Meaning of life.. (depressing topic, beware!)

[Iarwain ben-adar]

Hi guys,

I hope the honorable community of Ubuntu knows something to ease this torture.

Today i woke up with a question in my head..


"Why are we alive / on this world?"


I thought about it, and how i may turn it, it makes no sense to me.
What does 1 human in this world mean? Should "it" (he/she) would not be there, would it matter?
Would there be a difference?

Are we here to work hard, to give someone a chance to do something we were not able to?
Are we here to try and save the world?
Are we here to make the best of our short-lasting life?
Are we here to .. ?

The problem is; today it was a kinda special day and my girlfriend was with me. I'm sorry, but i behaved quite annoying today to her, acting as if nothing could make a difference.. As if, whatever you would do, it would still be the same old song and dance.. (yeah, i like Aerosmith :D )

I thought about it, and we only have 1 certainity (something certain) in this world: We die.
No more, no less.
It makes me wonder: even if i study hard, and make my parents proud, i die. If i don't, i die. They die. Everyone dies.

Why are we trying to hard to be unique? We all wake up in the morning, and we all go sleep at night. We all die..
It's not like we make a difference to this world.

Sorry to be so depressed, but i have this question for quite some time, but just recently it started to get to me.

Why do you guys live?


Iarwain

[Tomosaur]

There is no purpose. You have no reliable way of knowing whether you, or this world, exist at all. Your 'purpose' then, is whatever you make of it. If you want to change the world, go for it. If you want to 'save' the world, go for it. However, it could be worth noting that the world wouldn't need saving if humans didn't exist.

To be blunt - few people would notice whether you existed or not, aside from your family and those close to you.

I have things I want to do in my life - and once I've done those, there will probably be more that I want to do. My 'purpose' then, is to basically do whatever I want to do at that point in time.

[Iarwain ben-adar]

Hmm,

and what would you do if all that you wanted to achieve, has been achieved?

That every day from now on is a "gift" (i'm not a religious person, do note), and that you _may_ recieve it, but it also may be that you can forget about it..


Iarwain

[daynah]

I used to get real depressed thinking about this topic. But you're sitting behind a computer, probably indoors, probably away from the sun and nature, contemplating the existance of life.

If we have an existance, it can't be with your computer, because as humans would have to have had this existance for all of humanity's existance. So go away from your computer. It actually can't be found indoors. We used to have no homes.

So... what did we as humans always have? We always had each other (or we wouldn't have we, and I think that's a bigger riddle, kinda like chicken and the egg, but I'm getting off topic). I'm not talking love, love is too much, love is clinging to a lollipop that you're going to drop in the mud and cry about some day. We always had to help people find berries, and we always had to help "zerg rush" animals off of cliffs. We had to help each other. We had to care about each other and each other's survival.

Some other species are monogomous (to the same degree we are ha). Some other species help each other survive. Elephants mourn over bones of other dead elephants.

But we work harder for ourselves and others. We go above and beyond. As an entire species, we were never content to live in the fields, we had to travel further. We had to mimic every other animal to see what it feels like. And as a side effect, sometimes we sit, alone, behind our technology and singly don't help each other. But the other people in our community need to remind each other where we come from, a species of... helping each other.

Otherwise we never would have survived long enough to decide whether we should kill people in Iraq or not.

P.S. On a very serious note, sunlight is proven to help your mood. Go outside to eat your lunch, or with your laptop, or be brave and take your dog to the park. At least open a window. I also suggest you look up Seasonal Affectiveness Disorder, just so you can be aware and educated, kay? :)

[karellen]

life has no "meaning". but we all give it some ;)

[mostwanted]

Maybe this is more appropriate in the Backyard?

...

