. . . and the not so great, and pretty much everybody who behaves as if their lives have meaning. It causes great anxiety to feel there is no purpose to one’s existence. And, that purpose cannot be just dreamed up, it has to be real. However, most of the time we are unaware of the purposes that govern our lives. Even those who escape in drugs and alcohol end up making it their sole focus; every thought revolves around it. To carry on living, one will need a palpable reason to do so; it can so easily become too hard.
On these forums and elsewhere we witness the apparent purpose of many atheists to stamp out such “flaws” as irrationality, which is projected onto religion. There are likely all sorts of psychological reasons for such an inclination but a rational one would be would be as an aspect of a general desire to fix perceived deficiencies in our culture. These would include sexism and racism, issues that touch on the freedom and equality of the individual. Socially active atheists probably have less interest in defining humanity in terms of bosons and such. They are attempting to grapple with what constitutes the meaningful reality of day-to-day.
And of course, at some point everything becomes personal. Check out this video by Rebecca Watson, particularly the couple of minutes after 4:15.
youtu.be/uKHwduG1Frk Interestingly and not unexpectedly, it led to years of hate on the internet, with two sides going at it, both blaming the other for taking the matter too seriously - Muslima vs misogyny. No one likes to feel like slime, and the slime flew fast and thick.
What I’m trying to get at is that the meaning of life has to do with love, mutual caring, respect and human dignity. Purpose is at the same time personal and universal. It is an imperative built in us all to achieve and maintain these goals. Without that accomplishment, we cannot be happy, since everything else is transitory and illusory.
