The Meaning of Life Without God by Aristopus
If humanity is going to continue to evolve, the traditional orthodox religions must be dismissed as indefensible mythology. Religion has kept us in the Dark Ages long enough. The time has finally come because nature has been strained to her limits. She is at carrying capacity right now. Religions continue to encourage runaway population growth at exponential rates such that millions die of starvation and preventable diseases every year. War is no longer a feasible answer to population control.
Even worse, religion indoctrinates subjects to believe that the world is coming to an end, so it doesn’t matter what we do to Gaia, she’s a lost cause anyway. The endmeme (see my video on the “endmeme” on Youtube) is the most dangerous and treacherous idea to ever escape from Pandora’s Box. How can we hope to survive when the vast majority of the Earth’s citizens believe God’s wrath hangs over us like the Sword of Damocles?
All human beings are on the same boat, a cruise ship sailing through space. We’re passengers on “a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam,” as Carl Sagan describes it.We all face the same dismal fate bar none: nothingness.
But our sad existential fate doesn’t have to ruin our lives. We can ward off pessimism by a positive attitude. Instead of focusing on the vastness of the cosmos and our evident insignificance, we can concentrate on the sunbeam. We can appreciate the sheer luck of living at the intersection of the unimaginable fifteen-billion-year-old timeline of the cosmos and our own meager lifespan. An average lifespan seems like a long time but geologically it’s a millionth of a second. We’re ephemerons like mayflies. Every second of our life is precious.
That being so, it looks to me like the hippies of Woodstock Nation had it right. The purpose of life is to have fun—SEX, DRUGS, and ROCK ‘N’ ROLL. For me, it’s Sex, Pot and Art (Verdi and Puccini, Wagner and Richard Strauss, Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich; Rembrandt and Vermeer, Monet and Renoir, Picasso and Rouault), not that I have anything against rock ‘n’ roll. Classical music and the paintings of the great masters bring me to a sublime consciousness, so beautiful it makes all the suffering of life worthwhile.
There’s no doubt in my mind that pot increases the keenness of the senses, but more importantly, our feelings toward one another and nature.
The first time I went to the opera was at the old Met on Broadway—the majestic building, the souls of greatness along the statuary of the Grand Promenade, the chandeliers slowly ascending to the heavens like ethereal muses watching over and protecting the starry-eyed audience.
That grass increases sensitivity and feeling is inarguable. The first opera I saw was the following. The chance that two of the greatest stars ever should meet is incalculable. I was a hippie at the time and could identify with Rodolfo the poet, and when Tebaldi described the joy of watching the sun rising over the rooftops of Paris, I was imprinted with ecstasy like a baby duck. Listen for it in the second part of her famous aria. Musically you can see and feel the sun rising in a marvelous crescendo. Her presence transforms from the demeanor of a humble, modest seamstress into a confident and queenly goddess. No modern-day cinema superstarlet could possibly emanate the joy, innocence and compassion of Tebaldi. Opera is happening when you watch it and you’re in the same auditorium. There’s a palpable human vibration that flows between stage and audience. Movies take this interaction away.
Cerebral acupuncture, that’s what it was, and marijuana was the anesthetic that relaxed the cells of the parietal lobe for the high-pitched sonic needle.
The physical pleasure of listening to opera and classical music became my favorite pastime, and I continued going to the opera for the next 50 years to this very day. I was there when Maria Callas and Giuseppe DiStefano flew into town to sing at Carnegie Hall. It seemed crazy to me that the stereotype of grass at the time was reefer madness. I didn’t become a dope fiend, I wasn’t aggressive and bellicose, I didn’t become a sociopath: With some good ganja, I loved to go to the opera.
I believe that if everyone in the world shared this worldview—that art is humanity at its most sublime, and life is fleeting and meaningless— there wouldn’t be so much violence. Picture an army recruiter telling his hippie customer, “Your life has just begun but we need to kill our enemies, don’t we? You’ll be respected and honored by friends and family. But everything’s a trade-off. There’s a chance you won’t come back but if that happens we’ll wrap your coffin in colorful flag, shoot rifles in the air, make sad sounds with a bugle and say prayers to a non-existent God. Wha-dya say?”
