The Meaning of Life

[xcriteria]

The comments on psychology above are a great discussion to branch off. I'm envisioning a thread called "the meaning of psychology."

But back to the topic at hand:

(06-10-2013 02:45 AM)Twisted Wrote:  "The meaning of life is to give life a meaning."

I read that from somewhere before. Fairly simple, but makes you think.

What do y'all think?

What that means is basically that people need to "find their why" or make sense of what brings color and richness and energy to their lives, beyond the baseline organic state of "being alive" that Potato referenced.

Unlike most animals, humans have the capacity for self-reflection and choice. They can ask "why?" and "who am I?" instead of just taking the world around them at face value. Also, in the modern, hyperconnected world, people have a choice of what path to take in life, and can change paths, compared to many times (and still some places) in history, where family or society dictates one's role in society.

Once you start asking "why?" there are a lot more questions to encounter in making sense of human life in general, and life as a particular human being. But beyond the really Big Questions, each person can basically find their own "why" or meaning. Hence the idea that "the meaning of life is to give life a meaning."

In practice, part of what that means is finding one's passions or things one is inspired by. "The meaning of life" becomes a Driving Question when one feels like the life one's expected to live is "meaningless," or doesn't seem motivated or worth it based on one's existing understanding of life. One term for this is alienation.

Traditionally, people derive meaning from their family, their surrounding cultural beliefs, whatever religious ideas they're given by Powers That Be. But for many, especially in the modern world, those stories don't mean what they used to. They don't have the feeling of significance they once did. And that leads to people wondering about "what's the meaning of life?"

In addition to thinking about that question in terms of one's own personal life, it's possible to think about the universe as a whole, why it's here, why humanity is here, what it's all for. This can lead to contemplation of God, or some kind of creator, or reality outside the known universe.

But that's where the fallback is just figuring out life for yourself, find or create your meaning, sources of passion and significance.

Does that advance the discussion at all?

[optimuswhat]

Life has no meaning...
We're just "there" for no apparent reason...

Other than to kill everything we see.

[Sir Kingston Hermaphrodite]

The purpose of life is to have a purpose in life

[The_One]

I have written theories regarding true spirituality, it covers how the mechanics of creation are flawed, and a possible righteous back-up of all things, I'll post when I gather all my material into one summarized document

[darkmind15]

meaning of life: humanity (we create our own versions of its meaning but to the basic we exist to exist

[brainiac3397]

The meaning of life is a function with a independent variable.

[Stadium]

If there is a true meaning, we'll all be long dead before they manage to figure it out.

[Potato]

"the condition that distinguishes animals and plants from inorganic matter, including the capacity for growth, reproduction, functional activity, and continual change preceding death." IS the meaning of life, this is the only answer that everyone can agree on. all the answers that are actually directions for how people should live their life are subjective nonsense.

[Potato]

when people are born, they contain in their genes an innate evolutionarily determined list of things which produce pleasure (food, water, warmth, etc), (or displeasure) they branch out as people learn to like the things that lead to them to the original things that give them pleasure (money), and they learn to dislike the things that lead to displeasure, this is how people come to have all goals and desires. the closest thing to being the purpose of life is the set of desires and aversions that have been hardwired into us through evolution to help us survive. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reward_system

there can be no truly incorruptible permanent goal or purpose in life, what you think is the most important goal in your life is not guaranteed to remain as such, a few doses of heroin combined with a limited supply of funding will easily change your opinion on what's worth doing in life. what it all comes down to is getting the dopamine released in your mesolimbic pathways.

[Money morkel]

Life is a stage and we are the actors.But we are more than just actors; we are the playwright too, creating new script with our imaginations as we act in the ongoing play.

[no]

All the world's a stage. It'll pass eventually.

[Sharpie]

The meaning of life is to get money, maybe fuck a few bitches, do some drugs, maybe try crack (JUST ONE MORE HIT I PROMISE), and get a qt boyfriend to do gay shit with.

After you've done all that, well, you're pretty much set for the remaining time you have left. If you fail to do even one of those things by the time you're 30, you should honestly just probably kill yourself.

[Dikont5]

Honestly, life has no inherent meaning. YOU yourself have to make that meaning and live upon it. If you can't then you would think that life has no meaning. In short, life is whatever you want it to be (if you work for it, that is).

[brainiac3397]

Life doesnt give a crap about us. Compared to universe, we're nonexistent on a cosmic scale.

[the Analogist]

a temporary existence in a world we aren't from. hard as we try, we'll never get back home until we're dead.

[James Comey]

The meaning of life is pretty pointless to be honest, mostly because no one has discovered it, and no one likely will; those that have are dead.

