Can atheists lead a meaningful life?
Short answer: Yes, this is perfectly possible, but only on condition that they stop asking/ inquiring at a certain point.
Long answer: A focal being, let's call it "a", is in itself always meaningless, it can only get a meaning from a higher level; "a" gets a meaning if it is embedded in something greater than itself. The letter "a" does not mean anything, it acquires a meaning only as a part of a word ("and" or "after" ). The same is true of individuals: standing alone, isolated, without any connection, their existence is meaningless, just as the existence of a pebble on a beach is meaningless.
An isolated human being is just a thinking pebble, so to speak.
But usually human individuals are never isolated. We are all more or less embedded in some relationship. And this relationship is greater than the isolated "me", therefore my life gets its meaning from this greater "we".
This rule, that the "me" gets its meaning only from something greater than itself, can be applied to everything. The ideal case is a "me" embedded in multiple "we's": my family, my friends, my job or workplace, my neighborhood, my tribe or nation, my ideology, my religious community....
But be careful : The highest/greatest "we" MUST not be questioned!
Imagine a soldier fighting in what he considers to be a just war (e.g. fighting against the Nazis in WW II). His life as a soldier gets its meaning from that higher cause which itself is meaningful. Now imagine a soldier fighting in a war he considers to be pointless, even nonsensical (in Vietnam, fighting people who have done him no wrong, fighting for a cause he does not believe in). In this case the life (and death) of the soldier becomes meaningless because the greater "we", the higher cause as such, is meaningless.
And this it the predicament of atheists: they can lead meaningful lives provided they stop questioning their "higher cause" at a certain level. The danger is that being an atheist I keep asking "What is the meaning of A?" - "A's meaning derives from being embedded in B" - "But what is the meaning of B?" - "B derives its meaning from C"... and so on. And when the questions arrive at "Z", the only answer is that Z is Z - and that is all there is.
The upshot of all this is: Meaning is only derived top-down
The advantage of theists is that their questions come to an end where God - imagined as a supernatural and superhuman person! - is the highest source and origin of all meanings (Martin Buber called God the "ultimate YOU", and in his German translation of the Thora, he translated the name YHWH as "DU" ), whereas the questions of atheists - if they keep asking - end at the Universe or Evolution, but it is obvious that neither of them has any meaning to give. The Evolution or the Universe as such are totally pointless, they are what they are: unresponsive and therefore unable to function as a top-down source of meaning.
If atheists think too much they end up as thinking pebbles on an infinite beach.
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8 comments
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.Nope...i just concentrate on making myself & everyone around me happy, after 65 years of Bullcrap!
AnneWimsey
Level 9
Aug 20, 2018
0
Life is what we make of it.
Being a college mentor is the most rewarding volunteer work I have ever done.
Since 2006, I have helped first generation, low income high school students write essays for college and scholarship applications.
It thrills me to send kids to college. Often, these students are the first person in their family to go to college. I teach students writing and organizational skills, and the importance of completing work before the deadline.
I mentored students who moved on to graduate debt-free with a bachelor degree.
In June 2018, I took three students I previously mentored on an easy hike along Icicle River Gorge. From left:
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A sophomore at the University of Washington,Tammy plans to become a neurosurgeon. She is brilliant. At age three, Tammy immigrated from Vietnam.
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Me.
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Elizabeth will become a pediatrician. In June she graduated with a bachelor degree from Gonzaga University debt-free. Hooray!
Before applying for medical school, Elisabeth will volunteer for a year, helping needy hospice patients and their families in rural Oregon.
- Teresa is studying to be an accountant. With boundless enthusiasm and a big heart, Teresa is a popular community activist. She has been asked to run for public office.
These kids have big dreams. They all want to buy a house for their parents.
I was named the Scholarship Rockstar by the Wenatchee High School College Mentor Program in May 2018. I'm second from the left with other award winners. We are all volunteer college mentors.
LiterateHiker
Level 9
Aug 20, 2018
1
Yes, I believe what we make of our lives is entirely in our own gift. I think my life is meaningful because I make it so. Others may disagree and think it is not very meaningful, that is not the point because only I can say whether my life has meaning or not. We do ourselves a great disservice if we look beyond our own ability to make life meaningful. That way leads to theism.
Marionville
Level 10
Aug 20, 2018
2
Could you explain what you mean when you say the words:
- higher/lower level
- meaning
EliRodriguez11
Level 5
Aug 20, 2018
2
Short answer: Yes, this is perfectly possible, but only on condition that they stop asking/ inquiring at a certain point.
It's the theists who have to stop questioning at a certain point before they discover that what gives them meaning is a made up fantasy. We are the universe trying to understand itself - to stop questioning at point X because of a made up answer can't give any real meaning to anything.
MarkiusMahamius
Level 7
Aug 20, 2018
0
I disagree. First question is why is UP (metaphorical) the only direction in which one can find meaning? If I'm a king, then likely much of my meaning is derived from those below me (again metaphorically). Then I would ask why does the atheist need to KEEP searching further and further upward for meaning? Why is the assumption that beyond "Z" is the ultimate arbiter of meaning, and therefore the atheist must arbitrarily find a stopping point or face existential crisis?
Furthermore why does god get to be the be-all, end-all in the theist's quest for meaning? When I was preschool aged, before I knew the word religion, long before I'd ever heard of an atheist, when all I knew was that god "is" because mom and dad said so, I was asking myself "If god made man, who made god?" I'll paraphrase to address the current question: if God gives us meaning (and following your logic, we must look ever upward and outward for meaning) then who gives god meaning? And upon discovering the answer to that, who gives THAT entity/construct meaning, and so on and so on, ad infinitum.
Your proposition sounds like the argument of a theist, and a bad one, not because it comes from a theist, but because it rests upon several logical fallacies. It's a sky hook... I wouldn't hang my hat on it.
ghettophilosopher
Level 7
Aug 20, 2018
2
"If atheists think too much they end up as thinking pebbles on an infinite beach".
and therefore would not cross the street believing they could bring a better life to some poor wretched heathen who in the long run would have been better off without smallpox, hypocrisy, greed and all the rest of the bullshit theists pull out of their bags of tricks.
I had just this conversation with a friend of mine yesterday. I asked do you think I am a morally and ethically stand up type of person. His reply was yes, of course. And I said I got here by not having religion or a god telling me to be this way.
I have never needed someone to tell me to be kind. To be nice to old people (as a kid I knew I'd be here one day). To help where and when I can. To honor my word. To honor a contract.
I believe in believing in my mental powers to think and reason things out. I know that I am a part of a great whole and do not seek to distance myself or isolate myself from the greater whole that is humanity. Theists seem to think their brand is the truth and some will put you to death if you do not follow their brand.
Give me a pebble on the beach any day of the week.
silverotter11
Level 9
Aug 20, 2018
4
Never ever having had a belief in God, I have never felt the need to question why I know what is right and wrong. Obviously, when I was growing up my parents kept me right on what was good behaviour or bad. I believe our morality comes from within us and we know instinctively what the right thing to do is. It is my empathy and compassion....my very humanness that makes me try to help my fellow human beings. No reward from god or even recognition from others is needed.
@Matias No humanity is not where things trickle down into my life. Mental and mind are not brain or humanity. Mind is the creative force, animator of all. Humans are but a manifestation of their mental processes. IMO
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