LogFAQs > #943181750

Wutobliteration posted...

A lot of non-religious people eventually deduce their idea of meaning of life to mean 'just maximise happiness/satisfaction'. Except as we all know, humans have an endless need for satisfaction.

I understand your point of not rewarding volunteerism and selfless acts, and those aspects of religion can be beneficial. But I'm not talking about karma, and I think your point about people who do believe in karma is a bit pointed. The benefit isn't "if I do a good thing, the universe will ensure that good things will happen to me" - it's "if I treat this person well, they're incentivised to treat me well in return, so we help each other out and we're both happy at the end of the day". If you act like a raging shithead, then people around you won't be incentivised to do anything for you. Boil it down to karma if you want, but I think that incentivising positive behavior with social norms that favor positive behavior in return is closer to the idea that "one good deed deserves another" than it is to karma.

I also think you default to hedonism as the default human experience kind of quickly, as if the only logical end to a faithless world is self-destruction. What I'm trying to say is that it's important for people to have standards - they want to get into Heaven, so they lead a pious life and devote themselves to their figure of worship. They want to make the world around them better, so they respond positively to the world around them and work to create positive change. They want to run a marathon every year until they're 80, so they stay in shape and lead a positive, healthy lifestyle for decades. I agree that people without a guiding force will aim to maximise their own comfort and enjoyment, but satisfaction comes from meeting your own standards at the end of the day, and religion is not the only standard that inspires positive behavior and morality in people.

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