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Well it just seems to me that if this one life is all we have I have to look at the poor, mentally ill, oppressed, depraved, abused and the like of this world and say why bother?Prolly not much of that on this forum and to a lesser extent in the USA...
If your response to the misfortune and suffering that you see is "why bother?" unless you can find some complicated metaphysical reason why it exists, then you are in very sad shape.
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.... Wouldn't this be a waste of your life if there's no afterlife? I don't mean to sound cruel or insensitive, but wouldn't it seem like a waste?
You do not sound cruel or insensitive as much as you sound thoroughly blind and inexperienced. Instead of seeking to find justification for your own beliefs, why not go out among those who do not share those convictions of yours that you want confirmed, who are living in suffering and want. My personal experience allows me to reassure you that you will find them within the U.S. (no trips to India necessary), and find out why they are living.
And/or others. Just remember that a sense of existential meaningless can be as rampant in the violent ghettoes of whatever place you'd like to pick as that same sense is in the most privileged First World areas...only difference is that we might articulate it better over in these parts (well, okay, not the only difference...more nuanced articulation can in fact reflect more expansive perception (not making any argument as to what is ultimately responsible for such differences)).
Just want to say that you have a dog in this fight, too, as a seemingly semi-socially-oblivious atheist. If society at large disintegrates to the point where the great city of Camden from your home state becomes the norm, in terms of "desperate" mindset if in no other way, well...just saying. America has been blissfully removed and, for reasons partially practical and partially mythological, has been by and large divorced from global reality for the past 70 years. That's changing, irreversibly, due in no small part to actions that the US itself has taken/perpetuated.
What are you going to do?
The people in Camden can take care of themselves. Just like I do. What I'm going to do is keep on doing what I am doing today.
To expand on my earlier thoughts and recent posts on this thread, what I have observed is a "welcome to reality" or USA, meet the world.
The last bubble to burst was the housing bubble which was engineered thanks to malpractices in the US and to a lesser extent in the UK. (The derivative debacle) Plus there was an upsurge in prosperity teachings and the gullible bought into it, even here. Folk had expectations of the great golden ship that would return and rescue believers from this realm and they would not really be making debt as the heathen banks would have the collateral of all the rapturees "assets".
Seeing that this left behind crap is finally being exposed for what it is, many sit with the consequence of bad decisions made and are becoming disillusioned. The great escape is never gonna happen.
Our then finance minister saw this coming and instituted harsh credit control which is still pretty damn hard to get around. You only get a 100% mortgage if you are a first time buyer and your credit record is squeaky clean. The proverbial walking on water comes to mind. Few folk have the 10% deposit lying in accounts as that is in the order of 70k upwards. Most only qualify for 90% bonds as we call them here.
We have thus been pained by this for 8+ years and our economy was recovering. Looking at what the folks are posting on forums in the US, it seems the pain we have endured has finally come to roost at the doorstep of the instigators. Unless you are part of the 1%, your lifestyle has to have declined as did mine.
In short, the "American Dream™" went poof. I certainly did not sign up for what I am going through now and all the best laid out plans of man and mice also do not seem to count much these days.
Perhaps this is why folk see no purpose and need to find an outlet for this frustration.
As an atheist, the easy way out is not really an option as we tend to agree this life is all there is no matter how bad it may or may not suck at present. I own everything I have and for the most part am debt free. This has been my only saviour based on old school teachings/thought. I was able to adapt to survive and somewhere along the line, it has to get better.
B/c every damn thing is linked to the USD, we actually need you lot to be prosperous.
Lets face the facts, when you strip away all the BS, everyone worships the currency as w/o money, there is pretty much bugger all you can do. We have become slaves and drones to the system.
It is depressing and perhaps religion gives folk hope albeit a false hope. Do we face the music or do we pretend it is all kosher? It would seem that theists are the ones living in denial of reality and in the long term will be more damaging to them and society as a whole.
A friend shared with me a tid-bit of truth, If you live in the house you "own", it is not worth the paper it is written on. Kinda like landing on your own property in monopoly, you get no rent.
But then there are those imaginary golden mansions in heaven to look forward to...
Of course from a Christian perspective, physical life is just "round one".I would like to know what atheists think about this question.
Atheism is neutral on the question. Granted, an atheist answer wouldn't have god as part of the answer, but that's the only limit atheism puts on addressing the question.
What if you were born in India in the lowest caste and lived your life in filth and poverty and died at the age of 15 from starvation. Wouldn't this be a waste of your life if there's no afterlife?
No it wouldn't. Even if you are born into absolute filth and poverty, you can strive in many ways to make your quality of life better for yourself. You can help make a difference in the lives of others in the short time that you're here. In fact, that is exactly what many poor people do.
No it wouldn't. Even if you are born into absolute filth and poverty, you can strive in many ways to make your quality of life better for yourself. You can help make a difference in the lives of others in the short time that you're here.
These are all noble purposes.
Maybe, maybe not. It all depends on the actual specific conditions into which one is born. And also "who" one is (genetically). Let's not pretend that life has some intrinsic value that any random impoverished gamete/zygote/embryo/fetus/baby wants to preserve out of the womb...laughable notion. Maybe they will with conditioning, maybe they won't
God may have produced original creation, or maybe not and existence is actually eternal.
But we came into being, because we were all psyched to be here. We started out as some sort of extra food energy in our mom and dad's bellies that they used to do the deed, so to speak. After death, we break down into energy, which becomes plant food, and the process starts again.
“It’s a strange myth that atheists have nothing to live for. It’s the opposite. We have nothing to die for, we have everything to live for.” — Ricky Gervais
I think these are the most profound words I have ever heard regarding atheism. And the truist. Ricky is my hero.
Where we are headed is anyone's guess with the current puppets.
My SA friend and his family headed to Australia.
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