the_cave

Since two very old friends of mine are atheists, I kind of have answers to this question already, but I'm still curious:

How do those of you who are atheists experience the bigger questions of human existence? What I mean by that is, whenever I try and let go of any theistic thoughts, I'm directly confronted by an existential reality so enormous, I can't help but experience it as a religious experience. That is, the direct facts of my being--my existence as a sentient being, my self-awareness (or my Dasein, as Heidegger would put it), the fact of existence in general, the immensity and enormity of the universe itself, its so far incomprehensible origin, etc. etc...it's difficult to explain, but I find that confronting the reality of these facts is at root a religious experience. I can't treat them like everyday facts, or curious details of an otherwise mundane universe. They overwhelm me, even though I am quite well-versed in scientific theory and understanding. So I'm wondering, how do atheists generally confront the more profound questions, facts, and meanings of the universe, and of their own human existence? Is it like pondering the World's Largest Plastic Fork--it's interesting to know how it was made, and it's also quite useful, but otherwise unremarkable--or is it anything like the experiences I describe having myself? Or do you experience them otherwise? Or do you have no idea what I'm talking about?

beastmaster

The fact of existence is mindbogglingly incomprehensible and incomparably mysterious.

But I do not perceive anything mystical or religious in it because I do not believe in any kind of god.

HTH.

Jamie_L

I'll second the notion that existence makes my brain hurt. In one sense, it simply makes no sense. However, I felt this way before I was an atheist. I.E., when I was a believer, the existence of God made no sense, made my brain hurt, etc.

In some ways, however, I like your plastic fork analogy. It makes my brain hurt to think about it, but I don't really need to get my brain around it to figure it out. In fact, I strongly suspect it's impossible to get my brain around it, so I don't worry about it too much. I've got better things to do with my time and my mental energy (most of the time, anyway).

An interesting side note: I've never had much of an instinct to ask and ponder the "BIG" questions that many theists seem to get hung up on - especially when they try to consider the atheist viewpoint. Even when I was a believer, I didn't worry much about "Why are we here? What is the meaning of life?" etc. Whether nature or nurture, such things never seemed to be an important concern in my life - both before and after my shift to atheism.

Jamie

Biff the unclean

The problem I have with religion vis-á-vis the "bigger" questions of human existence is that it DOES give the answers.
You see I want more than just answers. I want CORRECT answers. I don't need a story to calm me down, to comfort me and keep me from worrying.

I want facts. If the facts make me uncomfortable I would still prefer them over a soothing lie. It's a matter of integrity. If Fido has been put to sleep at the Vet don't tell me he has gone to live on a farm. If my parents are dead don't tell me they are living forever in a spiritual realm.

That is something I've noticed about many Xians on the net. They are very willing to explain to Atheists why the Atheist can't comprehend or observe God. This means that they must know on some level that they cannot either. Yet they all deny that. This seems to me to be self-delusion, the trading of facts for comfort.

The answers religion supplies to the big questions were all supplied by guessing and not by looking. Whenever any of these answers have been looked into they have been found not to be factual, so they are of no interest to me. Science at least looks. The chances of understanding something by observing it are pretty fair. The chance of hitting on facts by guessing, and in the case of religion not even educated guessing, is almost nil.

Psycho Economist

Sure, I'm overwhelmed by the same things. If I look straight up at a clear sky day or night, I get dizzy. But it's a decidedly un-religious thing for me.

After years of trying to fathom infinity, the notion that this is all just a charade to pick out some people to fawn over a homicidal sadist for all eternity and others to become human incense, is nausiously absurd. There's no wonder in that. No hope.

It's enough for me to say there is no "why" to the universe. Just that it is there... and to try and find some way to overcome the threat to life itself that is posed by the inevitable consumption of the Earth by the Sun and the never-ending expansion of the astronomical Universe.

After years of trying to wrestle with "why" "I" was "here" "now", as a believer, it blew my mind when it finally sunk in that I am this moving side of meat and that everybody has the same experience of being... that there was no chance "my soul" could have been dropped into some other body at another place or time. That acceptance of the biological basis of experience -- even if we haven't worked out all the details -- made me feel more a part of life itself than anything religious ever did.

[Edited to add some more emphasis and give props to Biff, also.]

xian

science is unable to answer those "big questions" so there is no known "fact" about it.

one of two things will happen after you die:

1. You will be a supernaturalist
2. You will cease to exist


but this we know for sure will happen:

Your atheism will cease.

Bumble Bee Tuna

I can. And therein lies the difference between you and I, I suppose.

-B

christ-on-a-stick

I regularly "trip" on the mere fact of my existence (and previous and future NONexistence).

Our existence is, to quote Albert Camus, absurd.

... born of the confrontation between the human call and the unreasonable silence of the world - Albert Camus (on absurdity)

However, all the religions I've ever encountered merely *add* absurdity while purporting to answer the questions. From a very young age (when I still had god-belief) the question plagued me: If God created us, where did GOD come from?

In the final analysis, the_cave, wouldn't you to have to ask the same question about the origin of whatever deity you believe exists? Where did IT come from (the supernatural realm it would apparently be present in)?

Why does ANYTHING exist? But wait, how could anything NOT exist? What would non-existence be like (nothing it wouldn't exi...)

*head explodes*

Mageth

But I do not perceive anything mystical or religious in it because I do not believe in any kind of god.

Minor quibble, perhaps, but one can experience the "mystical" without believing in a god.

Melkor

The information that science presents is still far closer to "fact" than anything religion posits.

Science doesn't presume to already know everything and already have all answers in a nice, neat, little supernatural package like religion has, regardless of how correct those answers may be. Their "correctness" is apparently irrelevent, even in the face of totally contradictory information.

If you already have all the answers, how can you learn anything new?

For that matter, why would you even bother asking questions at all or learning period?


At least science is trying. Religion depends on already having all the answers. Science depends on always finding new questions...