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Atheism and happiness

Started by bandit4god, November 30, 2010, 10:50:23 PM

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Whitney

Quote from: "bandit4god"Yikes... I'm getting a lot of responses that atheism has nothing to do with your happiness.  It's a big internet, gang, why not join a forum that's more aligned with topics that will impact your happiness?

Why assume that just because someone is on an atheist forum that they aren't spending the great majority of their time pursuing other forms of enjoyment.  Even the owner of this forum I spend probably 95% of my free time doing things unrelated to this or any other atheist forum; and of that 5% I do spend on here it's typically not discussing anything other than the mundane stuff with my online friends.  A good portion of my free time (though still less thatn half) is, however, focused on supporting my local freethought/skeptic community but I would do that even if I were a theist since despite what I think about god I would never again be able to buy into the dogma of religion.

The only reason this forum even exists is because religious people won't simply let people be non-religious in some areas so there are many who need a place where it is safe to speak openly when they are frustrated or just need to know they aren't alone.  Their being an atheist does not make them happy, what makes them (and all people) happy is the ability to be who they are without fear of oppression and for some of us that takes going virtual as the real world isn't always nice.

Creating a community where a minority is able to feel welcomed and at peace makes me happy.

How old are you, I'm guessing quite young because typically people start to realize that the reasoning behind what others do is way too varied to make assumptions as to their intent and purpose...if you want to know why someone does something you have to ask otherwise you're bound to be wrong and make yourself look like a fool.

bandit4god

Another perspective on happiness:
[youtube:2wj5vvnk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXh7JR9oKVE[/youtube:2wj5vvnk]

Whitney

Quote from: "bandit4god"Another perspective on happiness:

Care to explain how that's a perspective?

bandit4god

Quote from: "bandit4god"Another perspective on happiness:
[youtube:2n7pseus]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXh7JR9oKVE[/youtube:2n7pseus]

Happiness for the choir members:  Risking their own embarrassment to share a message of hope and peace to strangers using their incredible vocal talents.
Happiness for the audience:  Smiles on every face (all of them theists?), turning an otherwise normal bath of fast food and consumerism into a transcendent moment of joy.

Didn't enjoy it, Whitney?  Not even just a little?

Whitney

Aw, I see...so your perspective on happiness is that people should do whatever they want despite the behavior rules of society...it's all about you isn't it.  ;)

bandit4god

Quote from: "Whitney"Aw, I see...so your perspective on happiness is that people should do whatever they want despite the behavior rules of society...it's all about you isn't it.  ;)
What?

dloubet

The flash mob disregarded behavioral norms to bludgeon innocent shoppers with an ideological message they were forced to listen to whether they liked it or not. It was an essentially selfish act of promoting their particular religion.

What you arrogantly assume everyone would view as a message of "hope and peace" may simply serve to remind someone such as myself that a disturbingly large number of people actually believe that I - for some reason - deserve to be tortured forever in a lake of fire. Not something I care to think about when I'm trying to enjoy a quiet meal.

McQ

While this particular display of singing wouldn't have bothered me in the least and while I would appreciate the talented people, I simply find it a total rip off of "Improv Everywhere" and their great "I Love Lunch".

http://improveverywhere.com/2009/11/05/ ... e-musical/
Elvis didn't do no drugs!
--Penn Jillette

elliebean

Quote from: "dloubet"The flash mob disregarded behavioral norms to bludgeon innocent shoppers with an ideological message they were forced to listen to whether they liked it or not. It was an essentially selfish act of promoting their particular religion.

What you arrogantly assume everyone would view as a message of "hope and peace" may simply serve to remind someone such as myself that a disturbingly large number of people actually believe that I - for some reason - deserve to be tortured forever in a lake of fire. Not something I care to think about when I'm trying to enjoy a quiet meal.
I thought it was about beauty. You know, art? aesthetic experience and all that. That' what I took from it, and thoroughly enjoyed it, in spite of the message (which I never really considered) It wouldn't surprise me if there were non-religious, non-believing, or even atheist members of that choir. If you can't see past that, then, well, sorry. But if you want to enjoy a quiet meal, what the hell are you doing in a shopping mall, seriously?
[size=150]â€"Ellie [/size]
You can’t lie to yourself. If you do you’ve only fooled a deluded person and where’s the victory in that?â€"Ricky Gervais

Whitney

What if it had been a mob choir singing "Dear God" in the food court and an atheist had offered it up as a perspective on happiness....bandit would have claimed it to be a selfish act just as he has with everything else people have listed as life goals and descriptions of happiness...hence my comment which got the clueless "what?" response.

[youtube:35zh76vy]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrueVp_kuZ8[/youtube:35zh76vy]
note song chosen because it also has a nice tune and expresses views some may find untasteful; not because it's a happy song (I would have used imagine as an example but I don't think that offends anyone despite it being anti-religion).

KDbeads

Love that song.  Though I like XTC's version a little better  :D
A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools. - Douglas Adams

Inevitable Droid

Quote from: "Chandler M Bing"I suppose it's possible for an atheist to be ok with the idea of this world being all there is, and to be happy. Obvious however that requires acceptance, which is fine. On the other hand, if that acceptance is lacking, the atheist would of course be less able to be happy. For theists that isn't an issue.

The above was an early post to this thread, and I think it got passed over in deference to some other back and forthing that apparently seemed more interesting at least to some of us, certainly myself.

Chandler, do you in fact make use of your belief in an afterlife to help you get through difficult times here on Earth?  How effective has that strategy been for you?  

Do any other theists use this strategy?  How effective has it been for you?

