What is the meaning of life on Earth?

kelly1

Hello all,

I'm just curious, according to atheists and agnostics, what is the purpose and meaning of our lives on Earth?

Consider that a generation after you die you will mostly be forgotten.

Why live life? What gives life a purpose?

Kind regards,
Noel.

The Bollox

according to one of the biggest athiests: the product of 6 x 9 in base 13 = 42

joe_chicken

How does the meaning of life become any clearer if you believe in God?

Ok - maybe you can say "The meaning of Life is to please God"

But you could just as easily replace that with "The meaning of life is to be as compassionate and forgiving to your fellow human beings"...

Does religion give you meaning? Do you wake up everyday thinking "There's no meaning to life... no... wait... God exists... therefore I can get out of bed?"

No, you think "What'll I have for breakfast"

Crucifix

"Live long and prosper"....:)
Everyone finds their own meaning, whether through religion, or thinking about it, or not thinking about it even.

Beruthiel

kelly1 wrote:

I'm just curious, according to atheists and agnostics, what is the purpose and meaning of our lives on Earth?

Who says there has to be a purpose or meaning?
We are born, we live for x amount of time and then we die.
If you have the means available to you, then you should make your short time here as happy as possible.

Why live life?

Because you are born. What do you suggest the alternative to be?

What gives life a purpose?

The people that you care for and are on the journey with you.

robindch

As Crucifix says, you make your own meaning, or you do things from which you derive meaning. In my case, I derive it from being around for my kid, doing interesting things and visiting peculiar places, helping people out, being nice, doing a fun job, having good friends and so on.

The position that life only has a "meaning" when somebody rolls up and gives you a religious one seems bizarre to me, especially when the "meaning" you receive is worthless if you don't accept the religion. It's like the Emperors New Clothes -- the meaning is only there if you think it is.

aidan24326

Hi Noel,

this is a question that is consistently posed to atheists. If you don't believe in god, and don't believe in a higher meaning or purpose, then why bother at all?

I believe there is no fundamental purpose to our existence, I don't think the universe deals in human trivialities like 'purpose' and 'meaning'. These are strictly human wants.

The question you need to ask yourself is not 'what is the meaning and purpose of life?', but 'why should there have to be a meaning and purpose at all?'. Says who? Us? We're just projecting a human thought process (everything must have an underlying purpose) onto a cold indifferent universe that hardly cares.

I find my purpose in life is to try to be as happy as I can while doing as little harm as possible to anyone else. Looking for some deeper meaning to the whole thing is a futile excercise, there just doesn't appear to be one, and if there is we haven't the faintest idea what it might be. Live your life for the life you have, not the fantasies of an afterlife for which there's zero evidence.

Dades

Q: What is the purpose of religion?
A: To give people a meaning in life.

Q: What is that meaning then?
A: To earn in the afterlife what they will never have in this one.

20 GOTO 10

kelly1 wrote:

Consider that a generation after you die you will mostly be forgotten.

Best do something real good in life then so you'll be remembered a bit longer!

joe_chicken

The Atheist wrote:

Q: What is the purpose of religion?
A: To give people a meaning in life.

Q: What is that meaning then?
A: To earn in the afterlife what they will never have in this one.

20 GOTO 10

Well put. What I was attempting to say, but failing miserably

Dave!

what is the purpose and meaning of our lives on Earth?

Life has no meaning. Through circumstances currently beyond our comprehension, the universe came into existance, and then life began on at least 1 planet (earth). That life evolved over millions of years until the point where we (humans) reached the point that we could think about abstract subjects such as the meaning of life. Before we could do that, there was no discussion about the meaning of life, and all of the creatures on the earth (ourselves included) just existed for a while and then died.

Consider that a generation after you die you will mostly be forgotten.

Unless you write a kick-ass song like Beethoven's 3rd Symphony!

Why live life?

Well I didn't have a choice in the matter really, but now that I exist, I enjoy existing, and want to continue to do so for as long as possible. When I die, there'll be no more life for me, so I want to make the most of it while I can.

What gives life a purpose?

Happiness, altruism, friendship, family, pleasure, enjoyment......... all that good sh*t!

Sangre

Surely life for an atheist has more meaning as it is the only one you get?

I wouldn't consider a life dedicated to fulfilling the whims of a vengeful god particulary fulfilling.

kelly1

Why is the meaning of existence such a big question for so many people? The "What does it all mean" question seems to be innate given that so many people believe in some sort of higher being or force. Why is this?? We are supposedly
nothing for than a complex bunch of atoms that came from a big-bang and yet why do we ask such profound questions such as where did the big-bang come from and what is our purpose given that we appear to be the highest intelligence in the known universe.

