I remember as a Christian being told that “god has a meaning for your life”. During my de-conversion I worried that life suddenly has no meaning. If I wasn’t meant to serve the invisible sky daddy any more so I can have eternal bliss what was the point? This sent me into quiet a bit of depression. One of the many reasons I sought help. I also began to read a lot of responses online regarding this. The main thing I came to was that my life has the meaning I ascribe to it. My life is important because it’s important to me and those who care about me.
This premise was hard for me to swallow. If you’ve ever suffered from depression you know that it can be hard to find yourself important to yourself let alone anyone else’s eyes. So again I found my self struggling with a deeper depression. I guess when I was a believer I always thought of my sky daddy caring about me even if no one else did. That gave me some comfort. Not having that security blanket anymore I felt exposed. I say that in the past tense not because the feeling is gone but more as a fading feeling.
As far as what meaning I’ve ascribed to my life so far, well so far I have a very minimal description. Provide a life of relative comfort for myself and my family, continue to expand my mind through learning, and spreading my thoughts. I guess in a way that last one will make me somewhat immortal. Sure only a handful of people will ever read this but these thoughts will live forever in the “mind” of the internet.
I’m still working through my depression and probably will for a long while. But I’m actually working on it instead of “giving it to god” which is a phrase I never understood. What are your thoughts on meaning for life? How do you ascribe meaning to your life?