A long time ago, and in a land very far away from here, there once lived a King. With a lot of time on his hands, and perplexed about the meaning of the life he had landed himself in, he embarked upon a quest to discover if an individual life could have any objective significance at all. After all his various musings he concluded, that in the end, we all go back to the place from whence we came, from dust we came, and to dust we return. All of our lives will end in death, and scarcely any of us will be remembered. Which is particularly vexing if you happen to be a King who wants to be remembered. From this the King concluded that all activity in this life is fleeting and a chasing after the wind. The only light of hope at the end of the tunnel being that we should fear and obey God, because he’s really the only one who would have any idea what is going on and grant meaning to it all.
An interesting question could perhaps be asked at this juncture. Why did the King strive for meaning that was larger than himself and his individual situation? Partly perhaps because King’s want to be remembered beyond their death for their achievements. But also the same desire seems to possess many of us as a part of our human nature. We all seem to strive for meaning and significance and have an obsession with remembrance, a desire for things to last, and a fear of death. It seems to come part and parcel with being human. As the King said in his writings… “… He has put eternity into the hearts of man, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
This first story I have just given, of Solomon, the King, wasn’t the end of the quest. The question of significance in life has since fascinated Philosophers who think seriously about such things throughout the scope of recorded human history, from Socrates to Sartre. The question that needs to be answered, is, what makes an individual human life significant? How you answer this question, and if you choose to answer it, can have a large impact upon what you choose to prioritise in life, and by implication therefore how you choose to live it. I just want to explore briefly the answer to this question given by a secular thinker who doesn’t believe in God, the French thinker and writer Albert Camus, and then two Christian perspectives.
Camus (pronounced ca-moo)
Camus, amongst various works of fiction, wrote a non fiction book called ‘The Myth of Sisyphus’ which explores the meaning of life and best distils his thoughts about it. The distinctive feature of Camus’s work that makes him so attractive is he’s honest about the meaning of an individual life given there is no God in his philosophy to give life meaning.
In The Myth of Sisyphus Camus concludes that given there is no God to grant life an objective meaning our existence is objectively meaningless, so we are confronted with the absurdness of our own existence, and the main philosophical question we have to answer is whether we choose to live it or not. If we choose to live our life it consists in creating our own meaning and asserting it as against the objective meaninglessness of life. He borrows a Greek myth, in which the character Sisyphus is punished by the Greek gods for putting death in chains.
For doing so Sisyphus is condemned to push a rock up a mountain, and upon reaching the top the rock rolls down again, leaving Sisyphus to start over. Camus sees this as a metaphor for mans assertion of action and hate of death, even despite the meaninglessness and absurdness of existence he presses on and lives life to the fullest. I tend to agree with Camus given the assumption of no God.
Westminster Catechism
Perhaps the next place to step for an explicitly theological Christian perspective is the Westminster Catechism. According to the catechism the chief end of man is to glorify God, and enjoy him forever. Although beautiful and concise this leaves me somewhat floundering as to what practical steps we can take to significanize (no that’s not a real word, I just made it up) our life. Because it’s so general I must ask what it means to glorify God, I think to glorify God means also to love God, because as we know from Paul (1 Corinthians 13) love is above all the highest virtue. And the way we love God is to obey his commands (John 14:15). So what, as Christians, does Jesus command of us?
What Jesus says
In answer to what Jesus commands of us, we can look up Matthew 22: 36-40, Mark 12: 30-31, and Luke 10:27. To quote the text from Matthew: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And the second is like is: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
So it seems the most significant thing we can do with our lives is to love God and to love others. This is both a vertical love, upwards towards God, and a horizontal love, outwards towards everyone around us.
The reason why this is significant is because by doing so we are helping to build the Kingdom of God, something in partnership with God that lasts into eternity, and is more significant given our own finitude and death.
