The Teaching of an Atheist
Sometimes, I admit, I lose faith.
I lose faith in goodness. I lose faith in humanity. I lose faith in God.
Sometimes, maybe, you do too.
As many of you know, I love discussing the exploration of space. To gain a perspective of where you are in the universe right now, just try watching the "zoom out" introduction to Contact.
But once you get beyond our current galaxy, you tend to disappear.
You're lost in a silent world.
A world of planets.
Of mass objects obeying the laws of the universe.
No emotion. No human feeling. No love.
And, quite possibly, no God.
As you keep going deeper and deeper and deeper, further and further away - billions of light years from earth, where mega-clusters of sub-universes tangle together like DNA strings... where the tiniest pixel on an image would represent infinite numbers of galaxies and worlds and beings and planets...
Where size, as humans imagine it, really seizes to mean anything.
When you're out there... looking in... seeing the crazy things that humans do, on their tiny little planet.
When you're out there... in the silence, in the non-human world, devoid of contact, devoid of true life.
You might... you just might... lose faith.
Where is the God in this?
Are we really as "special" as we think?
Or could we... just could we... be a mere accident of the universe?
Of no real significant meaning to anyone?
American science popularist Carl Sagan, author of Contact, was a renowned atheist. He shared those exact views.
The views of an atheist.
This kind of thought leaves many deflated.
Their whole structure of life... shattered.
But does it really need to be that way?
Let's consider, just for a moment, that God does not exist.
That we, as humans, are just a rather splendid coincidence.
And that, when we die, we just end up as a small pile of dust. Soon to be forgotten, soon to be blown away.
Does that make a difference to your life?
For many people, the answer is yes.
But here's the crazy thing.
The more you consider that as an option, the more you realize the importance of living NOW.
Even if - "Heaven" forbid! - there's absolutely no God, and we're literally alone as coincidental beings in this universe...
Doesn't that make it even more important to truly live your life to the full?
To truly let go of your inhibitions, and begin living this life with a PASSION?
To stop PROCASTINATING, as you have been - and to instead start ENJOYING your time here on earth?
To begin living your life as your own God - through your own rules and standards?
You see, after all that thinking...
Maybe the only real meaning to life... is the meaning you bring to it.
And perhaps that is the true teaching of an atheist.
Labels: God, inspiration, self-development
by Karl
4:21 AM
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5 Comments:
"Maybe the only real meaning to life... is the meaning you bring to it."
I love this, Karl!
I just wanted to say a big Thank You for some excellent posts on here. You have become a daily fix of inspiration for me.
I also downloaded Motivator and your fab Screen Saver yesterday, from Bradley Thompson's Selp Help Street. I really appreciate them and have recommended them to everyone I know. Thank you.
:o)
By
Moondreamer, at
4:33 PM
I loved this one, Karl. Brilliant post :-)
By
Lee, at
9:26 AM
DEAR KARL MOORE,
I HADN'T READ THE BLOGS FOR A FEW DAYS, SO I GUESS I'M LATE IN SENDING THIS. I JUST HAD TO SAY: THANK YOU FOR THAT "WHAT IF THERE IS NO GOD" BLOG. YOU HAD TO HAVE BEEN READING MY MIND! ONE WEEK AGO I WAS VERY ANGRY AND I ASKED GOD TO ANSWER ME THAT VERY QUESTION. "WHAT ON EARTH IS THE POINT OF IT ALL?" PERSONALLY, I DON'T THINK ANY RELIGION HAS IT RIGHT. THEY ALL HAVE VERY LIMITING BELIEFS. CHRISTIANITY BELIEVES IN AN ANGRY JEALOUS GOD THAT PUNISHES YOU IF YOU USE THE FREE WILL THAT HE GAVE YOU TO DO ANYTHING BUT WHAT HIS "WILL" IS. LIKE ANYONE REALLY KNOWS WHAT THAT IS. IF YOU DON'T? DAMNATION. PERSONALLY I BELIEVE HE WANTS OUR LOVE. NOT OUR FEAR. IF WE LOVE HIM, THAT WOULD CAUSE US TO NOT COMMIT THOSE THINGS CHRISTIANITY CALLS "SINS". BY THE WAY. WHAT'S THE POINT OF BEING IN HEAVEN ANY WAY? ETERNITY? WHAT IN HEAVEN'S NAME WOULD YOU DO FOR ALL ETERNITY THAT WOULDN'T BORE YOU TO DEATH? ETERNITY DOESN'T REALLY SOUND EXCITING. DO YOU JUST SIT AROUND AND PAT YOURSELF ON THE SHOULDER ABOUT WHAT A GOOD JOB YOU DID?
PAGANS BELIEVE IN MANY GODS AND REINCARNATION, AS DO HINDUS. THEY CLAIM THAT YOU KEEP COMING BACK UNTIL YOU GET IT RIGHT. I ASK "WHY?" AND "HOW ON EARTH ARE WE GOING TO GET IT RIGHT WHEN WE DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT WE ARE DOING WRONG? YOU COULD BE MAKING THE SAME MISTAKES 1000 LIVES OVER AND STILL NEVER GET IT. NOT MY IDEA OF FUN. BEING ON THIS EARTH ONCE IS HARD ENOUGH. I CAN'T IMAGINE BEING HERE THAT MANY TIMES.
ATHEISTS WORRY ME THE MOST WITH THERE BEING NO MEANING AT ALL. YOUR BORN, YOU GROW UP, YOU LIVE LIKE AN ADULT. YOU PROCREATE LIKE AN ANIMAL, RAISE YOUNG, GET OLD AND DIE. END OF STORY. SCARY!
BUT YOU. I THINK YOU GAVE ME GOD'S ANSWER. "LIFE IS THE MEANING YOU GIVE IT." OUT OF ANYTHING I'VE EVER HEARD, AND I'VE STUDIED MANY RELIGIONS, THAT MAKES THE MOST SENSE TO ME. FIND WHAT MAKES YOU GET UP IN THE MORNING WITH GUSTO AND LOOK FORWARD TO LIVING THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. THANK YOU FOR THAT. I THINK YOU WERE GOD'S MESSANGER FOR ME.
THANKS!
ROSE DESSINGER
By
Anonymous, at
12:28 PM
Rose Dessinger you have been God's messenger to me today!
Thank you Karl for tipping the question and giving Rose a forum to share and respond. She wrote from my own brain and my heart!
In truth my whole being doesn't want to be an athiest, but logic screams at me that this MUST be so.
Of late I question the issue of a personal God. Does it even care at all...and no, not a religion around seems to have the answers.
Thank you, Karl for asking the hard question and giving me reason to press on with how ever many years I have (not few...) and to do it with the bravado you suggest.
On the journey...
X
x@pirsqd.com
By
Ex, at
7:52 PM
Ive been thinking about the difference between the big bang and God (reason)
and decided there must be a God.
Procreation, sex, is to carry on all that lives in the world, plants, animals, humans. There are even bees to carry pollen to help plants live.Fair enough for both God and big bang to sort this out. The thing that made my mind up for me was
Who told them they were going to die
Not the big bang thats for sure so there must have been a God a supreme being of some kind dont you think.
By
Anonymous, at
1:09 PM
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