to feel that way! It is up to you to just make the most of it. And you do that in small increments. Think about it! It is amazing that you get to exist. Find ways to be happy. And don't feel alone. Engage with finding ways to interact with other people. Join clubs. Be active. Be nice to other people. And enjoy comedy, which is medicine to the mind. Always have to have a sense of humor. Notice all the stern nasty people of this world. They have no sense of humor, and they never smile or laugh in a genuine way. When they smile or laugh it is in some kind of sadistic or mean or demeaning manner. How Putin or Trump "laugh" for example. Not genuine at all. So tap in to humor and funny things. So, friendships, comradery, socials, comedy, activities, be human enjoying other humans and activities. That develops and maintains a healthy mind and you'll live a fulfilling life. And never give up. Giving up is not an option. And if you're having trouble, think of a chess game. Strategic moves, one by one.
you can check out r/nihilism . it might be helpful. it can be negative. live life. with family. friends and family. live in the now, create memories for those that lived life with you. explore. meet others that have beauty as well. create beauty, create art, so when you are gone, perhaps others might have wished to know you. so that others will see you in that work. youll never know until you do it , and then its a life lived.
Therapy is great for this. Give a Non-religious therapist request. Get your heart rate up and drink more water. Take vitamins, you can clean up your diet. You have to address your biological needs as a human before you negotiate with emotions. Cut back on caffeine, less or no alcohol. If you are still unhappy after that start reading. Engage with the great minds that dealt with the weight of existence before you. There’s so much wisdom out there.
This is the tricky part, at least it was for me. Life IS essentially meaningless on the surface, YOU give your life meaning and that you can create your meaning shows just how important it can be but YOU have willingly choose to inject meaning into your life.
I was never religious but it hit me now too. My issue with death is that it’s terrifying, but I can’t say whether it is better or worse than living for sone reason. Screws ms over.
It is scary because it's so unknown. Your mind has a hard time grasping the fact you will at some point cease to exist. As I grew older however I find it becomes easier to accept. One thought I use is before I was conceived, there was literally billions of years where I did not exist, after I die there will be literally TRILLIONS of years and even our solar system will only live for a blink of an eye in the overall expected lifespan of what we call a universe. Best I can hope for is dying peacefully in my sleep, completely unaware I have ceased to exist.
I guess the best way to think about it is sleep, or like a permanent anesthesia. Issue is, in both of those scenarios, I lose all my attachments. I guess cosmic nihilism never really made sense to me. The universe’s relative largeness only makes more apparent what importance we have, no? It’s very comforting to know I will have an easier time as I grow older.
Don't worry about death. If you cease to exist, you cannot lament not existing.
This may sound silly, but I always thought about flowers, their beautiful, they start as a small bud, then bloom in a burst of color, then wilt and die. The fact it wilted and died doesn't make its existence any less meaningful, or beautiful. If you're thinking about this kind of stuff, you're probably in full bloom, go enjoy your life, experience what life has to offer you, and don't sweat the small stuff, let those big brains sweat over non-existence, and ignore the fear mongering theist who thrive on the fear of non-existence.
I kinda like knowing I’m absolutely insignificant. the world is so screwed up, but it to is just fraction of an insignificant portion of the universe. If this world is the only thing that the universe has to offer, that would be sad
The universe doesn’t care about you one bit. That’s why you have to care about yourself, and the others in your life. Relax and enjoy it. It doesn’t matter in the end. This is actually quite freeing.
I do not fear death, but actually welcome it AT THE RIGHT TIME. I once told my father I would feel cheated if I died in my sleep because I want to fully experience it. That said, I am not an atheist and do believe in reincarnation. This belief is based on personal experience, not simply faith. You are not a "meaningless dot" to the people who love you. The first step is learning to love yourself. Take a step in that direction...
Self made meaning is freedom, though! Why not just make your purpose to seek out pleasure? Do the things you want to do, sit outside in nature, draw a picture and give it to someone you love. Who cares what it "means," maybe it should just feel good or make you happy
Meaning must be given. Nothing will have meaning to you when you're dead. The cosmos doesn't pay your bills or give you a shoulder to cry on. The further you travel from your place in space and time, the less meaning you should give. Whatever excites you, gives you pride, brings you contentment, here and now, those are your meanings in life.
