My brother, an atheist, was once asked “if you don’t believe in God why do you even get out of bed in the mourning?” his response was “because otherwise I would probably piss myself.”
I still find it humorous that religion seems to claim that only they have the ability to provide mankind with an ultimate purpose… or rather a purpose outside of one given to one’s self. As an example, the existence of populations that can adapt/evolve over time suggests that we are (in bulk and on average) operating towards a common goal, survival of our traits. Sounds like telos/purpose to me. No woo woo required.
In any case, in the absence of ultimate purpose is not a complete lack of purpose. It is the freedom to choose one’s own purpose… which is quite a liberating idea indeed. Not nearly the pit of despair that the theists would have us believe.
I think what bothers me the most about the theist view, is that they cannot envision purpose with subservience. It is so inbred in their world view, that the two traits are considered one and the same.
Therefor, if you have a self-motivated purpose, they automatically equate that as a petty, selfish act, putting yourself before all others: when that has nothing to do with your motivation at all. Trying to explain the separation of the two traits is also nigh impossible.
Tuesday December 7th, 2010 @ 12:51pm
My brother, an atheist, was once asked “if you don’t believe in God why do you even get out of bed in the mourning?” his response was “because otherwise I would probably piss myself.”
I still find it humorous that religion seems to claim that only they have the ability to provide mankind with an ultimate purpose… or rather a purpose outside of one given to one’s self. As an example, the existence of populations that can adapt/evolve over time suggests that we are (in bulk and on average) operating towards a common goal, survival of our traits. Sounds like telos/purpose to me. No woo woo required.
In any case, in the absence of ultimate purpose is not a complete lack of purpose. It is the freedom to choose one’s own purpose… which is quite a liberating idea indeed. Not nearly the pit of despair that the theists would have us believe.
Wednesday December 8th, 2010 @ 9:02am
I think what bothers me the most about the theist view, is that they cannot envision purpose with subservience. It is so inbred in their world view, that the two traits are considered one and the same.
Therefor, if you have a self-motivated purpose, they automatically equate that as a petty, selfish act, putting yourself before all others: when that has nothing to do with your motivation at all. Trying to explain the separation of the two traits is also nigh impossible.