If God didn't exist, would reality lose it's beauty?

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If God (to a deist) didn’t exist, would it take away from them the wonder and awe of the universe? Would it change their mind set, perhaps even noticing that randomness means organized chaos? What if God does exist but we are not the ‘beings’ created in his image. What if we are only a stage and perhaps we are suppose to “build” the next stage?

Would we not be able to find sunsets pretty? Or the life that finds home on this planet? Can’t the interactions between particles which has thus created our World be beautiful on its own?

Would I not have experienced the things I did which created the person I am now? How much of our Minds are the results from perceiving and interpreting natural reality?
 
I think there is a very deep beauty in the adventure that only atheism can promise. We seem to value things that are rare, but what could be more rare than consciousness in an atheistic universe, and all of its experiences? Life seems like such a precious thing on atheism.
 
Perplexity said:
I think there is a very deep beauty in the adventure that only atheism can promise. We seem to value things that are rare, but what could be more rare than consciousness in an atheistic universe, and all of its experiences? Life seems like such a precious thing on atheism.
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As per post #2, without God there is nothing. Therefore there is no atheism and no promises.
 
davidv said:
As per post #2, without God there is nothing. Therefore there is no atheism and no promises.
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If we were do that claim any kind of justice, this thread would get derailed. So, I think, for the present purposes we should just understand it as rhetoric, rather than anything an atheist should lose sleep over.
 
I think the question is confusing to somebody who believes in God. In Genesis, God introduces himself to Moses in the burning bush as “I am.” God is. God is reality. Reality is God. Without God, there is no reality.

I think you’re asking a different question: Would reality still be beautiful if you believed that God didn’t exist? That becomes a hypothetical that is ultimately impossible to answer with any satisfaction given that a person who has a deeply held belief is limited in their ability to imagine their identity without it.

That being said, since there are many people who do not believe in God, yet do believe in beauty, it stands to reason that many people who believe in God would also believe in beauty if they stopped believing in God, or if they never had believed in God.

Of course, the nature of beauty (like the experience of God) is entirely subjective. Some aspects of it can be quantified, but not the totality. Any formula devised for beauty would fail. Many things that meet the formula would be found wanting by many. Many things that don’t meet the criteria would be found beautiful.

I submit that the experience an atheist has of beauty is very like the experience a theist has of beauty (even if the object of their admiration is different). I suggest that for both of them, it is an expression of wonder, often at some phenomena that suggests reality is greater than themselves. That a theist tags the word “God” to this experience is almost superfluous. Their experience is the same (and ultimately has the same object: reality).

That brings things back to the original understanding of the theist: God is reality.
 
I’m sure that atheists experience beauty, it’s just that without God it’s utterly meaningless.
 
If you read Plato and see his words he puts in Socrates’s mouth, or sometimes he’s quoting Socrrates,
you’ll often come up with comments on beauty being related to God and the better human virtues. The ancients had a good sense that God created a beautiful universe rather than a bland one.
Living in buildings, working in offices, getting stuck in traffic jams, we are not as aware of this beauty as the ancients. That is, it doesn’t permeate our philosophy like it did Plato who looked around and wondered, “What’s this all about?”
Beauty means nothing to animals. Only man appreciates it.
It seems that raw nature has no use for beauty,
unless God fixed the deck so that we’d be dealt beautiful things to look at.

If there were no God, the world would probably be as bland as the moon.
 
Perplexity said:
I think there is a very deep beauty in the adventure that only atheism can promise. We seem to value things that are rare, but what could be more rare than consciousness in an atheistic universe, and all of its experiences? Life seems like such a precious thing on atheism.
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So, I take it you’re pro-life? 😉
 
Equites_Christi said:
I’m sure that atheists experience beauty, it’s just that without God it’s utterly meaningless.
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I am no friend of athiesm, but perhaps it might not be helpful to say what may or may not be meaningless to an athiest. If the experience of beauty is there, isn’t that a ‘meaning’ in itself?

Maybe you could say that without God the experience of beauty would be meaningless to you.
 
Qoeleth said:
I am no friend of athiesm, but perhaps it might not be helpful to say what may or may not be meaningless to an athiest. If the experience of beauty is there, isn’t that a ‘meaning’ in itself?

Maybe you could say that without God the experience of beauty would be meaningless to you.
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This is correct. Experience doesn’t have to last forever to have meaning.
 
lemondiesel said:
If God (to a deist) didn’t exist, would it take away from them the wonder and awe of the universe? Would it change their mind set, perhaps even noticing that randomness means organized chaos? What if God does exist but we are not the ‘beings’ created in his image. What if we are only a stage and perhaps we are suppose to “build” the next stage?

Would we not be able to find sunsets pretty? Or the life that finds home on this planet? Can’t the interactions between particles which has thus created our World be beautiful on its own?

Would I not have experienced the things I did which created the person I am now? How much of our Minds are the results from perceiving and interpreting natural reality?
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If infinite, eternal Love doesn’t exist, would the universe/existence be worth anything?
 
fhansen said:
If infinite, eternal Love doesn’t exist, would the universe/existence be worth anything?
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Sure. You might go to a movie- it doesn’t last forever, but it’s still worth something. You might have a girlfriend for a year or so- it doesn’t mean its worthless because it doesn’t last forever. Even a pizza doesn’t last forever- but it’s still worth something.
 
Thanks for the replies.
Perplexity said:
I think there is a very deep beauty in the adventure that only atheism can promise. We seem to value things that are rare, but what could be more rare than consciousness in an atheistic universe, and all of its experiences? Life seems like such a precious thing on atheism.
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My thoughts as well.
davidv said:
As per post #2, without God there is nothing. Therefore there is no atheism and no promises.
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Stay with the context of the hypothetical situation please. You cannot just state “without God there is nothing” because that implies that God exists in the first place. Once again, this thread is merely stated as a hypothetical situation.

So, with that in mind, if God didn’t exist, would life lose its miraculous beauty for you?
Equites_Christi said:
I’m sure that atheists experience beauty, it’s just that without God it’s utterly meaningless.
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Ignorance is bliss.
fhansen said:
If infinite, eternal Love doesn’t exist, would the universe/existence be worth anything?
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What do you mean by worth anything? Can you not create and imply your own worth?
 
lemondiesel said:
If God (to a deist) didn’t exist, would it take away from them the wonder and awe of the universe? Would it change their mind set, perhaps even noticing that randomness means organized chaos?
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It would change some one’s mind set but it doesn’t translate into some one having no sense of awe.

Here is one person’s explanation: youtube.com/watch?v=SbY74dwKEaw
lemondiesel said:
What if God does exist but we are not the ‘beings’ created in his image. What if we are only a stage and perhaps we are suppose to “build” the next stage?
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Sounds like fun!
lemondiesel said:
Would we not be able to find sunsets pretty? Or the life that finds home on this planet? Can’t the interactions between particles which has thus created our World be beautiful on its own?
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Some of us would, some of us would not.
 
ASimon said:
This is correct. Experience doesn’t have to last forever to have meaning.
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👍

Life and the universe need no meaning other than themselves - they are not a reference to something else. It is up to us to be the authors of our own purposes, whether we adopt those of ready-made religious teachings, or formulate our own philosophies.
 
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