Does the atheist deliberately suppress these question in their minds because of the difficulty of facing such questions? Isn't it foolish to dismiss these questions assuming no answer exists?

Does the life of a starving child in Africa have meaning? Does a person born
deaf, dumb and blind have meaning?

Regards,
Noel.

Sangre

Does the atheist deliberately suppress these question in their minds because of the difficulty of facing such questions?

Does a theist deliberately make up answers to a question that has none?

Does the life of a starving child in Africa have meaning? Does a person born
deaf, dumb and blind have meaning?

What has religion got to do with that? How can a deaf,dumb and blind person hear and accept the word of god? Isn't their life meaningless if there is a God because he can't embrace him?

Beruthiel

kelly1 wrote:

Why is the meaning of existence such a big question for so many people?

Because humans need an answer to everything.

The "What does it all mean" question seems to be innate given that so many people believe in some sort of higher being or force. Why is this??

I think it's fear.

nothing for than a complex bunch of atoms that came from a big-bang and yet why do we ask such profound questions such as where did the big-bang come from and what is our purpose given that we appear to be the highest intelligence in the known universe.

Again, just because we have gotten to the stage where we can ask these questions, doesn't mean that there is supposed to be some mystical answer.

Does the atheist deliberately suppress these question in their minds because of the difficulty of facing such questions?

I would say that every atheist here has done anything but supress these questions, rather we have asked ourselves that and come up with the answers given here already.

Does the life of a starving child in Africa have meaning? Does a person born
deaf, dumb and blind have meaning?

It does have meaning, but what that has to do with religion, I don't know.
Why is it that you seem to think that the only way to have meaning in this life is to follow a religion. I find meaning in my family, friends and the life I lead. That's more than enough for me.

stevejazzx

Look, just think of all the ancients who believed, in their time, that eventually they would meet their designer. They were adamant that some day they'd meet



Agdistis or Angdistis, Ah Puch, Ahura Mazda, Alberich, Amaterasu, An

Anat

Andvari

Anshar

Anu

Aphrodite

Apollo

Apsu

Ares

Artemis

Asclepius

Athena

Athirat

Athtart

Atlas
Baal
Ba Xian
Bacchus

Balder

Bast

Bellona

Bergelmir

Bes

Bixia Yuanjin

Bragi

Brahma

Brigit
Camaxtli
Ceres
Ceridwen
Cernunnos
Chac
Chalchiuhtlicue
Charun
Cheng-huang
Cybele
Dagon

Damkina (Dumkina)

Davlin

Demeter

Diana

Di Cang

Dionysus
Ea

El

Enki

Enlil

Epona

Ereskigal
Farbauti

Fenrir

Forseti

Freya

Freyr

Frigg
Gaia

Ganesha

Ganga

Garuda

Gauri

Geb

Geong Si
Hades

Hanuman

Helios

Heng-o (Chang-o)

Hephaestus

Hera

Hermes

Hestia

Hod

Hoderi

Hoori

Horus

Hotei

Huitzilopochtli

Hsi-Wang-Mu

Hygeia
Inanna

Inti

Ishtar

Isis

Ixtab

Izanaki

Izanami
Jesus

Juno

Jupiter
Kagutsuchi

Kartikeya

Khepri

Ki

Kingu

Kinich Ahau

Kishar

Krishna

Kukulcan
Lakshmi

Liza

Loki

Lugh
Magna Mater

Maia

Marduk

Mars

Medb

Mercury

Mimir

Minerva

Mithras

Morrigan

Mot

Mummu
Nammu

Nanna

Nanna (Norse)

Nanse

Neith

Nemesis

Nephthys

Neptune

Nergal

Ninazu

Ninhurzag

Nintu

Ninurta

Njord

Nut
Odin

Ohkuninushi

Ohyamatsumi

Orgelmir

Osiris

Ostara
Pan

Parvati

Phaethon

Phoebe

Pilumnus

Poseidon
Quetzalcoatl
Rama

Re
Rhea
Sabazius

Sarasvati

Selene

Shiva

Seshat

Seti (Set)

Shamash

Shapsu
Shen Yi

Shiva

Shu

Si-Wang-Mu

Sin

Sirona

Sol

Surya

Susanoh
Tawaret

Tefnut

Tezcatlipoca

Thanatos

Thor

Tiamat

Tlaloc

Tonatiuh

Toyo-Uke-Bime

Tyche

Tyr
Utu

Uzume
Venus

Vesta

Vishnu

Vulcan
Xipe
Xi Wang-mu
Xochipilli
Xochiquetzal
Yam

Yarikh

Ymir

Yu-huang

Yum Kimil

But guess what they never got to meet these Gods becasue they're all man made. They were created in the minds of superstious men trying to explain or give meaning to the world and existence. Of course the cosmos is an infintely gigantic place and the earth is just a rock, litreally a tiny stone in comparision to the magnitude of what is by all accounts an outrageously huge expanding universe, populated with billions , that's thousand of millions btw, of stars. The only thing that rivals the size of the universe is the arrogance of human race that believes it is the center of it. (I'm copyrighting that sentence).
There was this thing called the enlightenment but it seems to have scared some people off...oh well back to animal sacrafice we go then.


