Think of a time recently that you were caught up in the moment of something that made you forget about everything else--perhaps in the embrace of a lover, engaged in your favorite sport, absorbed in a book. There was no separate, conscious awareness telling you that your experience was meaningful at that moment. To suggest that your experience at that moment lacked meaning because you don’t have a belief system of some kind is to misunderstand the nature of meaning. 

 

Meaning is as much a projection of our own internal desires and experiences as it is something tangible waiting to be discovered. Appreciating the sheer luck with which our conscious selves happen to be alive is alone one of the foundations for meaningful existence. Compassion for others, raising children, loving another human being, doing what one loves to do for a living—any one of these can bring meaning.

 

Arguably, all it would take is a single individual to live a meaningful existence without believing in the supernatural to discredit the notion that faith is somehow required for meaning. Given that that number is in the millions and growing, there is adequate evidence that meaning is available.

 

While not everyone may feel that they live a meaningful life—believers and nonbelievers alike--understanding the potential for meaning is very important, especially in the face of hundreds of years of dogma that says that only by worshiping another being can we find meaning.