How do you find purpose as an atheist?

I am an agnostic. Or an atheist. Whatever you want to call it. I don't think it is likely that there can be a God, given the constraints of physical laws, logical gaps, and whatnot, so I don't believe in a God, but I'm not so closed minded as to suggest that I know there isn't a God. I just think there isn't a God, and it seems to me that this is as sure as anyone can be one way or another.

That being said, my loss of faith (which was never very strong to begin with) has been a slowly evolving process since I went through confirmation at my Methodist church at the age of 14. I am now 21. Over the course of the last year though, as my awareness toward the absurdity of organized religion has grown, I too have grown; grown to resent the carelessness with which people think and act in the name of their deity, whoever that may be for them. I see irrationality flowing from the very lifeforce that gives the faithful their faith.

This would be all fine and dandy for me, but there is a problem. As I see it, if there is a God, then life has a purpose. If there is no God, which is where my mind currently rests - as if it could ever do such a thing - I see no purpose. Oh, sure, we can say that "life is what you make of it," and "find your purpose in making the world a better place," but these are discouraging words. The world is not a good place. In fact, the world is a very bad place. Emotional suffering, physical pain, death, and all that we fear runs rampant in the world.

With so much irrationality, so much despair, loneliness, and the flaw of the human condition, how can I ever be hopeful toward a future of peace, tranquility, and happiness? This is the problem. I have lost my faith in humanity. Losing faith in God was not a huge loss for me. But losing faith in humanity is losing faith in everything. If people can never be good, why try? Why should I miserably put up with this world of suffering, a world without justice, when I can so easily escape it?

Good question! Why don't I just kill myself now? Because I have love for those who love me. I know that my death would shake the very foundation of my parents' lives, the life of my sister, my girlfriend, relatives, and friends. And I am not so cruel as to put any of them through this. But at the same time, I am sacrificing my own happiness. I am not happy in life. I can't be happy when the future seems to bleak and hopeless. Casualties mounting in the Middle East, religious wars millenia old. If one man, Abraham, has been able to convince billions upon billions of humans over the course of 4500 years, or however long its been since he became the first prophet of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, that a God exists, what hope do I have as a rationality seeking individual in the 21st century?

The complexities of technology have not stopped the believers, education does little to combat faith, and war..well we know just how successful war is at solving anything.

So I've finally come to you, my fellow Agnostical Atheists, or Atheistical Agnostics, to ask where you derive hope, purpose. What keeps you going? What allows you to ignore or accept that religion divides, breeds hate and misunderstanding? And how do you have hope for the future of the human race when no end to the madness reveals itself through the fog of our clouded times?

 

i just don't worry about things i can't change and try to enjoy my life as i live it, because suicide is not an option for me either, so if i'm going to be here i might as well have fun with it

 

Is the world really a bad place?!
I don't think it is, and I'm not trying to spare its feelings.



Give life a purpose, beyond your vision even, but don't give it up!
God went to hell long ago! lol

 

I second that emotion! I may not have standing to comment, since I'm a somewhat oxymoronic "Christian agnostic" ,"Christian existentialist", or "Christian humanist". Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. There's lots of evil, suffering, injustice and stupidity in the world--always has been and it's not going away. I think there's also spectacular beauty, in nature and in humans, that sometimes takes my breath away in sheer awe of it. Maybe we can find meaning in that,or in the "miracle" of just being alive and conscious. Sartre said :"hell is other people" So is heaven!
Meaning isn't going to come to any of us wrapped up and tied with a bow. I find the adventure of searching for it and taking personal responsibility for it to be the fun part.

 

you dont find purpose....you create it for yourself. from there, the possibilities are endless.

 

One psychologist whose practice and writings were mainly devoted to helping people find meaning was Viktor Frankl, concentration camp survivor, who noticed that the people who made it through the Nazi concentration camp experience were the ones who found something to give meaning to their lives even in that challenging environment. He sees the quest for meaning as the ultimate need driving human behavior, and he recognizes that meaning is very personal and subjective for each of us, "not one size fits all". He asks questions like: Why don't you commit suicide? (which you've already answered) And "Is there anything you'd be willing to die for? You mentioned that the main thing keeping you alive is the effect your death would have on friends and family. So that sounds like a promising place to start for what you think gives meaning to your life.

 

One psychologist whose practice and writings were mainly devoted to helping people find meaning in life was Viktor Frankl, concentration camp survivor, who noticed that the people who made it through the Nazi concentration camp experience were the ones who found something to give a sense of purpose to their lives even in that hopeless environment: memories, friends, the sun, the moon, the stars, etc. He sees the quest for meaning as the ultimate need driving human behavior, and he recognizes that meaning is very personal and subjective for each of us, "not one size fits all". He asks questions like: Why don't you commit suicide? (which you've already answered). And "Is there anything you'd be willing to die for?" You mentioned that the main thing keeping you alive is the effect your death would have on friends, girlfriend and relatives. So that might be a promising place to start for what you think gives meaning to your life.

You also say you aren't "happy". I find that when I focus on "Are we having fun yet?" it's impossible to be satisfied. You may be over-analyzing instead of really living and experiencing life as it comes. It also might help to think of ways to make other people happier, or do something to reduce if only a little bit some of the misery, suffering and injustice you see in the world around us. I don't know whether that will make you happy, but you could really make yourself useful that way. And we're young. Who knows what the future might have in store.