Anyway, my reasons for living are basic (this will undoubtedly sound somewhat like Mr. Data from Star Trek):

I recognise that I'm an animal and that my primary instinct is survival. We eat because I need to stay alive, we procreate because we need to stay alive and we constantly improve our quality of life so we can stay alive. I don't feel as if I have a choice. My instincts tell me what to do and they're telling me to stay alive so that's what I do. I don't believe in souls or some metaphysical concept of free will or personal enlightenment, it's all caused by particle movement on the sub-atomic level.

I don't have any issues concerning the meaning of life because I believe there is none. I do sometimes question what I should be doing with my time on earth though as I want the optimal sensory experience. When I die I won't have any chance to do that since I don't believe in any sort of afterlife.

[koenn]

Why do you guys live?
No reason - it just happens. Kinda coincidence.


What does 1 human in this world mean? Should "it" (he/she) would not be there, would it matter?
Would there be a difference?
Think of 1 human as a drop of water. Think of lots of humans as a river.
Each drop has only little significance, but it does influence the other drops it touches, so that they move differently in that river than what they would have done otherwise. And they in turn touch other drops. And so on.

At least, that's my take on it .

[Ocxic]

the meaning of life is death, very simplewithout one you cannot have another.

the question is what is our purpose??

[ComplexNumber]

the meaning of life is simply to further ourselves. this helps to further our species. i suppose that when a human pushes him/herself, the extra knowledge or abilities obtained are somehow fed back into our DNA and passed onto our offspring. or maybe when we die, our memories, experiences, and abilities learnt are passed onto some collective mind(some people call this racial memory) floating about somewhere in space....maybe.

[Tomosaur]

Hmm,

and what would you do if all that you wanted to achieve, has been achieved?

That every day from now on is a "gift" (i'm not a religious person, do note), and that you _may_ recieve it, but it also may be that you can forget about it..


Iarwain

I think it's fairly safe to say that the things I want to achieve, I haven't already achieve, right?

There may come a time when I have achieved everything I want to achieve - but until I reach that point, I can't say. It is likely, or at least I hope it will happen, that by the time I have achieved all of my goals, I will have raised a family, and I will be able to take part in the goals and dreams of my offspring, regardless of whether or not I have already done whatever it is that they want to do. I don't concern myself with thinking about it too much - I have things I want to do, I have problems that I need to take care of, and I have things which NEED to be done regardless of whether or not I want to do them. As long as I'm busy, I have no reason to speculate about it. That's not to say I DON'T think about things like this, of course I do. I like thinking, and employing my imagination / creativity / whatever. I'm not going to let it consume me though. I like to discuss my ideas with friends and pretty much anybody else, and I like to do things. I would hope that I'll be able to do this for the rest of my life. I have big dreams, and goals, and I hope that I achieve them, otherwise they would not be goals, would they? As long as I have something to aim for, I don't need to concern myself with a higher goal or a destiny. All I need to concern myself with is to do the things I personally want to do.

[macrohard]

The meaning of life.....

Wasnt that the number 42?:lolflag:

Sorry...

Too many Douglas Adams books......

[karellen]

because I believe there's a Sisyphus in everyone of us I cite here the last paragraphs of "The Myth of Sisyphus" by A. Camus. It's very....instructive and tonic, or at least so I find it:

" Happiness and the absurd are two sons of the same earth. They are inseparable. It would be a mistake to say that happiness necessarily springs from the absurd discovery. It happens as well that the feeling of the absurd springs from happiness. "I conclude that all is well," says Oedipus, and that remark is sacred. It echoes in the wild and limited universe of man. It teaches that all is not, has not been, exhausted. It drives out of this world a god who had come into it with dissatisfaction and a preference for futile sufferings. It makes of fate a human matter, which must be settled among men.