Anybody who gave this proposition some thought would recognize a no-brainer. “Sorry, Doc. Your offer would be cool if I had nine lives like a cat. Or if there’s an afterlife where I could enjoy eternal bliss. But I don’t think so.”
If the rulers of the world shared this view of life I don’t believe humanity would be suffering in war and pestilence. With all their money and power, they’d be too busy living life to the fullest: getting high, experiencing the ecstasy of playful sex and loving companionship, enjoying the geniuses of music, painting and literature. It would only a matter of time before the alphas figured out a way for everybody to live in harmony with each other and nature. The love of life would be so great that presidents couldn’t even bear the thought of aggression against other countries or of committing atrocities.
If humanity is to survive, the average joe has to tell the local politician, the parish priest, the corporate bully, “Look, you do your thing and I’ll do mine. Just have fun and enjoy your life, don’t hurt anybody, and don’t pollute our beautiful planet. Paradise could be right here and now, if the human intellect emerges from the soul of mankind and dominates the world.”
As in the fairytale, when Beauty kissed the Beast—the beast being our evolutionary baggage, our phylogeny—the beast was transmogrified into a handsome prince.
[More on this subject at Mirrorreversal.com. or mirrorreversal.blogspot.com]
Certainly you have a strong distaste for the Roman Catholic church, which you were raised in. I must admit that many of their teachings are objectionable to me to, it’s as though they haven’t even read the Bible.
But I think you have lumped too many religious people in to an over-general grouping. Not all religions “encourage runaway population growth.” And actually this has been a concern of mine since I was old enough to understand it. But I agree that many humans act like insects, they just eat and eat and have as many kids as they can, with little thought to the future. Jared Diamond’s “Collapse” details more than one example, but most notable is Easter Island.
As one who has not rejected science, I have long known “the world will end,” the sun will turn in to a red giant when it’s consumed its hydrogen, and will balloon to many times its current size, thus burning up all the planets that orbit it. However, I hear that won’t happen until many millions of years from now! 🙂 I was dismayed to hear that some religions did seem to have an “who cares” approach to taking care of the planet. But I’m not sure I could name the specific religions because none were named. Basically it seemed it was more of a religion of greed than a religion that believed in “God.” Maybe they were pretending to be religious… in case you haven’t read it, in Revelation it describes those who destroyed the earth as meeting their own destruction.
“I believe that if everyone in the world shared this worldview—that life is fleeting and meaningless—there wouldn’t be so much violence.”
I’m not sure I agree. First, some people will not be content with “sex, drugs, rock and roll” or “sex, pot, and art.” Some people, clearly, only get their jollies by bossing other people around, whether it’s through religion or government, landlord/tenant, or employer/employee. Since I am more like Ferdinand the Bull, I find it strange and very sad, that some people can’t just create their own accomplishments, that they only seem to get satisfaction by having others cower, or subjugating them in some way.
Second, it almost sounds, like you are rallying around what you dislike, “religion;” if you dislike religion so much, why create another one? Surely the people I mentioned above will infiltrate and and turn it in to rule-bound madness, ladder-climbers mainly looking to exalt themselves and lord authority over others.
Why am I so convinced of this? Because history shows it again and again, there are many people who hoard so much stuff but don’t have the time to enjoy any of it, or they become rich, but there is no way they could spend all their money. They may call themselves by any number of religions, but I would ignore that, and call it what it is, “greed.”
Personally I wish some aspects of Buddhism and Hinduism would be adopted by Christianity (and others); there is some overlap in these religions, but the main thing I wish is that Christians believed they would be born again. Unfortunately, reincarnation seems to have been sadly ruined in Hinduism and it’s turned in to an excuse to pat one’s self on the back as deserving of one’s station in life, and mistreating the lower castes as deserving theirs. (But that’s what I’ve heard from many sources, I have no first-hand experience.)
But I think if people really took to heart that they would be born again on this planet, they would take better care of it, and they would be less grabby and greedy if they knew that living the life of luxury in this life, could mean a life of poverty in the next. (And actually without the concept of reincarnation, Jesus teaches this.)
I think one thing that tricks many people, and is very important to realize, is that just because a person says “I’m a _________,” doesn’t mean it’s so. Many people, especially those trying to gain power, lie.
