life: no one gets out alive

there are a vast number of truths in life. some horribly simple, but most are too obscure and irrelevant to be considered on a daily basis. the most simple truth to follow and accept is the someday, our life will cease. our brain will run out of oxygen and everything that makes us who we are, memories, emotions, dreams, all of those things that are us becomes one with the nothingness of non-existence.

perhaps that is the reason that people have to believe in god(s). that fictional solution to wipe away all our misdeeds and joys of living life as we want and not as we should. the easiest thing to forget is that we, as human beings, though being at the top of the food chain for quite a while now, are animals. we are beasts. beasts with conscience and cognition, and yet still beasts all the same.

some choose to argue this point by saying that we can be verbal and know the difference between right and wrong. however, what is right and wrong? what determines these words that govern our lives? it has been claimed that there are universally accepted naturally self-evident facts about what is right and what is wrong. where do these facts come from? who has established these guidelines to live our lives by?

ive heard it said that morals are what you have when everyone is watching and ethics are what you have when you are alone. guilt is what drives both of these things. in fact, i have a suspicion that guilt is what motivates the majority of our actions. so i guess in that respect, we atheists and christians share a common motivation. that motivation is also called, humanity.