All Sisyphus' silent joy is contained therein. His fate belongs to him. His rock is his thing. Likewise, the absurd man, when he contemplates his torment, silences all the idols. In the universe suddenly restored to silence, the myriad wondering little voices of the earth rise up. Unconscious, secret calls, invitations from all the faces, they are the necessary reverse and price of victory. there is no sun without shadow, and it is essential to know the night. The absurd man says yes and his effort will henceforth be unceasing. If there is a personal fate, there is no higher destiny, or at least there is but one which he concludes is inevitable and despicable. For the rest, he knows himself to be the master of his days. At that subtle moment when man glances backward over his life, Sisyphus returning toward his rock, in that silent pivoting he contemplates that series of unrelated actions which becomes his fate, created by him, combined under his memory's eye and soon sealed by his death. Thus, convinced of the wholly human origin of all that is human, a blind man eager to see who knows that the night has no end, he is still on the go. The rock is still rolling.

I leave Sisyphus at the foot of the mountain! One always finds one's burden again. But Sisyphus teaches the higher fidelity that negates the gods and raises rocks. He too concludes that all is well. This universe henceforth without a master seems to him neither sterile nor futile. Each atom of that stone, each mineral flake of that night-filled mountain, in itself forms a world. The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy."

hope and fight :)

[r4ik]

Life is a gift do whatever you want with it.
The best will do..

[maniacmusician]

As others have said (thinking of ComplexNumber though as I read his last), we live to further ourselves in my opinion.

I would take it a bit further and say that we live to be selfish and achieve our own ends. Essentially, all of our actions boil down to the fact that we live to please ourselves. This means different things to different people so it's really hard to set a strict definition for it.

I live to get the greatest amount of pleasure out of everything that I do, until I die. I kind of like it; I don't have the same burdens that many other people do. Things like a heavy conscience, taking people around me into consideration, wondering what will come of my actions after I die.

Thinking about this question is something I've done so many times already, and what I've said is what it comes down to for me. Some people would call it a copout, or "the easy way out," but so be it. I'm fine living this way :)

[koshatnik]

Hi guys,

I hope the honorable community of Ubuntu knows something to ease this torture.

Today i woke up with a question in my head..


"Why are we alive / on this world?"


I thought about it, and how i may turn it, it makes no sense to me.
What does 1 human in this world mean? Should "it" (he/she) would not be there, would it matter?
Would there be a difference?

Are we here to work hard, to give someone a chance to do something we were not able to?
Are we here to try and save the world?
Are we here to make the best of our short-lasting life?
Are we here to .. ?

The problem is; today it was a kinda special day and my girlfriend was with me. I'm sorry, but i behaved quite annoying today to her, acting as if nothing could make a difference.. As if, whatever you would do, it would still be the same old song and dance.. (yeah, i like Aerosmith :D )

I thought about it, and we only have 1 certainity (something certain) in this world: We die.
No more, no less.
It makes me wonder: even if i study hard, and make my parents proud, i die. If i don't, i die. They die. Everyone dies.

Why are we trying to hard to be unique? We all wake up in the morning, and we all go sleep at night. We all die..
It's not like we make a difference to this world.

Sorry to be so depressed, but i have this question for quite some time, but just recently it started to get to me.

Why do you guys live?


Iarwain

Meaning of life is this: to pass on your genetic material to the next generation, then occupy yourself until you die. How you do that is personal choice. Enjoy. :)

[mips]

It's a journey, enjoy the ride! Alternatively buy a Nissan :)

[PartisanEntity]

I'm a religious person and so my view is based from this starting point.

Life is a test, nothing more. A human being lives for a very short period of time in comparison to the age of the universe. Our life on earth is comparable to certain kinds of flies that are born, live, reproduce and then die in about 3 days. For such flies 3 days might seem like a lifetime, for other creatures, or compared to the age of the universe it is a period of time easily forgotten.

So, for me, we are all being given an extremely short test. Will we live our lives according to the laws of the Creator? Or will we allow the simple and materialistic preoccupations to cause us to worship only money, fame, material success and property?

On the day of judgement, God will ask every single human being, his creation, how they lived their life and why it deviated from His teachings if it did so. Money, property, fame, riches and power will be of no use at all then.