[the Analogist]

I've heard that Allah was an unknown hidden gem and he wanted to be discovered. this world is that experiment

[James Comey]

Truth be told, I wasn't trying to say that life is nihilistic; rather I meant the vague concept/question. "The meaning of life" is vague, because there are so many beautiful things that surround the planet everywhere, and there are so many things to discover.

[the Analogist]

my rebuttal to this idea:
"eternal paradise would get boring and be pointless"

I see human nature in my children. The desire to explore is so pronounced and self-evident. I pulled out my Seed Savers Exchange catalog showing all the different varieties of vegetable they have available. I mentioned how in one lifetime I couldnt even explore all the possibilities contained within this one catalog. I feel animated like my children to a point of giddiness about growing a garden, but alas, it is a difficult fantasy to realize and it costs a lot of effort to do it well.

A scholar I know said this about paradise in the Islamic tradition: when you see a bird or an animal, before the thought even comes into your heart that you want to eat it, 40,000 angles come bringing 40,000 different ways of preparing that animal.

the purpose of life is to discover Allah. Since Allah created everything He is nearly everywhere to be found, thus the whole of knowledge is fascinating.

the most heinous crime to children is to limit their ability to express their curiosity, but nonetheless the world is full of danger and so the freshly incarnated human needs parents to enforce/show the limits and guide them through this fascinating albeit temporary existence.

[James Comey]

(04-02-2017 07:49 AM)the Analogist Wrote:  it is a difficult fantasy to realize and it costs a lot of effort to do it well.
the most heinous crime to children is to limit their ability to express their curiosity, but nonetheless the world is full of danger and so the freshly incarnated human needs parents to enforce/show the limits and guide them through this fascinating albeit temporary existence.

which is why school is essentially bullshit.

Ugh I feel like I've been robbed of everything from my life and I'm just getting it back. Slowly it's making more sense... life is good.

[the Analogist]

EVERYTHING is from Allah, but the ease and difficulty move around, change, increase and decrease. we pray for what we want and make an effort to attain it. that is due dilligence to prayer.

but yes indeed, robbed is what we are, we victims of schooling. after 30 years of life I still feel robbed of 15 of them. I don't dwell, but for my kids I always remember.

[James Comey]

(04-02-2017 08:14 AM)the Analogist Wrote:  EVERYTHING is from Allah, but the ease and difficulty move around, change, increase and decrease. we pray for what we want and make an effort to attain it. that is due dilligence to prayer.

but yes indeed, robbed is what we are, we victims of schooling. after 30 years of life I still feel robbed of 15 of them. I don't dwell, but for my kids I always remember.

In the end, like in my "high school" thread, the best I, or you, can do is move forward and live in the present moment (learning that was very difficult to do). Our trials and tribulations are usually what set us on the path to our livelihood anyway, so without them, we wouldn't be where we are.

[the Analogist]

intellect is developed by tension between ideas, the election of one choice over another, and most importantly justifying those decisions.

[James Comey]

Which, to hit off on one more important point, is that's the reason why it's so pointless to blame everything around you for everything bad that happens to you.

One makes a decision, and they must live with it. Yes, there are things we can't control that happen for no reason, good and bad, but in the end, we control our destiny. Realizing this is important.

It reminds me of a Jim Rohn talk to John Earl Shoaff, a mentor of him; Jim's mentor tells him, "list all the things that are making your life miserable". Jim lists these things, but misses one important thing: he didn't include himself.

[SoulRiser]

Quote:when you see a bird or an animal, before the thought even comes into your heart that you want to eat it, 40,000 angles come bringing 40,000 different ways of preparing that animal.

Eat it?

I don't think I've ever seen an animal and thought about eating it. More like talking to it, playing with it, hugging it, stuff like that. Eating is something I do to things I buy in a shop, some of which were made from animals, yes, but there's no mental association between that and the actual animal.

Hell, I'd feel bad cutting up a plant to eat it.

Quote:"eternal paradise would get boring and be pointless"

I agree with this though. I see life as of one of those role playing games where you make a character and story as you go along. I think learning is a big part of the meaning of life. I was just thinking the other day, that if I suddenly knew everything about everything there is to know, I'd be bored out of my mind. What else is there to do once you know everything? There is literally no point in doing anything if you know what the outcome will be.... is there?

[the Analogist]

unless an endless supply of experiences is at your disposal. admitedly its tricky to conceptualize.

seriously though, check out Seed Savers Exchange. their catalog is amazing. soooo many tomatoooooes

[James Comey]

To be clear there is no part of life where you reach "abundance and perfection". Only in death is this really reached. In reality, when you do one thing, there will always be something else. There's always something that you have to face whether you like it or not. That's what makes life worth living.