js_africanus

Start taking Brazilian jiu jitsu or judo. They're both very theraputic.

Read The Consolations of Philosophy by Alain de Botton.

Start raising money to redeem Sudanese slaves. They're cheap to buy back, so you get the pleasure of freeing lots of actual people.



Um, why does having religion give you any more purpose anyway? It's not like god has any more purpose in existing than you do. Owning an ant farm doesn't give the ants any more reason to exist than wild ants in the woods.

Miss Piggy

Yep. Helping other people (or animals / nature) is very therapeutic for yourself, too.

orpheus last chant

I think you should try to connect to soulmates in some hobby group (arts, sciences, philosophy) etc. Or then you should just try to endure until you can go to an university or an art school. There you certainly find people with similar interests.

The problem is that I am in an art school!
I wasn't looking for similar people around the block.... but even though they are suppose to be artists and such, their universe is consistent of latino music, get-a boyfriend-per-week, oooh-nice soap-opera on one side and hiphop music, computers (As in games games games) on the other.

If i tell tehm i read a book thay look at me like i just droped from Jupiter. i'm sure every teenager has this phase, darn it, but can't seem to find any around here....

Not too mention that i can't say "atheist" outloud or i'll look like a freak (come to think of it, i already am - i mean likes books, think logic is fun..... geeky me!)

soooo.....

triplew00t

I don't know why, but theism offers comfort. It offers the idea that somone is looking out for you, that you don't have to do it alone and that you can simply surrender yourself to a higher power and trust that it will all work out. I have been brought up with this view and it is really hard to think differently. Lacking a belief in God makes everything seem empty to me. Pointless, in a way, as when we die, its over. Why do anything now if we must die and forget it all anyway. Why not just die now, or sit here, waiting for death. I wish I could find some way to overcome this breaking-away anxiety, but as of yet, I have found none.

Yes, I know this is an argument to emotions, but that is what is in charge of me at the moment. Its sort of under the idea of 'if it makes you feel good to think that, you go right ahead and think that'. I just wish that logic fit with what it feels good to think.

Nero

Buffman

The carrot and stick approach to life works for many adults as well as most children. It can be very scary to know that you must take charge of your own purpose, meaning and direction in life. Every slave hopes that they will be purchased by a benevolent Master/Mistress. In reality, they are merely being manipulated, bought and controlled by other human beings and the unknowns of the universe around them. Why else do you think that the slaves/downtrodden/disenfranchised started creating supernatural entities to protect them? Protect then from whom? From what? From the supernatural entities of others?

How long do you think it took before other humans learned how to use/manipulate the beliefs in these supernatural entities to accomplish their own vested interest goals and desires? Not long! Just look how successful they are today...at the expense of the slaves.

Many folks welcome the stability and security of slavery. That is their choice. It is not mine. That is why I have chosen to label myself a "non-supernaturalist' rather than an atheist/agnostic.---Once you learn and are able to fully integrate the reality that this IS the only life you will ever have, you will find yourself motivated to make the most of it by the most positive and productive means possible. But first one must learn the most accurate knowledge available before they can take these new and exciting paths. Good luck on your quest for freedom and liberty.

Suaup

That's a driving factor why many people chose to believe in God. It's probably one of the strongest other than the need to feel there's an eternity in heaven and bliss after death. Most people don't understand my perspective on life. Since I've become an Agnostic atheist (don't believe, but no objective proof of) I've felt happier and more in control of my life. I like to know this is my one life, and my one chance at existence, therefore all my decisions and chosen paths are done with the understanding it's what I want to do. Unlike many theists I don't take this life for granted because "Ah shucks, I have an eternity in bliss after this." I do what I want to do, I go after all my dreams and desires, no matter how absurd, because I don't want to waste this life.

To me, believing for the sake of comfort is on the same level of getting a heroin addiction. There's nothing truly wrong with it, but for myself I could never truly be fulfilled by it. It's just a way to work around making this life meaningful with our time here.

I'm sure you didn't want to hear this, but you're posting to a secular community. There are many ways to find fulfillment in life, Theism provides a cop out for this life time like a drug addiction does, or like living purely for sex does. What does it get you in the end? I don't know for sure, but I know millions of people have wasted this life, ignored their true dreams, and watched chances pass by them because they take this world for granted due to Theism. I know many of them regret it on their death beds that they didn't do the things they wanted to do, and as their life fades away they cling on to the hope they will wake up in heaven to pursue the dreams they ignored on earth....

Then, nothingness.. In my view anyway

I don't want to walk that path, and I hope you don't either.

triplew00t

Thank you for your replies. I am, at the moment, an atheist, and that is why I came here for support. I am slipping sometimes back to my old thought patterns and I need the support of others of like minds to keep me from doing that. Anyone with anymore suggestions, please post. My main problem is that I vaccilate between fearing death as final extinction and fearing that it isnt. If it is the end, then I am afraid of not existing. If it is not, I fear hell or an eternity of (ultimately) boredom. After all, theres only so much one can do in forever. Once I comfort myself with ideas of an afterlife, I immediately become scared of hell and monotonous boredom and suffering. Then once I manage to convince myself of no afterlife, I freak out about my health and become fearful of that extinction. I just wish I could be satisfied and happy with one.

-Nero

js_africanus

Well, I would disagree that your feelings can be written off as a logical fallacy. They are your feelings after all, and you have a right to have them regardless of whether they make sense intellectually. Have you acknowledged that your feelings are indeed legitimate and that you have the right to have them? That might be a good first step.

From what I gather, your feelings are not uncommon--surely there is a body of literature there that can help.

Godless Wonder

(If you're going the hobby route) learning a musical instrument can be good, if you like that sort of thing. The more you put into it, the more you will get out of it, and it will last a lifetime, there is no danger you would "finish" learning the guitar, for example. OTOH, this is not for everyone, there can be a steep initial learning curve that's tough to conquer.

NearNihil Experience

"My main problem is that I vaccilate between fearing death as final extinction and fearing that it isnt. If it is the end, then I am afraid of not existing. "

I sympathize and empathize with ya on this one. I honestly sleep as little a physically possible so that I feel like I have not wasted one little bit of a day alive. Sometimes it gets out of hand, borderline problematic...but I manage.

And while I'm alive I want to feel like I live...not just existing.

If your afraid of not existing just remember you've done it before, before you were born. An eternity behind and an eternity ahead, and a blink in between called life. Make the very most out of it you can...do with exactly what you will and want. You only get it once...and for a blink.

One bit of personal experience advice...when your mind starts to just whirr and your inner voice gets out of hand, try your hardest to find something to do to concentrate on, or do absolutely nothing, take a nap, fix a sandwich, do anything cause the weight of frustration and feelings of pointlessness only increase from that indecision.

"If it is not, I fear hell or an eternity of (ultimately) boredom. After all, theres only so much one can do in forever. "

Don't worry, forever is a silly concept that does not apply to consciousness or activity.

Lots of people have said a hobby is a good idea.
I agree. My final advice... get some whiskey and a pistol.
There's the cure for blues...gettin' drunk and shootin' shit. I'm serious. try it. If its not your thing, a change of pace or small adventure might help jump start the living feeling. Make your own purpose at every choice and crossroad. Don't let the world dictate your circumstances...get drunk and shoot at it...you just might feel better.

Hope this helps some and things turn up well for ya.

joshua