Whenever I tell people that I am an atheist, most of the time, I would get questions for feedback. They would instantly ask "What? What is an eytiyis?” desperately wanting to know what an atheist, or in their own pronunciation, eytiyis is. And almost all of the time, after I tell them the mystery behind it, they would readily ask the question - they would ask me what purpose or meaning in life I have. As if our sense of purpose and meaning is necessarily connected to a God or religion. It seems that theists have been conditioned to think that purpose and meaning can only arise from God, from the supernatural, especially when they talk about the afterlife. Well, they are wrong. Outright wrong. There is beauty and meaning that can be hallowed and/or created from the implications of atheism.
The absence of God can mean that there would be no heaven or hell. That there will be no utopia waiting for the people who lived their life righteously and for those who suffered: no promise of heaven, no ultimate happiness. But this very absence of heaven and hell has always engraved in me how fortunate I am that I am alive and has consciousness. That I only have one shot to life.
Because this is the only chance I have, because there will be no second chance to exist as me again (because when I die, every atom and every molecule that is part of me would be part of other beings again), I would be living it in a way that people in heaven would envy. I will treasure the spectrum of life, every colour, every song and tune, every jive, every scene, every experience, and the very limited time I am granted to witness the grand universe first-hand. I will wonder, I will know, I will love. I will...
be creating my self, my purpose; it is up to me how to paint it.
Because heaven is not a promise, I will love... now, I will tell to the important people in my life that I love them, because there might be no second chances. I would desire to help bring utopia, if not leave a better society for the future generations. There is no need to wait posthumously.
Much as the promise of heaven and afterlife can call you to help others and do good, its lack of can too, you will not because God said so, the church said so, or you will be damned eternally, but because you think it is good.
And these are some of the reasons why beauty and meaning can be born of atheism.
[*Rushed article.]
Atheism is the belief that there was nothing and nothing happened to nothing and then nothing magically exploded for no reason, creating everything and then a bunch of everything magically rearranged itself for no reason whatsoever into self-replicating bits which then turned into dinosaurs. Makes perfect sense.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, where did you get that? When was atheism defined as that?
ReplyDeleteAtheism, like theism, has unanswered questions
ReplyDelete