What's up?
I'm seeing a lot of talk lately about the
failure of atheism.
In the previous decade, atheism was on the
rise in America, presuming to offer a better
alternative to religion.
Now some are saying that atheism failed to
create its own values, and quite a few atheists
are going back to religion.
So I want to suggest some ground rules for
atheists, for how you can live a meaningful
life, with values.
Before I start, I want to apologize for not
uploading much lately.
The reason for it is that I am writing another
book.
My previous book was more academic, but this
one is more like my videos.
In fact, it is basically all of my videos
rolled into one book.
And I am a much better writer than I am a
speaker.
So, if you like my videos, you have something
to look forward to.
I'm hoping to be done by November, and I will
let you know where you can purchase it.
So, atheism.
Now, of course it doesn't surprise me that
the atheism has reached a dead end.
I've been telling you all along that atheism
is not enough.
Atheism doesn't have values, because atheism
cannot have values, because atheism is not
a worldview.
It is just something that you are not.
You still have to figure out what you are.
Atheists like to say that they rely on reason
and scientific exploration.
Ok, but that's not enough.
Science can only give you facts.
You still need a metaphysics to put all these
facts together.
When you have a metaphysics, you can form
a worldview, and based on that worldview you
can create identities, values, ethics, etc.
Now, the problem is, there are many possible
metaphysics, many possible worldviews.
How can you tell which one is the right one?
Reason and science cannot give you the answer.
Science deals with physics, not metaphysics.
We have no way of telling which metaphysics
is the right one, you can only tell which
one is the right one for you.
And you do it based on intuition.
For instance, I adopt Nietzschean metaphysics.
Nietzsche rejected the idea that the universe
is made of dead matter.
He philosophized that every body in the universe
is self-driven, and wants to conquer the bodies
around it and shape them, or devour them in
order to shape itself in a more powerful way.
Based on this metaphysics, he explained all
the known phenomena, and created his worldview
and his ethics.
This worldview speaks to me because I am creative,
so the idea that I am made of a substance
that wants to shape the world is very appealing.
It is a worldview that allows me to organize
my life in a way that expresses my creativity.
Now, can I prove any of it?
No, but it doesn't matter.
It makes me happy, and that is enough.
Now, the first thing that you should ask me
is: ok, then how is that different from blind
faith?
And the answer is that adopting a worldview
isn't the end of it.
You have to maintain a critical mind, and
always criticize your worldview to see if
it is still the right one for you.
There are three criteria that you should measure
it by.
The first criterion is: does it still fit
with the known facts?
Because remember, the metaphysics is a way
to explain the facts.
If you encounter a new fact that refutes the
metaphysics, you have to factor it in and
reconsider your belief.
Secondly, does it still make you happy?
Because as you grow older, you change.
Your intuitions change.
What once made you happy doesn't any more.
If your worldview no longer makes you happy,
you have to ditch it in favor of a better
one.
And the third and final criterion is: is it
moral?
Now, here is where people have had a problem
with me in the past, because I am a relativist.
I don't believe that there is one worldview
that is right, but that there are many valid
ones.
Doesn't that also mean that I think that every
culture has its own morality, and that they
are all valid?
And the answer is that while I am a cultural
relativist, I am not a moral relativist.
Morality is universal.
It is rooted in our nature as a social animal.
Some people claim that it was religion that
gave us universal morality.
This claim has always been very weird to me.
What does the Bible say?
Thou shall murder; thou shall not steal.
What is murder?
Murder is the illegitimate killing of someone.
What is theft?
Theft is the illegitimate annexing of property.
So what the Bible says is: don't do what is
illegitimate.
Or, to put it more simply: thou shall not
do what thou shouldn't do.
In other words, the Bible assumes that we
already know the difference between right
and wrong.
And it assumes it because it's in our nature
to know it.
Those who don't know the difference between
right and wrong, we put in insane asylums.
Now, I am not saying that it is in our nature
to DO what is right; but it is in our nature
to know what is right.
We don't need religion for it.
So, we all know that it is wrong to murder,
steal, rape etc.
But we also agree that sometimes it is justified
to kill someone, in cases when it is the only
way to prevent greater suffering.
And here is where worldviews might differ
from each other, because one worldview might
lead you to the conclusion that killing is
justified, in cases that other worldviews
will disagree.
How do we know which is right?
Well, the thing you should ask yourself is:
is the conclusion based on reason, or on faith?
Let's say that you see someone running with
a knife towards a group of people, and shouting
'Allahu Akbar'.
And the only way to stop him would be shoot
and kill him.
In this case, killing him would be justified
by reason.
Your senses give you empirical data, your
prior knowledge tells you that you are watching
a terrorist attack, and your logic deduces
that you must shoot to kill, because that's
the only way to prevent greater misery.
This is pure reason.
Now, let's take another example.
Let's take something from my worldview.
Nietzsche believes that the stronger you are
in spirit, the happier you become.
This implies that if we get rid of all the
snowflakes, humanity will become happier.
So I might be tempted to want to kill these
people, for the common good.
But remember, I have no way of proving that
Nietzsche's worldview is right.
I adopt it based on intuition, on faith.
So to rely on it to justify the killing of
other people would be immoral.
Now, those two examples are extreme.
In real life, it is usually not easy to tell
when reason ends and faith begins.
And sometimes reason isn't enough, and you
have to act on faith.
And yeah, this is what it means to be human.
There is no religion or ideology that will
help you to overcome this.
In the end, it's always up to you to make
the decision.
You have to try your best to do the right
thing.
So, these are the three criteria.
If your worldview fails the test, you must
change it.
Now, this entails a couple of more things.
First, you must live in a free society, that
will allow you to change.
So fight to keep your society free.
Don't be content with a society that tolerates
your identity and worldview, but make sure
that it tolerates all identities and worldviews.
Because one day you will want to change, and
then you might find yourself in the persecuted
camp.
The other thing it entails is that you must
have empathy to all humans, because you don't
know who will be in your group one day.
Right now, you might have opposing worldviews,
but in the future, you might be in the same
group.
So be against the position, not against the
person holding it.
Enough with all this demonizing people, cancelling
people, destroying people.
Come on.
This is why you should be a moral person.
Like I said before, it is in our nature to
know the difference between right and wrong,
but not necessarily to do what is right.
It is in our nature to do what is right when
it comes to people that we perceive to be
similar to us.
Those who are part of our group.
We naturally feel empathy towards these people,
so we don't want to harm them.
We don't feel empathy to those that we perceive
to be outside our group.
We need to teach ourselves to do it.
So, like I said: remind yourself that we all
change, so anyone might be part of your group
one day.
If you harm them today, you might feel awful
about it in the future.
So, for your own self-interest, be a moral
person.
Don't harm people, and fight for the freedom
of everyone.
To sum up, you adopt a worldview based on
your intuition.
You keep a critical mind and measure your
worldview according to the three criteria
that I mentioned.
You ditch your worldview once it no longer
stands up to this criticism.
You fight to preserve a free society.
And you treat every human as your brother
or sister.
These are the ground rules for a happy atheist
life.
That's it, then.
Short video.
Like I said, I'm busy on my book.
In the meantime, I may do more videos like
this, where I talk to the camera.
They are much less work.
The problem is, it's hard for me to talk to
you like this, because you look exactly like
me.
And I have to say, you are one sexy motherfucker.
It's distracting.
Anyway, see you soon.
