Atheist and don't like it.

I have found atheism to be exciting, liberating, and comforting. It gives one a wonderful sense of perspective.

I'll be sorry to leave this life, but I accept that the party has to come to an end sooner or later: I hope the rest of you drink and sing in my memory after I am gone.

OP, your life is here and now. Carpe that diem for all you are worth!

aaronjumper wrote: »

What I want to ask is are my fellow atheists not bothered by this fact?

Not in the slightest. Nor can I see any good reason to be. It would just be a waste of time. Why be bothered by the truth? Life is what you make of it and one can either sit around being depressed by reality and truths or one can just get on with it.

Being annoyed or saddened by the truth is not going to change it.

aaronjumper wrote: »

We also get to live an eternity of bliss. Nice one.

Does not sound nice to me at all. Imagine going to a good gig and really enjoying it but then you are taken aside and told the gig will go on forever, you can never leave and the management (in a tone that says "or else") positively insists you have a good time during this incarceration.

Hi Aaron,

Yeah, it is kind of depressing at times. There is a whole lot about reality that just sucks, plain and simple. The question I ask myself is; would I choose the lie if I were actually offered the choice or would I prefer to live the hard truth? I honestly don't know! I like to think I would choose the truth but I can't be certain. It is entirely academic for me though as the whole paradise after death thing is so incredibly childish and so obviously invented a fantasy that I simply ccouldn't believe it, no matter how much I might want to.

It is even more depressing than it seems at first. There is no ultimate justice. Tyrants live perfectly happy lives, torturing and killing those around them and they often get away with it, scot-free. Christianity doesn't do a whole lot to address this but more morally enlightened religions do.

There is a little justification for the religious perspective that there is a nihilistic aspect to atheism but the true comlpaint of course is that there is a nihilistic aspect to reality.

Possibly the worst thing is, that even though you know that this life is all you get and you really ought to make the most of it. You will find you squander it to much the same extent as those who believe in an afterlife. Atheists often talk about siezing the day but in my experience you are as likely to find them wasting away on the couch as anyone else!
Some atheists seize the day as do some religious. Some of both stay home and watch coronation street too. Neither worldview seems to have much effect on how someone lives.


It's not all doom and gloom though!

You do begin to appreciate the marvels of nature more I think. The universe seems much more full of possibility when there is no, laughably human-like, mind dictating ludicrously specific rules. You begin to understand that the world really is what we make of it. We are flawed creatures but we are hard at work trying to be less so. The accomplishments of humankind are ours alone. So too are our failings, of course, but the better angels of our nature, involve no angels, no divine spark, no elevating impetus. Life as we are does not need some exterior force to raise it out of the muck. We can do that ourselves. Our potential is not limited and we are not the playthings of gods and demons. The more people who realise this, the faster the world is likely to become a better place. Religion encourages the view that we are nasty, sinful cretins and the only good we do is thanks to some better entity that holds it's nose and tries to drag us out of the filth we would chose to wallow in without it's magnaimous intervention.

You are free to do whatever things brings happiness without bizarre restrictions imposed by long surpassed authorities. At the same time, you can't seek forgiveness from anyone except from those you harmed and this I think makes people more considerate of their actions. You understand that the time you have with family and friends is very limited and I think this encourages you to cherish the time you have with them.
Only the atheist, I think, can truely understand just how true the statement "knowledge is power" really is. That is one of the reasons I think they tend to often be great respecters of science. They are more likely to understand that mankind's lot is something we have a measure of control over. The more we know the better we can make life for everyone and the richer the experience will become.

For all the downers its comes with. When I look up at the milky way and understand just how tiny I am, I am filled with inspiration and awe, not self-pity or a sense of dinunation. I am small and have very little power, but with the help of my fellow humans I have the potential to even stand on the moon. I think in general you feel a little better about your fellow prmiates!

robindch wrote: »

I bumped into Hector in Manama (Do doo be-do-do) airport Bahrain airport a few years back as he was staring, open-mouthed at the head of a huge moose that somebody had nailed to the wall about nine feet off the floor, just to the right of a coffee stand.

FYP.

Sarky wrote: »

You know all those folks who do believe in an afterlife? They're all going to die too. What they believe doesn't matter. All that prayer and church and evangelising, that's time they could have spent hanging out with friends, listening to a new album, playing a game online, writing that novel, booking tickets to halfway across the world with a loved one or any number of other things.

This is certainly true but as Aaron post shows, there is another way to look at it.
These believers may be happier in general because of their beliefs. (I think there is even some research that backs that up, but I can't recall where it came from so I don't know if it was reliable at all) The atheist with all his extra time could be going about full of anxiety.