Regards :)

[Genecks]

The meaning of life is to violate Occam's razor.

Well, there is no meaning to life. Life doesn't really exist per se. The meaning of creation is a whole different story. The meaning of creation is independence and to be self-sustaining. That's all there is to it. It's why the universe was partitioned.

[MedivhX]

Ughhhh... It's stupid to think abouut "the meaning of life" because it is pointless and you'll never find an answer... We just live our lives, we do what we want, and there is no such thing as a "wasted life"...

[dbbolton]

gott ist tot

[Monk-e]

Uhh... I live because I don't see the point in dying..?

"Whats the point in living then?"

Dunno

"So why don't you die?"

Because dying is just as useless as living?

[Ireclan]

Meaning of life is this: to pass on your genetic material to the next generation, then occupy yourself until you die. How you do that is personal choice. Enjoy. :)


No, the first imperative of all life is to first SURVIVE, then reproduce.

I hate to break it to the original poster, but the person I quoted almost hit the nail on the head (at least, I believe he/she did. Did someone else make that point before him/her?): the purpose of life is

1. Survive.

2. Mate.

That's ALL life does. The rest is just baggage added on in an attempt to reach that goal. Of course, that's only the BIOLOGICAL standpoint. The great thing about sentience is that we can "turn the tables" on biology, so to speak. We can be MORE. We can use our intelligence for more than it was first intended to be used for. So their IS hope. As for your observation that we all die: of course. Of course we all die. Death is a great constant, albeit not the ONLY one.

We don't "try" to be unique; we simply ARE. Genetics and the great spark (or "soul" if you believe in such a thing...I do) assure that. And why do we keep trying? Well, that's a matter of personal choice. You see, the way I view it, you are for two higher forces in this world: the random or the purpose. Neither is evil unless you're an agent of either in excess. Too much of the random means nothing lasts, too much of the purpose and nothing changes. You "try" in this world based upon what you're an agent of. If you're an agent of the random, you try to shake things up, change what may be out-dated and possibly harmful dependencies. If you're an agent of the purpose, you try to construct, define, and form. You should never be a total agent of either; that is what many of the world's thinkers/belief systems/etc. call evil.

So, to summarize, you HAVE to try. Whether you want to or not, you will always be a mix of the two, random and purpose, even if only in a very weak form. But it's no crime if you're NOT the stronger form of either: sometimes a weaker form is the only form that will work.

[MedivhX]

gott ist tot

"God is dead" (German: "Gott ist tot") is a widely-quoted and misunderstood statement by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. It first appears in The Gay Science, section 108 (New Struggles), in section 125 (The Madman), and for a third time in section 343 (The Meaning of our Cheerfulness). It is also found in Nietzsche's classic work Also sprach Zarathustra, which is most responsible for popularizing the phrase. The idea is stated by "The Madman" as follows:

God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?

MORE (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_is_dead)

[Iarwain ben-adar]

Daynah;
thanks for this answer..

It could help me find 'my' meaning :)

I can agree with all what you said, and i will try to take that into account tommorrow (now it's half past 9 in the evening here, going to bed soon)..

The problem is also, i do not want to harm my girlfriend. She is waay to kind for me. :oops:
But everytime i'm with her, i get annoyed etc. I don't think about the love she gives me anymore then.

But i _REALLY_ want to make her happy.. (getting way offtopic here)

But thanks, thanks for the repy :)


Think of 1 human as a drop of water. Think of lots of humans as a river.
Each drop has only little significance, but it does influence the other drops it touches, so that they move differently in that river than what they would have done otherwise. And they in turn touch other drops. And so on.

Thanks for those words,
never thought that words could be so nice ..