Now some day the major Gods that we prasie now will be on that on that list.


There is no preconcieved point to life. But once it is started the obligation to exist harmonisouly with others and nature falls on the bearer. 'But I never asked for life'...quite frankly so fu**king what..just live it and be good, create, enjoy, multiply, invent, dance, sing do your thing. It's easy...explore time and space forever and fell the true depth of the universe, that's your god.

joe_chicken

kelly1 wrote:

We are supposedly nothing more than a complex bunch of atoms that came from a big-bang

I take comfort in the fact that millions of years of entropy, evolution, human history(to name but a few processes) have manufactured me.

God may have had a hand in there somewhere, but it's unlikely, and if he did it wouldn't comfort me any more/less.

kelly1 wrote:

what is our purpose given that we appear to be the highest intelligence in the known universe.

So what is our purpose according to God?

I'll ask again, do you get purpose and meaning from religion?

Zillah

kelly1 wrote:

what is our purpose given that we appear to be the highest intelligence in the known universe.

What an extraordinarily naive thing to say. The "known universe" doesn't really mean anything. For now, lets define "known" as "Has been explored to our satsifaction to conclude there is no intelligent life there." In that case, the known universe is about a trillionth of a percent. We know so very little.

Zombrex

kelly1 wrote:

Why is the meaning of existence such a big question for so many people?

Because of the funny way our brains work (as Douglas Adams summed up rather well on a video on YouTube that I will dig up if I can find it).

We naturally view the world in terms of agency. We (humans) want things and we do things as a result of wanting these things. The things we do produce effects in the natural world.

We therefore see other effects, including the existence of ourselves, as naturally being the result of what something else previously wanted (ie what God wanted).

We go "That nut is here. It is here because I wanted shelter, and therefore I build it. I am here. I wonder why I am here, and what was the purpose of the build for making me"

Its one of the reasons why God in most religions ends up having the characteristics of a human. God is simply an extension of our own agency. We do things that produce results in the world, therefore something like us, but bigger, must do thing that produce bigger results in the world.

kelly1 wrote:

Does the atheist deliberately suppress these question in their minds because of the difficulty of facing such questions?

No. The atheist (well the rationalists, I've know some silly atheists in my time) recognize that we only think there must be agency and purpose behind these things because of the way our brains view the world as described above. There doesn't really have to be agency behind things.

You can see this most vividly with children, and there constant "Why" questions. Why is the sky blue? Why is Muffy a girl dog? Why is water wet? Why do we walk on our feet?

Because the child has not developed a fully adult understand of the world they are falling back on this older instinct of agency. Everything in the child's universe is the way it is because some agent (intelligence) has decided it is that way for a particular purpose, most likely because they at that age associate the vast majority of change in their world with the actions of humans, such as their parents.

As the child gets old they grow out of this habit as they start to understand the natural processes in the world that cause things to happen without any agency or purpose.

death1234567

I'm just curious, according to theists, what is the purpose and meaning of our lives on Earth?

Consider that a generation after you die you will mostly be forgotten.

Why live life? What gives life a purpose?

Kind regards,
death1234567

---

"Does the atheist deliberately suppress these question in their minds because of the difficulty of facing such questions?"
No. Most atheists, including Richard dawkins, believe in using scientific methods, expiriments, physics, maths to try to answer those difficult questions.

Isn't it foolish to dismiss these questions assuming no answer exists?
Yes. However it is more foolish to try an answer these questions by proposing a "God" as this just leads to the question "where did God come from" and you end up in a recursive cycle of timewasting and idiocy.

Dave!

Why is the meaning of existence such a big question for so many people? The "What does it all mean" question seems to be innate given that so many people believe in some sort of higher being or force. Why is this?? We are supposedly nothing for than a complex bunch of atoms that came from a big-bang and yet why do we ask such profound questions such as where did the big-bang come from?

Ask a biologist or a psychologist about that

what is our purpose given that we appear to be the highest intelligence in the known universe.

