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

[Mike Miller <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

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

> 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.

There is at least *now* no ultimate truth about our reason for existence 
that anyone can verify.  Maybe someday we'll find out that we were made by 
aliens for some grand experiment, or that there is a God who created us 
all.  But both of those scenarios seem very unlikely to me (the second 
much more so than the first) and I expect that there will be no grand 
revelations forthcoming.  So I am not saying that there is no ultimate 
meaning to life, but I am saying that to posit such a meaning at this 
point is pure speculation.  If you want a meaning, you can make one up, 
but you can't prove that it is "the meaning."  You believe that you have 
"the meaning" but clearly, you, and others like you, despite centuries of 
effort, have come up with no persuasive evidence of the correctness of 
your view.


> 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.

I would just say "you weren't doing it right."  It's not that I "have 
faith" that there is no ultimate meaning to life, it's that there is no 
established ultimate meaning to life, so I have to create meaning within 
my own life.


> 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.

I think it is hard to accept that your search for ultimate meaning may 
have been failing because there is no ultimate meaning to be found.  You 
took the easy way out by accepting a meaning given to you by a religion. 
That's understandable because a meaningless universe is somehow hard for 
people to accept.  Why is it hard?  That is a very interesting question.

If you want to know why people exist, I think there is a fairly obvious 
answer:  Other people made us.  Have you ever heard this riddle:  What is 
it that elephants can do that no other animals can do?  You're supposed to 
puzzle over that one thinking of various feats of strength but give up 
when you realize that humans can do all of those things using machines. 
The answer is:  Make more elephants.  As far as we can tell, as 
biologists, that's all every life form is here for:  To make more.

If you are looking for meaning in life, try raising some children.  They 
will clue you in:  They are the reason you are here.

Mike

_______________________________________________
discussion mailing list
EMAIL:PROTECTED
http://mlug.missouri.edu/mailman/listinfo/discussion