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Yeah I agree with metabeing. Seeing the world as nothing more than a collection of molecules is like thinking of music as nothing more than mathematcially syncipated noise. Sure that's all that music is essentially, but you're still free to attach your own meaning to it. Same with the universe: just because it's all atoms when you get down to it, it still doesn't make it all any less special. You've got to view the bigger picture: all meaning is subjective, life is only meaningless if don't have the creativity to assign meaning to it -- if there's only one thing I learnt from Albert Camus' L'Etranger it was that.
And this is why I don't believe in god. If there is a god then all this becomes meaningless: why didn't he make everything 100 times prettier? Why did he allow evil to flourish? Why did he leave us out here so cold and alone and without any answers? If there is a god, then this is a very disappointing existence.
If, on the other hand, like me you accept the fact that there is no god, then everything opens up. You begin to appreciate nature and your place in the universe, because instead of wondering why god "didn't make it better" you realise that this is all there is and how beautiful existence is considering none of it had to exist at all. You feel privilaged to be alive if you can understand this view clearly enough and be constantly aware of it, because you realise what a privilage existance is in the first place. I mean just think of how tiny the odds of your existence are. Think of all the things that could have gone wrong to have prevented you from ever existing. What if your grandmother had fallen pregnant one month later than she did? What if humans hadn't been forced to evolve because of climactic changes in Africa some 200,000 years ago? What if the Earth had been destroyed in a collision with a massive body about 4.6 billion years ago?
Just remember that you've only got one shot at it. See all this around you? It may not be perfect, but it's all that you've got. Besides, there's always someone worse off than you, keep that in mind too. I forget who said it now, but someone once said:
"It is only once you resign yourself to the notion that heaven doesn't exist, that god doesn't exist and that this existence is the only existence that you shall be ever have the privilage of owning that you can be truly happy."
Or something like that anyway. I know it sounds new-age or whatever, but the very fact that you exist goes against all laws of probability and makes life in itself very special. Just don't take anything for granted, because in 70 years it'll all be gone. I guess that's the best advice I can offer anyone. 
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