Morality

I recently had a conversation where I was asked about my religion - which I don't have - then invited to justify my atheism. That is not the purpose of this post, but I did want to set down what principles I do try to live by, so I can refer people to this post later.

Morals

So, in any moral system, the first thing that you have to decide is: "What is sin?" What is the common factor among the things you should forbid yourself?

The second thing to decide is: "What is the purpose of life?" Why are we here and what should we do in the time we have?

Sin

My personal definition of sin is hurting another person unnecessarily. That includes emotionally or physically. Sometimes it's necessary to hurt someone, to prevent a greater hurt to them or to an innocent party. You can build quite a large moral system from this beginning - as long as you can decide which harms are necessary and which aren't. That's an exercise for another day.

Of course, I'm no saint - I've hurt people's feelings out of selfishness, or pride. But this axiom guides my decisions.

Life

I believe humanity is unique in the Universe. For all we know right now we, and we alone, are able to see and understand the working of the Universe more than any other being. We perceive beauty, and we can theorize and calculate the physical mechanics of the cosmos. This makes us unique. Even if the Universe is accidental, as I believe it is, our uniqueness burdens us with the responsibility not just to survive but to better ourselves so that we may better understand the place in which we find ourselves.

As a consequence, I believe the greater purpose of life is not just to survive, not just to procreate, but to put humanity as a whole in a better position to survive as a group, and to understand the Universe. Not everyone may choose that path (we can't all be scientists) but we can all promote education, sensible living, and make sure we're persuing science adequately.