As an atheist, I don’t believe there is some grand purpose ordained by a creator. To some, this seems like such a bad or sad thing to be mourned, and I understand that way of thinking when coming from a place of believing in a grand purpose to existence. I considered myself Christian for the first 22 years of my life and so I understand how weird my current belief system looks coming from a theistic one. Now that I am where I am, I can easily say this hard to word sentence: I think that believing in no grand purpose created by someone else or some deity has far more potential to breed a happy, healthy society than believing in one does. I think it gives us the ability to actually question our goals and change them accordingly if we think they aren’t worth pursuing. I know most theists will say “well we could never create a goal better than ‘insert chosen deity here’ can give us ” and if that’s your stance, you should probably stop reading here because anything I say further in this particular post won’t make any sense to you because I am working on the assumption (backed by data and an entire topic I am not discussing in this particular post) that any goal set by a deity was actually just set by some person who believed themselves to be talking to a god but in reality where having a conversation with their own conscience where they believed their conscience was in fact a deity.
I currently see our society as one that is slowly coming to terms with its ignorance about the true nature of the universe and existence, but is still in many ways operating on relics of the past such as superstition or intuition (I do think intuition can be useful but one has to be careful of their own biases when relying on it). With every passing day, science shows us more about how weird the universe actually is and how wrong we’ve been about so many things and how intuition cannot always be trusted. With these growing pains that we’re experiencing, one of the things that is really taking a hit is our sense of purpose. Before religion came along, the purpose was mostly trying to find a way to just survive, then came along religion and it became listening to the ideals of ‘insert deity here’. At present, we seem to have a decent handle on survival and are getting better and better at seeing the gaping holes in religions, so now many of us have began to wonder, what the hell are we doing here?
As to our origin before the big bang, I haven’t a freaking clue. Seriously no idea, and that is simultaneously scary as hell, and mesmerizing to me. However, as to our purpose or what we should be doing, I have a guess, I think it’s up for us to decide. I think our goal is defined by us and always has been, it’s just that people weren’t aware of it for quite some time. For me, I have currently decided my goal is to maximize collective happiness/content and minimize suffering (the definition I am using for happiness here treats a masochist experiencing pain as happiness rather that suffering). I also extend this to as many species as logistically possible; I don’t view humans as any more important than any other species and think it is as morally corrupt as being a racist or a sexist as it is to believe we are more important than any other species.
I personally would like society to now come together and start engineering societal systems with clear defined purposes. I also think most skeptics and non-religious people could get on board with my stated ideal goal for humanity. With such goal, I think from here on out we should stop hanging onto policies based on preconceived ideals and only pay attention to whether or not a policy achieves our goal. One really big thing that kills me about our current society is how we value “work”. We seem to see getting things done and being “productive” as the highest of ideals, but I don’t think this makes much sense if your idea is maximizing happiness and content. Yes getting things done gives us more to enjoy but sometimes and often times really we run into diminishing returns. There comes a point where only focusing on getting things done begins to reduce the amount of enjoyment that work itself can bring, and at that point I think it’s important to slow down and not work hard just for the sake of working hard. One way this manifests is in automation, currently when something is automated, at best it frees up a person from one task so that they can do another and at worst it takes a job away from a person and funnels more money straight to the top of a company. I think there is a third option that should really be considered… I think the goal of automation in all cases should be to free all people from the need to work to exist so that they can choose what to do with their life. The wealth created by automation should be shared equally by all humans and not just used as a means to make even more stuff (although sometimes that is beneficial when that’s what the people directly making the stuff want) or to make a few people extremely rich while leaving the rest of us just above poverty.
It’s hard not to ramble on this topic because part of what I’m really trying to get at is that I feel society would be better off if we spent more time scrutinizing and adjusting our world models to get as close to representing reality as possible. I think there are a lot of commonly accepted “truths” that are either way more complex than we give them credit for or that are just blatantly false. The more we operate from ideals that are in alignment with the truth, the healthier our society will have the potential to be. I hope we continue to discover where we are just ignorant and learn to be a society that seeks out and readily welcomes change because nothing is more fatal to a society than an inability to admit where we are wrong and change accordingly. So in conclusion, me personally… making a priority out of learning and changing when I am wrong while also choosing to pursue happiness for myself and others is the vast majority of what I am doing here.
