Carobit YouTube Discussions Conversation: Response to a Theist part II

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Originator:	Pino Carafa	Printable Version
Title:	Response to a Theist part II

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From: Pino Carafa	On: 2008/07/25 05:59:14
Thank you for contacting me again You told me that when you sent your message to me you were not trying to convert me or trying to change my faith. You were just trying to share knowledge and help us understand each other. But you asked me: “What is the purpose of life” I look at that question and I see a veiled insult. Why is that necessary? I see you trying to share knowledge, and I wonder whether you are assuming that my life would be worthless without this wisdom that you are trying to impart. I told you I do not want to deconvert you. I feel no need to explain myself to you. I just want to be allowed to not believe, without being harassed for it. So you respond again and you tell me that you are very sorry if your question came across as an insult. You didn’t intend it as such. You are just curious with regard to what an atheist thinks about a possible “after life” and what purpose, if any, an atheist may feel their life has. You want to know. alright then I am very glad to hear that my impression was incorrect. Likewise, I can imagine that you may look at my response and think I don't care, or that – as Muslims told me before - my heart has been "sealed" against the truth. All I can do is ask you to trust me on this. I really have heard it all before, and it has failed to convince me. I've been an atheist for over 30 years, and even then I must say "30 years" only because before that I simply wasn't consciously aware that that was what I was, otherwise you may add at least another decade to that number. I have gone through a long, extended period where I was looking for answers in religion, and I have investigated many religions, including yours. But never have I found a satisfactory answer. And then I found that, at least for me, the answer was right there in front of me, in the very atheistic worldview that had been mine for all my life out of sheer necessity, and out of the simple fact that I could not find the capacity to believe within myself. I didn't need to look for answers because I already had them. The only reason why I couldn't see them was because I was too afraid to look. It's understandable. Who doesn't understand death will fear it. It looms ahead like a chasm, and knowing one is inexorably hurtling toward it, and filled with terror, most people simply look away, and look around them, everywhere, trying to find a straw to clutch, an escape route. But always, always averting their eyes. I stopped averting my eyes. One day I realised I could not ignore the fact that I was going to die. No matter how much I tried not thinking about the subject, it would occasionally force itself upon me. People die all the time. You can't pretend it's not happening. You ask about an afterlife? The thought is inconceivable to me. "I", the sense of "me" that makes my personality, is emergent from the neuronal patterns and the activity in my brain. When my brain ceases to function, "I" cease to exist. You need to grasp this, if you want to understand where I am coming from. I do not think an afterlife is "impossible" or even "highly unlikely" or that there is "no evidence" to support it. To me, an afterlife is not even CONCEIVABLE, considering what we are: material beings in a physical universe. Any thought of an "afterlife" is mere wishful thinking. Don't ask me to "prove" this. I find it self-evident, and undeniable, but I have no desire to convince you that this is so. In fact, if your belief in an afterlife makes you happier, the last thing I want to be is the nasty man who takes this away from you. After all, when you die, you, too, will cease to exist, and you will never know that your afterlife does not exist. So why am I telling you this now, after what I just said? Because you asked. In fact, I hope you will dismiss this. But you asked, and I had to tell you. You see what I mean? I stopped averting my eyes. I not only accepted that the abyss of death lies ahead, but I boldly went up, no longer averting my eyes, and I looked straight in. And what I found was an amazing beauty. I have already hinted at this in what I said before. It is pointless to fear death. You cannot experience non-existence. It is as simple as that. Even though your life is finite and you will die very soon (even 100 years is nothing), you will never know what it is like to "be" dead. Death is, literally, nothing to us. It is merely a limiting factor to our lives. It brackets our life so that there is a "before" and "after", from an external perspective. But to us, life will be all we will ever know. And that is how I find my purpose. Many a theist will look at a life without "god" and think that such a life must necessarily be one without purpose. They imagine a tiny, finite, insignificant being in an enormous Universe, and despair at how pointless such a being's existence is. And indeed, in the context of "the Universe" your existence, and mine, is pointless and insignificant. But again you must understand what your life is. Again, you must realise that your finite nature imposes a limit, not only to the time of your existence, but also to its spatial extent and the context in which your life is relevant. Forget about the cosmic context. The only context you will really experience is the context of your own life's experiences, dealing with the people that are close to you in your immediate environment. In today's age of instant communication this may extend to the whole planet, theoretically - after all, I don't even know where YOU live - but even our whole planet is an insignificant speck of dust in the Universe. But it is all we'll ever know. So what is my purpose in life? From an external perspective, again, it's "pointless", "purposeless", "insignificant". Nihilism makes sense if you look at your life from the external perspective. But the only perspective you can ever truly adopt is your own personal perspective. An emotionally healthy, normal human being will care about what people say and do, about family, and about those they love. Whilst it is just something that "evolved" to maximise our genes' potential to multiply, the indignation I feel when I see somebody else treated unfairly is real. The empathy I feel with other people is real. The love I feel for humanity is real. And I don't care what "caused" it to exist. That is alien to my perspective, and to me it's utterly unimportant. That is how your purpose in life is what you make it. You can only do one thing from the day you were born until the day you die, and that is to live your life. And I trust you will want to make it a worthwhile experience. Many people may think that in that context you might arrive at a hedonistic lifestyle, in which you do nothing but seek pleasure. But those people would be mistaken. You would soon find that such a lifestyle is empty and pointless. It reduces you to an automaton subject to the body's whims. In order to lead a full and worthwhile life you will find that you will naturally be drawn to questions of morality, and how to live within your society, with the people you love, and the people you care about. Because it is a natural human instinct to love and to care, and ignoring it will make your life one-dimensional and empty. And that, I hope, will answer your questions. Like I said, I hope you will dismiss this. Many religious people think being an atheist is "taking the easy way out", thinking only of oneself and rejecting all morality. It is quite the opposite. Becoming an atheist would be the toughest thing you could ever do, and you only need to look at some of the atheists on YouTube to understand that one can fail miserably at taking on the responsibility of losing all belief. I wouldn't wish that on anyone. I am not an atheist because I want to be. I am an atheist because I cannot be anything else. Music by Cocteau Twins: Heaven or Las Vegas Produced by Rozeboosje 25 July 2008 Thank you for watching Re-boot your mind

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