I can hear all the atheists scream - yes of course!

Really? Oh and BTW I'm a atheist/nihilist.

I suffer from depression, and to cut a long story short, life sucks or at least I cant personally find any meaning to it, nothing that I would describe as fulfilling.

Maybe my mind has taken a skewed view of the world due to my depression but I wish there was a God I could believe in and maybe give me meaning to my life, but I cant fool myself and pretend that there is.

As an atheist you have complete and total freedom to define your own meaning and purpose in life. To me this is the most precious thing humanity has to offer. You have the option to devote your life to family, to learning, to hedonism, to fitness, to exploring the world, to any combination of these things, or to something else entirely. Revel in this freedom you've inherited and realize that you don't need to pretend anything. You truly are the master of your own universe and your life really is whatever you wish to make of it.

It could be more depressing without God depending on different variables that come into play.

People are at different stages in their life. Solomon in Ecclesiastes speaks of the vanity of life. He comes across as jaded after trying everything and trying everything in life takes time and opportunity. So some people on here arguing that life without God isn't depressing may not have the life experience to back that claim up.

That's why God tells us in the bible to fix our minds on heavenly things. Heavenly things instill a positive outlook and that lifts depression.

It also lets you know that any temporal periods of angst, etc. are just that, temporary and you have something better to look forward to in the future.

Maybe, or perhaps more to do with hormone balance. If you are worried check things out with a competent psychiatrist. But the thing to remember is that whatever answers you find are personal and do not relate to anyone else.

Two very different questions.

That's exactly my point. Unfortunately others force their rules and standard of living on me.

That's why I find it hard to understand why I should follow the rules? or why Hitler was wrong? etc ...

Life can be fulfilling or unfulfilling with or without belief in God.

I'd probably feel more fulfilled if I believed in God, but that probably has a lot to do with the fact that I was raised to believe in God.

Overall I'd expect a negative correlation between unbelief and fulfillment, but I'd expect it to be a weak relationship.

It seems from the research that the social elements of religion are the most important part in terms of happiness - make sure you have strong social relationships if you want to feel fulfilled.

You don't need a god to have a fun life. If you're depressed try to get some real help instead of turning to a work of fiction. Depression is caused by the imbalance of chemicals in the brain. Medication for depression works wonders. Don't be embarrassed to ask for help.

hopefully you are getting your depression treated! i know some who battle depression and treatment does help.

life may be devoid of meaning but that's the beauty of it. it doesn't need to have meaning, you get to use up your time to create your own meaning.

if there is a god, the meaning of life would be that we were created as slaves for the sole purpose of worshiping the master/creator. that thought wouldn't exactly cure my depression.

I used to be depressed when I was younger. It was because of a lot of stuff, but over time I learned to be quite possibly the happiest, most content person I know. It's all about perception, and how you choose to be. It's a slow process, but just not focusing on the bad and really enjoying the good is all it takes. I don't complain, if I did, I'd be focused on that. If I wasn't happy, I'd pretend to be happy, because why should I be sad (this is probably the reason I'm never sad, but 99.9% of the time I don't need to fake it).

Anyway, my life isn't as great as my personality makes it out to be, but I'm about as fulfilled as I can be, because I like who I am. If you're happy with who you are, then the only other things that can make you unhappy are other people, and it's pretty easy to fix that. Hang out with better people.

So, basically what I want to say is that god has nothing to do with fulfillment or happiness.



Why you should follow the rules? Do you just follow rules because they exist? That would make you a sheep. You should follow rules that make sense to you. Do you stop at a stop sign because it's there, or because it's safer and you'd prefer everyone stops at a stop sign (or rolls through it . Basically, you should do what you think makes sense in the world. I think it's useful when people follow most rules, but I think a lot of rules and laws are bull**** and can be ignored. It's 2am, the light is red, it's a light that lasts forever, there is nobody on the street and I've come to a complete stop. I don't care that it's red at that point.

Most laws should be followed because you want society to follow those laws too, or because you value other people and don't want to be known as an *******. Hitler is easy. Why was Hitler wrong? At the core, nobody is wrong if you want to get a bit philosophical on it. The concept of right and wrong is just some idea we threw at things we personally disagreed with. But in our society, the vast majority of humans view killing or otherwise harming people as wrong, because they would not like to be killed or harmed. Really, at it's core, people do believe that they should treat people as they'd like to be treated, and that's why things are wrong and right. Killing millions, following our understanding of the concepts of right and wrong, is obviously wrong, and that's why he's a terrible piece of ****.

Also, before the Jesusese get here and say "Do onto others..." is a concept from the bible, let me correct you, it's a concept in the bible, but it's not from the bible. It's been around since long before that, in most religions, and even before that in nature. It's the idea that helps wolves hunt in packs, and allowed humans to work together, it's our most basic instinct, and it's a huge part of why and how we understand right and wrong.

+1

this is the reason life sucks for you, it doesn't matter if you believe in god or not

Also, Why do need to have a meaning to your life? and why does it need to be given to you, if you desire meaning go find a cause to support..... plenty of happiness to be found by helping others

You really don't see why Hitler was wrong?

I wonder why atheism is a synonym for nihilism for you.

Nihilism is a self-defeating philosophy. Atheism is nothing but a default stance on one particular question. Implications you draw from the answer to that one question is entirely up to you. Drawing such negative implications from a stance on this one particular question (as to think that atheism = nihilism) is unsurprisingly going to take you down an unpleasant route.

The underlying issue seems to be that you may believe nihilism - as a philosophy - is intellectually superior/more accurate than alternative philosophies that are self-constructing, rather than self-defeating.

Why do you believe this is so?

I think spouting - chemical imbalance - straight off the bat may not be all too helpful, until you've first examined the issue from different, yet equally valid perspectives.

Just to provide some more meaning to my point on 'equally valid perspectives', I have another small question for you.

Do you think that if early humans followed a nihilism evolutionary strategy (e.g. no familial or friendship bonds at all/living and hunting alone) instead of a more altruistic evolutionary strategy (e.g. family bonds and close friendship bonds/living and hunting in groups), we would still be the dominant species of life on earth?

My point is that nature has a lot to teach us about philosophy (efficacy of self-defeating vs self-constructing), so long as we're willing to listen.

To be happy you need money or you need illusions, unless you are some emotional jedi acrobat.