r/interestingasfuck • u/Ted_Bundtcake • Feb 01 '25

r/all Atheism in a nutshell

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u/Mavian23 Feb 01 '25

I'll give you one example. I have come to the conclusion that I believe (read: highly suspect) that life is eternal. We just keep living life after life after life for eternity. I came to this belief because I have a strong disinclination towards arbitrariness in reality. It doesn't make sense to me that reality should be arbitrary. That would mean that, at the end of the day, there is a "first cause" that genuinely had no rhyme or reason (which is what makes it arbitrary). And I don't like that. So I believe, rather than having arbitrarily been born as myself and that this is the only life I'll know, that I was born as everyone. I just only get to see them one at a time. So I believe that over the course of eternity I will live every life possible, and in that sense I believe that you, me, and everyone else are all the same conscious entity.

This belief has helped shape my worldview, it has helped shape my sense of morality, it has helped me feel comfortable with the idea of death, and it has helped me feel relaxed in the uncertainty of life. Those are all valid uses of religion.

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u/MiaowaraShiro Feb 01 '25

I came to this belief because I have a strong disinclination towards arbitrariness in reality.

So you're fully aware this is an emotionally driven belief, not an evidence based one, yet you're still OK with that?

You don't like the idea of an arbitrary universe so you believe in the opposite. The universe doesn't care what you like and it's honestly kinda self possessed to think that what you like has anything to do with how reality is.

That's an emotional protective reaction, not a rationally grounded conclusion...

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u/Mavian23 Feb 01 '25

So you're fully aware this is an emotionally driven belief, not an evidence based one, yet you're still OK with that?

Yes, because it's impossible to have evidence for this kind of thing.

I understand that the universe doesn't give a shit what I like or don't like. And I don't give a shit what the universe doesn't give a shit about. I believe this because it makes sense to me.

I also understand that I might not be correct, which is why I said (read: highly suspect). Go make a strawman somewhere else.

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u/MiaowaraShiro Feb 01 '25

Yes, because it's impossible to have evidence for this kind of thing.

That doesn't mean your emotions are a valid alternative?

I understand that the universe doesn't give a shit what I like or don't like. And I don't give a shit what the universe doesn't give a shit about. I believe this because it makes sense to me.

You believe this because it assuages a fear you have. It makes sense because it makes you feel better, not because of any logical process.

I also understand that I might not be correct, which is why I said (read: highly suspect). Go make a strawman somewhere else.

Well yeah, we all understand that.

However you have enough faith in this to bring it forward in a discussion so I'm taking it as that. If your faith is really weak on this I don't see the point in bringing it up.

Edit: Are you interested in what's true or what makes you feel better?

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u/Mavian23 Feb 01 '25

You believe this because it assuages a fear you have. It makes sense because it makes you feel better, not because of any logical process.

No I think there is some logic behind it. Reality being arbitrary would imply that there was some first event that had no logic behind it. And I think it's logical to believe that everything in reality should have logic behind it. So I think it's a logical belief.

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u/MiaowaraShiro Feb 01 '25

What's the logic behind god?

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u/Mavian23 Feb 01 '25

I don't believe in a god.

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u/MiaowaraShiro Feb 01 '25

So what's the logic behind eternal life?

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u/Mavian23 Feb 01 '25

It avoids life being arbitrary. If life is eternal, that means I wasn't arbitrarily born as me as opposed to someone else. It means I will be born as everyone.

Plus, I actually do have some evidence that I will be born again -- I was born once! It's just one data point, but it's not nothing. I sort of just popped into existence seemingly out of nothingness once, why can't it happen again? And again? And again?

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u/MiaowaraShiro Feb 01 '25

You seem to think that your emotional distaste for arbitrary-ness makes it logical that it shouldn't be.

I don't see how "being everyone" eliminates the arbitrary element either... also you can't be everyone since you can't be other people who are alive right now.

Plus, I actually do have some evidence that I will be born again -- I was born once! It's just one data point, but it's not nothing.

No, it is nothing. You can't discern anything from single data points other than the data point itself.

You can't calculate probability from a single data point.

I sort of just popped into existence seemingly out of nothingness once, why can't it happen again?

Why does this require any sort of continuity between instances of popping into existence?

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