As an atheist, surely you must have no purpose in life?
I'm certain you've heard that question, or a similar one posed to you, the open atheist. It's both an insulting and an ignorant question. It's insulting because the underlying assumption is that without the acceptance of THEIR personal choice of gods, you must not know what to do with your life. You must be wandering the world aimlessly, without purpose or direction, randomly performing sinful acts and caring for no one but yourself. As an atheist, I can assure you that that is not how my life is lived.
It is an ignorant question because it presumes that purpose is something of a modern creation, or at least since their holy book of choice was written. Purpose has been demonstrated by mankind in many ways throughout time. Early man had the purpose of gathering food and water, staying safe in their environment, and reproduction. Later, purpose may have been more closely tied to communal living, caring for elders, and of course, survival of self and family. In recent history, we have enjoyed the privileged position of being able to wonder why we are here. What is our purpose in the world? Is there a god? We get to spend precious energy helping others not of our familial DNA to live better lives. We can volunteer, donate blood, and truly help people that we don't even know. So purpose has changed through time as the world's societies have grown and changed, and if you are in a position to perform any of these acts you should consider yourself fortunate indeed.
Purpose in life is therefore independent of a deity. You can attribute your life's purpose to your god, as many do, or you can live a good and purposeful life without a god. Purpose existed before god, purpose existed during theistic times, and the individual search for purpose will continue long after science has relegated god to the history books. ~R
You need as many friends as you can muster in that sea of superstition. I am your contemporary in ways more significant than chronological age:
ReplyDeleteFrom my blog 'Larinovem'---
"L.E. Alba (aka Lary9) was born to a venerable Louisiana political family during the Truman administration. Educated in engineering and liberal arts, this father of three opinionated offspring, has had a lifelong love affair with all things American especially political independence. He routinely apologizes for his progressive zeal by claiming to be besotted with Liberty. After serving in the USAF during the undeclared Vietnam war, he promptly joined the Woodstock Generation, lived in a commune in Haight-Ashbury and, despite the seductive Sirens of the west coast, began to cultivate a stubborn but artistic Yankee sensibility. More often than not, this landed him squarely in radical left-wing territory on most issues. Lately he has been thinking about retiring from politics since not many windmills of substance remain for tilting but his Louisiana roots are deep and proving to be retirement-resistant."
[http://open.salon.com/blog/lary9]
I recently bumped into you on Twitter bcz you retweeted an evolutionist's cartoon on my Twitter feed. I looked at your profile, tracked over to your 'blogspot' and read a few of your posts. Excellent. You are an exceptional writer. So I decided to reach out to you. I too am a atheist/agnostic, both with a sense of of liberation and 'comfortability'. Raised in a nominally religious Episcopalian family, my 'religion' became science years ago. Science, skepicism, naturalism, rational humanism---call it what you will---it is my way of seeing, of knowing the world. Trying to explain my journey toward that profound shift in the tectonic plates of being has been my raison d'être in outreach to others. I have taught science like a Mormon on a mission.
Larry - sorry for the delay! Thanks for your comment, it's much appreciated. I will look for you on twitter - I hope to catch you there!
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