Great atheists on the meaning & purpose of life

You didn't ask me your own question based on your own ideas. You just took my insight and substituted in your own buzz words.

I am sure it feels perfectly meaningful for people who live the authentically religious life

I don't think you have ever attended church or participated meaningfully in any religious community.
not buzzwords. other equally spiritual things.

This reveals your bias.

you realize it reveals your bias and refuse to answer and go to personal attacks.

you're an intellectual fraud, a liar, an idiot, and a poo poo pants.
 
A Rabbi is teaching his student the Talmud and explains god created everything in this world to be appreciated, since everything is here to teach us a lesson.

The clever student asks “What lesson can we learn from atheists? Why did god create them?”

The Rabbi responds “God created atheists to teach us the most important lesson of them all – the lesson of true compassion. You see, when an atheist performs an act of charity, visits someone who is sick, helps someone who is in need, and cares for the world, he is not doing so because of some religious teaching. He does not believe that god commanded him to perform this act. In fact, he does not believe in God at all, so his acts are based on an inner sense of morality. And look at the kindness he can bestow upon others simply because he feels it to be right.”

“This means” the Rabbi continued “that when someone reaches out to you for help, you should never say ‘I pray that god will help you.’ instead for the moment, you should become an atheist, imagine that there is no god who can help, and say ‘I will help you.'”

atheists are a mixed bag.

usually they're also the ones telling us to murder off the useless eaters..

:truestory:
 
Karl Marx: Self fulfillment and meaning is achieved through the free exercise of an individual's creative powers through their labor and creations.

Frederich Nietzsche: Meaning and purpose are achieved by the rejection of the saintly values of Christianity and the pursuit of the heroic life of self mastery and self discovery embodied by the Homeric values of the ancient Greeks.

Arthur Schopenhauer: Self fulfillment is achieved by the immersion into aesthetic beauty, music, art.
Richard Dawkins: Humans have always wondered about the meaning of life... life has no higher purpose than to perpetuate the survival of DNA. Life has no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but blind pitiless indifference. The universe does not owe us meaning, but you can make your own meaning which could be through an ideal, such as a political ideal, through music, poetry, nature, science.
 
Karl Marx: Self fulfillment and meaning is achieved through the free exercise of an individual's creative powers through their labor and creations.

Frederich Nietzsche: Meaning and purpose are achieved by the rejection of the saintly values of Christianity and the pursuit of the heroic life of self mastery and self discovery embodied by the Homeric values of the ancient Greeks.

Arthur Schopenhauer: Self fulfillment is achieved by the immersion into aesthetic beauty, music, art.
Karl Marx was not an atheist.
Frederich Nietzche was not an atheist.
Arthur Schopenhauer was not an atheist.

All three were religious fundamentalists in the Church of No God.
 
Karl Marx: Self fulfillment and meaning is achieved through the free exercise of an individual's creative powers through their labor and creations.

Frederich Nietzsche: Meaning and purpose are achieved by the rejection of the saintly values of Christianity and the pursuit of the heroic life of self mastery and self discovery embodied by the Homeric values of the ancient Greeks.

Arthur Schopenhauer: Self fulfillment is achieved by the immersion into aesthetic beauty, music, art.
all those are fine and dandy. but kind of superficial, honestly.

these are not the conclusions arrived at by Ann Frank, Aleksander solzenitysn, viktor Frankl, Jesus, Buddha, or many other great "meaning"ists.

although Alan watts gets close with something along the lines of "life is about distraction" which does have certain truth about it.

da dada . da da...dad adadadadadad. da .da da da dada dada adadad ada.
 
all those are fine and dandy. but kind of superficial, honestly.

these are not the conclusions arrived at by Ann Frank, Aleksander solzenitysn, viktor Frankl, Jesus, Buddha, or many other great "meaning"ists.

although Alan watts gets close with something along the lines of "life is about distraction" which does have certain truth about it.

da dada . da da...dad adadadadadad. da .da da da dada dada adadad ada.
I'm giving equal time to atheists. If somebody has a better atheist framework for the meaningful life they can post it.
 
I'm giving equal time to atheists. If somebody has a better atheist framework for the meaningful life they can post it.
Cray-cray people along with dumbasses won't ever get it. Partly because they don't want to but mostly because they can't. Sad.
 
Richard Dawkins: Humans have always wondered about the meaning of life... life has no higher purpose than to perpetuate the survival of DNA. Life has no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but blind pitiless indifference. The universe does not owe us meaning, but you can make your own meaning which could be through an ideal, such as a political ideal, through music, poetry, nature, science.
I partly agree with Dawkins in that the Universe doesn't owe us meaning. As human beings, we create our own meaning. This is where I disagree with your assertion that there is an objective beauty to the Universe. Beauty is very subjective. A bunch of rocks forming the Sierra Nevada mountains are just inanimate matter. A lake in those mountains is simply a pool of H2O gathered at a gravitational low spot. Animals don't appreciate the beauty of the scene. It takes a human being, or other similarly intelligent and aware mind, to appreciate beauty.

