Why should anything matter if we’re just arbitrary self-reinforcing arrangements of chemicals? Why should I avoid death if it’s just the chemicals finding a new arrangement?
Let me propose a new theology. God and souls are real, but God only cares about order, not good; and souls die with the body. Nonetheless, souls are the only thing in the world that can understand good, and is capable of acting in favor of good (or evil). I think that would be truer to the nature of reality than the depressed materialism that you have landed in for now. The fact is, reality is not just atoms, it’s also mysteriously persistent order; consciousness exists, and it is still unknown how it relates to the world of atoms; and, we do have something like a moral sense, even in the absence of a benevolent deity. Philosophy can replace religion, and then all you need is the vital energy to act in the world again.
Let me propose a new theology. God and souls are real, but God only cares about order, not good; and souls die with the body. Nonetheless, souls are the only thing in the world that can understand good, and is capable of acting in favor of good (or evil). I think that would be truer to the nature of reality than the depressed materialism that you have landed in for now. The fact is, reality is not just atoms, it’s also mysteriously persistent order; consciousness exists, and it is still unknown how it relates to the world of atoms; and, we do have something like a moral sense, even in the absence of a benevolent deity. Philosophy can replace religion, and then all you need is the vital energy to act in the world again.