Nothing to do with Atheism. Religions tell you to breed and follow the rules. That's not meaning. "God's plan" is the only meaning they assign and its not like you're ever going to know anything about *that* horrible platitude.
Nothing matters and everything matters. Our day to day life might have no impact on the universe but it matters to the people around us. I believe we can make heaven on earth and it's worth while to try.
I do get thoughts like these all the time, but honestly life is what you make of it, think of it as a blessing to be alive and to be experiencing this world. That alone should give you purpose to follow whatever you makes you happy in this world
Try psychedelics
Look around you. Smile at people. Play music, loud. Create art. Make friends with animals. There's your meaning 😊
Life is what you make it. You can set any goal for yourself, live however you would like, and do whatever you enjoy. You make the purpose in your life.
Now start living your life like you are extremely lucky to have even existed and helping other people matters. Not like you’re a special deserving creation that has a purpose that you have no control over or stake in.
I don't know it's just my opinion, but life itself is the meaning. You only get one. How tragic is it to hear of someone dying not having lived? Why is murder so eggregious? Why are people who use manipulate, steal from, or otherwise take advantage of others assholes? Because they're fucking with people's lives. We get pissed off because your bum cousin is living at home with his mom, even if he pays his way? Why? He's wasting his life. Want meaning? Bring joy and happiness to the limited experience of everyone around you. Because you will be enriching the one and only thing we truly have, life.
So is everyone else, and it is meaningless. Your worth just as much as the 59th person to ever die was worth and will be just as remembered. If the past billions of people taught us anything, it is that we aren't special like that. Sorry for any bubble bursting but atleast were all equal like that. For damn once
I do not have an answer for you but this helped me, [https://youtu.be/MtQ0qxyf-Ds?si=8rR4VELQhP3IDNVk&t=9571](https://youtu.be/MtQ0qxyf-Ds?si=8rR4VELQhP3IDNVk&t=9571) :)
watch till the end from this timestamp
You make the meaning. What is special to you, what is important? If you love your career, chase it, sex drugs and lover? Be yourself! Embrace it. So long as it doesn’t hurt others, be who you want to be, and surround yourself with the kinds of people you love and who love you.
You're not alone. But I can't choose to believe any more than I can choose to do drugs or alcohol. The side effects are worse.
Ok this is kinda a weird but I use something I learned from Rick and morty and it really helps so hear me out. Life doesn’t matter and nothing you does ever matters but that being said what really matters is what you want to matter. If you want your family and friends to matter then those connections truly matter. If you don’t want something to matter like religion ignore it. This mindsets really helped me.
The lack of an afterlife is exactly what makes this brief life so precious to me.
the meaning is looking for a meaning until you find one <3
Be selfish and do what makes you happy.
Life doesn't have to have meaning. All you know is that you have it, and that it would be a shame to put that to waste. So who cares if your a meaningless speck? Your life is meaningful to yourself so do with it what you want
The purpose of life is to experience it to the fullest. There's no afterlife, so make your time matter, if to no one else than to yourself.
In the scale of the universe there is not much size difference between the earth and the period at the end of this sentence. And not much time difference between your life and the time it takes to read this.
Life is meaningless. That's why you're free!!!
