Does anything actually matter at all?

[frg001]

Ok. First of all I am an atheist, so from my viewpoint, there is no afterlife, saviour, heaven etc etc.

Now given that, and maybe I should address this purely to atheists, but for now, maybe not, lets's give it a try on an open forum... Although I really don't want any bible/koran quotes/arguments please?

Anyway back to the point...

Does ANYTHING matter?

We spend our lives worrrying about possesions... Money...Cars, bikes, clothes, computers, mobile phones, hairstyles etc.
People... Friends and family, our neighbours, the locallity, the country, the world, poverty.
The planet... Polution, population, resources, greenhouse gases, global warming etc.
We elect governments, or live under dictatorship.
We believe in deities and worship them, or not.
We are born, and we die
The planet has been around for maybe 4 or 5 billion years, and will be around for a while yet.
But when it dies, then the galaxy will be 99.9999999999etc % unchanged.

We are irrelevant. People are irrelevant. Animals, plants, the days and nights...are of (almost) zero relevance when it comes to the galaxy, never mind the universe.

Or what?

 

[rocketman]

Are the people you love irrelevant? Are you irrelevant to the people who love you? Maybe some things do matter. Maybe this life is not all that there is. Maybe the fact that you are asking means that deep down you can imagine situations that do matter.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Does ANYTHING matter?

Why do you ask?

 

[methylatedghosts]

Does ANYTHING matter?

Conversly - Does everything NOT matter?

While it may seem that nothing really matters in the greatest scheme of things - that we are a seemingly insignificant blip in the entirety of existance - you can make it matter for you.

It's about making it all relative to who you are. Maybe the question should not be "Does it matter in comparison to the rest of the universe?" because you are never going to experience the entire universe. Make it relative to what you experience and who you are in relation to that. Make the question instead; "Does this matter in relation to who I am?"

 

[Willamena]

Does ANYTHING matter?

Yup. Anything matters, just as much as, and in the same way that, nothing matters.

We are irrelevant. People are irrelevant. Animals, plants, the days and nights...are of (almost) zero relevance when it comes to the galaxy, never mind the universe.

Or what?

Are you irrelevant to you?

 

[Valjean]

Here in the material world, things matter a great deal.

Ultimately, though, it's all just a dream.

 

[Super Universe]

Ok. First of all I am an atheist, so from my viewpoint, there is no afterlife, saviour, heaven etc etc.

Now given that, and maybe I should address this purely to atheists, but for now, maybe not, lets's give it a try on an open forum... Although I really don't want any bible/koran quotes/arguments please?

Anyway back to the point...

Does ANYTHING matter?

We spend our lives worrrying about possesions... Money...Cars, bikes, clothes, computers, mobile phones, hairstyles etc.
People... Friends and family, our neighbours, the locallity, the country, the world, poverty.
The planet... Polution, population, resources, greenhouse gases, global warming etc.
We elect governments, or live under dictatorship.
We believe in deities and worship them, or not.
We are born, and we die
The planet has been around for maybe 4 or 5 billion years, and will be around for a while yet.
But when it dies, then the galaxy will be 99.9999999999etc % unchanged.

We are irrelevant. People are irrelevant. Animals, plants, the days and nights...are of (almost) zero relevance when it comes to the galaxy, never mind the universe.

Or what?

Well you forgot a few things in your post, a few things like: that first kiss on the doorstep, hearing your child scream for the first time, watching the spring lillies open toward the sun, ocean waves, a pitch black middle of Utah night and how bright the Milky Way looks, kittens, the latest song you've learned most of the words to, a three point jumpshot that beats the buzzer...

Is it all irrelevant? I guess it just depends on your view.

But if it's all irrelevant then it wouldn't be here. I know you don't believe in anything other than what is satisfactorily explained to you but there really is a purpose behind it all, it's just a bit beyond us at the moment. Think of a young child that cries because the vaccine shots hurt. They just don't understand how important they are, yet...

 

[Sunstone]

Ok. First of all I am an atheist, so from my viewpoint, there is no afterlife, saviour, heaven etc etc.

Now given that, and maybe I should address this purely to atheists, but for now, maybe not, lets's give it a try on an open forum... Although I really don't want any bible/koran quotes/arguments please?

Anyway back to the point...

Does ANYTHING matter?

We spend our lives worrrying about possesions... Money...Cars, bikes, clothes, computers, mobile phones, hairstyles etc.
People... Friends and family, our neighbours, the locallity, the country, the world, poverty.
The planet... Polution, population, resources, greenhouse gases, global warming etc.
We elect governments, or live under dictatorship.
We believe in deities and worship them, or not.
We are born, and we die
The planet has been around for maybe 4 or 5 billion years, and will be around for a while yet.
But when it dies, then the galaxy will be 99.9999999999etc % unchanged.

We are irrelevant. People are irrelevant. Animals, plants, the days and nights...are of (almost) zero relevance when it comes to the galaxy, never mind the universe.

Or what?

Do you seriously feel you must be relevant to the universe for your life to have meaning?

 

[Luke_17:2]

If you're an Atheist, then no.

Nothing matters.
Nothing to live for.
The sooner you die the sooner we decrease the surplus population.

 

[Sunstone]

If you're an Atheist, then no.

Nothing matters.
Nothing to live for.
The sooner you die the sooner we decrease the surplus population.

Why don't you ask an atheist whether they think their life matters to them? To pretend to speak for atheists is a cheap rhetorical trick you should be above stooping to.

 

[Luke_17:2]

To use internet slang....

ROFL

I love seeing the responses I get after writing that.

I wasn't serious.

I used to believe that, but I don't anymore. There are things to live for even for an atheist.