The Universe is logical. Appreciating beauty is an emotional response. There's little to no logic to it.

3819377a4aac9faabbd9c3a7ecd1fd27.jpg
 
I partly agree with Dawkins in that the Universe doesn't owe us meaning. As human beings, we create our own meaning. This is where I disagree with your assertion that there is an objective beauty to the Universe. Beauty is very subjective. A bunch of rocks forming the Sierra Nevada mountains are just inanimate matter. A lake in those mountains is simply a pool of H2O gathered at a gravitational low spot. Animals don't appreciate the beauty of the scene. It takes a human being, or other similarly intelligent and aware mind, to appreciate beauty.

The Universe is logical. Appreciating beauty is an emotional response. There's little to no logic to it.

3819377a4aac9faabbd9c3a7ecd1fd27.jpg
I get your point.

I'm saying that I think even 20 million years before humans existed, form and order has a certain intrinsic value superior to that of empty void and chaos.

Even before humans existed the rings of Saturn, and the innate form and order of galaxies constitutes a superior universe compared to a universe composed of empty black void. That's my two cents
 
I get your point.

I'm saying that I think even 20 million years before humans existed, form and order has a certain intrinsic value superior to that of empty void and chaos.

Even before humans existed the rings of Saturn, and the innate form and order of galaxies constitutes a superior universe compared to a universe composed of empty black void. That's my two cents
Agreed about form and order. The laws of the Universe were put into motion after the Big Bang.

My point is that the Universe is not beautiful, it just is. It takes a human being, or similar mind, to appreciate the beauty....and not all of them do.

Recently I saw an article about how Australian salt marshes are being destroyed by four-wheelers digging ruts into it and destroying the ecosystem. They appreciate the beauty of their machines and loved the adventure, but they were oblivious to the damage they were doing to both the ecosystem and the beauty of the salt marsh flora and fauna. Ergo, beauty is subjective, not objective.

It may look like a mudflat perfect for a four-wheel-drive adventure, but ecologists say motorists are destroying "underrated" ecosystems of the Great Barrier Reef.

Deep wheel ruts and displaced "mud" have scarred the vital coastal Queensland saltmarshes, which protect the reef.

"Saltmarshes are the underrated heroes of the Great Barrier Reef ecosystems," ecologist Jock Mackenzie said.

"They do so much for our coastal communities and coastal habitats."

4WD enthusiasts have carved up the saltmarshes at Agnes Water, a popular holiday destination nearly 500 kilometres north of Brisbane and the closest access point to the southern reef.
 
Agreed about form and order. The laws of the Universe were put into motion after the Big Bang.

My point is that the Universe is not beautiful, it just is. It takes a human being, or similar mind, to appreciate the beauty....and not all of them do.

Recently I saw an article about how Australian salt marshes are being destroyed by four-wheelers digging ruts into it and destroying the ecosystem. They appreciate the beauty of their machines and loved the adventure, but they were oblivious to the damage they were doing to both the ecosystem and the beauty of the salt marsh flora and fauna. Ergo, beauty is subjective, not objective.

It may look like a mudflat perfect for a four-wheel-drive adventure, but ecologists say motorists are destroying "underrated" ecosystems of the Great Barrier Reef.

Deep wheel ruts and displaced "mud" have scarred the vital coastal Queensland saltmarshes, which protect the reef.

"Saltmarshes are the underrated heroes of the Great Barrier Reef ecosystems," ecologist Jock Mackenzie said.

"They do so much for our coastal communities and coastal habitats."


4WD enthusiasts have carved up the saltmarshes at Agnes Water, a popular holiday destination nearly 500 kilometres north of Brisbane and the closest access point to the southern reef.
You're right, the human's grasp of aesthetic beauty is obviously unique to the minds of our species. I agree

But if you extend beauty to include form, order, and mathematical elegance, even without humans this universe has an intrinsic and intangible superiority compared to a universe composed of black, empty, formless void. At least in my opinion

Bummer about the salt Marsh
 
Last edited:
You're right, the human's grasp of aesthetic beauty is obviously unique to the minds of our species. I agree

But if you extend beauty to include form, order, and mathematical elegance, even without humans this universe has an intrinsic and intangible superiority compared to a universe composed of black, empty, formless void. At least in my opinion

Bummer about the salt Marsh
While you and I can agree that math and the physics of the universe can be beautiful, that's a subjective and human trait. Can a dog appreciate it? An AI robot? No.

The Aussies even had signs up banning vehicles, but little to no enforcement.
 
While you and I can agree that math and the physics of the universe can be beautiful, that's a subjective and human trait. Can a dog appreciate it? An AI robot? No.

The Aussies even had signs up banning vehicles, but little to no enforcement.
A perfectly reasonable inference.

I just think even in the absence of humans, a universe with form, order, mathematical rationality, animal life, and plant life, is intrinsically superior to a universe consisting of nothing but black empty formless void. I don't think the human mind has to be present for one type of universe to be intrinsically superior to another. But that's just my opinion
 
Back
Top