You know what else is a philosophy?
My parents are basically Christian but they've never taken me to church and rarely express it. I had effectively a kids Bible type deal when younger, which I read because I read everything, from a collection of like Robin Hood and other stuff type books. So I've never had an r/athiest stage, most of my friends have though. I've always been fascinated by the internet arguments (and real life too I suppose) how much fervor is put into disproving "factual" claims. It seems like an odd endeavor. More than once I've tried to contend that the Bible is essentially a series of allegories to impart a moral philosophy which can be separated from the details and that most people agree on six of the ten commandments. This usually angers both the moral majority and r/atheists arguing because they want to debate whether Goliath turned water into wine while hiding planes in the tundra.
What drew me to philosophies again was that, as an atheist, you live a life without a guide. I have enough self confidence and self assurance to know what is right and wrong, for the most part, without religion or philosophy. But being atheist or non-religious still doesn't fix the human problem: the knowledge we are all going to die, the pain and suffering that is life, and how to truly leave a good mark on this world when we do perish.
Not to make this seem like I'm singling you out Himu, you just brought it up. This kind of negative view is one of the few issues I tend to have with the religious. Too often in the context of "without an outside moral code, you'll just end up killing people!" And I think it's mainly projection. (None of this is to say there is no role for philosophy, just that I find it natural instead of essential.)
There doesn't need to be a reason beyond life existing. Focusing on the pain and suffering of life is to compare it to an utopian ideal when failure is the essential of life. Worrying about death, about a meaning in life, about making sure you have a legacy, etc. seems self-centered to me, it's a cry of "I mattered!" To bring this around to the GAF thread, there's a similar notion to Presidencies. Presidents effectively "die" when they leave office, and nobody gives a shit about their life beforehand, so their entire "legacy" is confined to those four or eight years. It drives a need for marked accomplishments, for claim and blame of good and bad, for monuments. There's a decided bias in historiography against Presidents who "accomplish" something that changes the world. World War III would change the world. A President who started it would be forever praised by the high priests of history, assuming he won it later, because he was consequential.
Life is the same way, but it need not be. You are one of seven billion but you are always having your own impact in your own way, even if you can't see it. Maybe you think your grand glory is breaking Sony insider information, but you never see the Off-Topic post you make on some random topic that causes someone to rethink things, switch their majors and eventually cure some disease. But that's not a stone monument which will last eons after your gone reminding others that you once existed.
As they say, graves are full of indispensable men.
