Chapter 6 unpacks a main thesis of the book: believing in God can significantly enhance the meaning of life. There are four ways it can do so: with believing in God there is a larger context for meaning, one can have additional virtues and emotions, the urge to “transcend” oneself can be satisfied better, and existential boredom can be cured. The chapter ends with an “existential move”: those who do not believe in God should be distressed by the claim that their lives could be significantly enhanced if God were to exist and if they were to believe in God.

Chapter 7 continues unpacking the enhancement thesis with a focus on life after death: believing in life beyond death can enhance the meaning of life. It can do so because with life after death there is a larger context, there is an additional virtue, namely, hope, the urge to “transcend” oneself can be satisfied better, and existential boredom can be cured. This chapter, too, ends with an “existential move”: those who do not believe in life beyond death should be distressed by the thought that there is no life after death. The chapter responds to Bernard Williams’s claim that an eternal afterlife would be boring, and it discusses the existential harm of death with extinction.