Iarwain

[floke]

There is absolutely no meaning at all; of this I am certain more than I am certain about anything else. The universe is a pointless, purposeless, meaningless place. Any 'meaning' we give our lives is merely a fantasy, a complete nonsense, a series of conceptual abstractions about reality (or what we take to be reality) and our place in it, which is not to be mistaken for reality itself. In a hundred years time we, and everyone we care about, will all be dead and probably forgotten. If you want to feel depressed about it then that's fine. It won't change anything. For me, it's a very liberating way of life. Whenever I'm down, or am feeling guilty, angry, or bad about something, the recognition that my feelings are the direct result of my temporary perception of the situation, and that it really doesn't matter anyway, helps to bring me back to a better mood. Notions of God and the like are the bizarrest form of nonsense ever concocted (IMO). There is no cosmic bean count. One of the best quotes I ever heard, from an unknown Zen master, is this:

"For those who are enlightened, things are exactly the way they are.
For those who are not enlightened, things are exactly the way they are".

Enjoy life while you can :)

[Iarwain ben-adar]

I just would like to say (or type :D ):

Thanks for all people who have taken the time to post here..

Thanks for letting me know what you think..

Thanks for the humor (Humor does not help solve problems, it does help around it; my not so good translations of a saying)

Not to say i have 'found' my meaning, but now i think i may say i have a somewhat better view on what to expect (and to give) of life.

Last but not least:
i'm happy to have found this community.. Never thought i would ask this stuff to anyone for that matter.


I'm goint to bed,

Good night everyone


Iarwain

[Zuuswa]

It seems that many of the posters here tend to follow a zen buddhism view . . .

as in, the meaning to life is empty.

We are empty, everything is empty. Do the mountains ponder these trivial ideas? No, they simply endure, throughout time. We are but a breath of air, in the cosmic world. Ultimately without form or purpouse. Any and all of our accomplishments in our lifetimes will be for naught. In the end, we all end up food for the worms, and so will everything else.

[dbbolton]

"God is dead" (German: "Gott ist tot") is a widely-quoted and misunderstood statement by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. It first appears in The Gay Science, section 108 (New Struggles), in section 125 (The Madman), and for a third time in section 343 (The Meaning of our Cheerfulness). It is also found in Nietzsche's classic work Also sprach Zarathustra, which is most responsible for popularizing the phrase. The idea is stated by "The Madman" as follows:

God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?

MORE (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_is_dead)
gee, what is this "wikipedia" you speak of ? i certainly have neither been there NOR read that exact article.

you might find this link helpful:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/joke

[daynah]

Jeeze, this is a depressing lot.

This is more appropriate for the backyard.

Medivh, what about the people who HAVE found a meaning to life? Like... me? ;)

[ncappel1]

I can't really offer you anything helpful if you're having an existentialist crisis, but I suggest you read some literature, namely Milan Kundera's unbelievable lightness of being, and Albert Camus's The stranger (l'etranger).

My personal opinion is that yes, in the long run (it may be that) nothing really matters, and Camus and Kundera (among others) are right. But where they are wrong is that they forget that we don't live in the long run. our actions and lives matter in the short run, and they can impact each other in meaningful ways. People sense this naturally, I think. that's why the public isn't commiting mass sucide in the name of pessimism. It wouldn't matter anyway, would it? I think it would.

I also suggest the following musical regimen:
1. some solo piano pieces by Milton Babbit and Pierre Boulez (the piano "structures"), representing the meaninglessness of notes (in relation to each other).

2. Dimitri Shostakovich's string quartets, (#8 especially, his "suicide note") for hopelessness and fear, frustration, and depression,

and 3. end with any of the Conterti grossi by Handle, any Beethoven symphony (especially #3, erocia, and #9, for the power of the human spirit and the ideas behind Ubuntu). Any of the chopin mazurkas (these are short "meaningless" pieces that are so good, they will make you smile, and make your day better!) and The planets suite, by Gustav Holst, (especially, Mercury, the winged messenger" and Jupiter, bringer of Jollity.)