Lastly with regard to religion. I’m not sure how much of the Bible you’ve read, but the vast majority of it is filled with “the prophets.” And those guys railed against the corrupt establishment, Jesus had very harsh things to say about the religious leaders, even some of the people who claim to follow him; and I would hardly say that his driving the money changers from the temple was an act of violence.
In closing, I am reminded of a song from the 1980’s, “People are people so why should it be, you and I should get along so awfully?” I believe the answer to that is generally when people force their beliefs on others. Note I am saying “force” and not “share” or “talk about.”
Salty, thanks for such in insightful and intelligent comment to this important (to me) post.
Check out my blogspot post “Why I became a militant non-believer.” I believe “disdain” would be a better word than “distaste.”
http://mirrorreversal.blogspot.com/2009/02/why-i-became-militant-non-believer.html
Not all religions encourage runaway population growth.” Give me a break on this one. Let’s go by the numbers. If Hinduism, for one, doesn’t encourage making babies, what the heck is India doing with 1.2 billions mouths to feed?
It’s my belief that life is cheap in countries like Iraq and Pakistan—where people blow themselves up— because Allah blesses a couple for every soul they bring into the world. Nature is at its carrying capacity right now; every baby born today (over the death rate) cheapens our own life a tiny bit.
As one who has not rejected science, I have long known “the world will end,” the sun will turn in to a red giant when it’s consumed its hydrogen.
Rejecting science is to deny our face in the mirror. Science is the truth. The sun is an adolescent star-wise, not even half way through its life cycle. Billions of years into the future shouldn’t concern us —especially not when the planet is in such peril right now. One “dirty bomb” could send the world into chaos.
“I believe that if everyone in the world shared this worldview—that life is fleeting and meaningless—there wouldn’t be so much violence.”
This is my own personal belief, emanating from my hippie days in the ‘60s. If people started living for this life, instead of the next, we’d be too busy having a good time. The human intellect has to come to the fore and dominate behavior, instead of relying on hawk genes to dominate behavior. As in The Selfish Gene of Dawkin’s our genes work only to propagate their own replication.
But a drunk isn’t predestined to drink just because his parents and ancestors love booze. His intellect has the power to rule his behavior; genes give only a proclivity to drink. This is the basis of my hope for humanity.
You know, Einstein, Mark Twain, and recently Kurt Vonnegut all gave up on humanity, but I like the line of H.G. Wells. Paraphrased, “It doesn’t look good, (for the Earth) but we have to try our best not to let it happen.” If we do blow ourselves up by letting religion run its natural course, nature’s experiment with consciousness was a heartbreaking waste of time.
Check out my youtube video on the “endmeme” for more info on this. Or mirrorreversal.com/endmeme
March 9, 2009 12:45 PM
Not all religions encourage runaway population growth.” Give me a break on this one. Let’s go by the numbers. If Hinduism, for one, doesn’t encourage making babies, what the heck is India doing with 1.2 billions mouths to feed?
I don’t wish to be argumentative, but to revisit this point… Here is where I see what seems to be a lack of distinction on your part. You point at the society, not the religious tenants. If it says in Hinduism to have lots of babies, then I will readily admit that Hinduism promotes that. But, mainly due to my ignorance of Hinduism, I am not aware that it does. Put another way, just because their society is one of the most populous on earth and many of them claim to be Hindu, does not mean that they are following their religion, and they wouldn’t be the only example.
I am not knowledgeable about India’s politics, but here in the US I am certain various cities and towns work to get bigger so they can then make bigger claims on the govt. for the return of tax dollars. That may be what is driving India’s growth, I don’t know.
… every baby born today (over the death rate) cheapens our own life a tiny bit.
Yes, you may find my short essay, “The More There is of Something, The Less Valuable It Becomes, Including People’s Value of Other People” http://NewOldSalt.com/Numerous_Stuff_Equal_Less_Valuable to be interesting, as well as the comments I’ve typed in after it that link to US govt findings.
Also related is another essay I wrote, “Earth to Moon,” which I mentioned in another comment to one of your posts.
“I believe that if everyone in the world shared this worldview—that life is fleeting and meaningless—there wouldn’t be so much violence.”
This is my own personal belief, emanating from my hippie days in the ‘60s. If people started living for this life, instead of the next, we’d be too busy having a good time.
Perhaps, but I’m still not convinced, for the reasons I gave above, in my first comment to your essay. There are, plainly, some people who are not content with anything but lording authority over others THAT is their essence of “a good time” and clearly (I think) violates your basic premises.