 

[.lava]

Ok. First of all I am an atheist, so from my viewpoint, there is no afterlife, saviour, heaven etc etc.

Now given that, and maybe I should address this purely to atheists, but for now, maybe not, lets's give it a try on an open forum... Although I really don't want any bible/koran quotes/arguments please?

Anyway back to the point...

Does ANYTHING matter?

We spend our lives worrrying about possesions... Money...Cars, bikes, clothes, computers, mobile phones, hairstyles etc.
People... Friends and family, our neighbours, the locallity, the country, the world, poverty.
The planet... Polution, population, resources, greenhouse gases, global warming etc.
We elect governments, or live under dictatorship.
We believe in deities and worship them, or not.
We are born, and we die
The planet has been around for maybe 4 or 5 billion years, and will be around for a while yet.
But when it dies, then the galaxy will be 99.9999999999etc % unchanged.

We are irrelevant. People are irrelevant. Animals, plants, the days and nights...are of (almost) zero relevance when it comes to the galaxy, never mind the universe.

Or what?

imo, these words of yours are interpretion of a sharp feeling that hits. it hits me too.
soon, the exact opposite hits as well that everything matters, there is harmony, we are little pieces of one big puzzle and everything is relevant.

i say they are both true. once a friend of mine said that even if we go to death hand in hand, we would die alone. if it makes any sense to you...it sure does to me

 

[sandandfoam]

Ok. First of all I am an atheist, so from my viewpoint, there is no afterlife, saviour, heaven etc etc.

Now given that, and maybe I should address this purely to atheists, but for now, maybe not, lets's give it a try on an open forum... Although I really don't want any bible/koran quotes/arguments please?

Anyway back to the point...

Does ANYTHING matter?

We spend our lives worrrying about possesions... Money...Cars, bikes, clothes, computers, mobile phones, hairstyles etc.
People... Friends and family, our neighbours, the locallity, the country, the world, poverty.
The planet... Polution, population, resources, greenhouse gases, global warming etc.
We elect governments, or live under dictatorship.
We believe in deities and worship them, or not.
We are born, and we die
The planet has been around for maybe 4 or 5 billion years, and will be around for a while yet.
But when it dies, then the galaxy will be 99.9999999999etc % unchanged.

We are irrelevant. People are irrelevant. Animals, plants, the days and nights...are of (almost) zero relevance when it comes to the galaxy, never mind the universe.

Or what?

I think what you are talking about was referred to by Viktor Frankl in ' Man's search for ultimate meaning' (Psychology not religion !) as 'the existential vacuum'.
He argues that 'despair over the apparent meaninglesness of human life constitutes a human achievement....after all, no animal cares whether or not its existance has a meaning.'
He states it is ' a perogative and privilege of man not only to quest for a meaning to his life but also to question whether such a meaning exists at all.'
From an atheists point of view, 'on strictly empircal grounds' he cites research that demonstrates people can find meaning 'irrespective of whether or not they are religious'. He proposes that people can find/create meaning via three avenues:-
1/ Doing a deed or creating a work
2/ Experiencing something or encountering someone
3/ Facing a fate we cannot change

Given Frankls' own life experience as an Austrian Jew whose wife and family perished in the Holocaust, and as a psychiatrist, himself incarcerated in Nazi concentration camps, his writings present a powerful yet tolerant argument that each person can and needs to create meaning.
So in answer to the question:-

Does ANYTHING matter?


Yes I think everything matters but that it's up to each individual how to construct that meaning for themselves.
Further, that meaning does NOT require a religious dimension. By the same token if an individual chooses religion, fine.

 

[eudaimonia]

Does ANYTHING matter?

To whom?

The planet has been around for maybe 4 or 5 billion years, and will be around for a while yet.
But when it dies, then the galaxy will be 99.9999999999etc % unchanged.

We are irrelevant.

To the galaxy, yes. To ourselves, no.


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[eudaimonia]

If you're an Atheist, then no.

Nothing matters.
Nothing to live for.
The sooner you die the sooner we decrease the surplus population.

You've just met an atheist who does not share this dismal view.


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[Smoke]

We are irrelevant. People are irrelevant. Animals, plants, the days and nights...are of (almost) zero relevance when it comes to the galaxy, never mind the universe.

Or what?

Someday we'll all be dead. Our planet will be dead; our sun will be dead. Nobody will know we ever lived or what we did or what we cared about. Nevertheless, we care. While we last, whatever matters to us ... matters to us.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

If you're an Atheist, then no.

That was an idiotic and thoroughly insulting response. I'm spending a long weekend with two adorable granddaughters. Don't presume to tell me what matters to me. :slap:

 

[PureX]

Ghandi once said that ultimately, nothing that any one person does in the 'grand scheme of things', matters. Yet he said that it's extremely important that we each did what we did, and do what we do, because it's what we each did and do that creates the 'grand scheme of things'.

So like it or not I think the answer is both "yes" and "no". The truth, when contemplated, often results in just such a paradox.

 

[Reverend Rick]

OK, Let's say for the sake of this thread that there is no God or afterlife. I can imagine.

My grandfather loved me very much. We used to do things together and enjoyed each others company. They say some things skip a generation, but I don't even care about bloodlines in this thread, It is a spirit (not religious) of say, appreciating a tree or a sunset or the moon and the stars that can be handed down generation to generation that was even forgotten until one day you are a grand parent and remember and pass something you learned from previous generations and passed on. A little part of my grand father lives on and it might have originated many generations before him. Make any sense?

 

[Bathsheba]

Ghandi once said that ultimately, nothing that any one person does in the 'grand scheme of things', matters. Yet he said that it's extremely important that we each did what we did, and do what we do, because it's what we each did and do that creates the 'grand scheme of things'.

That sounds like a lot of do do.