Confused and Content at the same time

[Stoicheion]

I'm not going to waste my time arguing with beliefs. I have a respect for all religions, being somewhat of an idealist; but i do have to say that most often times it is the most simplest of answers that are truth (whatever you perceive it to be). The reason behind our existence, i've concluded, is that there is none.

The real question that burns within me is : Why do we have such a need to feel like we're here for a reason?
I think that those who want to believe that they are there for/because of a god or any such reason at all are completely missing the point. It doesn't matter why. There are more important things to worry about in your lifetime (like doing whatever it is that gives you joy) than to worry about why you exist.

I also don't get why we fear death.
This doesn't just have to do with a religious belief of being punished for your sins in the so called afterlife. This also has to do with the fear of ceasing to exist. It's a fear and an inability to accept that you are only an (overall) unimportant speck in the universe.

What appalls me is that we have such a desire to be BIG, POWERFUL, or IMPORTANT that it has caused more trouble than anything else in this world. Humans are only large in their conscious minds , otherwise we are merely an intricate arrangement of atoms and energy.

I guess i just don't understand fear, besides it being a natural human response and emotion.

The Point : Live your life now.
I believe in alot of things. God i do not believe in. But i cannot entirely say that i believe in the human race or potential either. To me, potential means nothing in comparison to what actually happens. And i accept that. Whatever happens, happens. Though, i trust that if something can be changed, it will be in whatever means is possible. And i say that ignoring whether or not it gets done in a minute or in 500 years.

i don't care if i'm important to the universe or not. I'm alive and I'm going to live my life with what i have and what i can get out of it. Period.

[curiosityandthecat]

Aaah, postmodernism.

Meaning-creating animals attempting to make meaning where there is none. We're funny ol' things, humans, aren't we?

We have that need (to feel like we're here for a reason) because we're built to think things have reasons. Cause and effect. It's a survival strategy, an evolutionary step. If an animal doesn't understand causation, it has no ability to create forethought or make assumptions about situations, some of which, surely, will be literally life-or-death.

Speaking of death, we fear it for a similar reason as I've stated above: it's unknown. We fear the unknown because it may be dangerous, scary, or just plain unpleasant. As I see it, it's not so much "death" that people are afraid of, but "dying." We fear pain for obvious reasons: it hurts. Ergo, we fear death as it, quite often, includes tremendous amounts of pain and suffering. Also, life is all we know. We're conditioned to be biased towards consciousness. Death, if it is a permanent unconsciousness, is the polar opposite of all we hold dear as conscious beings. If we didn't fear death, we wouldn't be so inclined to avoid it, which is, I'm sure everyone would agree, not a boon to species propagation.

[dodgecity]

Stoicheion, I have been thinking those exact same thoughts over the past couple weeks, intensely. Atheism has completely changed my aspirations and therefore the course of my life. So why does it not change others?  Well, there are people go through the motions for congruence's sake, or regard many things the same way they always have.

For example, lets' consider suicide. The choice to cut short one's life. I was talking about the idea with my uncle, who is spiritual but in no way religious. He agrees that when we die, we just die, that's it, and there is no ultimate point in our existence. But he can't seem to accept the deeper implications of that. I mentioned that if I were to commit suicide, it would be no different to him than if I went to Antarctica and never wrote or visited. I would never know that I was dead, I would literally rest in piece. He then went into a concerned lecture about how I should always seek help if I ever considered that as an option. (Even though I never mentioned that at all and did not consider it an option) Even though he claimed to agree with what I said, he couldn't accept it in the context of his life. Though I doubt I would ever purposefully end my already short life, I know that if I did, it wouldn't be some kind of tragedy. We all end up in the ground, and when we're there, we're indifferent to what "we made of our lives."

I'm aware that I'll get pelted for saying that, because I always do. People are programmed from a young age to view suicide as the worst possible situation, when in all reality, intense suffering is worse in a practical sense, knowing the things we know.

It seems evident that many atheists accept reality, but have issues accepting the implications of that reality, i.e., we have no purpose. We forget that by saying "We make our own purpose!" we are giving license to hedonists who find no enjoyment in life anymore and simply would rather not live. There is this individual choice that wasn't there before that we have to deal with. It's scary! What if suicide became a respected right and the government handed out Peace Pills? I'll be the first to say that the very notion scares the hell out of me.

Thoughts?  

[myleviathan]

The real question that burns within me is : Why do we have such a need to feel like we're here for a reason?

I think that the concept of "reason", or "meaning" is a coping mechanism for dealing with the stress of self-awareness in a chaotic environment.

I also don't get why we fear death.

I think this has to do with the awareness that the self will cease to exist. It would make sense if this fear is an evolutionary development for the purpose of preserving our lives and therefore more likely to pass along our genetic information to offspring.

i don't care if i'm important to the universe or not. I'm alive and I'm going to live my life with what i have and what i can get out of it. Period.

Word up.

[Stoicheion]

That's very interesting, dodgecity. What if suicide became a respected right? The government? If the government handed out pills to aide in suicide, there would have to be some fierce regulation on its distribution. And the person would most likely have to take it in a hospital under supervision to make sure they don't go and give it to some one else! I suppose as well you'd have to give a reason beyond doubt that you need it. But don't they do this anyways?