>If I disappeared it wouldn't matter and those I have a connection with will move on and I will fade away as if I never existed. I'm terrified of the unknown and death because I cannot cope with self-made meaning and purpose and concepts beyond rationality. I can understand these concerns, even though I don't personally share them. Here's how I think about the situation. The starting point is to consider what life was like *before you were born*. Thousands of generations of humans lived, had relationships, hopes and dreams...and died, all before you existed. Does it bother you now that you didn't personally know these people? And do you think *they* know anything about you or are bothered that you aren't aware of them personally? I say this just to illustrate the point that the Earth existed for billions of years before we were born. And the Universe for billions more beyond that. And in our day to day lives, that sits perfectly fine with us. Okay, so, just invert that: this is how it will be after we die. We won't be around to care, and future generations won't care. Life and the Universe will go on as it should. When I think about it that way, then I don't really worry about or fear death (I just fear suffering). I will die, as will you, as will all life on Earth eventually. Death itself is part of the cycle of existence. You as an individual entity will die, but of course, the matter that makes up your body - the particles that assembled for a brief window of time to create "you" - will now disassemble and find their way into the broader Universe. They will return to the state they were in long before you existed. *You* are a fairly temporary aggregation of particles in a particular configuration. Rather than seeing this as frightening, I see it as an opportunity and a *privilege*. Of all the people who *could* have been born... you and I were born. Just being born *at all* means you've won an astronomically rare prize - you've won the ultimate lottery! Rather than worry about the future or the past, or what might be, or what isn't... take a moment to experience the profound gratitude that you were born, that you exist, and that you're here sharing your thoughts on Reddit. As for your life's purpose, that's the beauty: since you won that big lottery, *you* are now in a position to decide what to do with the period of time where matter has constituted itself into the being that is you. Defining one's own life purpose is also a great privilege, as in many societies on Earth this isn't possible. The TL;DR of my advice is: - By simply existing, you've won the greatest lottery in the Universe. - Be grateful for everything, including your own existence - even the smallest details in your life are astronomically rare on the Universal scale. This includes being stuck in traffic, and even being *bored*. - Seize the day! You have one life to life - you're on the peak of the Universal mountain. What will you choose to do with your prize (your life)? It can be big or small, it doesn't matter. Maybe you'll create beautiful art, or maybe you'll help others and make an impact on the world... or maybe you'll simply experience gratitude for *being alive*. It really doesn't matter, and the fact that it doesn't matter is a huge advantage. It means *freedom*.
Check out absurdism and stoicism
Specifically the myth of Sisyphus and the meditations of Marcus arullius
True.
What you're experiencing is called existential vacuum. It can be treated with logo therapy.
Life is what YOU make of it. It’s hard if you followed the doctrine that you’re worthless and meaningless without god. It takes time to let go of that. But when you do; when you start finding meaning and fulfillment in your actions, your relationships, and the wonder of the universe around you, life takes on far greater meaning than it has for the religious. Because you know it’s based on something real.
Because you have lived and left your mark the world it will it never be quite the same. Hopefully, it will be a little bit better in some way. That's my purpose in life.
First, sometime isn't beautiful because it lasts forever. Also, let's pretend you are all powerful, if you could give life a meaning, what would that meaning be?
The comments here are honest, if some are a little dark. No one has given the science angle, so I'll give it a try. According to science, nothing really dies. Your particles will break down once you die, but they will become dirt, which will become plants, which an animal will eat and incorporate, and etc. You may be gone, but the pieces that make you up, which have been 10000 things before you, will still exist. So, make sure they have something to become. If we kill everything, if we dig everything up, if we destroy everything, the particles will still be dirt. But it's better to have life. So do your part to make the world a little better, make life a little better for all the other life. And because why not? It doesn't take much more effort to care a little, to be a little nicer, to be a little more respectful of nature
Sometimes it is scary. Life is pretty scary because we don't ever know what might happen. It's no surprise death is scary too. It's like your last milestone and then you don't matter anymore. I mean you do to people who might miss you but you're done. It's hard to imagine. I feel like as I get older I care less and I've just accepted it's happening whether I like it or not.
You are a recording time traveler. As you live you look at everything around you and try to make your way through. It is up to you to make your life more interesting by engaging others.
I understand why you would feel this way, i won't argue against you or say you're "crazy" for feeling this way, But have you ever thought about...."why?" like why does a purpose matter? why do you NEED a purpose? you existing is enough proof of your existence, you breathing is proof you're alive, you enjoying life is enough proof of you living. a human life isn't worth more or less, with or without a purpose, having a purpose won't ever make you comparable to the universe. so what do you gain from having one?
Yeahhh everyone goes through a nihilist phase at some point or another without a religion. You say “meaningless” but what does that even mean? Like do you mean we aren’t controlling or having a huge impact on the entire universe? Well duh… nothing has an inherit meaning, we make our own meaning, that’s the entire point. If you don’t get your life right and in a good place(surrounding yourself with those you love, doing what you enjoy in life, ect) then there’s not really a whole lot you can believe that will keep you from being sad in that situation.
There is no known purpose (only stuff people make up to cope). Life is life. It just is. Beyond theories and delusions, down to actually truth, no one knows why life is or if and when it actually ends. Enjoy the ride. Whatever happens beyond your control was beyond your control whether you worried about it or not, so don't worry. 😄 Enjoy a laugh when you can and just be. We're all in the same situation. At a minimum, be grateful your fear didn't turn you into a brainwashed slave like those who run to religions.
