013: the person at the top of the hill

the existential sludge you are currently drowning in boils down to one point: who cares? this is the plight of the atheist, the plight of the 21st century secular human. instead of choosing to believe a magic man in the sky cares about me, you have to confront the awful truth: very few mortals actually give a shit about you. it’s the truth. people will try to make you think they care about you but if you take anything away from this, let it be a newly found ability to ferret out liars and sycophants. but the fact that so few people actually care about you is what makes humanity so amazing, if you can manage to see it from a positive angle. some people care about you! your life could be lived without anyone caring for you, so the fact that a handful do is quite surprising. and of course what i’m talking about is a cultural revolution for people in most first world countries. america, well, parts of america. the united kingdom. france. countries who have embraced science and secularization, who fight for the separation of church and state, these countries continue to struggle with their sense of purpose. why are we here, if not to please the god that made us? to please ourselves? or to please others? and to what end does either one of those options get us? we live, we die, we’ve taken care of ourselves or of others … if that’s it, it seems so empty. it reduces us to animals, which, we are, but also demeans our intelligence, our ability to do and think more than a cow or a dog. so i ask you to take that question–why are we here–and let it drive you through the rest of your life. do not make it a statement of defeat. do not come up with the conclusion before you have exhausted all possibilities. you are the result of billions of years of evolution, and your mind deserves better than self-deprecation. use that question to guide you to whatever your life becomes. don’t let it sink you. use it to float. and come back to me when you know you have the answer.