Willmarite said-
My personal belief is that materialism is a limiting belief and is not true so it doesn't scare me. I will admit however if I suddenly accepted it I have no words to describe how depressed I would be. That ultimately nothing matters (at least that's how I view it) would be too much to take and remain a happy, well-adjusted human being.
Yeah, that prove you're projecting YOUR fears onto others.
I'm a materialist, and don't see life as pointless: just the opposite, since it's a gift and the challenge is what you make of it. Not to collapse in a ball of self-doubt to quiver and die.
You really should be asking yourself of where you ever got the idea of spiritual woo, in the first place, as your default position? Because aside from cultural influences, there's absolutely no evidence for it.
Willmarite said-Something that matters to me is the future of mankind including myself. If I suddenly began to believe that my life, the life of all my loved ones, and the life and every person who has ever lived is entirely pointless I would be devastated.
Since you're worried about the fate of the Universe, long after you'll be dead, here's an idea: perhaps you'd consider contributing to a cause for mankind to figure out a way to find a solution for heat death of the Universe? Maybe if not you, then a distant offspring would be the one to save mankind?
Willmarite said-Let me compare it to the difference between a rewarding job where you used your abilities to help other people and a job where for 8 hrs. a day you dug a hole in the ground then proceeded to fill it back up again. Then you re-dug the hole then filled it up again. Very few people could do such meaningless work for very long.
Have you NOT seen JWs, who engage in the most fruitless time-sucking endeavor EVER? They even SEEM to enjoy it!
Willmarite said-If the materialist paradigm is correct then not only is everything ultimately meaningless but you don't even have a choice whether to believe it or not.
'Materialist' is not synonymous with 'nihilist'. Don't insult me like that!
'Free will' implies there's not someone (usually, some God(s)) pulling the levers. The only one yanking our chains is often US OURSELVES, and most people cannot handle the responsibility of accepting that fact, since it means they cannot deny their personal responsibility any longer.
Adam