Steven Wilhelm 
Hi Steven, I’m a friend of your grandmother’s and a Christian. I read your blog thoroughly and with much interest. I too went thru an existential period of questioning and seeking truth. And ultimately returned to me. What made me feel whole? What made me feel like I was helping society not hurting it? What did I value and believe in? It came down to believing I made decisions based on the 3 questions above… if I felt good about myself, if I was benefiting someone besides myself and it brought joy, unity, caring to someone then I felt the same emotions. In reading the bible, I don’t think God is asking us to wait and be told what to do. He gave us the path… love your neighbor as yourself…. And the abilities to make a difference…. unto each talents are given… And the grace to forgive us when we stray. And yes it is our conscience that guides us. And yes work for the wrong reasons and results is debilitating, but work with a purpose that fits my 3 guiding questions is fulfilling and fun and enjoyable. I embrace your search and know you will find solace.
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Steven…I’m really sorry to hear you do not believe in God…my Grandmother was an atheist most of her life but towards the end something clicked and she believed…I think you should keep searching…I can see how someone might think there is no God especially if you have never FELT his presence or heard his voice…for me personally, I know he is real and so are angels…life is everlasting and eternal…our spirit and soul never dies! Keep searching! Marla
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Steven, there is much in what you have written in your blog that I agree with. Although I believe in God, I think we delude ourselves sometimes into believing we are doing what God wants us to do when it is really what we want to do.
I think it is true that we are learning more and more all the time about what we know that is different from what we thought we knew in the past. Science has given us more insight into things that we did not know before. Scholarship has helped us understand things differently than we did in the past. Even the Bible is understood differently, and I think better, than we once did when it is studied with an open mind.
I will not argue with you about being an atheist. We are all shaped by our background and experiences. I would be different than I am if I had not been raised by people who loved me and by people who throughout my life who have supported me who were Christians. If not for these people I would probably be a different person. Circumstances influence us and shape us. If I had been born into a different family I might be Jewish. If I had been born in a different country I might be Muslim.
While I accept the fact that you think of yourself as an atheist, I really don’t understand how that is possible. I do understand how someone could be an agnostic who doubts the existence of God. I don’t think you can prove or disprove the existence of God. You can think or believe that God does not exist, but you cannot prove it. I can, and do, think and believe that God exists, but I cannot prove it. In other circumstances I could have been an agnostic, but I don’t think that logically I could be an atheist.
My belief is that God is a God of grace, that is, God loves everything – the earth, plants and animals, including humans. God loves everything because they are of intrinsic worth. God does not love humans because of what humans do, but just because we exist. I came to this conclusion when you were born. I realized I love you just because you were born. There was nothing you needed to do to make me love you; I just did.
I believe God loves us because we are God’s children. I don’t think God punishes us when we don’t do what God wants us to anymore than I would punish you if you did not. You may not always do what I wish you would, but that does not diminish my love for you. I believe that God loves us the same way. We may do things that God does not like, but that does not diminish God’s love for us. I do not believe God sends us to hell if we are disobedient; that would not be consistent with a God who loves us. I wouldn’t do it, and I cannot believe in a God who would treat people worse than I would.
I have no idea what happens to us after death. If we are good Christians in order to get to heaven we are being good for the wrong reason. We are being good for a reward. We need to be good for the sake of our planet, for the good of others, for better politics, for better science, for better health care, and hundreds of other things. We need to be good because it is the right thing to do, not for what we can get out of it.
There are many people who will disagree with my understanding of God and that’s okay. We don’t all have to believe or disbelieve the same things. The problem is that too many people believe what they are told instead of thinking for themselves as you have. Some believe every thing they hear from a preacher in a pulpit. Sometimes when I was preaching I said “You don’t have to believe what I say as long as what I say makes you think.” Some people get their understanding of Christianity from television where you can find the worse kind of an example of a minister.
