On a life without a god or an afterlife.
Flickr Attribution: Lamerie
Often I’m asked when I bring up my lack of beliefs how I can appreciate life without having god in it, or how I can possibly cope with the idea that I’m going to hell or that there is nothing after death. As a theist, and believe me when I say I was very much of the christian persuasion once upon a time, I never appreciated life. I appreciated a being I’d never seen or heard from for the life he gave me, which I guess to a theist is the same thing…not to me.
Secondly as a theist I feared going to hell, but when you actually come to the terms that it doesn’t exist…well to me telling me I’m going to hell is like telling you that if you don’t agree with me that invisible monkey ninja’s with death ray eye beams and cybernetic robots from the future are going to appear in a flash of rainbow colored smoke to the music of Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give you Up” pull down your pants and violate you with a pink care bear beanie baby. I just am unable to seriously consider that happening, and at most it will ignite my annoyance for attempting fear tactics, no matter how well meant.
So, you’ve seen how I view those two things…but seeing how I view them is nothing like actually answering them and I am loathe to dodge questions so here I will attempt to answer both to my fullest ability.
1. How can I appreciate life without a god?
The answer here is not a simple one, and it was honestly one that took me quite a long time to find. Not necessarily how to appreciate it without a god, but how to appreciate it at all, without involving deity worship. For the longest time you have your worldview defined by this ominous dark cloud lurking over you waiting for you to mess up…it’s hard changing that. Once I fully came to terms that I believed there is no god I began searching for reason. It’s a long long path, that one. I found however it’s not so hard to appreciate life as it is to fully comprehend the why and how of life. Why we exist is still one that alludes me, I suspect I’ll be searching for that one my whole life. How we exist on the other hand…thankfully there have been many many bright minds before me that have answered those questions.
Evolution for instance, biology or astronomy, psychology and physics. When you begin to honestly grasp these things…when you know how the valley was formed, how the tree grows how much time it took for those to form naturally that is awe inspiring. When you know what it took for a beautiful intelligent woman to become the flower and to blossom into who she is, when you realize the genetics, the life experience and the evolution that took billions of years to make something so astounding, something so beautiful as the human body and the mind behind it, that is awe inspiring. Yeah, I can appreciate that…In fact I’ve found more appreciation for the things around me than I ever once did in Sunday school.
Through understanding, reason, knowledge and thought. That is how I can enjoy my life. That is how I can find amazement in even the tiniest of animals or in each and every human being I met. I mean after all they’re there I’m here and someone else could be. There’s a huge amount of people that could be here that are not. I mean, genetically speaking alone the combination of ways I could have developed is astounding. You add in the life experience that got me to where I am today and that just makes it even more amazing.
2. How can I cope with the idea there is no afterlife?
This on is actually a lot easier to answer. For one, I don’t know if there is an afterlife. I don’t think anyone alive, even those who claim to have near death experiences can tell me accurately what is on the other side. I do however assume there is nothing, because if there isn’t anything, then I want each day to matter here. I want to leave a legacy behind if you will. So that way those I’ll never see again, or those that I’ve never seen might know who I am. I don’t assume to know if there is or isn’t an afterlife. I just assume to assume there isn’t. Better to be on the safe side of that one than to do nothing with your life but wait for the next.
Now I know someone reading this will bring up some variant of pascals wager. Indeed I suspect that when I said I don’t know it popped into your minds rather quickly. What Pascal’s wager says is that if god exists, you go to hell for not believing but if he doesn’t you won’t go to hell. It says that there’s a 50/50 chance and a lot of Christians like to point out this. However what Pascal’s wager does not do is point out that there are other religions.
So at the beginning we have atheism and Christianity. 50/50 but let’s throw in Islam. Now it’s a 33% chance of being right. But we can’t also forget about Judaism so now it’s a 25% chance of being right. But then we have others like Buddhism, or Hinduism. You add in those and it’s now turned into a 16% chance. Of course that’s not all there’s also Scientology, Astaru, shamanism, Wicca, Taoism, Zoroastrianism, Shinto, Sikhism, Jainism, and that’s just naming a few. You are now down to .018% chance of being right. Less than .1 percent. That’s not even all of the religions of the world past or present. Not to mention the various denominations of various faiths and the amount of gods all together collectively within each individual religion.
The mathematics for it were done rather quickly on a calculator here and they could be slightly off. But regardless it’s still a really freaking small number and I guarantee you it’s less than 1% by the sheer amount of various religions. Still even if the wager was valid it also assumes that an all knowing god would buy into your bullshit that you really love him and weren’t just covering your ass to get into heaven….which isn’t the point of christianity….right?
In closing I’d like to say that even if we agree to disagree here, that you should find more enjoyment in life than focusing on something you can’t really prove exists. You shouldn’t live your life in fear of whats next. You should understand life and all its mysteries thats what science does after all, and you should above all be happy.
Dec 1st, 2008 at 7:00 pm
I think one important thing that I myself have concluded, is that there isn’t supposed to be a reason for anything. I don’t believe there is a reason why we exist. Humans in general, most likely due to our social nature, feel the need to be part of something greater. Religion provides a nice story to fulfill this need.