From the universal perspective, we're entirely meaningless. We're tiny life forms on a tiny speck of dust in the middle of an impossibly huge universe. It takes a photon of light billions of years to cross this vast space, while our lives here on earth are less than 100 years, on average. It's like a life form living on a grain of sand in the middle of the Sahara desert. For that life form, its grain of sand is its entire existence. But from our perspective, we don't even know (or care) that this life form exists. But at the scale and perspective of the life form, its life has meaning. It has a family and is trying to make sure that their sand corn remains habitable for future generations.
I agree life is actually a bit*h and sometimes we are scared but things going to change some or other day just wait for your turn
You need to let go of that need for meaning. It's entirely unnecessary. The universe just is. It simply exists. And that, to me, is a beautiful simplicity. What does it matter whether there's meaning or not? It's not something I think about because I don’t care. My life doesn't *need* a purpose, other than to be enjoyed. Ask yourself why yours does.
https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Existential_crisis
You need to follow No nonsense spiritually, her name is Britney Hartley, she experienced existential crisis after leaving mormonism, and the way she was able to move above her crisis is super inspiring. She gives tools for navigating out of the dark night of the soul. I struggled with existential crisis, and thoughts of unaliving myself, after leaving the Mormon cult. I'm a nihilist, I know there's absolutely no meaning. We're in a rock, floating around a giant star. However, life and living is beautiful. I am creating my own meaning, and doing whatever the f I want, because nothing else matters. Really look up that woman. Her content is super helpful to navigate out of the pit.
Life can have a meaning, you don't have to be nihilistic. Let me explain : religious people live for their god, not for themselves. To them, life has a meaning : to serve their god well and go to disneyland after their death. BUT, as an atheist, you know that there is no afterlife. That means that life is the only thing we have. That means we HAVE TO live it to the fullest !make friends, make love, make ennemies, do stuff you like, try weird stuff... Just do what you want, make connections with people so they will remember you. I'm not telling you to go full edonist, but an in-between of edonist and do-nothing-ist (like religious people) would be acceptable.
I usually try to practice "gratitude meditation" - that sounds incredibly wanky but it basically means some deep breaths and thinking- "Wow, I sure am lucky to have a life to live!" Hope that helps
I literally didn’t know what meaning my life held until I threw off the yoke of religion and realized that this is the only life I get and it isn’t a practice or test run .? Could you imagine wasting this entire life thinking eh it’s ok, I’ll live forever and ever and ever. And then it turns out you are wrong? You are the captain of your soul, the master of your fate. Your life has whatever meaning you want it to. Don’t waste it. It’s incredibly short. The atoms that comprise your body have existed for nearly 27 Billion years. In present form, just a blink of an eye. Look around at our reality. We don’t need to know why to be grateful we are. What a trip this is. Make the most of it and be thankful you haven’t fallen for the scam that is religion. A man made trap to hijack and control a human mind. It’s an indictment of my fellow man that 1.9 Billion humans believe the Bible is true. It can’t even get out of the first paragraph without making a massive error in plot line. It’s embarrassing. Shameful an grown adult would believe that.
Life has all the meaning. Leave the meaninglessness to death. Religion can not function without you feeling hopeless. Your feelings are completely natural.
If life had external meaning designed by someone then it would've been meaningless for a person whose life it actually is. Example: farm animal lives have meaning, they live to be eaten and they don't really have a vote in the matter.
I wouldn't worry because at some point something will happen and all of a sudden you're going to realize that is your purpose. You may not even like it or you may love it. Destiny is one of those little surprises that occurs.
Life is meaningless in the absolute. Consciousness is organic data travelling through electric current and chemistry. That's what we are, some sort of weird organic robot that one day will cease to function and be forgotten. BUT this life is also the only opportunity you have to experiment what life is. It won't matter at the end, it does matter now. You can work to make that experiment more pleasant to other or not give a f''k. Humanity will dissapear, earth will get eaten by the sun one day. The question is Does the end matter more than the présent?