I believe we suffer the consequences of our own behavior and usually that is punishment enough. The worse thing is that often other people suffer the consequences of our behavior. That should be enough for us to be careful about our behavior.
You are right about how we make work and production so important. I missed out a lot of opportunities to enjoy my children and for them to enjoy my presence because I was so wrapped up in my work. I wanted to be good at it and I wanted to look like I was good at it in the eyes of other people. It was only when I got older that I realized I put my emphasis in the wrong place.
As far as the origin of creation, I haven’t a clue either. I know what the Bible says, but I do not take that literally. There are actually two stories of creation in the Bible (Genesis 1:1-2:4a and Genesis 2:4b-25) written by two different people. Both are stories by someone trying to explain the origin of creation. They both contain truths, but they don’t contain facts. There are many stories in the Bible that I do not take literally. They are told to teach us something, but are not necessarily true stories. The chief of these is Jesus’ parables. They are made up stories to teach his audience something or make a point. My favorite parable is the parable of the prodigal son. It is my favorite because it is not about the son but the father who is loving and forgiving and who represents God. He told it to those who were criticizing him for associating with “sinners” to tell them what God is like. There are some things in the Bible that may be factually true and some are not, and there are differences of opinion of which is which and that is okay. We can respect other people and their beliefs without having to agree with them or without feeling the need to try to convince them they are wrong.
When you start your post by saying you are an atheist, some people don’t pay much attention to the rest of what you say. They begin immediately to think of how they can prove you are wrong.
Lead off with something else next time.
Your last sentence: “So in conclusion, me personally… making a priority out of learning and changing when I am wrong while also choosing to pursue happiness for myself and others is the vast majority of what I am doing here” is a worthy goal and I hope you can live up to it – I hope I can too.
Love, Grandpa
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Steven I did not know I would be anonymous. It’s me Grandpa Jack.
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Stephen, I always feel really sorry for people who lose their faith. Because I have NO idea how I would have survived this life without mine. Do I ever question religion? Yes I do. Because everyone thinks theirs is the best. But I LOVE being in worship and feeling my spirit joining w/ other Christians. And partaking in communion feeling close to Christ. But never do I question my faith. It doesn’t matter to me HOW this world was created. I just know that it was and that I have experienced the presence of God through Christ in my life, especially in the worst times of it. And I have definitely had some worst times. I pray that you can find SOMEthing to believe in. In A.A. they use the term “higher power” because some people have a hard time for one reason or another believing in the God they were either raised hearing about or because they blame God for things that have happened in their lives. Maybe that could work for you. I hope so. Otherwise, WHAT are you going to hold onto? People will always disappoint you sometime or other. Hugs, Linda
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I will hold onto what evidence shows me to be there, not what I simply wish was there. I feel sorry for people who feel like the only way to be happy is to delude themselves. I honestly feel more at peace with my existence now than I ever did believing in a deity.
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It is a beautiful thing to seek truths. Takes a lifetime of flexibility.
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It is a beautiful thing to seek truths. Takes a lifetime of flexibility. Sharon. Jan’s friend
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The article makes me sad. Know nothing. Believe Nothing. No value in doing something. Void. Dark. Meaningless. Please don’t dig deeper. Nothing there but more of a whole. Jesus called it Gehenna. The trash dump.
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Reread the article, not meaninglessness, just not deity ordained meaning. There’s meaning abound, it’s just in our own hands to decide what that meaning is.
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Got it. I will need some time to gather my thoughts and reread this blog to respond. I emailed it to several people hoping they will weigh in with their thoughts too. Did FaceTime with Natalie this afternoon. She and Nico r enjoying their new school where they go in person. A car and truck ran into them this morning on the way to school. Jonathan’s car was damaged, but thankfully, no one was hurt. A UPS truck was behind the two cars and rammed them. I went out walking this afternoon. Felt really good to get outside. Larry’s birthday today, so we did carry out at our Chinese restaurant. Grandma 💖
Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPad
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