VitriolicViolet t1_ir2vmer wrote on October 4, 2022 at 10:44 PM

Reply to comment by OldSchoolHardcoreG in How to Live In A World That Makes No F*cking Sense: Nietzsche and the Search for Superhuman Laughter by simsquatched

not everyone ends up there, i was raised to understand that life is what we make it, i literally never went through a period of existential dread and i dont get why so many do.

from the start i was told life has no purpose per say, maybe this is an issue for people who were told there is some inherent purpose?

next 'sense' in what context? from where i stand the world does make sense in that there is no point, we reproduce and we die. our societies are contradictory and bizarre but also make sense in the context of what we are and history.

Quentin__Tarantulino t1_ir3x4d7 wrote on October 5, 2022 at 3:42 AM

I think religion plays a large role here. Many people are brought up thinking that the purpose of life is to live in a certain way and worship a certain god, with a goal of going to heaven after death (or something similar.) When they eventually shed that religion, they’re left with the question: what IS the point then?

FenderSplinter t1_ir442c4 wrote on October 5, 2022 at 4:52 AM

I'm with you about the role of religion in all this. In the education that all religions push onto people, especially young malleable minds, I suspect there really are 2 things pushed, namely first that there is a god, and all the contextual folklore that goes with it; and second, and more subtly but also more importantly, what is pushed/forced is a certain mental structure that installs a premise of thinking meant to be felt emotionally, that without that god or any other forms of otherworldly source of meaning, there is no sense/salute/"salvation". In other words, they install the programmed feeling that there is a fundamental lacking in humanity. Once this conditioning is installed, then religion self-perpetuates.

Looking at it this way, it makes sense why religious authorities everywhere are so inclined on getting involved in the local education systems, to the point of taking it over where and when they can.

An extreme manifestement of this mental conditioning sometimes shows itself through questions from theists when they ask and wonder sincerely how it is even possible for atheists to have an inner moral compass or ethical considerations, since they don't believe in god.