I don't understand your need for there to be more to life than what we have here although you have made me realise that I understand the Buddhist teaching about when you let go of ego you find enlightenment. You are holding on to your ego, you need to think your life has significance, you are wanting eternity, why do you want those things. I don't understand because once we are dead it won't matter, we will be nothing so we won't know if we are remembered, loved or thought of as important or not. It's just a romantic notion to think we need life to have some sort of meaning. If there is a meaning, the only one I can think of is to reproduce so mankind doesn't become extinct but to be honest, would it matter if that happened as we wouldn't be around to know or care.
ReplyDeleteSo why the need for a meaning to life, let go of your ego and be content with what we have.
That could simply be reversed, 'why wouldn't there be meaning to life'. The essence of that question comes down to whether God exists, and there's much reason to think he does - life would then have ultimate meaning. That's the heart of what you're arguing against.
ReplyDeleteIf there is no God and atheism is true, then it follows that life doesn't have value either. There would be nothing to give it value, no reason for there to be without a maximally-great being. That simply contradicts most peoples' experience of life.
Value is dictated by its worth to someone else. Eg, a car is worth what someone else is willing to pay for it, so if you to think of life as having value then you have to look at how your life affects others to find its value to them. You don't need a God to be able to do that. If you disagree with this then it's like saying there is no point in trying in life and that life and the people in it are worthless. Is there any right or wrong answer to people's value and meaning as we are all different with different priorities so what is of value to one may be worthless to another. Water is of little value to the man living next to a lake but is highly valued to the man living in a dessert.
ReplyDeleteThe meaning of life in my opinion is to reproduce so the species doesn't decode extinct. Man likes to think because of his intellect he is superior, dinosaurs because of their size and being to top of the food chain probably thought themselves superior but in reality it could eventually end up being the ant or cockroach as they may survive us and outnumber us all. Your idea and belief in God is of value to you but I find it worthless as to me I find it more comforting and encouraging to believe in mankind. I find the saying " I can do all things in "his" strength" very limiting as it suggests I'm not capable in my strength when I know for a fact I am. My experience has taught me I am a survivor
You're talking about temporary value and meaning, not absolute. Again if atheism is true then there is no meaning in life. Academic atheists recognise this. Recently John Grey and more classically Friedrich Nietzsche (one of my favourite atheist writers) note the meaningless of life without God:
ReplyDelete“Regarding life, the wisest men of all ages have judged alike: it is worthless.” - Friedrich Nietzsche
You would simply be a collection of matter formed from natural processes, purposed for nothing. Human life would have no grounding on which to have meaning. It would simply be 'existence' for the sake of such. Only for you to die and non-exist. Again, this is all if God doesn't exist.
Any meaning you gave it (such as the temporary ones you listed) would ultimately be negated once you or the human species stopped existing. Any breakthroughs in science, any love someone appreciated would have no ultimate bearing - because once the first moment comes when humanity no longer exists - the temporary meaning people gave life would itself be gone. Life would therefore being meaningless without God.
This is why its contradictory for an atheist to believe life has meaning or value (the same applies to value as above). Any notions of humanism or simply religious sentiments.
What I'm not doing is belittling the meaning people give to their lives. What I am doing is pointing out the contradiction of an atheist who says life can have purpose and value without the existence of a God.
If God exists, then life would have the absolute of both (hence why people cannot give something absolute value and meaning under atheism - they won't be around forever to give it). Human value would be inherit and there would be foundation for meaning with an eternal God who supplies it. Atheism doesn't have that luxury.
Well I'm happy for life to have meaning while I'm here, I don't see the need for it to have meaning after I'm gone other than to reproduce and keep the species going. Quoting someone only shows their perspective, doesn't mean I have to agree or that they are correct, just means "you" agree with them. I don't need a God to give my life purpose, I'm not looking for immortality, I'm happy for death to be the end. I'm curious as to how many atheists you know on a personal level as there seems to be an inaccurate myth amongst Christians that Atheists have a fear of death and flounder with insecurities, doubt and a lack of morals, peace and are generally unhappy with life because we don't believe in a God to give us morals, values, purpose and peace.
