Caring as an atheist
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Someone who I like and respect recently posted a comment on a popular social networking site (not you, “G+”) and essentially stated that Atheists couldn’t care about anything in the physical world because they rejected the idea of the spiritual world.
From a Christian standpoint, I see his point. He contends that this life is a preparation for receiving the kingdom and glory of Heaven and God, and without that end result, the journey means nothing. I get that. I just disagree with it.
As an atheist, I view life differently. Where he sees life as a journey towards a final reward, I see life as the reward that makes the journey worthwhile. I don’t believe that anything specific happens. Rather, I choose to live and love as though death was the equivalent of turning off a spiritual and biological light switch. There’s just darkness afterwards.
However, that darkness doesn’t frighten me. Questions regarding things like souls and personalities resolve themselves automatically, because I don’t believe in an afterlife. Essentially, I don’t have to wonder what happens to my soul, because I don’t believe that one exists in the first place.
Rather, I recognize that my time here is limited, and I try to treat people better because of it. I won’t have an eternity to see these people again, and I am not waiting to meet anyone on the “other side”. Literally, every moment that I squander instead of spending with someone that I love is a wasted opportunity.
That is the basic idea behind why I can care about things while rejecting the idea of God. These people (on Facebook, and in person) enrich and enhance my life in countless ways, and hopefully, I do the same for them in some small measure.
For further reading, I have a post up (written quite a while ago) on Hub Pages regarding why I find comfort in the idea that there is no afterlife. If you are interested, I invite you to read it by clicking the link below.
http://soldieringon.hubpages.com/hub/Comfort-Without-an-Afterlife
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You've got it half right Soldier. Not believing in our trumped up fairy tails is a given. On the other hand, absolutly not believing, as an athiest, in something which you have zero proof about, is just as rediculous.
The FACT is, no one on the planet knows one little thing about our existance and what happens to us after we die.
There is only one sane conclusion to adopt here, just one:
I don't know.........
paralegalpro 3 months ago
I tend to agree. As a non-believer (I don't really know if I consider myself an atheist) there is something about living in the now that brings more immediacy to everything I do. I don't want to waste my time in this life feeling angry or bitter or resentful because my views differ from others. I would rather live as if each day were my last, enjoying all the beautiful moments (full of beautifully alive people) to the fullest - being alive instead of constantly expectant.