I almost showed up here the day the news of the two most recent killings of many kids. The one in the US and the one in Germany. Obviously they thought life was fleeting and meaningless, and look what it lead them to. Surely if they thought there were be repercussions for their actions they might not have gone out and killed many people. But then again, I guess one could say that if the suicide bombers thought they would be punished for their actions, they would not blow themselves and civilians up, but they do it (we’re told) because they think God will reward them for it. It is a “sticky wicket.”
Billions of years into the future shouldn’t concern us —especially not when the planet is in such peril right now. One “dirty bomb” could send the world into chaos.
I agree with you. But aren’t we in chaos now? 🙂 Also, for the reasons you give, I would say that trying to get off this planet can be put on hold for a while. We need to devote the smart folks of NASA to making society more efficient and polishing existing green energy to implement it ASAP, not spending outrageous sums on exploration we don’t need, or working on 31st century solutions.
Once again, thanks for your intelligent and informative comment. First of all, we can agree that Christianity encourages couples to have as many babies as possible. “Be fruitful and multiple” is repeated around six times in Genesis alone. (I personally hate the line about "subdue" the Earth. The writers of the Bible were assholes.)
The Quran, by dint of being largely based on the Bible, also teaches that Allah blesses a couple for every child. You yourself even wrote about the mullah who preached “we will conquer not by the sword but by the womb.” I have a German neighbor who tells me immigration from Turkey is getting out of hand and hate groups are proliferating.
I found the following regarding Hinduism:
[In India] The fact is that there are different reasons for high birth rates; religious reasons, ignorance, attempts to ensure reproductive success, attempts to create a family labor pool—the list continues. But the measures being considered should not involve draconian laws aimed only at results which neglect the rights and potential usefulness of the people.
(The Earth Times, 1999)
Notice numero uno. I’m sure I could find more if I had time to surf a while.
As far as having a good time goes—getting high, having joyful, copious, guiltless, safe sex, living for this life and getting rid of that stupid guilt trip that religion lays on you—I think this is the key to an evolutionary leap for mankind. We have to love nature and learn to live in harmony with Gaia.
This historical bit of cinema is priceless.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edQNjJZFdLU&feature=PlayList&p=E5277029F3FB1EF2&index=15
We have to realize what we have before it’s too late. The History Channel just aired a show called “Axmen” that showed a family of seven rugged brothers who hop out of bed every morning to decimate the Pacific Northwest of 500-year-old pines. What will happen in just two generations if this brawny family continues at the same rate? How many trees does each brother chop down in a lifetime? At the same rate of fecundity we have 7x7x7. Nearly three hundred and fifty individuals using state-of-the-art technology such that mighty, millennia-old creatures aren’t even considered alive.
Poor Earth.
"There are, plainly, some people who are not content with anything but lording authority over others THAT is their essence of 'a good time' and clearly (I think) violates your basic premises."
This is just monkey behavior, bullyism. It’s in are genes all right, part of the fight or flight syndrome that governs all advanced life. Just because our genes motivate us toward a particular behavior doesn’t mean we have to succumb. Consider some of the kids I grew up with Queens, hard drinking Irishmen. Just because dipsomania is entrenched in generations of heredity doesn’t mean that a particular person, Liam Hennessy, has to drink. The will supersedes the genes.
A line from my book, Mirror Reversal, touches on this.
“Most people don’t even know what a gibbon is, but they read their Bibles to try to learn what the human condition is all about. They could learn more about humanity by taking one course in primatology than by studying the Old Testament for a lifetime.”
To be continued…
The God of Abraham was invented by men who wanted to dominate other men, and all women, through superstition. It demonized other clans and ordered genocide. It commanded propagation of its clan simply for numerical dominance. Today, Abrahamic religion has hardly changed. Its clannish followers continue to demonize those who are different. The God of Abraham’s misogyny is still evident in 1 Timothy 2:12, which the church uses to ban women from priesthood, signaling to girls that they are second-class. Men debate reproductive rights as if they had moral justification flowing from ownership of a uterus. “Go forth and multiply” has become a curse. In a world soon to be crawling with 10 billion people, the invasive species we call humanity would be better off with a religion that dictates “Go forth and masturbate.”