To live life in order to make a purpose for one's life. After life.. I think one has a spirit energy which eternally resides as a universal oneness in a dimension where time (and space) does not exist. One can see as like in a dream but cannot think or feel emotion.

i don't think that way at all. why not make life as meaningful as you can while you have it? if nobody did anything, nobody will live very long. we'd all get sick or hurt & die. we'd be stupid & dirty & primitive. but i guess, if you're an athiest that isn't supposed to bother you is it? being an athiest is not the same as being a nihilist.

I think that an atheist can live a very fullfilling life, hell to not be judged by God morally. To live with one's own decisions and have no Catholic guilt? As for the afterlife there is nothing to be concerned about, no worry whether they'll enter a heaven or a hell. Sounds too good to be true!

Of course there is a point, the point is not to waste our lives. To be thankful for every second we get before we return to the earth. We give purpose to our lives and we are motivated to function by love, family, friends and self.

Consider: When you know you only get one shot there is a fair amount of pressure to not screw it up.

I feel bad for you. If God is the only thing in your life that makes it worth living, you gotta have a lot of problems. Good luck.

So in order for there to be a point in life, it needs to be dictated to you from someone else? You can't make up your own meaning?

No..no point at all, no reason and no path to follow. So....why do I function? Well, I enjoy my life...I love to see, to love, to explore, to experience, to help others and bring others happiness and I would like to do it for eternity. I know that wont happen, but I have no choice in that. I make the most of my life because...well why not? I mean, I could just end it all now and save myself the bother...and if that’s what I wanted then that’s my choice, the same as it should be anyone’s. I live by the "Golden rule" and believe all others should to. If the thought of a meaningless, godless, heaven-less life is just not good enough for others then tough, this is the one they have got and if their not happy with that then it can soon be ended can’t it. The sooner people stop pretending, stop hiding behind their own fears, then the better off we’ll all be.

I admit that life itself has no "inherent" meaning, but that doesn't mean we can't give meaning to our lives ourselves. Like others have mentioned, we only have one shot at this, so do the best you can, and help others to make the world a little better for those who follow.

This question has been asked approximately one billion times on this site. Short answer: Unless one is a nihilist, one believes that there is meaning in life regardless of whether they are religious. For one thing. There may be nothing after MY life, but humankind will go on. People I know will live on, our descendents will live on, and many future generations will live lives we can't even imagine. We are all part of a glorious history of human achievement, and we all contribute to it in ways large and small. We contribute to our collective knowledge, to our artistic achievements, to our shared history, to our culture, to the education of future generations. Our kindness to one another has affects far beyond what we can see right now. So there is a greater meaning for many of us in contributing what we can to help our fellow man and leave something behind for future generations. Circle of life and all that. So we don't live forever. Humans will go on. Some little thing you did will make life easier and more pleasant for the other human beings living on this planet. I think that's pretty meaningful, don't you? (And once again, I find it VERY SCARY that many folks cannot think of any kind of meaning to life outside of religion. You can't value life, kindness, knowledge, creativity, beauty, anything? Only heaven means anything? Well NO WONDER the world's so screwed up!!!)

Yep - on the one hand, nothing we do matters at all - as it changes nothing and when we are dead we have no memory, no conciousness at all. On the other hand, what we do is ALL WE HAVE - so it is extremely important to do the things that bring us the highest satisfaction - and they usually include acting with integrity and knowing we contribute to the continued survival of our species.

Not really, but there's nothing stopping me from trying to have as much fun as I can before I hit the bucket.