Cohle's journey from atheistic nihilism, which was originally brought about by the trauma of his daughter's death and his family's destruction, to his conclusion that there is a life after death where he can be reunited with her is one of the most amazing parts of that show. I always wondered how 90s Cohle would've reacted to his "present" self telling him what he saw during his near death experience.
I think he would've dismissed it out of hand as absurd or a hallucination. Nothing would've convinced him otherwise until he experienced it himself.
After he experienced it he used it as proof that it is not hopeless and he'll one day be reunited with his daughter who he thinks he failed. There is redemption for him and that gives him a reason to stop hating himself and to actually live. After all, he didn't really have one before, other than hunting down criminals. Don't forget that he said the only reason he didn't kill himself was that he didn't have the constitution for suicide.
It's only after his experience that he can finally forgive himself and move on with his life because he now knows separation from her is only temporary. A blip in time, if you will.
I think Cohle's atheism and nihilism was motivated more out of anger at God than anything. Often times people ask "Why did God let this happen?" when something terrible happens to them. Some get angry and deny him. That was Cohle. A broken, wounded man in suffering who was reckless and didn't really want to live, but couldn't commit suicide. That self-destructiveness led him to take all sorts of crazy chances with his life throughout the show and the career beforehand that we hear about but never really see much of.
He also talks about meditating on Christ's crucifixion despite being an atheist. If you're an atheist, what is the point of that? I think even he, deep down, knew that he didn't truly abandon his beliefs. He was just still angry at himself and God for what happened.
Personally, I believe God uses people despite themselves to do good. True Detective is only a fictional show, but if it were real I'd believe that God used Cohle to dispense justice here on Earth, uncover the truth, and punish the wicked.
In the end faith is belief in a higher power or a life after death that cannot be scientifically proven. It can offer hope that one day we could be reunited with loved ones we've lost. There are of course disagreements on how we get there or if it even exists. But I think that faith is important because true happiness cannot be achieved just by satisfying the desires of the flesh.
If all we care about is shelter, food, drink, mating and staving off boredom then we're little better than animals.
When I was an atheist I used to say that religion and faith exist because humans are afraid of death. That's partly true, humans are generally afraid of death. But I missed a big part of it because I thought I had it all figured out.
A fear of nothingness and this life being just a short blip full of material concerns that can never be completely satisfied would more accurately account for the reasons why faith exists, if you're coming at it from an atheistic point of view.
With the benefit of hindsight, I can say that my life during the years I was an atheist was completely miserable. No amount of fucking and satisfying physical needs made me happy. They provided temporary relief from the depression that came with believing life was ultimately a short ride with no real higher meaning or purpose outside selfish concerns, but that's about it.
Nowadays I believe to be a healthy person you must meet your physical, mental and spiritual needs.
I also look forward to the day I'm reunited with loved ones I've lost and can be away from all the evil dirtbags that tried to make life as miserable as possible.
Anyway, hope my long rambling post helped in some way.
I think he would've dismissed it out of hand as absurd or a hallucination. Nothing would've convinced him otherwise until he experienced it himself.
After he experienced it he used it as proof that it is not hopeless and he'll one day be reunited with his daughter who he thinks he failed. There is redemption for him and that gives him a reason to stop hating himself and to actually live. After all, he didn't really have one before, other than hunting down criminals. Don't forget that he said the only reason he didn't kill himself was that he didn't have the constitution for suicide.
It's only after his experience that he can finally forgive himself and move on with his life because he now knows separation from her is only temporary. A blip in time, if you will.
I think Cohle's atheism and nihilism was motivated more out of anger at God than anything. Often times people ask "Why did God let this happen?" when something terrible happens to them. Some get angry and deny him. That was Cohle. A broken, wounded man in suffering who was reckless and didn't really want to live, but couldn't commit suicide. That self-destructiveness led him to take all sorts of crazy chances with his life throughout the show and the career beforehand that we hear about but never really see much of.
He also talks about meditating on Christ's crucifixion despite being an atheist. If you're an atheist, what is the point of that? I think even he, deep down, knew that he didn't truly abandon his beliefs. He was just still angry at himself and God for what happened.
Personally, I believe God uses people despite themselves to do good. True Detective is only a fictional show, but if it were real I'd believe that God used Cohle to dispense justice here on Earth, uncover the truth, and punish the wicked.
In the end faith is belief in a higher power or a life after death that cannot be scientifically proven. It can offer hope that one day we could be reunited with loved ones we've lost. There are of course disagreements on how we get there or if it even exists. But I think that faith is important because true happiness cannot be achieved just by satisfying the desires of the flesh.
If all we care about is shelter, food, drink, mating and staving off boredom then we're little better than animals.
When I was an atheist I used to say that religion and faith exist because humans are afraid of death. That's partly true, humans are generally afraid of death. But I missed a big part of it because I thought I had it all figured out.
A fear of nothingness and this life being just a short blip full of material concerns that can never be completely satisfied would more accurately account for the reasons why faith exists, if you're coming at it from an atheistic point of view.
With the benefit of hindsight, I can say that my life during the years I was an atheist was completely miserable. No amount of fucking and satisfying physical needs made me happy. They provided temporary relief from the depression that came with believing life was ultimately a short ride with no real higher meaning or purpose outside selfish concerns, but that's about it.
Nowadays I believe to be a healthy person you must meet your physical, mental and spiritual needs.
I also look forward to the day I'm reunited with loved ones I've lost and can be away from all the evil dirtbags that tried to make life as miserable as possible.
Anyway, hope my long rambling post helped in some way.
"Men willingly believe what they wish." - Julius Caesar, De Bello Gallico, Book III, Ch. 18