Reply #15: Hope this isn't too pretentious [View All]

[Onlooker]

I've never put this into words, so here's a first attempt.

We have a rational choice to be either destructive or constructive. We don't need religion or laws to choose the latter. The nature of life (and the universe itself) is to be constructive. Constructive forces tend to nurture life faster than destructive forces destroy it. That said, the universe doesn't give a damn if we choose to be murderers. Generally, we choose otherwise because the processes that gave us life are constructive.

Without god, all we can do is be honest with our feelings and say, hopefully, we have to help each other. Without god, we get only one chance to act according to what we believe and how we feel. Without god, we are responsible for the world around us. We can't pass the buck. For the sake of those we love and the things we believe, we need to do right in this lifetime. Besides, there are only two things that will remain of us after we die: the dirt we become and the memory of deeds we've done.

(My beliefs are loosely based on an essay by Freud that I read as a teenager. I don't remember the name of the essay. But, in it, Freud talked about parallels between the way the human body develops and the human psyche develops, with a natural tendency to be hopeful and positive. That essay somehow helped me understand how a godless world can be devout in its own way.)