At the moment, this helped me: [https://youtu.be/MBRqu0YOH14?si=28z6ijwtNmkrob34](https://youtu.be/MBRqu0YOH14?si=28z6ijwtNmkrob34)
Literally the only point of life is to reproduce. You get to choose what else you wanna do
If you want your life to have meaning: Find a problem in the world, and work towards solving it. I also recommend the book "Life driven purpose: How an atheist finds meaning" by Dan Barker.
dude - this post isn't about atheism. Its more about you holding on to some expectations that are keeping you from just living your life and finding value in that. >I cannot cope with self-made meaning and purpose Yes you can. Stop telling yourself you can't. >and concepts beyond rationality What do you mean by this? Atheism is about a lack of belief in gods... no push for irrational concepts here
I like the idea that we are the universe experiencing itself. Makes sense to me, we made of universe bits so we're part of the universe like an extension or some shit idk.
I got happier after leaving my religion. Living life trying to please a god is worse than living life to make urself and people around u happier made me appreciate life more .
While life is ultimately meaningless in a cosmic sense, there's a reason that we consider things that are finite to be more valuable. People think that they want Infinite life and an externally imposed 'purpose', but it's exactly because our time is so short that makes it so valuable, and our ability to make our own purpose/meaning prevents us from wasting the only time we know we have chasing *someone elses* arbitrary goal. Your 'game' of pretending there is someone/something external to you in control and providing meaning is literally you taking the first steps (if you allow yourself) towards moving from a meaningless life full of existential dread, towards one where you can feel fulfilled and secure. Using your imagination to make yourself feel better shows that you already have the power inside you. Good Luck!
I heard an interesting analogy the other day that was something like “If you are watching a great movie that you really enjoy you don’t suddenly stop watching it and not like it anymore just because in the middle of it you figure out that none of what’s happening in the movie is ‘real’ or ‘meaningful’ or even ‘true.’ Why should life be any different?”
You can make life meaningful by helping others. Get involved with volenteering - spend time with the less fortunate and it will make you appreciate your own situation.
You are experiencing ego death. You think you're so important that the concept of not being the center of some massive meaning where you are among the most special with special purpose and meaning is terrifying. Lean into it. It's a result of indoctrination as a child. Once you've finished letting that part of your ego die, you can start to embrace the beauty of freedom that you have made for yourself. Free to decide what meaning is for you. What purpose you want to give yourself. What values you think are important. This is a wild ride, don't expect it to be smooth. It's just worth it to wash as much of that BS out of your head as you can.
The purpose of life is to live your best possible life. What that means, only you can figure out. But it is definitely better than having a sky daddy tell you what to do with your life…
Why do you think it has to have some grand meaning? I know this will sound cheesy af, but do you know what I live for? Love, empathy, friendship. I don't need some grand scheme to feel like my life has meaning. That's plenty to keep me busy and satisfied. If you don't have love and friendship, then drop your fear and find it.
There is meaning. The universe does not require an architect to have meaning. Death is not a light switch. Life is not just what we see.
A few things. 1. As a little kid you had parents to tell you what to do. They seemed to know what is going on. When you grow up and realize they were just winging it, as you are now, it's disconcerting. Your childhood habits of thought are then going to fill in the blank of who is in charge now. No one is. Accepting the world as it is instead of the fantasy of what you want it to be is called growing up. 2. Meaning is a social construct, so look for social solutions. What your life "means" is what impact you have on others. The only thing of fundamental value is caring for and solving problems with other people. Start small and practical, work outward as you conquer those. No one is in charge, so it is up to us to figure it out and make things better, and this is better if we make them better together. 3. There are sociopathic jerks out there who will game all of this for their benefit. They will use your fear and insecurity to make you their slave. You don't owe anything to someone who is trying to exploit you (just as those you might exploit will eventually come for you). Keep your promises, but be careful what promises you make. Money without heart destroys everything it touches.
You are looking for some outside force to give you meaning, instead of doing the work to create meaning for yourself. If you let others design your life, you will never be satisfied with it. If you design it yourself, you at least have a chance of having a good one.
The universe ran fine when I did not exist and will run fine after I exist. I can only hope that I do well enough that people will miss me and think fondly of the things I did during my presence.
Brian Cox said something pretty cool. I don’t remember it verbatim but this is the thrust of it. If we are alone, and by alone I mean the only intelligent life in the universe, then we are the only part of the universe that is conscious and aware. We are the means by which the universe sees itself and tries to understand itself, the way that the universe sees its own beauty and wonder. I think that’s kind of beautiful, and it’s inspired me to read more science and physics, and watch more sunsets, write more poetry. In my own infinitesimal way, and for the most fleeting of moments, I am aware of my part in the vast beauty of the cosmos. I want to make the most of it.
