Quote:
Originally posted by hiredgun
If you were created by a God for a Purpose, then that is your true purpose whether you choose to embrace it or not, and it is intrinsic. You could think that your existence is absurd, but your ignorance of the purpose doesn't really qualify as purposelessness.
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Something made for you is intrinsically yours? You can choose to accept anything given to you, but that isn't internal, that is something external that you make internal. The only way for it to be absolutely internal is if you managed to create on your own what your idea of God is (without adopting these ideas from external sources) and to hold on tightly to them in the face of all that you come across.
The idea of a "true purpose" doesn't work if you choose to reject the purpose that God gave you for your own purpose. Then your "true purpose" is the purpose you give yourself.
And if you're ignorant of the purpose that you supposedly have but don't know about - isn't that the definition of absurdity? "I have a purpose, but I don't know what it is" may be one of the most ironic statements one can make.
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My point is merely that atheism seems to be a premise or prerequisite to Sartre's thoughts, rather than their conclusion. If there is a God (in the most common sense), then your life doesn't belong solely to you to create. If you weren't already sure that there was no God, then you can't really affirm that existence is absurd.
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Even if there is a God, your life is solely yours to make. Our uncertainty about the existence and the nature of God is a fact of our existence. If we knew absolutely that there was a God, and that this God wanted us to devote our lives to doing something for this God, then we are still faced with absurdity. Why did God choose to create existence like this? Why should I follow God's grand plan? What is the meaning of living in Heaven? What is the meaning of living in Hell? What is the meaning of reincarnation? What is the meaning of anything? If you accept the premises of any belief structure focused around a larger entity that has desires, then you are faced with absurdity because then you have to question why this entity chosed one sort of existence for us rather than another. The problem of suffering is exponentially expanded.
To be honest, I find the idea of there being a sentient God much more absurd that there not being one due to the infinite questions you can ask about "Why?" regarding the choices of God (which are unlimited).
To answer from Sartre's point of view to your statement - "If there is a God (in the most common sense), then your life
doesn't belong solely to you to create." He would say that beyond the facticity of you being created by this being (which most certainly hasn't been proven, in the least), how you live your life is entirely up to you. That is how you become your own God (in-itself-for-itself being), you choose your existence given the circumstances you've been presented with.