Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] [RELIGION] creation myths

[Mike Miller <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

On Thu, 1 Dec 2005, Stephen Montgomery-Smith wrote:

> > Why not just drop "God" out of the picture.  It adds nothing.  Nothing 
> > but a warm feeling in a believer's heart, I suppose.  You believe it 
> > because you like believing it.
>
> You have hit the nail on the head.  Briefly, the reason most believers 
> believe in a God is not because there is some mystery of "how" things 
> came into place, but because they cannot answer the question of "why" 
> things came into place.
>
> The typical atheist answer to the "why" question is that this question 
> is unimportant or even meaningless.  Nevertheless, most human beings 
> have this deep rooted desire to know the answer to this question, and a 
> sense that this question is of the utmost importance, even if they are 
> unable to properly articulate what this question really means.
>
> (This "why" question in most people boils down to "what is my purpose or 
> where do I fit in the grand scheme of things" or "how can my life attain 
> meaning?")


My answer to "the meaning of life," if you will, is that we have to create 
one.  Some people feel an emptiness that can be filled by a religion.  I 
think that emptiness can have causes and cures that have nothing to do 
with religion.  "The meaning of life" is something that we have to create 
for ourselves.  For many people, there is no question of meaning.  Those 
people have found what they love to do and they are busy doing it.  I 
recommend to everyone that they "do good things" and they will feel that 
their lives have meaning.  You don't have to be religious to get that 
feeling of satisfaction.  Just work for something that you think is 
important and it will come to you.  As Joseph Campbell used to say "follow 
your bliss."

Mike

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