My Harsh Opinion on The Meaning of Life

I used to believe that there was some sort of meaning to life. Everything happened for a reason, and there was some kind of higher power. There was a ‘plan’ for everyone. When people die, they move on to a better place, and my Papa was there watching over me and protecting me.

Now I can’t help but feel like there is no higher power and human existence exists only out of luck. That our universe exists only out of this luck and evolution. Religion and spirituality feel like something created to control people or cope with our lives being meaningless—the things we do ultimately have to purpose.

At first, my realization made me feel sad, and I struggled deeply. It meant that Papa was just dead and nothing more. He was, in itself, nothing, and I would never see him again, in ghost form or in a next life. The more I thought about it, the more I felt like nothing sounded peaceful, like a dreamless sleep that never ends. I still hold this belief, and I find comfort and beauty in that nothingness.

Religion is just something I do not understand. If God is real, he must be evil or sick. There is so much pain, and suffering in this world that I cannot justify by “God is good.” I reflect on my life and the life of those around me, and I can’t help but feel that every person in this world has at some point succumbed to true sadness, but not every person has felt true happiness. That thought breaks my heart.

I feel that Religion tells people that we are the center of the universe, and one of our purposes in life is to reproduce. I believe both of these statements to be false.

What sense does it make that we are the center of the universe? A higher purpose or a life after death only implies that the world revolves around us, that we are special, and our deaths mean something. It feels like a lie people tell themselves to help them sleep at night because the idea of our day-to-day life not meaning a damn thing is a burden too great to bear. But doesn’t the fact that our universe managed to create itself from nothing imply that there could be more out there? Doesn’t the prospect of living your life the way you want to, and not the way you feel you have to feel like a thought worth dwelling on?

My thoughts on bringing a child into this world are that it would only be a curse to the child. All the pain I have been through in my life, all the small traumas that piled up and turned into one big heap of crap, is something that I can save from a child. Why would I bring another human being into an existence only to feel the burden of having to exist, question all the things I have questioned, to hurt and be hurt? I know there can be amazing parts to life, some that may even make all the crap feel worth it to some, but you cannot have one without the other, and I refuse to force another human to feel those things.

I wish to live in a world where we don’t allow Religion or belief to dictate our kindness, and work on being kind to one another because we want to, not because we have to.

But I've always been a dreamer.

I feel that it is worth mentioning that these are only my thoughts and feelings and I am in no way trying to say or insinuate that this is how it is, it is only my belief and I do not hold any ill feelings towards anybody who disagrees with me. Thank you.