Atheists - What drives you?

Great Debates
1

Atheists, the title question essentially asks it all, but I will summarize, what drives you?

I consider myself to be agnostic. I don’t believe in any man-made religion, organized religion, etc etc. However I do feel that there is a greater will in the universe, though that forces methods are not understood by myself, and that this life is a trial of some sorts.

I somewhat relate to religious people in that I feel comfort in that overall feeling. It helps give me purpose and motivation in my life - a goal, a greater good - that I am working towards. But I don’t agree that only THEIR sect is right, that a supreme being has made itself aware to us. I draw the line there.

I cannot relate to atheists, especially die-hard, aggressive atheists. I feel they are just as obnoxious as overly religious people, and just as illogical. I understand the underlying argument - this is your one life and you have one chance - whether you chose to live it up, or make the world a better place, or a worse place - what happens here stays here. I understand it, it makes sense to me, but if I deny the idea of life after death, of a grander scheme, I find myself depressed, unmotivated, and unfulfilled.

To atheists; does this not happen with you? Or would you, after some consideration, align yourself more with agnosticism?
As a side note, a former childhood friend (he got too pushy on the issue) asked me why I didn’t believe in Christ. I told him when I need inspiration I hike to the waterfalls near my house with my dog, settle down and listen to the flowing water, the whipping winds, feel the sun dappling on my skin, smell the freshness of the air around me, and know divinity is within me and without me. No church ever made me feel that way.

2

Reality is enough for me.

3

There’ve been a few thousand threads about atheism… But, why not?

I was driven to political atheism by having the shit beaten out of me by a gang of Christians (ha!) This led me to be a bitter, nasty, hate-filled anti-theist.

I got over it.

Now, I’m just not a theist. I don’t see any evidence for theism. Philosophically, I can’t separate Christianity from any of a jazillion other faiths. Why Jehovah, but not Zeus? Frankly, I’d prefer Zeus!

And politically? I still have the gravest doubts about the moral stance of today’s theocrats. Separation of church and state is the minimum tolerable position.

4

Nope. I can accept the reality of the situation.

5

Czarcasm, so in other words, if no one ever brought up Theism it just wouldn’t occur to you? Is that a valid summation?

Trinopus - I understand that, and I apologize for another atheism debate, but I feel this merits consideration. What drives you in your life? I feel you still haven’t answered that question for me.

6

Pretty much. In the society we live in, active atheism is a reaction to an existing condition.

7

That’s a natural response of grief for the loss of a belief or fantasy. Abandoning the comforting idea that there’s someone powerful up there looking out for you and planning for you can make you feel very very alone and powerless.

But is that really a good enough reason to believe in something? That it’s scary to think otherwise? For me, it is not. I strive to accept reality as it is and make my choices based on reason and the best information available to me, not based on how I might like things to be. And if you move on and accept that there’s no one looking out for humanity other than us, that can be a very empowering and motivating experience.

8

Same as most people I suppose: search for food, comfort, sex, and love. Not necessarily in that order.

9

As a child I realized at one point that I understood that - that I might not have considered theism if it hadn’t already been suggested to me. I might have lived and died without the thought. (I think…because who can know what you would think without the influence of your peers?) Who originally thought of theism? Who poisoned my brain so-to-speak? Hahaha

Contradictory enough, at the same time I think that theism is a natural thought sometimes, and have great hopes that there is a life beyond this one. Maybe not even a different life - who can know? But another life all the same. I don’t know why the idea of one lifetime is so depressing to me - it seems selfish when some infants are taken at birth and never even get that - but it is true all the same.

10

I’m not an atheist, but to a certain extent, I have an easier time understanding their motivations than I do a lot of theists, so maybe my perspective can help. I, personally, find the motivation of doing what we’re commanded to be a rather unsatisfying, uncurious, unfulfilling existence. The way I look at it, it’d be like being a child who just always does what his parents wants, always follows the path set before me, and all because I know that, in the end, I’ll be rewarded for it. But if that’s the case, it seems to be counter-productive to not want to reach paradise sooner.

In short, this life HAS to have meaning, or it is meaningless. Through religious belief, we come to believe that it has implicit meaning because our creator has made us for some purpose, but obviously it’s not just to skip through it to get to paradise, or why bother with that at all? So there’s more to being here than just following the rules and making it to paradise, we have to make something of it. Regardless of what our religious beliefs teach us about the afterlife, that there’s some permanent reward or punishment, or reincarnation, both affected by our behavior here then we have to maximize it. And if our religious beliefs teach us that there is nothing, then it’s fundamentally not any different from atheism in that regard other than some implicit purpose for existing.

