Are there any substitutes for having inner peace?

There is no inner peace, just as there is no outer peace.And anyway, what matters is the Truth, not peace.

How on earth can the fact of death strengthen your inner peace?The only way I can see it is if you tell yourself, "Oh, well, at least I know that whatever I do or don't do really doesn't matter one way or another. A few months after my death I will be of no more significance to the world than of some dog that died in a ditch."

Thanks so much, WmScott. At least you give a Goddamn about others, which is more than I can say for some people I know. I think I am rather skeptical in temperament.

Who said anything about god? Not me.What I said was not "subjective." It was quite reasonable. I was summarizing the inevitability of the fate of all individuals.

How many atheists are currently active in the US armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan? You have data on that?

No of course not. What I was asking was how the fact of death can give you inner peace. It doesn't give me inner peace. On the contrary, I don't like it.

Crashfrog as a Jehovah's Witness. Now that's hilarious.

Charles, you're gross. You've always got your head in the gutter.

I think we need to define "peace." Does it mean not worrying? I don't think there are very many people in the world who never worry.I don't think there is any such thing as "inner peace."

I'm so glad I'm not. I find it rather amazing that one should be--unless one is physically abused.Jehovah's Witnesses brainwash people.

No such thing.Inner peace means that you never worry about anything.Have you ever known anyone that never worried about anything?I have not. This is one of the worst topics I've ever had to suffer through. How about some Reason for a change? Obviously that's not possible.Here's how it works. You don't start with a system of beliefs. You start with doubts. The key to the truth is doubt. You doubt everything and then what's left over is your residue of truth, a la Descartes.So Mr. Jehovah Witness, if you want to really know the truth--not the truth that makes you feel good, not the truth that your friends can accept--but the truth--you have to start by doubting.I suggest you trying doubting for a while and see what you come up with. If you are honest, you won't come up with much. I urge you to wonder if perhaps you have been misled.

Sounds like Jesus did not have perfect inner peace. What makes you think he had inner peace?

How could there possibly be real evidence for such a claim? Take a survey?

Could you define "inner peace," please? What are its qualities? How does one feel if one has inner peace?

The truth is everything. It's all that matters. It would not be honorable to believe something because it made you feel better.My own view, based on the available evidence, is that we are accidental creations of mindless nature.When I die that will be the end of me, and in a little while it will not matter whether I had lived or not lived. It also will not matter what I had done or left undone. It all disappears in the swirl of life.In a sense this is liberating, since I know it doesn't really matter what I do or don't do.In another sense, it's rather depressing. But it doesn't matter if it's liberating or depressing; all that matters is the truth.