Meanwhile, most atheists don't have recourse to such a strategy.  To such atheists I ask - do you think you lose or gain by having to live your life without such recourse?

As for me, I tend to think life is both too long and too short for such a strategy to benefit me.  Too long, because I hopefully have another forty years to live, and forty years of predictable misery is way too much to make peace with via some psychological mechanism.  I have to do my best to eliminate or mitigate whatever in my life might be making me miserable.  Too short, because if I only have another forty years to exist at all, I can't allow myself to become complacent, for if I do, I'll wake up on my 90th birthday (hopefully I'll still be here and still be coherent) only to realize that death is sitting on my shoulder and on my other shoulder, the one where life sits, all I see is this pathetic loser hiding his face in shame.

What atheism does is force me to grab hold of my life with both hands and wrestle the thing into submission, so it will yield up to me its secret treasure chest of opportunities.
Oppose Abraham.

[Missing image]

In the face of mystery, do science, not theology.

Chandler M Bing

Quote from: "Inevitable Droid"
Quote from: "Chandler M Bing"I suppose it's possible for an atheist to be ok with the idea of this world being all there is, and to be happy. Obvious however that requires acceptance, which is fine. On the other hand, if that acceptance is lacking, the atheist would of course be less able to be happy. For theists that isn't an issue.

The above was an early post to this thread, and I think it got passed over in deference to some other back and forthing that apparently seemed more interesting at least to some of us, certainly myself.

Chandler, do you in fact make use of your belief in an afterlife to help you get through difficult times here on Earth?  How effective has that strategy been for you?  

Do any other theists use this strategy?  How effective has it been for you?

Meanwhile, most atheists don't have recourse to such a strategy.  To such atheists I ask - do you think you lose or gain by having to live your life without such recourse?

As for me, I tend to think life is both too long and too short for such a strategy to benefit me.  Too long, because I hopefully have another forty years to live, and forty years of predictable misery is way too much to make peace with via some psychological mechanism.  I have to do my best to eliminate or mitigate whatever in my life might be making me miserable.  Too short, because if I only have another forty years to exist at all, I can't allow myself to become complacent, for if I do, I'll wake up on my 90th birthday (hopefully I'll still be here and still be coherent) only to realize that death is sitting on my shoulder and on my other shoulder, the one where life sits, all I see is this pathetic loser hiding his face in shame.

What atheism does is force me to grab hold of my life with both hands and wrestle the thing into submission, so it will yield up to me its secret treasure chest of opportunities.

I live my life like anyone else. With a few differences.

I don't :

- feel free to do bad things on the basis that I have an eternity in which to make up for it
- feel that it's ok to waste my life on the basis that there'll be another afterwards
- disregard this life on the basis that it's merely one of many

I do :

- regard all events as meaningful and not random, and as a result, I take full responsibility for all events
- see life as a learning experience, and a a result, I try to spot opportunity in everything, and I also look back at past events to see what I can learn from them
- value this life, however it's not the end of the world whe it's over, as I will contnue in another incarnation. I look at life similarly to how I look at money : use it wisely, but if you mess up, not to worry, next week you'll get paid again, and you'll have another chance to get it right. The goal of life is to get it right.

LegendarySandwich

Quote from: "Chandler M Bing"
Quote from: "Inevitable Droid"
Quote from: "Chandler M Bing"I suppose it's possible for an atheist to be ok with the idea of this world being all there is, and to be happy. Obvious however that requires acceptance, which is fine. On the other hand, if that acceptance is lacking, the atheist would of course be less able to be happy. For theists that isn't an issue.

The above was an early post to this thread, and I think it got passed over in deference to some other back and forthing that apparently seemed more interesting at least to some of us, certainly myself.

Chandler, do you in fact make use of your belief in an afterlife to help you get through difficult times here on Earth?  How effective has that strategy been for you?  

Do any other theists use this strategy?  How effective has it been for you?

Meanwhile, most atheists don't have recourse to such a strategy.  To such atheists I ask - do you think you lose or gain by having to live your life without such recourse?

As for me, I tend to think life is both too long and too short for such a strategy to benefit me.  Too long, because I hopefully have another forty years to live, and forty years of predictable misery is way too much to make peace with via some psychological mechanism.  I have to do my best to eliminate or mitigate whatever in my life might be making me miserable.  Too short, because if I only have another forty years to exist at all, I can't allow myself to become complacent, for if I do, I'll wake up on my 90th birthday (hopefully I'll still be here and still be coherent) only to realize that death is sitting on my shoulder and on my other shoulder, the one where life sits, all I see is this pathetic loser hiding his face in shame.

What atheism does is force me to grab hold of my life with both hands and wrestle the thing into submission, so it will yield up to me its secret treasure chest of opportunities.

I live my life like anyone else. With a few differences.

I don't :

- feel free to do bad things on the basis that I have an eternity in which to make up for it
- feel that it's ok to waste my life on the basis that there'll be another afterwards
- disregard this life on the basis that it's merely one of many

I do :

- regard all events as meaningful and not random, and as a result, I take full responsibility for all events
- see life as a learning experience, and a a result, I try to spot opportunity in everything, and I also look back at past events to see what I can learn from them
- value this life, however it's not the end of the world whe it's over, as I will contnue in another incarnation. I look at life similarly to how I look at money : use it wisely, but if you mess up, not to worry, next week you'll get paid again, and you'll have another chance to get it right. The goal of life is to get it right.
Those "differences" don't sound so different than how the next guy lives his life. I'm pretty sure that most (sane) people do the things you do, and don't do the things you don't.

Chandler M Bing

Which is why my belief system is compatible with living a good life.