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

[Stephen Montgomery-Smith <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

Mike Miller wrote:
> 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."

I think that this is a very reasonable attempt at the answer to this 
question.  In particular, I have certainly found that the "do good 
things" plays a very prominant role in finding happiness in life.

Nevertheless, a significant number of people (including myself before I 
became a Christian) find this answer does not satisfy.  I have to tell 
you that I struggled for many years to make this approach work, but it 
just didn't.

I think that for me a big part of the process is found in your statement 
- ""The meaning of life" is something that we have to create for 
ourselves."  I came to a point where I realised, in effect, that this is 
a statement of faith.  It is not preceded by "perhaps" - no it is the 
crede of the non-agnostic atheist who is proclaiming that he/she is 
certain that there is no ultimate truth of a more grandious nature.

I came to the point where my statement of atheistic faith came to seem 
as unreasonable and untested as anything I was accusing Christians of 
following.  Indeed, when I seriously considered becoming a Christian, my 
standards of evidence were much higher than any standards I had required 
for other belief systems (atheism or Hinduism).  Fortunately for me, I 
did come across a lot of evidence, which was in the form of many 
answered prayers.  (Unfortunately for you, this evidence is very 
personal, and so I cannot effectively communicate the strength of it to 
you.)



In any case, the crede you propose (and, for example, I felt that this 
was a major part of the message of movies like Woody Allen's "Hannah's 
Sisters," although it is so long since I saw this movie I might change 
my mind if I saw it again) is basically saying "the search for ultimate 
meaning is too hard, so I've decided to give up and decide that there is 
no ultimate meaning."  I tried very hard to live by this crede, but my 
inner being kept telling me that it was wrong, and that this "ultimate 
meaning" I was really looking for was there to be found.

Stephen

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