How do you keep on living if this is all there is?
Atheists get this question a lot. And the answer is, how do I not?
All my life, I’ve been one of those people who live in the future. Someday I’ll find love. Someday I’ll do this. Someday I’ll do that. And, eventually, someday I’ll be in heaven.
Well, to quote Dave Matthews, “The future is no place to place your better days.”
And I’ll throw in some Harper Lee as well: “There are just some kind of men who’re so busy worrying about the next world they’ve never learned to live in this one, and you can look down the street and see the results.”
When you live with the knowledge that this is all you’ve got – this little blip in the eons of a seemingly infinite universe – everything seems immediate and important. This life becomes so much more precious, like a flickering candle cupped in your hands. If someone is standing by with a lighter, it’s not such a big deal if the flame goes out. But if it’s all we have? We’ll build structures to block the wind. We’ll gather together and protect these weak little flames at all costs.
Some atheists are nihilists, I suppose, but I haven’t met them. Every atheist I know in “real life” and online is passionate about helping people and making every minute of this life count. When you stop thinking of heaven as a backup plan for people who get screwed in this life, you find yourself caring about other people a lot more.
Children that die of starvation are not getting a second chance in a magical fairy land. Their needs become immediate. This can be applied to every other situation. Sorry, Mother Teresa, but suffering is not beautiful. And “at least they’re going to heaven now” doesn’t cut it.
Imagine being good to each other purely for its own sake, not with the expectation of eternal reward or punishment.
For those out there who do believe in heaven, never let it become a concept that desensitizes you to the present suffering and needs of your fellow human beings. When you learn that women are being raped in the Congo or that children are dying of malaria, never allow yourself to think of heaven as a consolation prize. What if it isn’t? As humans destroy the planet’s climate and resources, never think, “Well, that won’t really be a problem because the world will end before then.” What if it doesn’t?
Instead of thinking how sad it is that atheists don’t believe in another life after this one, think of how passionate we would be about making the world better if none of us believed it. Believe in heaven if you like – but live as if you don’t.
