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Is everyone so depressed now partially because modern science has probably proven there is no god / afterlife?

By that I mean, it must be an inherently comforting thing to think - we inherently know this and want there to be something after death, because it feels right, or more meaningful. There’s a reason basically every civilization ever has some sort of afterlife ethos.

I realize I am basically horseshoeing my way into evangelicalism but still. Maybe life was better if we believed there was something beyond this.

snausagesinablanket ,
@snausagesinablanket@lemmy.world avatar

There is something beyond this. Live a meaningful life and teach someone else some of the skills you have. In that way you will live for generations.

hahattpro ,

No man. I am so happy that for what i did now have no consequences after i die. So i live as i see fit.

Dirk ,
@Dirk@lemmy.ml avatar

A depression is an illness. “Feeling depressed” is a symptom, not the cause. The cause is a bodily malfunction that needs to be treated with appropriate medicine.

If believing in some “higher being” or “the afterlife” helps an individual to deal with the symptoms of a depression that’s great, but not believing such things does not cause a depression.

southsamurai ,
@southsamurai@sh.itjust.works avatar

You can’t disprove something like that. You can make convincing arguments, but only to people that don’t really believe in the first place; it’s just arguments if their faith is good.

Seriously, you can’t prove an invisible, undetectable phenomenon doesn’t exist. You can only prove that it doesn’t give any measurable affects. And that’s measurable so you just go right back to arguing to a wall if the faith is there.

But, no, the rest of the premise is flawed too. There are plenty of secular humanists that aren’t depressed, and plenty of people in religions, including christianity (since that’s the bias the question has) are.

Besides, who says the idea of an afterlife is comforting? Or that any given afterlife would be if you accept all of them as possible? The idea is absolutely horrifying to some because you’re stuck with whatever it is forever. Eternity, stuck in some religion’s heaven or hell, and neither is exactly as rosy an outlook as you’d think before looking into what is canonical about the various heavens.

But even reincarnation is horrifying. Doing this shit over and over and over until you get lucky and get the right life to figure out how to escape the cycle? Fuck that noise.

Joining a universal consciousness? Just as bad. Stuck in that state, watching the horrors of the universe play out? Not even if I don’t have to remember being human, tyvm.

Life was absolutely not better when christianity was even more dominant and using whatever sick ideology of the afterlife they cooked up as a threat to obey.

Hell, just the idea that people weren’t just as depressed 100 years ago is bullshit. They just didn’t talk about it. But I had the opportunity to sit with people born in the 19th century, and can tell you that faith in an afterlife did not make them less depressed. It may have, on an individual level, helped them process grief, but that’s a different thing, and I can promise you that nothing tests faith like grief.

If depression is more common now (rather than being more reported and discussed, and I don’t know which it might be, or if it’s a combination), have you looked at the world lately? You don’t have to go looking for missing faith as a reason for depression when the absolute shit storm brewing currently is there.

And the younger folks? The kids and very young adults I know, their anxiety is very much linked to the world trying to be shittier instead of improving. Maybe that won’t happen, but I don’t know anyone under 21 that isn’t dealing with some degree of anxiety post covid. Hell, I don’t know many adults that aren’t.

Keep the afterlife lol.

Mothra ,
@Mothra@mander.xyz avatar

Yeah surely it’s the afterlife what caused my depression. Not the unemployment, my inability to find a job in the industry I’ve spent years of education, not my finances, not trying to figure out how to afford the dentist, not the state of my personal relationships and friendships no no no. It’s the afterlife

slazer2au ,

Na, it’s more likely that worker wages have not kept up with productivity or inflation, we are killing the planet because it is cheaper/more profitable than not killing it, and the people who we vote for to lead us to better times are doing fuck all.

LostWanderer ,

Life would be better if human beings collectively worked to make life better for the previous, current, and next generation of human beings. By creating policies that positively impact the society, quality of life could be much better. Life would gain more meaning if the standard of living would increase, work wasn’t an ever free time-consuming thing, the ailments of the mind were handled much better. We need to fix the crisis that homelessness, hunger, limited or no access to healthcare can cause within a society. If people had the chance to live without worries about the immediate future, perhaps depression would not be such an issue. Right now, it feels like a select many who got theirs are desperate to make sure not many people get the same opportunities. Some want to actively dismantle democracy and destroy the very few social safety nets the USA has, I see this as another source of misery (at least in the USA in particular).

I don’t know what you’ve been reading, but the last time I checked: Science hasn’t proven that there is no god or afterlife; this is still an open question at the moment. It’s a matter of faith, as science is chasing far more important answers. I personally neither disbelief nor believe in a God; there’s no direct proof save what people have written about said being. If anything, a serious lack of direct communication with all living beings on Earth seems to be an indication of an absence of a Creator Being. Also, given the contradictory nature of the bible; it feels like the pure work of man, with no higher power involved. Those who were desperate to control people through faith; latching on to the chance to control a faith-based narrative, since polytheism was on its way out.

sp3tr4l , (edited )

For many, life feels meaningful when… you can achieve goals you desire, improve things in a meaningful way for others, work at a job where you feel you are using your skills to build something notable, or have meaningful, successful relationships with people.