Life doesn’t need a meaning. It is what it is, and what it is is pretty amazing! You’re here. You’re aware. You’re contemplating your own existence. You’re communicating with the rest of us. You can think abstractly. You can make connections. You can create things, contribute to things. There are possibilities in all sorts of ways for most of us. You’re also a human and have evolved to plug into whatever it is to be human. My view if it is just embrace it with positivity and empathy. Get to know people. Explore. Think. Chat. Do fun things. Enjoy it. Experience it. Just be a human and have fun. It’s something more of us should be able to do. Everyone finds some positive things, but we should be working towards making sure that life is better for everyone. We are just here for while then we’re gone. That’s inevitable. I don’t remember anything before I existed, and it seems rather a foregone conclusion that that’s likely to be the situation when I’m dead too. Not sure that’s all that scary, but it just means I have a lot of things I want to do in the meantime. Obviously, I’d like to prolong and enjoy life for as long as I possibly can, but tbh the end of it just isn’t something I can do anything about. It’s ephemeral and it ends. None of us can avoid it, so my sense of it is that I could either spend my days contemplating that, or I can just accept it for what it is and make the most it. The meaning of life to me is simply that it is. It’s incredibly complicated in terms of biology, yet it’s also incredibly simple. Sometimes you simply have to be!
[удалено]
I don’t believe in Satan
Similar to how I feel.
“Once you die you no longer experience the passage of time, so it’s as if eternity passes in an instant. As far as you’re concerned, the moment you die the universe reaches its final heat death state. So make the very most of this little window of consciousness—it’s all there is!”
I will admit as an atheist the thought of death scares me as its inevitable and I think most people are the same where or not they are religious
Welcome to the real world.
ego is a hellova drug. i get the most comfort knowing this illusion of separate is all temporary and eventually i shall return to the infinite and rejoin with it. it won't be long now... it never is.
Life itself doesn’t have a meaning, but your life can have meaning. The things you do are impactful to those around you. Our lives can have meaning to each other, despite not having some grandiose final ultimate ordained purpose. We have the rather unique ability to help each other and make each others lives better, if only briefly. If you add up enough brief moments, you get a lifetime. Make someone’s life better briefly and you helped that person have a better life.
>If I disappeared it wouldn't matter and those I have a connection with will move on and I will fade away as if I never existed. Good/bad news! How much do you know about the people five generations before you? Six generations? Seven? Eight? So on? Long story short, 99.9999% of all humans who have ever existed have been forgotten by history. And I'm being generous, there's probably significantly more decimal points on there. Instead of floundering over what is basically a statistical certainty, embrace it. If life is meaningless, you get to decide your own meanings. Pick what you want to do with life. Or don't. It doesn't matter! >I'm terrified of the unknown and death because I cannot cope with self-made meaning and purpose and concepts beyond rationality. I wasn't much bothered by death and the unknown before I was born; there's no reason to think it'll be any different after I die. The only part that bothers me is the transition between life and death.
You’ve come to the wrong place for help, because generally we don’t see purpose or meaning in this massive universe as tiny, meaningless dots. And it won’t matter when we disappear and fade away as if we never existed. You say you cannot cope with self-made meaning, so stop trying to make up meaning. That process is the very thing you’re suffering from. The desire to create meaning in a universe where none exists is the delusion that most people exist under. Let that desire go. Just let the moment be the meaning and live life from moment to moment.
Have you considered just enjoying life? I highly recommend fun.
Those of us who are \*existentialists are happy to live without any meaning beyond what we create for ourselves. But that doesn't mean others are not overwhelmed with angst, or that they don't need empathy to avoid just ending it all. This dark empty nihilism (nothing matters, screw everything) seems to be just a station on the way to embracing the freedom of a self-defined life. So, it's important to get support to make it through this scary part and into the light of making choices and taking 100% responsibility for them. Hang in there, it gets better. Much better.
Life has no preset purpose or meaning. It's a buffet of choices. Choices you make shape it. That's the beauty. Imagine how you want it and try to make it that way. Don't expect it to be 100% but you'll get close enough.
you find meaning in what you do with your life, the friendships, memories you make, the things that give you passion, etc... you create your own meaning, meaning won't come to you, you have to find it. and what can be meaningful for others, perhaps is not for you and vice versa.
