GPLindsey

One thing I think nearly all religions share is the sense that the Meaning of Life is to be found somewhere outside of the real world around us, somewhere outside what we normally consider life. Christians believe that this life is fleeting and it is really the eternal life in Heaven that has meaning. Muslims ditto. Hindus have an elaborate supernatural world of multiple Gods to turn to for meaning, and Buddists turn inwards for hours of meditation to give up desire, and thus suffering.

They are avoiding the question! Life is about:
spending approximately 1/3rd of your existence sleeping;
tending to basic physical needs for a good part of each day while awake (eating, bathing, exercising, grooming, getting rid of bodily wastes, sex);
commuting back and forth to work;
working;
engaging in recreational activities;
having kids and raising them to be adults; and
retiring, growing old and dying.

That's about it. That's life. But when the question is put to the world's religions "What is the Meaning of Life," and you describe the above to them, they answer back that this essentially has no meaning. The Meaning of Life is really about the afterlife or some such other thing.

Basically, the world's religions don't have an awswer to the real question--they can't explain how our finite existences of 6, 7, or 8 decades has meaning.

Eudaimonist

I know just how you feel. Too often, religions make this life seem like an unimportant and distasteful means to some glorious afterlife that might not truly exist.

I personally think one should create one's meaning of Life in this life by choosing a personal mission and pursuing it with integrity. By selecting a mission that is wholely of this life, all the activities of life that you mention acquire meaning. They all have meaning to me to one degree or another.

I know of a book (<a href="http://shop.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/results.asp?WRD=fellowship+of+reason" target="_blank">Fellowship of Reason</a>, by Martin Cowen) that discusses this issue in detail, and promotes the idea of finding meaning in this life.

Susheel

Actually Lindsey, those multi-armed gods apart...Hindu philosophy preaches the concept of 'Karma'. Not to be confessed with the Japanese concept of the same name...for them it means fate. In Hinduism it can be roughly translated to 'the adherence to ones duty in life'. You are expected to do you duty in this life and do it to the best of your abiltities. Thos who escape their Karma are forced to repeat the cycle untril they get it right. No hell here. This 'duty' thing encompasses all aspects...work, pleasure...everything. So I guess it is slightly different.
However I do see what you are getting at. In fact there are some Hindu schools cropping up these days which seem to going in this direction. I as an atheist do not believe in an after life or paradise. This life is the only one I've got and I have to make the best of what little time I have. I think there is a strong escapist line in the idea of a better hereafter. One is able to deny responsibility for their actions. I get really irritated when religious types preach to poor malnourished people that they are blessed because in heaven there is plenty. I think it is sick and insensitive.

philechat

Ah...since I read Eudaimonist's article about religion and health, I see why unfortunate and uneducated people might need religion as to find "existential certainty" in life. I think religion might be helpful to people who have not enough mental abilities to formulate existential meaning for their own life. In this sense a religion might offer "hope" to their otherwise difficult and meaningless life.

In "The Antichrist" Nietzsche observed that religious belief increases in political turmoils and famines, and decreases in peaceful or prosperous time. This observation points to the functional purpose of religions--an offer of certainty in an uncertain period.

To be an atheist requires a philosophical strength of mind that not all people have. The constant battle with ambiguity and meaninglessness in all facets of life is not easy, and a certain level of toughness is needed for such battle.

[ May 13, 2002: Message edited by: philechat ]</p>

Eudaimonist

Yes, exactly. Though I think there is hope...

In ancient times, most people were uneducated and were therefore not what you might call "abstract thinkers". They were "concrete thinkers", and may have needed morality and purpose-in-life spoon fed to them in easily digestible rules (Ten Commandments, Golden Rule, Get Saved or Burn Forever, etc).

However, levels of education are rising (except maybe in Kansas ) and I think this spells ultimate doom for this simple-minded form of religion. Yes, it still exists for the fundies, but look at how much of America regards the fundies as simple-minded! There is hope. This is the Good News.

Boro Nut

That's a very good question. They should concentrate on something smaller first like trying to explain the meaning of pink or something before working their way up to the big things like life.

Boro Nut

AdamWho

I do not believe that life has the property of meaningfulness outside of subjective experience.

That goes for pink too, which is a combination of wavelengths that we have collectively labeled as pink; no meaning.

Maybe many religious people are secret materialists and seek to have concrete external things to base there beliefs on. They just happen to believe that the existance of god, heaven ect. is real.

Maybe some religious people are just unhappy with their lives and seek a world where they are special, important, cared about. But instead of going insane they project their emotions unto the physical world and proclaim the fantasy to be their "reality".

[ May 14, 2002: Message edited by: AdamWho ]</p>

roshan

plindsey, hinduism is a monotheist religion. we just worship god in many forms, and call god by many names.

braces_for_impact

There is a discussion on another thread in this forum about attaching meaning to something impermanent like life. many of the things said here is what I was getting at.

I have been asked by many theists how I can find any happiness in life since according to me, it is short and has no higher purpose. I always counter with something to the effect of "Is your present life so shallow and meaningless you need an afterlife to give it any purpose or meaning?"

St. Robert

Your assertion that Christians look for life to begin beyond the here and now is simply not true. Someone, perhaps Christians themselves, have misled you. Jesus actually claims that eternal life begins before the body dies, when a person accepts his death for their sins and receives the Holy Spirit.

Christians don't view life as a thing. They view life as a person. Jesus says that 'I am the life'. If you want life, come to me and I will give it to you.

In order to get the right answer, we have to be sure we're asking the right question. I would contend that we shouldn't be asking: what is the meaning of life, but rather who is the meaning of life?

[ May 15, 2002: Message edited by: St. Robert ]</p>