But, at least in the US… education is ruinously expensive, and is far from a ticket to a meaningful job in many cases, and there is more data than ever showing that, basically, if you are not born wealthy, or absurdly lucky, you’ll end up doing worse than your parents.

The world is warming, previously absurd weather is now basically normal, infrastructure falling apart, scams are everywhere, personal debt levels are generally rising to the point that a significant number of people have to finance their groceries.

Divorce rates are high, huge numbers of people either cannot afford the time or money to put into developing a relationship with a life partner. Birth rates continue to decline.

Oh, and we appear to be falling ass backwards into theocratic fascism.

In my estimation, people are more depressed because their material conditions continue to deteriorate, and they realize they are less likely to achieve their dreams, much less what were considered ‘normal life patterns’ by the previous generations (home ownership, family).

The way I see it, meaning in life comes from agency, and beyond that, your ability to decide what is and is not worth doing, learning, cultivating.

Put more and more people in worse and worse conditions, lessen their actual ability to act, to achieve, and many will despair.

…

Personally, I think that religion basically functions as a crutch for those otherwise unable to mentally process the gravity of mortality, by simply telling the believer that death is not really death, everything continues, and if you are good, you will be immortal and happy.

If you take that away, you are left with the world as it is, your life as it is, and you must grapple with a reality that you are finite, in duration and capacity.

…

Its funny you bring up other ancient traditions.

The ancient Greek gods were said to envy mortals.

They found the limited lifespans of mortals made their every action and thought more meaningful, more consequential, more tragic when thrown away, more beautiful when they accomplished great deeds.

pelletbucket ,

also I’m an atheist but I don’t think it’s because science has “proven there’s no god”

pelletbucket ,

nah there is probably tens of thousands of years of human history before we invented an afterlife

theywilleatthestars ,

Never found the idea of god particularly comforting

Cosmos7349 ,

I think probably more influential is the accessibility to global knowledge, so now it’s really easy to see how shitty everything is, and also find more things to worry about

vividspecter ,

I doubt underlying depression rates are any higher today than in the past. It’s just not pushed under the rug anymore.

weaponG ,

Modern science didn’t have to prove to me that unicorns, elves, and fairies don’t actually exist. Somehow, I figured that out on my own and moved on.

Successful_Try543 ,

“I figured that out on my own” -> science

Archpawn ,

Figuring it out on your own is science, but I have a feeling OP didn’t actually personally search the world for one-horned horses or pointy eared-people with long lifespans. I bet they didn’t even work out how biology changes with scale and how evolution works to show that there can’t be tiny winged people.

Successful_Try543 ,

Yes you’re right. It’s more an untested hypothesis and no (counter) evidence has appeared by themselves to OC yet.

Dirk ,
@Dirk@lemmy.ml avatar

A horned horse to me makes more sense than the concept that is usually called “god”.

snausagesinablanket ,
@snausagesinablanket@lemmy.world avatar

Modern science didn’t have to prove to me that unicorns, elves, and fairies don’t actually exist. Somehow, I figured that out on my own and moved on.

If you take the right things, you will see fairies and so much more

tiredofsametab ,

science has probably proven there is no god / afterlife

Well, for one, you "probably proven" doesn't make a whole lot of sense unless maybe you've got a paper waiting on peer review confirmation. In any case, it is exceedingly difficult to definitely prove something isn't for cases like this. Does every bit of evidence point to 'no'? Yes. However, it's still technically not proven to be false/absent.

Anyway, that's not the actual important part here. One human lifetime is generally a long time. There are lots of meaningful interactions that a person can have in that time. I would argue that, since it's not an eternity, the pressure is on to do something better with your life. That doesn't require gods or afterlives. Volunteer, meet up about hobbies, find a social group, etc.

we inherently know this and want there to be something after death, because it feels right, or more meaningful

I disagree. For one, if you get do-overs on life or an eternity to do whatever, isn't it inherently LESS meaningful since there are no stakes? Secondarily, I personally don't like the idea of trying to exist for an eternity; that sounds like it always ends in boring monotony... at least so much as something 'endless' 'ends' anyway (English be silly).

morrowind ,
@morrowind@lemmy.ml avatar

For one, if you get do-overs on life or an eternity to do whatever, isn’t it inherently LESS meaningful since there are no stakes?

I don’t know of any religion in which you get do overs with no stakes

tiredofsametab ,

Religions that support reincarnation is one, though most would say you get reincarnated as something more/less favorable depending upon the life lived.

By no stakes above, I was mostly referring to an eternal amount of time to do anything, supposing a bit that one could accomplish a lot in many of the version of afterlife I've heard of. I wasn't thinking of it in a 'no morals' or similar way, but I can see how it could be read as such.

morrowind ,
@morrowind@lemmy.ml avatar

In most religions I know, the afterlife is mainly to live with the consequences of what you did. It’s not just more life

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