Existentialism
Is your life pointless? Most people like to think they are here on earth for a reason and someone up above (maybe on the moon) is watching out for them. The thought that life has no meaning and no special purpose is just too overwhelming for some people to deal with. The fact that life can be so shitty and so hard makes people wonder what the point is. If there truly is no point what is the reason for living? This is a tough question and one that must be answered daily by a person that has no accepted the comforting notion of an afterlife.
These questions are easily answered in religious terms with the quaint notions of a heaven for the good people and a hell for the naughty people. This cartoonish and immature view of life after death is laughable yet scary because of the sheer number of people that have actually prescribed to this fairy tale doctrine of an afterlife. To these people, the harsh realities of life on earth will all be erased once they are accepted into the eternal kingdom of salvation. How sweet and simple. It makes me shed a tear just thinking about it. The problem some simpletons have not come to terms with is what if an afterlife does not exist?
What if, as is a theory proposed by recent genealogists, our bodies are just elaborate cases to protect our genes? What if our lives are nothing more than the need to procreate and carry on our genes from one generation to the next with ceaseless efficiency? Animals mate because they are impelled to do so. Is our only difference in the fact that we know why we are mating and the animal merely mates?
We have created a complex society of needs and beliefs that play into our own notion of self-importance and superiority. We have a book that says an all powerful being created us in his own likeness (notice the he, as if an all powerful being must contain him/herself to one specific gender) and we are more than just animals that will die with nothing more remaining than a rotting corpse. We are so special as to have a supreme being watching over us and guiding our steps. He/she gave us free will so that we might send people up to heaven even faster with such things as wars, drugs and institutional violence, Oh, he/she makes sure not to interfere or help out as he/she enjoys all the new arrivals to his/her pearly gates (notice the distinctly human notion of splendor being symbolized by pearl) everyday, thanks to us wonderfully blessed humans.
Our belief system relies on superstition and myth to provide us comfort in this world that truly is one planet floating in a host of billions. We can not, or choose not to, comprehend the fact that we are the same as the animal being eaten alive on the Discovery channel and that once we have perished there will be no more. No soul, no heaven, no hell. Just worms eating your decomposed body and flowers on your grave.
While this is depressing at times, it is also truly liberating and empowering as you can live life without the crutch of religion that so many of us limp through life on. Once the false and blinding notion of religion is removed from your life you can truly focus on what is important and realize that helping out your fellow humans during your short time here on earth is truly the most important thing. Don't slow yourself down by using a crutch when you can stand perfectly well on your own two feet, by yourself, for yourself.
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