Well I think you need to believe in something, like a religion or some kind of philosophy to your life. You cant believe in the absence of something, thats where most atheists are today. The whole point of atheism is to not believe in any kind of deity, sure that moves you away from what you dont want to believe in but that doesnt move you toward anything, just away. The mind needs something to connect itself to. Whatever your philosophy is ( you can choose whichever one you wish ) it should be logical in my opinion.
Everybody believes in something. In fact, every person has an entire system of beliefs, by which he lives. And of course everybody thinks his belief system is the best, which is why we get so irritated, when somebody acts in a way which does not conform to our belief system.
I do not think it is necessary to have a religion or philosophy to live by (and that's part of
my belief system see?) but I do
believe, that somebody who has a philosophy/religion or has given some amount of thought to the way s/he should be living will have a more fulfilled and successful life, than somebody, who simply pushes away the values s/he doesn't like but doesn't aquire any other values.
Note also, that someone, who does not follow an existing philosophy needn't be aware, that s/he has this
system.
I also think, that many people, who were "born into" a religion will only continue practicing it out of tradition but will not at all have incorporated the values of that religion, as somebody would, who chooses by free will. The christian, who goes to church every Sunday, but forgets about altruism and all that as soon as s/he leaves the church.
Then there are also the fanatics. They propagate a religion (which is actually more or less synonymous to a system of beliefs, I believe :P) but have their own belief system. However, they do not simply have "weak values/morals", they actually strongly believe, that what they do is right. Although they may not seem to be the happiest people, I must appreciate, that they have a direction to their life, which is more than can be said of many (most?) people (Atheists? Western people?).
Conclusion:
strength of belief*objective morality=Happiness factor
By objective morality I mean, that it can be measured objectively, if a moral value is good for society (=living together).
Happiness factor=Success+Fulfillment+Sex
Okay, that equation might need some refinishing, I only just made it up.
So. That's what
I believe. :P What do you think?
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