Of Atheism and Cosmic Accountability

[Dimmesdale]

One of the things I find naive about atheists, as I observe them, is regarding how naive they seem to be in the face of living a life that is unmoored from any ultimate accountability. Throughout most of human society, it simply was not the case that you could go blithely by simply enjoying life in a carefree way, making as little sacrifices as possible, and expect to be in your rights regarding this. That you could simply coast on by life, and, like in our modern technological era, just live without truly living. This is limited to our current Western technocratic age, for the most part.

Now, I am not saying that atheists are all hedonists or freeloaders. No. Some atheists seem rather advanced in their ethics and even many of their values. But the sense I get when many of them boast about their "liberal democratic vision" they seem to imply the highest regard for all the liberties accorded to people, without any of the cost of real, arduous living. The idea that, yes, you can skate by, and not have to worry too much about what you are doing. That it will all come right in the end, even if you do not exert yourself in any meaningful way. Yes. You lived your best life. Now go to sleep, in nothingness. This simply has not been the case for the majority of human history. People were saddled by religion. And.. I think it is good to be saddled by religion. To some extent at least.

You can disagree with me all you want. I am not talking about the mere letter of atheism, but the spirit of atheism. At least, one of the most discernible spirits of atheism, which is also the spirit of the age....

[Dimmesdale]

An atheist might, in one sense validly I think, argue that, "this one life is hard enough -- why extend guilt into the hereafter?" Looking at the 20th, now 21st Century, it is hard to argue this point. So it may be sincere in my estimation. But, "life is hard enough" -- this inadvertently paves the way to mediocrity. That should at least be kept in mind.