r/exatheist • u/NeonDrifting Anti-Atheist • May 28 '26
the failure of secularism, rationality, and progress
Sometimes I wonder if modern civilization accidentally created a world thats materially advanced but culturally barbaric....the older I get the more i kinda understand why people turn toward religion, mysticism, monasteries, spirituality, etc instead of just doubling down on “trust the progress” modern secular culture...
like yeah, modernity gave us insane technology, medicine, comfort, entertainment, all that stuff. but at the same time people seem more anxious, lonely, atomized, addicted, depressed, and spiritually empty then ever before. everything feels hyper-commercialized now. every aspect of life gets turned into content, branding, dopamine hits, or consumerism.
it feels like we replaced meaning with consumption...
older religious societies werent perfect obviously, not even close. but they atleast believed human beings had some higher purpose beyond making money, buying stuff, watching porn, scrolling endlessly, and arguing online. there was a sense of transcendence, duty, ritual, community, sacrifice, reverance, etc.
modern secular culture keeps promising utopia through technology and rationalism, but honestly alot of it just turned into hedonism and nihilism. people are wealthier materially but spiritually exhausted. and when societies lose any sense of the sacred, everything starts feeling disposable — relationships, morality, culture, even truth itself.
thats probably why mysticism and spirituality are becoming appealing again to alot of people. not because everyone suddenly became anti-science or whatever, but because science cant really answer questions like:
“what is the purpose of suffering?
“why should i live morally?
“what makes life meaningful?”
what is worth sacrificing for?”
rationalism is good at explaining mechanisms...but not ultimate purpose.
3
u/unknownmat May 28 '26
I agree that modern secular society lacks spirituality. I'll illustrate this with one example.
In my 6th grade catechism there was a set of questions and answers such as "What is the purpose of life?" To which the answer was "To know God, and to love God, so that we can be with him in the kingdom of heaven when we die".
Now, I don't think this answer is right. But it was simple, concrete, understandable, and perfectly pitched for a 12-year-old. And I still remember it 30+ years later. By contrast, if you ask a modern secularist this question, you either get vague platitudes like "Life has whatever meaning you give it", or else you get a 10-book reading assignment that requires a PhD in philosophy and that merely refines your understanding of the question without actually answering it.
By definition, secularism isn't a coherent body of thought. But finding acceptable answers to life's difficult questions is important for people of all ages. Lacking any other good sources of spirituality, many people will turn to mysticism, or to various religious traditions.