If you really listen to one item from each list, and I mean really listen (may take having to listen multiple times) you'll see that life truely is worth living. I suggest listening to one or two pieces a day, starting on day one with one from each list, then the next day listening to pieces exclusively from #1, the next #2, the next #3. then take a break. don't listen for a week, and then listen to the same pieces you heard earlier in the order of the lists. If you don't have an emotional break through, repeat as many times as necessary

CAUTION: Use of this method of medication has been known to cause extreme reactions in large numbers of test subjects. In certain subjects, emotional ups may even infect others around you.

[OffHand]

In my opinion live is absolutely meaningless. There is no purpose at all.

[RAV TUX]

Hi guys,

I hope the honorable community of Ubuntu knows something to ease this torture.

Today i woke up with a question in my head..


"Why are we alive / on this world?"


I thought about it, and how i may turn it, it makes no sense to me.
What does 1 human in this world mean? Should "it" (he/she) would not be there, would it matter?
Would there be a difference?

Are we here to work hard, to give someone a chance to do something we were not able to?
Are we here to try and save the world?
Are we here to make the best of our short-lasting life?
Are we here to .. ?

The problem is; today it was a kinda special day and my girlfriend was with me. I'm sorry, but i behaved quite annoying today to her, acting as if nothing could make a difference.. As if, whatever you would do, it would still be the same old song and dance.. (yeah, i like Aerosmith :D )

I thought about it, and we only have 1 certainity (something certain) in this world: We die.
No more, no less.
It makes me wonder: even if i study hard, and make my parents proud, i die. If i don't, i die. They die. Everyone dies.

Why are we trying to hard to be unique? We all wake up in the morning, and we all go sleep at night. We all die..
It's not like we make a difference to this world.

Sorry to be so depressed, but i have this question for quite some time, but just recently it started to get to me.

Why do you guys live?


Iarwain

Beyond the meaning of life, you would first have to figure out if you even exist.

If you do some how find a way to empirically validate that you do indeed exist then you can begin to discover the meaning of life within your existential realization and self personification.

I have found the meaning of life is:

The expansion of Happiness.

(This expansion of Happiness is most importantly fulfilled through: תיקון עולם (http://www.newkabbalah.com/tikkun.html) [Tikkun ha-Olam]) (http://www.newkabbalah.com/tikkun.html)

[jcconnor]

Sorry to be so depressed, but i have this question for quite some time, but just recently it started to get to me.

Why do you guys live?


Iarwain

Mostly to mock folks like you!

John

[ComplexNumber]

Mostly to mock folks like you!

John
why do you say that?

[Iarwain ben-adar]

Mostly to mock folks like you!

John

Well,
sorry to hear..


Anyways,
in the spirit that i learned here: i hope you will fare better :D


Iarwain

[migla]

We were put on this earth to fart around.

--Kurt Vonnegut

[fuscia]

drinking beer and eating good food is fun whether it makes sense, or not. in my view, most people who worry about the meaning of life either aren't getting enough attention or don't have enough fun. getting enough of both, i couldn't care any less about meaning.

[RAV TUX]

I have found the meaning of life is:

The expansion of Happiness.




drinking beer and eating good food is fun whether it makes sense, or not. in my view, most people who worry about the meaning of life either aren't getting enough attention or don't have enough fun. getting enough of both, i couldn't care any less about meaning.

That goes right along with my philosophy of:

the meaning of life is:

The expansion of Happiness.

good food, good drink and good friends go right along with that.:)

[DoctorMO]

We were put on this earth to fart around.

That is pretty much exactly it, we're here to convert massive amounts of energy into complex self driven information patterns. either biologically, socially or physically. we waste so much time and energy fighting and destroying complex patterns too; it's all very interesting since we can't even be sure what our existence really means.

But that's the problem, does a fractal understand what it's products are?

[floke]

That is pretty much exactly it, we're here to convert massive amounts of energy into complex self driven information patterns. either biologically, socially or physically. we waste so much time and energy fighting and destroying complex patterns too; it's all very interesting since we can't even be sure what our existence really means.