ReplyDeleteAs an atheist myself I don't struggle with any of the above. I'm happy, I have a good balance in life, I have empathy towards others, I have thoughts and beliefs that satisfy me and am generally quite ok with life and death. I'm not saying that life doesn't have problems but that I'm happy with my ability to deal with them. Life is good because I take responsibility for it and put the effort in to make it so which gives me satisfaction through my achievements both on a personal level and my place in the world with how my actions affect others. I'm not perfect but don't beat myself up about trivial mistakes by myself or others. If someone has a good heart and is coming from a good place that's fine by me, I'm looking for tolerance rather than perfection in people. If someone is difficult, I've learnt to ask myself "why ?" What's happening in their life to make them so and can I do something to help make their life easier even if its only to show them kindness and understanding.
I'm happy with life, it hasn't always been so but I've gained the skills I need to make it feel good and to feel happy most of the time.
Sorry to be so off topic but it saddens me by the view many people have of atheists and just wondered if people had taken the time to get to know enough on a personal level well enough to truly form a proper informed opinion of a few.
I'm tired of being shown as the bad guy for not believing in the existence of Gods by people who don't know me or what I believe or how I choose to live.
It's really moving for me to read your story Atheists Unite. It was nice to read your thoughts about life in this post in particular. I think you genuinely seem like a sincere thoughtful person, which is really refreshing given some other more bombastic or pushy atheists I have interacted with in the past.
DeleteOne thought that occurs to me when reading your assessment that "The meaning of life in my opinion is to reproduce so the species doesn't decode [go?] extinct." Is that it's perfectly possible that those in the future could turn out to be warmongering and intolerant people. I think when you make such a statement implicit in the this statement is the idea that you also want to pass values of good on, such as love and charity etc
But in the end, you maybe can see that it's not certain that good values will carry on in humanity. Human beings as persons are capable of doing both great good and great evil. And if only the evil was to carry on, not the values you prize, then humanity would still carry on but might cause more harm than good. Thus perhaps the continuation of humanity is not the primary good?
Thanks for your great thoughts, and I would be interested to know how you would respond to that thought of my own.
Peter,
DeleteFirstly, I apologise for the typing errors due to auto correction, smaller device and failing eyesight. I don't always spot them so hope you bear with me.
I don't see the world or people in terms of good or evil but rather people reacting according to their experience of life and the people around them. I'm just fortunate there have been enough good people in my life who have been a positive influence on me. Not saying there has been no bad as believe me there have been plenty of examples of what not to do and people I don't want to become like. I just believe that to get the best out of people you need to show them respect, tolerance and treat them fairly.
History has taught me there will always be warmongers, there always has been so probably always will be but it has also taught me its usually the extremists, politicians and leaders that take people to war and although they can incite hatred and intolerance towards others, there is usually enough decency and empathy towards humanity in the multitudes of the common people caught up in this to carry on decent moral values in the rest of humanity. Indeed if you look at the kind of punishments used and how people treated each other a few hundred years ago compared to what most countries and people think acceptable in today's world, I would say a lot of humanity is becoming kinder and more thoughtful towards others. As an example. Most countries have abolished Capitol punishment and the death penalty where as only a few hundred years ago it was acceptable to have public hangings, people were commonly tortured while in prison, hung, drawn and quartered with their body parts on public display. People have been put to death for stealing and committing adultery. Working conditions have gravely improved over the years. More countries these days care more about its people and work towards improving the general standard of living for all its inhabitants not just those at the top.
I personally believe the average person in the world today has more empathy for others than at any other time in history as I see more evidence of the average person being aware of such matters and being willing to do something about it. The amount of people willing to donate or offer their services to others in times of hardship on a national and international level is proof of this. The outcry from others when we see or hear about extremist attacks on human life and the suffering it causes is another example that there is great empathy amongst humanity. So no, I'm not worried about good and evil as you put it.
Perhaps one day the earth will become warn out and global warming, a collision with a meteor or something else will make mankind extinct like the dinosaur or earth will become like mars. Who knows ?