But what we can see is that atheism actually does have an advantage, in some regard, that they don’t need to try to divine the mind of the creator, which really ought to be implicit in creation anyway, but simply that this is all you get, you have to make the most of that. By all means, you can squander your existence, or you can do nothing but cause misery, but ulimately, logically, the greatest joys come from making the most of our lives, and the more we work together toward that end, the greater the total joy.

So, in that sense, I’d like to believe that, even if I were an atheist, my morality would be virtually identical. Sure, an atheist, in a sense, gets to choose their purpose, but what difference does it make when that optimal choice is the same?

11

I don’t deny the idea of life after death. That makes it sound like the logic of one is obvious and I’m being recalcitrant and refusing to admit what everyone else already knows. I reject the premise that an afterlife must necessarily exist and I don’t live my life on the assumption that I will go to one after I die. I don’t find life without an afterlife to be depressing or unfulfilling. In some ways it’s more freeing because I am in control of who I am and where I’m going. There is no god to lift me up when I am down but there is no satan to fuck me over, either. I don’t have as much peace, though. There is no hell where Hitler is punished unmercifully for his crimes. Bad guys are not assured a comeuppance. There is no eternal bliss for the starving 5 year old in Africa. I have no comforting theology to cling to in these instances. It’s hard and it’s made me hard. But I think that ultimately, I’d rather be hard and effective than soft and considering my humanitarian obligations met by saying a quick prayer.

12

To me, the more existential I get to thinking, the more I consider it this way; no one can truly, to me, know why we are here. As Douglas Adams jests, maybe the answer is 42? Who can know? But is there any inherent harm in believing otherwise? I suppose there is if it means that we do not live this one life that we have to the fullest - but what if it motivated us to do just that?

Reality, to me, is all a blur anyway - what is reality to a mosquito, a tree? Is life any less real for those living things?

13

No. Whatever happens next, we’re all here now.

14

Sometimes it gets me down. I mentioned in an earlier, similar thread that I recently lost someone very close to me. Knowing I will never see them again hurts, a lot. But… that’s what I believe. It makes me sad, but it doesn’t make life after death true. I just don’t feel that there is anything beyond this. it doesn’t make sense to me.

As far as “what drives me” I am driven by my family, by my friends, by the people in my community. I want to make the world a better place because I know life does go on after I die; not for me, but for everyone I know. I want them to live in a good world. I want to be a force for good. This life is precious to me because it’s so fragile and short.

Also, just so you know, a person can be an agnostic atheist.

15

The fact that I get only one ride drives me.

I get the gift of consciousness and I only have it for the blink of an eye. To waste it in the furtherance of a delusion like religion would be asinine.

Being depressed because a magic creature isn’t going to grant you eternal life is just petulance. Dust yourself off and deal with the universe you were born into.

16

Yes, I’m unmotivated and unfulfilled, maybe even depressed. That has nothing to do with a supernatural being and it doesn’t make me more motivated or fulfilled to pretend like I’m going to live forever. In fact, it’s kind of depressing to think of all the people who have to make up religious reasons to motivate themselves.

Can religious people not see any reason to get up in the morning without the threat of an angry God or the promise of eternal bliss?

17

Good post - I suppose it depends on which theism you follow, anyway. I also don’t deny that there could be good that comes of grouping together to explore morality, goals, and such. I guess your mindset is similar to mine for the most part.

18

The pleasure in seeking knowledge which enabled my atheism is the very same pleasure in seeking knowledge which “drives” me.

To paraphrase a certain someone, I’ve been around since 1970, and it’s taking longer than I thought.

19

No, it doesn’t happen to me. I’m a strong believer in existential authenticity, that each person has to find meaning for themselves and act “as themselves”. This has two aspects, “creating” oneself, and “discovering” oneself. You should try to be the person you want to be, and also the person that you are; the challenge is figuring out which is which.

I’ve no yearning for an afterlife, and even less of one for a divine plan. The concept alienates me, as it’s the exact opposite of the authentic search for self.

I find no shortage of motivation or fulfillment as an atheist.

20

Hold up - I didn’t say that I AM depressed - just that the thought of nothing after this life is depressing to me. I am perfectly happy with my theism - as un-anchored in any proof as it may be. To me the idea of greater purpose is every bit as silly as the idea of a glitch - the world existing out of nowhere and for nothing. Neither one is logically obvious, to me.