Atheists: Upon what basis is your morality and purpose in life founded?

*sits down dressed as a hot secretary and takes notes*

Just imagine me as the blonde in this pic:

http://mightygodking.com/images/blonde1.jpg

I base mine on what feels right in my gut. But, I'm agnostic too, so there's a bit of a difference for me I've had a spiritual pathway proven in stone to me over the years. Something which no book or other human being could ever do for me. I've seen things that aren't from insanity, drugs etc.. just things that I can't explain and I had witnesses to. If I hadn't had witnesses and 7 psychiatrists tell me I wasn't insane then I would honestly believe I were. I wish I could share the things with people who are truly lost, and have zero belief. But, all I can tell you O is that every single one of us finds the path eventually, and there is reincarnation, that's why we are all at different levels in the learning cycle and some believe and some don't.

But, I WILL NOT say the bible is true. I WILL NOT say Jesus is true. I've not seen these things in my lifetime to be proven. I tend to follow science more, I find it more spiritually enticing than the bible is.

I base my morality on the paranoid babble of primates (primitives, ancients, whatever) that lived in an era where death lurked around every corner and animals still had dominion over man.

(just kidding, that would be dumb wouldnt it)

Being serious now, my value system starts with central beliefs and builds from there. I try not to make a religion out of anything, so I keep an open mind, but fundamentally, I am pro-human progress. I want to see our species take big evolutionary steps. Something like Nietzsche's vision.

Do you value everyone and everything or do you value just yourself or a small handful of people?

You naturally treat with value that which you value.

As to purpose in life this is always a question that a religious person tries to use to suppose that they have something which a non-religious person does not.

That religious person has yet to talk with someone of my intelligence who has figured it out.

First, all life has the generic purpose of living. The reason is because if life has purpose, that purpose has the requirement of life existing in order for it to exist. Therefore the basic purpose of any life is simply to live.

Is there any purpose beyond just living? Some may attribute a potential God as one who propagates their purpose onto us.

I say however that we as the beings we are have the power of creation. We have the ability to create purpose.

We have the ability to create our own purpose and then seek to fulfill that purpose. We are uniquely dynamic in this way as creatures.

There is no real purpose in life. What atheists are striving to do is to improve the life of humans and lengthen our lives.

Atheists still do have morals. How else would they even try to improve the lives of others?

Morals and ethics are pretty much seperate from religion, especially since religion is commonly abused for power and money.

Speaking just for myself:

The choice that confronts us at every moment is simple: live, or die. The only catch is that, if we choose to live, we must do so as a human beings. This set-up, simple enough to understand, forms the core of morality.

In order to live, we must act.

In order to act, we must make decisions.

In order to make decisions, we must have a code of values guiding these decisions.

To have a code is not a choice; the only choice we have is to base that code on reason and reality, or to base it on whatever undigested slogans or half-remembered bad advice pops into our heads whenever we need to make a decision.

Values are things that we would be willing to act to gain or to keep. "Goodness" in a value depends on a measure of that value relative to some aspect of reality. If we choose to value that that which harms us, then we're working against our basic decision: the choice to live. Therefore, the standard we must use is whether or not a value supports our lives.

A "virtue" is a behavior by which a person will gain or keep a value. They are guidelines about how to act. For example, honesty is a virtue because identifying reality clearly so that you can make wise decisions accordingly is important to finding a realistic way of supporting our values. Honesty with others allows trust to flow between you and others, allowing you to work together to further your values.

With that said, it's important to remember that virtues are there for values. To use the example of honesty again, there's nothing wrong with lying about an upcoming surprise party to the guest of honor if doing so will support your relationship with the friend who was supposed to be surprised.

As far as purpose in life, nothing, since I believe there IS no purpose to life...it's only egotism to think we're that important wrt to universe,

Morality is simply based upon society as well as a basic belief that one's own interests shouldn't come at the expense of anyone else.

I'm not exactly an atheist but I am of a religion that requires you to basically have your own moral code. Mine lies in trying not to hurt other people and live life as well as I can without causing others harm. That's about it really. Its just about self respect and respecting other people. Other than that, its a free for all lol.

Hm... Some days it is different than others. Some days I live to be a good person and make others happy. Some days I live to watch a football game and pass out on the living room floor after awesome buttsecks with my stripper boyfriend. Some days I live to go to church and spend time with my mom and listen to the preacher ramble on about how evil atheists are ;). Some days I live to go alligator trapping in the bayou on a nice warm night.

It all depends.

I inherited most of my morality and all of my work ethic from my dads dad, a spiritual atheist. He taught me to be tough and respect the land.

I was taught there is honor in beating the ever lovin fek'n sh!t out of bullies.

I think my current purpose is to demonstrate stewardship of the land and present a model for sustainable life.

( yeah - I know that last part sounds like a beauty pageant response)

RScott

My morality is founded on an ethical calculus of human potential, which I consider the ideal which, if all people adopted, would lead to the best possible ethical outcomes for the planet.

As for purpose -- I don't pretend life has one.