Cynicism kind of contradicts with Romanticism but I can understand where you're coming from. I believe thoroughly in human goodness so I'm pretty far from being a cynic.
QUOTE
"I think that most atheists are existentialist, but not all existentialists are atheist."
I thoroughly agree. However I think that putting so much belief into either life or into death is kind of troubling. The idea that we should live our entire lives for the afterlife is silly. So is the idea that we should abandon the afterlife for our lives.
What I believe is very much like the body mind unity theory often espoused by Walt Whitman. I do indeed believe that enjoyment aught to be one of the principle aims of life but it is enjoyment for oneself and others, not just selfish gratification. The reason I like existenctialism is that it allows us to acknowledge the presence of a God or Goddess but at the same time to keep our minds in the here and now. The idea of final and complete judgement, while attractive, seems odd to me. The simple fact that existence, and thus essence is continuous kind of conflicts with Atheism.
I'm toying with the idea that perhaps existence is continuous between "life" and "afterlife" or, as I'm into reincarnation, "life again"
The theory I'm trying to squiggle with is that perhaps life really isn't all that reliant on whether one behaves or not and it's just a continuous existence towards some goal other than being a good little boy, which I think is an oversimplified reason not to be "evil", though I surely do believe in the possibility of good and evil.