Are there any substitutes for having inner peace?

You find fulfilllment from THAT assumption?I don't see any fulfillment there. I see meaninglessness.

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"Your friends, if they can, may bury you with some distinction, and set up a monument, to let posterity see that your dust lies under such a stone; and when that is done, all is done. Your place is filled up by another, the world is just in the same state it was, you are blotted out of its sight, and as much forgotten by the world as if you had never belonged to it."--William Law

I see your point. However, we must realize that any fulfillment we might find is subjective in nature and thus in the long run meaningless.One person might say, "I find fulfillment in finding a cure for cancer."Another might say, "I find fulfillment in collecting matchboxes."Still another might say, "I find fulfillment in marrying the young woman with the finest legs in my county."Or one might say, "I find fulfillment in being the Prime Minister of Belgium."None of these choices can be said to be superior, in an objective sense, to any other choices.

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"Your friends, if they can, may bury you with some distinction, and set up a monument, to let posterity see that your dust lies under such a stone; and when that is done, all is done. Your place is filled up by another, the world is just in the same state it was, you are blotted out of its sight, and as much forgotten by the world as if you had never belonged to it."--William Law

Very amusing, ifen.Now if you do the Whitman thing, you can become me.

If one assumes that a purported God's mentality is like ours, then his purposes would be subjective as ours are. But one doesn't have to assume that. Maybe God's mentality is always objective; maybe his purposes are objective. If such is the case, and he had a purpose for us, then that purpose would be objective.The existence of God would not automatically guarantee an objective purpose; it just allows for the possibility of one (in my humbly, informally logical view).In the case of no God, however, there can be no such thing as an objective purpose. But one can go a bit further than that. In the case of no God, there is no way to refer to one thing or being or action as any more important than any other thing or being or action. There is no such thing as something being significant in comparison to other things. All things and actions are of equal significance or insignificance. There is no such quality as "significance" (except subjectively).Now to me, what I do today is much more significant that the movement of a grain of sand across the surface of Mars. But objectively speaking, they are equal in significance.

Think in terms of formal purpose, Ramoss. The formal purpose of a hammer is to drive nails. You could use it for some other purpose, which we can label as "subjective" (knocking someone in the head with it, for example)but that would not be its formal purpose.

You have to look at it from the point of view of the hammer. If the hammer were conscious, it would be aware that its purpose in life was to drive nails. This is what it was designed by its Maker to do. So from the point of view of the hammer, the purpose is objective.Humans, assuming no God, have no formal purpose. Edited by robinrohan, : No reason given.Edited by robinrohan, : No reason given.

I THINK that's right.

You have to look at it from the point of view of the house.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ifen, I love your comments. You crack me up. Yes, I think so. Yes, that's the definition of "objective." The law of gravity is something that we did not think up. We discovered it. It's outside our intentions and our minds. It would be true whether we existed or not.

It's an analogy, NWR. House=human beings.