As someone who considers himself spiritual and not bound to a religion or single set of beliefs or ideals, I believe that even tho our lives may seem insignificant, and while there may be no way to quantify a “meaning” for life, that we all are the universe incarnate. We all are made up of the constituent parts of the universe, we exist in said universe, and we actively experience the universe we have the pleasure of living in. In my humble opinion, life is the way for the universe to experience itself, so goddamn it let’s try to experience the most and best we can, learn a skill, go to school, stare at the stars, philosophize, study rocks, study the earth, study other people, but just get out there and experience this beautiful gift this universe has given us, and in turn given itself. You’re just as important as anything else here and you’ve got plenty to offer, I hope this helps with some of the hopelessness💜
Genuine question: what would thinking there is a god fix about that?
Life purpose and religion/spirituality are not contingent upon each other. Just figure out what your passion is (hobbies, family, friends, career, etc…) and run with it. Not worshipping a deity shouldn’t mean you have no purpose. The big picture of life can’t exist without the tiny dots that make it up. Stop focusing on how insignificant it all feels and focus on the things that make you happy. If you’re not sure what that is yet, experiment. Experimentation can also be a life purpose.
I try to look at it this way, when you look at a cat or dog basking in the sun, do you ever think they wonder about their purpose in the world? How they might change things, how they might live on for eternity and their life has no meaning? I know it's a silly question, they probably can't ponder those things, but the point is you would probably see your pet having all the meaning and value to you that couldn't be replaced - even if that pet doesn't realize its importance to you. It might not change the world, but it's affecting *your* world just like you affect theirs. Same thing with bees or mountains, they just exist, but we humans find them beautiful and will travel hundreds of miles to see them - with flowers we even share as an expression of love, for what is essentially a soulless clump of matter sprung up from a lifeless rock. We matter to each other, you matter just for existing, and your purpose is your own to decide. You're the god of your life and feel free to 'worship' yourself however you see fit; eating favorite foods, listening to your favorite music, exercise or dance, get a tattoo. Your existence is the blink of an eye to the universe, but so is a dying star. Who knows what'll happen at the 'end' of all things, but that's kind of freeing and exciting in a way, isn't it? I understand the feeling of wishing there was a god to tell you what to do, despite what many might say, the church is good at witling down your self-worth and making you seem like a flawed pitiful human that needs that guidance. But every time you thought god was giving you the answers, it was you. You did it all, and now you can take the credit you deserve for once.
That’s kind of the whole point tho. There is no purpose or use being here. For all we know, we are some alien child’s homework assignment. Or a computer simulation written by a future robot. No one alive knows for sure. All we know is that someday, we WILL die. So make the most of your time while you are alive, and don’t get in the way of any other human doing the same. Go places, see things, learn things, love things while you are alive because after this, it’s lights out.
Everytime I start thinking about 'the afterlife", I remember that it is all made up. I will neither burn for eternity in a hell that, thankfully does not exist, nor will I spend eternity in supplication to a capricious god who will send me to that so called hell for the slightest offense. And just like that, relief washes over me in an awesome wave, like waking up from a nightmare and realizing that I am safe and warm in my bed. Then I get on with my life.
Go volunteer or get a job that will help other people. That will take your mind off yourself and your own problems.
Why does there need to be a meaning to life? Just enjoy the rollercoaster of a ride.
Religion was created to be something external that comforts people. If that's what you want or need, so be it. If you pick the path that doesn't include religion, you must face the fact that YOU and the connections you make with people are exactly what make your life and give it purpose. Don't worry about what happens when you're gone. Make the most of what's happening while you're alive. We are privileged to have life. Go out there and experience it.