Just because we're the most intelligent life doesn't mean we should serve a purpose. We weren't always on the top of the food chain, you know. What about when the dinosaurs were on the planet -- did they serve a divine purpose? And just because other animals can't think about the meaning of life -- does that mean that they don't have a divine purpose? Seems a bit pointless putting them on the planet in that case.

Does the atheist deliberately suppress these question in their minds because of the difficulty of facing such questions?

uhhh.... no. Most scientists -- the very people who are trying to find answers to these questions -- are atheists. They're facing the problems head on and trying to understand them. They're not burying their head in the sand and claiming that god did it all.

Isn't it foolish to dismiss these questions assuming no answer exists?

It sure is. It's more foolish to force a answer onto a question because it's a difficult one. It's the equivalent of a child doing a jigsaw puzzle and when a piece doesn't fit, BANGING THE SH*T OUT OF IT UNTIL IT DOES.

Does the life of a starving child in Africa have meaning? Does a person born deaf, dumb and blind have meaning?

It has no innate meaning beyond what they choose to make of it. Perhaps someone else draws satisfaction from helping these people in some way -- that could be their own meaning in life.

Scofflaw

The Atheist wrote:

Q: What is the purpose of religion?
A: To give people a meaning in life.

Q: What is that meaning then?
A: To earn in the afterlife what they will never have in this one.

20 GOTO 10

I can see the problem, then - mixing GOTO statements into objective-oriented code.

cordially,
Scofflaw

Dades

To try to clarify, I think in order for there to be a "purpose to life" there must exist something other than the natural world. And the responses here indicate a lack of belief in the existence of anything other than the world we live in that might give rise to a "purpose".

@ Scofflaw- it's a while since I used my ZX Spectrum!

kelly1

DaveMcG wrote:

Life has no meaning.

Can you be certain of this? Can't you allow for the possibility that there is a purpose and meaning to our existence?

kelly1

The Atheist wrote:

To try to clarify, I think in order for there to be a "purpose to life" there must exist something other than the natural world.

Yes, agreed.

Zillah

To quote Chandler:

Should I use my powers of invisibility to fight crime...or for evil?



Does anyone else feel like this is another estebancambias thread?

Beruthiel

kelly1 wrote:

Can't you allow for the possibility that there is a purpose and meaning to our existence?

On what evidence are you basing that on?

zillah wrote:

Does anyone else feel like this is another estebancambias thread?

I am, he hasn't answered any of my questions so far.

kelly1

Sangre wrote:

Does a theist deliberately make up answers to a question that has none?

I don't accept that belief in the one true God is invented. It was revealed directly by God.

Sangre wrote:

How can a deaf,dumb and blind person hear and accept the word of god? Isn't their life meaningless if there is a God because he can't embrace him?

God loves a person regardless of their physical abilities. Even though they don't know it yet, Heaven exists where the just will enjoy the bliss of God forever.

Scofflaw

The Atheist wrote:

To try to clarify, I think in order for there to be a "purpose to life" there must exist something other than the natural world. And the responses here indicate a lack of belief in the existence of anything other than the world we live in that might give rise to a "purpose".

Hmm. Not sure that it's quite as cut and dried as that. We can assign ourselves our own purpose, and our own meaning, so I would say:

"to have an externally validated meaning, we require an external source of validation. Nothing natural provides such a source, so we require that such a source must be outside the natural world."

and further:

"for the external source to be a source of meaning, it must be either validated by some other external source, or self-validating".

Thus God, whose main role is the validation of human existence, and who is Himself self-validating. However, you can collapse the argument, and regard yourself as self-validating - although apparently this is arrogant...

The Atheist wrote:

@ Scofflaw- it's a while since I used my ZX Spectrum!

Ah, you too, eh?

cordially,
Scofflaw

Zombrex

kelly1 wrote:

I don't accept that belief in the one true God is invented. It was revealed directly by God.

To who exactly?

kelly1 wrote:

God loves a person regardless of their physical abilities. Even though they don't know it yet, Heaven exists where the just will enjoy the bliss of God forever.

So what is the purpose of this life then?

joe_chicken

Scofflaw wrote:

I can see the problem, then - mixing GOTO statements into objective-oriented code.

cordially,
Scofflaw

Subtle, yet o so incredibly geeky.

death1234567

kelly1 wrote:

I don't accept that belief in the one true God is invented. It was revealed directly by God.

Well why he doesn't he come back to earth and change the colour of the sky pink (or something) just for a day so all the muslims, buddists, atheists etc. can know that there is one true and god and we can all follow him and then we'd have no sectarian hate and the world would be a much better place.