On Wed, 19 Oct 2005 19:11:56 -0700, imagenieinabottlebaby wrote:
Why would I bother doing good, though? I mean, it will earn me the same
end result, anyway. Of course you're going to say "because it's just
the right thing to do." But there's something deeper than just the
incentives. People who do good without expecting rewards, do it because
they believe in the concept of goodness, and they put faith in the
concept of goodness.
I'm coincidentally in the middle of a good book by Michael Shermer called
"The Science of Good and Evil", which does a fine job of explaining, among
other things, how altruism, empathy, and many other
seemingly-useless-to-individual actions and feelings are beneficial to the
individual's family particularly, and, as society developed and groups of
interacting people became larger and more complex, beneficial to the
entire species.
Atheism tells us that no matter how good we are
we're going to be destroyed forever, and that kind of thing has a way
of jading you.
How the sweet ***** do you know? I can safely assume you're not an
atheist. I am, and I don't consider myself jaded.
If atheism is true, then why would I care about
anything, or love anything or put faith in anything?
Because it feels good to love somthing, to care about something. I
wouldn't lump 'faith' into that group of things.
Atheism is such a
spirit-crushing concept.
Like having an all-powerful, all-knowing God who allows murder and disease
and war and famine to exist is spirit-lifting. Bah.
Nothing matters.
You're putting your own spin on it. If life doesn't matter to you without
the promise of an afterlife, or if you're the type of person who would
rape or kill without the fear of punishment, then I'd say wholeheartedly
that religion/faith/belief is definitely for you.
As the Poison song goes,
"give me something to belive in."
Not sure I can top summation of a metaphysical discussion of the meaning
of life with a fucking hair-band quote.
Because if I'm going to face the
horror of ceasing to exist, I can't be motivated to care, love,
believe, or have faith.
Huh. Too bad - I care and love. But other than in trusting other people,
belief and faith have no part in my personal universe. I either know
something or do not know something.
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