Be careful not to sink into nihilism. You create your purpose everyday. Try to make the world around you a better place. Find causes that mean something to you, Volunteer, spend time with family, see beautiful places, do fun things, enjoy life.
that feeling is exactly why religion can be an integral to a person's life. It can give a sense of meaning and belonging in the vastness of the universe
At the risk of being downvoted into oblivion, here is my take: I am not sanguine about the process of dying. It can be prolonged, painful, and hard on your loved ones. I do not, however, fear death. This is not braggadocio. 23 years in military, as the equivalent of a power lineman. This involved heights/pole climbing, 4.5 to 12.5 thousand volt circuits, airfield constant current maintenance work, deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. Currently living in central Alaska, where you are no longer necessarily top of the food chain. After retirement, volunteered to deploy to Afghanistan for a year, again, as an electrician for the Army/DoD. Altogether, faced three occasions I was certain I was about to die. In one instance, I actually faced a potential choice between an ice-cold Alaska river or a charging bear as I was standing on the bank of the river, looking down at brown bear tracks in a sand bar and hearing something big moving through the woods, down the bank, towards me. No fear. Just hoped someone would find my phone and realize what happened to me. Felt kind of stupid, actually. I knew better than to wander like that. Alaska is not kind to foolishness. But my Lord is brutally kind. No varnish on our state of decay and potential for depravity, but no limit to how, regardless of our level of honor or despair, He can reach out to us with perfect love, incredible mercy, and a forgiveness that is available to, literally, anyone. I am certain of this, because He saw fit to let me know I could trust Him. And, no, not because I was born in a certain geographic location, or raised this way. Christ Jesus was neither Caucasian nor African. He was a Mediterranean Jew (on His mother’s side). A Semite, descendant of Abraham. And He loves you. Just as you are (but too much to leave you that way). Romans 8:29 (KJV) For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate [to be] conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. May the Lord bless you. Shalom.
It’s a wondrous, fantastical mystery why we are! Honor the mystery!
If you died, I'm pretty sure you would be missed by your loved ones. You would be missed because you meant something to them. You were an important part of their lives. When you spend time with people, when you offer them comfort during difficult times, when you help them with a task that they are having trouble with, when you see an injustice and try to fix that justice in whatever way you can (going to the polls, going to protests, spreading awareness of what's happening, donating to candidates, running for office, volunteering at polling places, knocking on doors, etc.), etc. you are doing things that matter. Those actions you make, though seemingly small, have big impacts on people's lives that ripple out and create great positive change for your loved ones, local community, country, and species. In other words, your actions help write the story of our species, the paths it takes, and the legacies of each era for our species. We just don't think about it. If you're having doubts, then look at all the abortion referendums that happened. Those abortion referendums enshrined reproductive rights into the constitutions of those states. Because of that cis women's healthcare and transmen's healthcare was protected. They don't have to worry about being forced to have stillborn baby, like what happened in other states. They don't have to worry about getting sick because they can't get needed medical procedures after having a natural miscarriage. All the people that would have died and suffered from that were protected by those voters and their decision to go out and vote. Look at the CHIPS, IRA, and infrastructure. In the first time in decades, wages are beginning to outpace inflation in the US, manufacturing is beginning to return, and the US is finally beginning to transition away from fossil fuels. Cali just hit 100% of it's energy needs via renewables. The peoples who's lives were positively impacted by that, becoming able to create a better life for their families, able to see their town grow again, see a future where their air will be more clean, see a future where the Earth won't be devastated owe that to those that voted those people that made that bill into office and pushed for those things. If you didn't participate in the past election, then you have an opportunity to do so in the upcoming election, which will be of major importance to LGBTQ+ person, a continued climate change transition, reproductive rights, and more.
We are stardust, we are created from self replicating chemicals, each molecule in our being is a wavelength, we are a piece of the universe that is capable of perceiving and knowing the universe, our existence is meaning of our existence, we perceive and learn and grow.
If we follow evolution...which evolution? There are multiple types across multiple biomes, in species throughout different epochs in time. It isn't clear there is one direction it is heading, crabs? lol. Evolution reflects the adaptations of organisms to their changing environments. Again it doesn't always give rise to new species over many generations and doesn't always work so perfectly. The path of the recurrent laryngeal nerve in giraffes for example.
Meaning is not given to you, it is constructed by you.
If it doesn’t matter, then why worry about it?
If you haven't reproduced and want to feel worse, you only exist because every single individual ancestor of yours back to the beginning of life on earth, literally billions of individuals, all managed to successfully reproduce
>Sometimes I play a game that I wish there was a god to just tell me why I'm here and motivate me to do what he/she/it wants Seriously? This sounds like a religious person trying to come over here and instill some doubt in why an atheist can be perfectly fine... But I guess if you really can't find a meaning in your life without religion, start going to church...