Many atheists are too optimistic

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I am an atheist and I don't think atheism is all that it is made out to be. I think atheists who find meaning and value in this life of mortality and suffering through their atheism are being way too optimistic. They tell you that your life can still have full meaning despite it being the one and only life we have which unfortunately happens to consist of much suffering. I just think that is way too optimistic and unrealistic.

There are many people in this world who go through suffering to such a great degree that it is beyond your comprehension. A severely crippled treatment resistant depressed person will struggle with severe crippling depression and be on the brink of suicide throughout his/her life and here you are telling him/her that he/she can still have love, joy, happiness, inspiration, and good meaning in his/her life. That his/her life can be so wonderful even while struggling with that crippling depression.

Another example. A person will go through severe suffering, find no good meaning in his/her life, never got the chance to inspire the world or do anything great in their lives, and then just die shortly afterwards with no eternal blissful afterlife as a reward for his/her misery and meaningless life. You atheists are just blindly and ignorantly leaving out the suffering and meaningless lives of other people. It is no different than how many religious people are also too optimistic as well. They also blindly and ignorantly leave out the suffering of others.

The greatest and most innocent caring people in this world will be born into this world only to have so much suffering, depression, and lack of meaning in their lives and to just die in the end. And all of this because they were simply "unfortunate." We deserve better than that. We deserve an eternal blissful life of no more suffering created here on Earth through science in the future and for science to resurrect people such as me who have missed out on all the meaning of this life so we can live this eternal blissful life in the future.

It is like they say. It is often pessimists who see the truth while optimists tend to be blind. So I can clearly see the truth here. That being, there is nothing good at all about this being the one and only life we have. It might be for some people. But for many others, it consists virtually of suffering and the absence of good meaning. Both atheism and religious belief have their upsides and downsides. But the way I see it, atheism has the far greater downside when it comes to those types of unfortunate people I mentioned.

In conclusion, many people would say to me that it is impossible to create an eternal blissful life through science in the future and to resurrect people who have died and rotted away. But science has been achieving many things that we once thought were impossible in the past. Therefore, we shouldn't give up on trying to create an eternal blissful life and to resurrect those who have missed out. Even if it is somehow impossible to achieve this, then at least it was the greatest intellectual challenge for scientists to try and achieve it.

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Type: Discussion • Score: 8 • Views: 2,551 • Replies: 17

How sad for you, Little Miss Sunshine.

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By the way, there's no way you're an atheist. You're just attempting to substitute science for god.

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@Setanta,

It is the sad truth indeed that many atheists and people are blind to. I have come here since I wish to encourage the way to an eternal blissful life and resurrection through science in the future. I am an atheist with a bit of a different mindset. One who wishes to create a transcended reality for us all of eternal bliss and no more suffering.

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@MozartLink,

MozartLink wrote:

I think atheists who find meaning and value in this life of mortality and suffering through their atheism are being way too optimistic.

I don't know of any atheists who find meaning and value in this life of mortality and suffering through their atheism, seeing as how their atheism is a non-issue, like not having an imaginary friend, or not having cancer. The only time it becomes an issue is when attention is brought the fact, like this thread.

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"The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven."

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@MozartLink,

MozartLink wrote:

I am an atheist

<snip>

You atheists

if you were an atheist, wouldn't you use "we" when referring to atheists?

not sure what you are but atheist doesn't seem to cover it

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@ehBeth,

Good eye. Another reverse Poe? Laughing

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@MozartLink,

Quote:

They tell you that your life can still have full meaning despite it being the one and only life we have which unfortunately happens to consist of much suffering. I just think that is way too optimistic and unrealistic

If someone else is optimistic about their life, why do you care? Does their optimism negatively effect you? Besides, it seems like one would be bound to take life more seriously and respectfully when one thinks that this one, short life is all that there is. This, right now, is your chance to treat others well and do good in the world. Are you going to waste it?

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As for suffering, the old bobble says:

Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.

I may be an atheist, but i don't believe in throwing the baby out with the bath water. Sometimes that old King James version has some appropriate and pungent comments.

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@MozartLink,

The hidden supposition here seems to be that all theists apparently believe in a god who:
a) offers some form of life after death, and
b) is sympathetic to the human condition.

I don't identify as being an atheist. Actually, I consider myself more of an agnost, but if anything, I'm more of a theist than an atheist. However, even if I acknowledge the existence of some kind of god, I find it a bit too presumptuous to accept the two stipulated assumptions above as a given.

I also find the fact that you seem to think there are people out there who are suffering to such a great degree 'that it is beyond your comprehension' a bit insulting, since you apparently, as a self proclaimed spokesperson, are capable of comprehending the suffering of these people. Why can't I? You surely can't be addressing atheists as a group, since you call yourself an atheist.

Finally, you seem to find the concept of a life with 'meaning' very important, since you bandy this word around a lot. But you never qualify what, according to you, makes a life have 'meaning', as opposed to it being 'meaningless'. Frankly, I reckon you should try and form a definition about what would constitute a 'meaningful' life for you, because without that definition, this whole post reads as a rather meaningless diatribe against atheists. And yes, that last meaningless was deliberate.

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I see a lot of people who claim to be agnostic or atheist, and yet who make assumptions based on their previous religious heritage.

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@Setanta,

Setanta wrote:

I see a lot of people who claim to be agnostic or atheist, and yet who make assumptions based on their previous religious heritage.

So what ? Dealing with grey areas is not uncommon !

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@Fil Albuquerque,

I agree with you Fil. Setanta is worried that someone's atheism might not be pure enough...

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@Fil Albuquerque,

Recognizing that there are grey areas in one's though, however, is uncommon.

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I get the feeling that in the Judeo-Christian traditional view of a spirit god, that made the universe, and made man, etc., etc., does there seem to be a need to make a pronouncement of one's agnosticism or atheism. Are there people in China, that grew up in a traditional view that nature is what it is, that profess to be an atheist, or agnostic? Is the claim to be an atheist/agnostic strictly a monotheistic cause and effect?

And, how much of atheism or agnosticism satisfies a rebellious bent, having grown up in a god centric culture/family?

Nothing wrong with atheism or agnosticism; however, the person that needs to advise others of his/her lack of faith always makes me wonder if it is some sort of bragging about one's independent thinking?

And, one might be looking at anyone's lack of belief with a degree of cognitive dissonance, since only a hundred years ago, in western culture, the belief in a god was necessary to be considered normal. Remnants of that social mores may still be in the culture?

1 Reply

@Foofie,

Here in Korea, roughly half the population has no religious affiliation, and the culture isn't steeped in the Abrahamic traditions the way the West is. Yet there is something of an atheist backlash against Christians because of their proselytizing on the streets, subways, etc, as well as their violence against ancient Buddhist temples and historical sites. Also because of **** like this:

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@MozartLink,

You do realize that there is no value in a absolute "blissful" place right ?
Like hunger being required so you can have a pleasant meal...
...oh well the naivety of an Eden is something that not even hardcore atheists give up from...we live searching for a perfect place without noticing we have it already !

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Many atheists are too optimistic

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