 

I am too a person that has question in faith of religion and god, and I do have reason to live though, I get to experience. Experience love, marriage, having a child, best friends, the bad, the good, my family. but I also wonder, WTF>>> I have SO many bad things happening in my life, that I lose myself like that. Why? I ask myself that sometimes. JUST FUCKING BECAUSE THATS WHATS GOING ON. you dont know if there is a god, you dont know if you are even ALREADY in hell, seriously, we all COULD BE. you dont know if anything happens when we die, etc. But RIGHT NOW. thats what you should focus on. WHATS GOING ON right now and enjoy every fucking drop of it. why not? life is too short to waste

 

I'll be quite honnest with you I was Atheist and Agnostic most of my life, and these questions kept me up at night literally, and I was quite depressed and miserable.

The WHO AM I?
THE WHAT AM I DOING HERE?
THE WHO ARE ALL THESE OTHER PEOPLE?
and the grand daddy
WHERE AM I GOING NEXT?

GAH!

As I remember from that chapter in my life, I just basically repressed them, and resorted to FUCK-IT-OLz and lots of them. Like many of the people are saying just give er' shit and live every day like it's your last and don't worry about it!

But if you cannot, just DROP these questions, then ... well ...

You said your self, Nobody can KNOW either way right?

we can all only sit there and either THINK there is a god or not.

If you keep on wrestling with these questions friend, like me, you may have to come to a conclusion and choose to think there is one.

But either or, I personally don't care. Like I said, if you choose not too you best have lots of fuck-it-ols handy, cause if your anything like me, your gonna need lots of them!

 

fuck me, your only 18! your talking like a harvard psychiatrist!
Way to think outside the box my man!

 

I also came to the conclusion, after my first communion, that a god doesn't exist. For most of my teenage years I was scared about going into a church (for fear of the devil), but I finally came to the realization that if a god doesn't exist then neither does a devil. Treat people the same as you would like to be treated by them and you will still have a fulfilling life.


There is a lot of anger and hate in the world, but there is also a lot a respect and love. Your purpose is to find the love and respect you deserve, without dwelling on the hate and anger.

 

Believe it or not.... you are actually god. Instead of putting all that faith and devotion into some intangible parent figure focus on the betterment of one's self. Thats what I try to do atleast.

 

Course a range of impulsive demand...

Prioritize in the sake of vitality versus convenience...
Queue for determinable solutions...
Prototype tested against untested methodical factors...
Critique overview of the main objective...
Execute!

 

what do you mean by purpose? what kind of a world do you want to live in?

do you want to live in one that reduces the probability of suffering and increases the likelyhood of a real sense of gratification?

if so, this is a reason to dicipline your values and priorities in such a way that the kind of world they contribute to creating the kind of incentives that the interations of existences will resault in that kind of a world.

i think otherwise such a concept as purpose becomes meaninglessly selfserving and circular. chaising it's own tail.

whatever nontangable friends we may or may not immagine likely to exist, don't, directly have all that much to do with it. no offence to it or them intended.

and please, an athiest is someone who realizes there doesn't have to be a god for there to be a belief. an agnostic is someone who realizes there doesn't have to be a belief for there to be one or more, mostly unknown, gods.

these are two VERY different things. an agnostic doesn't insist on there HAVING to be OR NOT BE anything. where as a lot of athiest seem to obsessively require nontangable friends greater then ourselves to not exist.

=^^=
.../\...

 

What is your life really all about? what moves you? When you feel a need to be part of something larger than yourself, what calls to you? What is your particular gift to the world?

These are crucial questions for us all. Even if you've never thought about it, you operate out of some understanding of the meaning of your life. If you are approaching mid-life or if you're in a time of crisis and transition, this issue may be just emerging into your consciousness. If you have reached the point in your psychological development where your basic needs are being met, you may find these broader questions becoming an important priority.

I define life purpose as a contribution to the world that uses your whole self fully and gives your life passion, fulfillment, and meaning through dedication to something larger than yourself. It might be work for social transformation; it might be service to people who are in need; it might be living from an attitude of love, or unleashing your creativity, or developing your highest spiritual potential.

I believe that everyone has a life purpose to be created or discovered. It seems clear that at a certain level of psychological development people need to identify and manifest this purpose.

 

^word to yur mother.

as long as your happy and do the right things in life, you can achieve anything. just stay happy for the sake of being able to experience life itself.

 

i agree wholeheartedly with your definition of life purpose, but i dont know if everyone was born with it. i think the individual has to make the decision on his or her own to give their life a purpose. some people simply choose not to give life purpose, while wasting their time assuming that purpose will come when god decides to endow it upon them...

 

Why do you HAVE to have a "purpose"? That's the kind of bullshit nonsense the religious morons believe in. I live my life the way I was brought up and later in life by how *I* think it should be lived. Mythology doesn't play any part in it.

 

Purpose is on-going self-direction, not to be confused with an imagined ultimate function.

Stubbornstoner seems to understand.

 

Do you believe the existence of God is measured subjectively or objectively?