If you as an Atheist do not believe in God or a higher entity...?

Question

what do you believe your purpose in life is? Just curious. I would prefer to hear from Atheists.

Answer 1

To enjoy life and spread love

Answer 2

I'm part Atheist, i don't believe in a god, but i do think that there is a reason we are all here, my purpose is to become the best i can be and not let a religious reason stop me, yes i do have a religion but it donest require me to do anything not eat something or go certain places, it gives me complete freedom and a choice of what to do

Answer 3

The atheists seek that which they hope will lead to their ultimate happiness.  It is to live a life without any authority over how they live.

Answer 4

I believe the purpose in life is to spend a happy life with the ones you love and enjoy it. life is all about pursuit of happiness and its too short to be wasted.  

Answer 5

i don't know if i really believe that i have a purpose, but i do feel very drawn to discovering how to live a life that feels forfilling and valuable. and i feel like i learn as i go, if choices i make feel forfiling and valuable then i try to go further in those directions, and if they dont then i try to figure out why and try to find new things to try

i use my emotions and my health and the emotions and heallth of the people around me to be my guide,

Answer 6

My brother is an Atheist, does not believe in God, but believes that when we die we suffer the same c**p.

Answer 7

There is a philosophy says that it is impossible for one not to worship anything at all. If he/she doesn't worship God, they will worship something else (like money, job, science, etc).

Answer 8

There is no "purpose" to life. We may never know exactly why we're here. I'm just going to make the most of it, and hope others do as well. Just because there are things we don't understand, doesn't give me a good reason to indulge in wishful thinking, though.

Answer 9

Why does one's belief in a supreme deity affect their perception of the meaning of life?  Perhaps they believe the meaning of life is not to define yourself through an irrationally conceived deity.  

Answer 10

It depends, there is no universal answer to this question. For me for instance learning, creating music, enjoying my loved ones and being happy are things that give my life purpose, but of course it has nothing to do with God or religious believes and this is not universal to human beings.

Answer 11

Just to do what ever we want, obviously not killing people but i dont really feel like i have a purpose so it gives me alot of freedom knowing that I won't be judged. There is just too many things alive for every single one of them to have a great and meaninful purpose.

oh and to prove religion wrong :P jking but it is fun

Answer 12

My purpose in life is to answer that very question day after day in my international blog. Seriously.

My site is The Academy of Metaphysical Naturalism:

Thank you very much for looking at it.

http://freeassemblage.blogspot.com/

Answer 13

i don't think there is a meaning of life we are just here and the earth was just some kind of abnormality it was just some freak thing and when we die we aren't anything any more.

depressing huh?

Answer 14

You don't believe in any sort of higher power. As for your purpose in life, that's up to the individual, regardless of religious beliefs.

Answer 15

I dont think we have a purpose. We are just here, life just exists. Its up to the individual to find their own purpose.  

Answer 16

It would seem my purpose is to contemplate existence.

Or should I call it a compulsion.

It is not so much that I believe that there is or is not a god, but rather I am humble enough to admit that I would be a fool to say that I know one way or the other.

Aside from this how does being the intentional product of a creator resolve the issue of how I should live my life.

Even if I choose one religion or to be an atheist it is the same as saying life's purpose is what ever you choose for yourself.

Believers choose to believe, atheists choose to remain skeptical.

It seems to me that this should indicate that you have to choose what makes sense to you.

For me religions do not make sense.

I basically do not believe that we can say for sure god even exist yet alone say for sure that he expects us to worship him or wear special underpants or any other silly things that religions say.

Answer 17

Funny, I just answered a question from someone wanting to know the difference between atheism and nihilism.  It seems that a LOT of believers consider the two to be synonymous.  For a general answer to your question, I highly recommend you check out my answer to the question below.  (I should be the 7th answerer.)

For a personal, specific answer to your question, I would say that my purpose in life is to maximize my personal fulfillment.  I do that in many ways, including striving to maximize my life experiences, education, wisdom, and the well-being of both myself and those I care about.

I recognize that other people can and will have different life purposes, because we are not all the same; life is subjective.  Others may want to become successful entrepreneurs, or to raise a good family, or to become a musician or artist or writer, or to help the poor, or to change the world through evangelism or politics.  Some may not know what their purpose in life is yet, because they are still in the process of working that out.  That's natural; purpose is something we create for ourselves, not something we come pre-packaged with.

As an atheist, I do NOT believe that a god is necessary to give purpose in life.  We are sentient beings with free will, whether you believe that we got that way because god created us that way or because that's how we naturally evolved.  But either way, our lives are our own to do with as we please.  So even if I did believe in a god, I would also still believe that one's purpose in life is created by the individual, not by an external source like a god.  To say that a god is the provider of the purpose of our lives (or that he controls the destiny of our lives) is a negation of the free will that that same creator god supposedly gave us.

Answer 18

I don't believe in Fate either so I don't assume I have a purpose.  However, I believe I will live in people's memory and hope that what they knew of me was honourable.