My view is that everything that happens is simply a matter of cause and effect. Think of the universe as one massive collective domino effect, with each domino having fallen for no other reason than the previous one having pushed it. It’s hard to accept not knowing why the first domino was pushed to begin with, but if there is such a thing as infinity, then it exists both ways. We have our theories on the big bang, but who’s to say there wasn’t something before that? Something had to exist for the big bang to start.
To try to find meaning as to why we exist when we have a much larger mystery, scaling the situation down to our humanly level, is like looking for meaning in something as petty as someone having tripped on a sidewalk. There may definitely be a story as to how the sidewalk might have cracked due to a weak composition and maybe some earthquakes and heavy pedestrian traffic, and why the person was walking down that particular street, but ultimately there really isn’t a meaning behind it.
Dec 1st, 2008 at 7:59 pm
I’d have to say comparing evolution, or psychology to why there’s a crack in the sidewalk is a bit…well apathetic to be honest. Or am I reading your reply in the wrong manner?
Dec 1st, 2008 at 10:37 pm
I wouldn’t call it apathy myself. I mean I do care about us as humans existing. I enjoy being able at least catch a brief glimpse of our planet and the universe in general. However I don’t have any notions of us as a human race being important in the grand scheme of things. It’s a matter of scope and perception. In the greater scope of the universe and the time it has existed and will continue to exist, our evolution as a race is even less important than that crack in the sidewalk.
Dec 3rd, 2008 at 2:23 am
I don’t really think there is a grand scheme so to base your idea of whats important upon that is a bit foolish in my opinion. I’d have to argue that the evolution of the human race is certainly important to humans, it’s quite subjective though I will agree with you there. You define what is important in your world, or sphere of influence, however you like to view it. If you choose to think there is a large plan or something larger at work and that we’re low on the importance scale in that plan or working that’s fine. However I don’t think for a minute that there’s a plan or scheme at work that would place us any less or more important than any other sentient civilization that may exist in the galaxy.
Dec 3rd, 2008 at 3:02 am
I misspoke when I said grand scheme. I didn’t mean it in the sense that there is a large plan at work created by somebody or something. All I meant is that we are pretty insignificant if you look at the scope of the entire universe and what has happened, is currently happening, and will continue to happen when our species ceases to exist. Sure we have to care about ourselves and what happens in our world. We are living in it so we need to make the best of it. But I think you looking for some kind of reason for us existing as a species, is something I think is left over from your former beliefs. The reason for existing religion provided you has left a hole.
Out of curiosity, are you the type that believes everything happens for a reason?
Dec 12th, 2008 at 6:49 pm
My recommendation is to read Steve Jobs’ Stanford Commencement Speech. Second realize that if the Louvre offered to loan you the Mona Lisa for four score and ten years on the condition you gave it back after that you’d be a fool not to take it. Thirdly remember not to worry too much about the purpose of live (maybe there is one, but probably there isn’t: it’s not *for* anything, it’s the product of evolution by natural selection) but to worry about the purpose of your mind (which after all is what you are). The purpose of life maybe uncertain. But the purpose of your mind is absolutely clear (the reality principle of the Buddha and Freud): “seek happiness and avoid suffering, but bear in mind the time delay and the fact that what do you will come back to you”.
Dec 13th, 2008 at 12:33 am
Pascal’s Wager is really not a choice between non-belief and all the various religions. Its facing the possibility that you could be wrong.
If you are wrong, what happens? Well, if you compare unbelief with most of the world’s religions, not much. You don’t go to hell in most of them; that’s a concept that some Jews, most Christians and most Muslims hold. So if you are hedging your bets, you don’t worry about the inconsequential problems if you are not a Buddhist; you look at the religions that, if you are wrong and they are right, are very bad for you.
Jews believe that Christians and Muslims go to heaven (usually based on the idea of good acts overriding bad acts), so you don’t have to become a Jew to satisfy the Wager. Your choice is to decide which remaining religion is the correct one. Your choice is unbelief (in which case, if you are wrong, you are in very sorry shape), or Christianity or Islam. Most of moderate Islam believes that “people of the book” will still go to heaven (Christians and Jews, based on how they have lived IIRC). So you can be a Christian and satisfy the requirement for Islam (unless you are already a Muslim).
The problem with Pascal’s Wager is not that it isn’t logical, its that it only serves to clarify the issues for those that believe God may exist, but don’t know which way to turn. But in the end, belief or non-belief has to be decided by the individual.
Mar 11th, 2009 at 6:47 am
The answer to a “why” question begins with “Because” or in proper meaning “the cause be”. So by asking why, you are presuming a cause and thus a reason. In truth, there is no “why”, only “how”.
Sep 12th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
We all have a desire to Live. I don’t want to die. Now I have had some really bad days when I wished I was dead. But I got past that, and the very next day I wanted to live again. I think it is instinctive for all creatures large and small to have a desire to live. I think my life has meaning. I have spent a lot of time learning, it would be a waste if all that just disappeared when I die. I look forward to waking up each day and wonder what I will find this day. I just can’t imagine that stopping. I don’t want to vanish, disappear when my body no longer can start up again in the morning.
By the way God told me that Richard Dawkins, well known ATHEIST, goes to Heaven. So one morning when your body just won’t get up you could be surprised to find yourself in Heaven. If an Atheist goes to heaven I would think a Non-Theist would too. Gods Messanger, Melanie