meaning of life
So I was recently confronted by a religious person regarding the “meaning of life” and I felt my response to this was worthy enough to be posted here.
The whole concept of needing to have some sort of reason to live is somewhat silly in the first place. I don’t need to justify my existence, I’m fairly certain I’m here so what else is there to prove? This isn’t even something I think about, honestly, because it’s not important.
Why create voids where there are none? That’s essentially what it comes down to. By asking a question with no real answer such as “what is the purpose of life” you are essentially creating a void that you now will try to fill with whatever bullshit that fits, whether it be christianity or scientology or some sort of pseudo-scientific string theory bullshit, it doesn’t matter.
Not to mention there’s a huge difference between the question “is your life meaningful?” which is more of a question of self-esteem and “what is the meaning of life?” which is more of a philosophical question. In either case, I’m not so conceited as to think that everything I do in life has to serve some sort of divine purpose, fact is most people just aren’t that important and only a select few will be remembered in history. That doesn’t mean your life was meaningless though, society is like a living organism and everyone in it is part of the future and past of that organism, so even if as an individual you won’t be remembered, the things that generation did will be passed onto the next.
And when it comes down to it, a big giant meteor could hit the earth tomorrow and it’s all gone in seconds. Does that have meaning? If the universe is just a series of chemical reactions and if that particular series of events was inevitable given the previous set of reactions, then yes, it would have meaning. Is that important though? not really. Fact is, you can pretty much give meaning to anything, that doesn’t mean it’s important.
I’ve come face to face with death in many ways and try to avoid it as much as any other sane person, but I don’t need to constantly fear it, I’ve gotten myself into plenty of binds doing just that. In either case, I’m not all too optimistic about that whole eternal life thing working out, far too narcissistic. Have you considered re-incarnation instead maybe? I hear it’s got some perks.
I generally reject the term atheist due to the fact that it’s almost become a religious label, I prefer to say I have “no religion” or am “religionless”, I basically consider term religion or religious as just not applicable to me. I don’t want to have a religious label, I find it somewhat offensive.
I rejected religion when I was probably around 8-10 yrs old, I sorta felt pressured and didn’t really buy into what I was hearing. I grew up in a jewish family in america, meaning I was part of a minority already, jesus and santa claus were already foreign to me and my own religion didn’t seem all that much better, I guess when you are already an outsider, being a little bit further outside isn’t all that much different, but I digress. According to the “good book” jews are the chosen people anyway and don’t really have a hell, so I guess if all else fails I’m still on gods side right? What a crock. Not to mention the worlds top 3 religions are basically all based on the same book.
I don’t need predefined sets of rules to live by. Fuck morals, fuck manners, fuck tradition, fuck 2000 year old books. I will create my own path in life. I don’t need to follow what others say.