Here's a guest blog post from someone I regularly communicate with via email. This recent message from the person resonated with me, because it echoes thoughts I frequently have about the absurdity of believing that life has a purpose imposed from outside of us.
Like, from a god. Enjoy...
Hey Brian, how are you and yours doing?
My family and I are doing well. Lots of folks around us have COVID, but so far, we’ve managed to avoid it.
I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s interesting what hangs around in my head from religion. One thing that rears its ugly head on a fairly regular basis is the idea of purpose. The idea that my life has some specific purpose and I need to figure it out. Wow. Just typing that out feels like 200 lbs has been added to my shoulders. That’s a fucking heavy thing to carry around!
Of course, life purpose implies someone or something that gives purpose. Most feel it is “god” that does this. Well, now that I’m an atheist, that’s a problem!
You’ve written about this and I’m sure I’ve emailed you regarding this topic before. But it still amazes, and frustrates me, that I still struggle with this.
It seems to me that the idea of some specific purpose in life in more of a western culture idea and only if you have more than a little to a lot of money. You don’t have to go to India or Africa to find starving children, there are plenty here in the US. What is their purpose in life? I can’t imagine that they think about it much. Their main purpose is to get food!
Did early humans worry about some kind of ultimate purpose for their lives? I doubt it. They were just like any other mammal on the planet. Eat, sleep, reproduce. That was likely their main “purpose.”
I know all this, but it’s still hard to shake the idea of some kind of purpose that was so strongly instilled (brain washed) into me. “God has a specific plan for your life! You have to find out what it is and do it!”
I heard that message in one form or another for probably 20 years. I asked god about it on a regular basis. I prayed and prayed and cried and pleaded. You know what he said? Nothing! Ugh! It was so frustrating. Just thinking about all that makes me tense and irritable.
I think it’s funny that the memories of hearing about divine purpose come back to me when my job gets difficult, or life is unpleasant for whatever reason, etc. But it’s not surprising that this happens. After all, religion as a whole is kind of an escape from reality. Or at least the attempt at escaping reality.
You wrote a post right at 3 years ago that I found called No need to have a "calling." Just live your life. I read it before sending this email, and I’ll probably read it again. It pulls me back into reality and helps me relax.
I think it’s interesting that at one point, I would have said that without god, life doesn’t make sense. Now, the way I see it, is that without any kind of god, life seems to make more sense. It just is what it is.
Oh, and your last several posts have been very insightful and helpful to me. All your posts are good, but these last 5 or 6 have been very timely. Thanks again for sharing your ideas, insights, and things that you have been reading.
Talk to you again soon.
Purpose.
What is it, what is the concept?
What is it used for?
What is a car?
What is its use?
What is food?
What is its use?
What is god?
What is its use?
What is atheism?
What is its use?
Use for human beings, ... for staying alive!!
Discussions about the content of the concepts, the existence or preference are side tracks that end in conceptual deserts, quagmire, etc.
Posted by: Um | November 01, 2020 at 05:38 AM
If finding purpose helps us overcome difficulty then that is a great strength.
That is finding something about one's own self... Our own attributes. What is inside is. Then, what to do with them?
We all choose what to believe. So, when someone says, "God has a purpose for me," they are choosing to believe this... It feels good to them, gives them motivation. That's fine. It's good to acknowledge we don't really know. But the idea someone knows, there is some rhyme or reason to all this catastrophe definitely helps. And it can give us strength. I don't knock it because I already know there is a reason for every grain of sand. That is the cause. And the direction we are moving in is inexorable, unromantic, and unflattering. Unless you consider the beauty and power of creation. And that we are a part of it. We have a destiny, whether we like it or not. Maybe we can help shape it to something a little more appealing, and a higher power might just be our way of connecting to it.
But there is absolutely power, and movement in this crearion, and we are connected to that.
There is most assuredly a higher power. The engine of this creation is a higher power than any of us. It may have no purpose we can conceive of, and yet it moves unerringly in its paces, each connected completely to the forces that move creation forward. Maybe we can learn to understand that power, purpose and destiny by observing more carefully, listening more carefully to what is within is and around us?
Posted by: Spence Tepper | November 02, 2020 at 06:56 PM