Scott.

I haven’t met anyone who seriously claims that there IS no external reality, when people say “reality is constructed” or “truth is subjective” They aren’t talking about REAL reality, they are talking about the reality we live in…which is a (hopefully accurate) simulation made by our brains.

And that, I think is a good reason to be epistemically humble. “Here is what reality looks like to me” rather than “This is how reality is.” And then you can discuss the patterns you are seeing and the experiences that feed into your model. Maybe someone else has different patterns.

“Truth” on the other hand gets confusing. Because there appears to be some level of reality that exists, and then our brains create a model of that reality using our senses…but both the senses and the model are testably flawed — even WITHIN the model.

But if there is no god, then personal morality and personal meaning are all there ever were, and that works fine. In fact, if there is no objective “God” then personal gods work just fine as well.

And mostly we’re doing that because the one that set the rules also has limitless power to enforce them. That makes compliance an act of appeasement. It’s the obedience you give to a tyrant, not because it is “inherently good.”

“It’s not arbitrary, it’s determined by God’s nature.” Cool, cool cool cool. Nice linguistic trick, now demonstrate that “God’s nature” exists and how it is determined.

So why not treat morality and meaning the same way? Furthermore, the existence of a God doesn’t make such things “objective” it is still subjective but you are only counting the opinion of the one entity that arbitrarily sets the rules.

There are lots of useful and motivating concepts that exist despite not being “objective.” Beauty, for example, is obviously something that a lot of people value and pursue despite disagreeing over it.

Growing up Evangelical I was told that without God there were no morals, no meaning, and no truth.

I am now an atheist, and I realized something, they meant “objective” morals, meaning, and truth.

Well I’m getting new followers so I think that means I need to do another unhinged rant about love.

Yes.
The “about us” section should be nothing but quotes.

Guess

There’s not enough users in here to upvote this to the level that it deserves.

A Kinder Future thanks you for your vote.

girls

I keep getting more followers on here. Am I going to have to make Friday night rants a thing until y’all stop?

tess

Being proud of my life anti-correlates with unscheduled, low-stress free time.

thnk ths s trrbl d. Fr n thng, y cld ttlly gm th sstm b nt sng n vwls. Fr nthr, yr pst mght bcm nrdbl.t

I am sorry that today I must report a tragedy:
Last night I was feeling tired and unmotivated and did not clean my dishes.

And so this morning my French Press was in cleaned and I had to do dishes before making coffee.

What greater sorrow has ever befallen man?

Please do not accept cheap imitations of love in the form of action less words. Do not pretend that people are meeting your needs when they aren’t. And please, above all else, PLEASE reserve the word for the people who can rely on your help when shit hits the fan.

Thank you for reading my love rant

But love is not something that you can earn or compel. You can give it to others, and you can show them what you need, but it is up to them to choose to step up and love you, or not. You can offer it, you can invite it, you cannot fight for it.

I want to live in a world where people do not confuse “desire” for love. Where people do not pretend that a “want” is the same thing as acting in service to another. If you want to possess someone, that’s great. If you want to BE possessed, that’s great to.

Movies and music like to sell pathos. They want intense feelings of longing and passion which may or may not be fulfilled, and those are exciting emotions to have. They are part of the complete human experience, but they are not love.

I am sorry to tell you this, but if someone says they love you and then don’t try to do anything to improve your life, they are confused. If you claim to love someone but haven’t ever set aside your own needs in favor of theirs, YOU are confused.

We have started to accept a narrative that love is a warm and excited feeling an, no, that is the feeling of basking in someone else’s love for you. The giving of love is not so easy. It is simple to promise to show up for people when they meed it. It’s much harder to actually show up.

If you like the way you feel around someone, that is self-seeking. It’s for your own benefit. If you want to monopolize someone’s time, that is not love, that is jealousy. If you fantasize about someone turning to you after having their heart broken, that is delighting in evil rather than love.

Unfortunately, people have started saying “I love them” about people that they want to spend a lot of time around. I’m not saying you can’t love someone that you want to always be around, but that WANT is a separate feeling from love. That want is focused on you.

Loving someone is looking them in the face and saying “your problems are now also my problems and I am going to help you solve them.”