But that's the problem, does a fractal understand what it's products are?

Hmmmmm. Foooood.
Hmmmmm. Beeeeer.

[DoctorMO]

Hmmmmm. Beeeeer.

Unless you write down your drunken state then it's a bit reductionist don't you think? although saying that I'm not in a position to calculate it.

[Iarwain ben-adar]

drinking beer and eating good food is fun whether it makes sense, or not. in my view, most people who worry about the meaning of life either aren't getting enough attention or don't have enough fun. getting enough of both, i couldn't care any less about meaning.

The fun is on a quite low level for some time, yeah..

Trying to change that :D


Iarwain

[r4ik]

gott ist tot

Ich wusste nichts von deine ufern !

[PatrickMay16]

Whoooouguhgghhgh!!! Heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh.

To me, the idea that life came about by complete random chance seems ridiculous. So, just saying. I disagree with people who say that there is no meaning.

[floke]

Well the idea that people are going to fork out £/$100s for a Vista POS when they can have this for free is ridiculous, but they will. Just because something seems ridiculous does not mean its wrong (Dawkins' Argument of Personal Incredulity) :)

[OffHand]

So, just saying. I disagree with people who say that there is no meaning.

So what is the meaning of life?

[dbbolton]

Ich wusste nichts von deine ufern !
hast du etwas zeit fuer mich ? singe ich ein lied fuer dich ...

[Toontwnca]

I live to eat. That's it. Nothing else.

[C-A]

Life can be depressing and just when you think you have the life thing figured out then...you have death so you are back to square one. Its funny how we all face the same fate but most people don't seem to acknowledge it. People will devote their entire lives to their "careers" and retirement as if either are going to be there in 50 years or so. My hope/satisfaction does not come from any meaning because its not there, just a connection with God and family/friends.

[C-A]

The meaning of life.....

Wasnt that the number 42?:lolflag:

Sorry...

Too many Douglas Adams books......

Love the humor! 42 was the first thing that popped into my head when I saw the post.

[Redlance]

The meaning of life is simple. The earth couldn't make plastic so it made lifeforms to make plastics that would never decay.

and it was evident in 42
but the question for the answer. now that is a question.

[reyfer]

Why do you guys live?


Iarwain

I live to enjoy things like this http://www.veoh.com/videos/e178382MZRsTETs
Morning Musume....\\:D/

[Toadmund]

OK, I'm really over indulged with beer and smoke.
This thread is about the meaning of life, as far as I've known,
I forget, The hereafter?
Uhhhh, whatever.

Wow, comprehension, is half the battle.

Post...

To clarify, who knows, perhaps it is our molecules/atoms that live on.

What part does matter play in this?

Our souls. do we have souls?

What relation do we and matter have?

Had a leak, feel good about stuff.

PS, my previous post, I can't find?
(going to light a cigar, after a pee)
Smoking cigar....END.

[matthekc]

I see you have assumed you will die... how old are you if you are over 40 yeah science may not save you in time. I'm 23 if I think of my grandfathers world at 23 the 1940's no transistor computers, no jet engines, no rockets, poor medical science, ect. I come to a realization of how much the world changed in 60 years. I can honestly say medicine will probably push me past grandpa in years. I believe by the time I'm his age we might have off world colonies and the medicine to make me live a very long time.

If not life is interesting but short.

[timpino]

I pretty much think of humanity the way that agent smith put it in the matrix.

Humanity is a virus, we live to multiply ourselves and when the planets natural resources comes to an end, we who have not moved elsewhere die with it. Seeing as we have about 4 billion years to complete this task, I'm fairly confident we'll succede :)

[proalan]

This sounds corny but no one has the answer to this question, religion will tell you otherwise, science will have you asking more questions than answering them. Perhaps the meaning of life is to find what the meaning of life is.

I was myself suffering from depression after finishing my university degree, doctors had me drugged up on anti-depressants which made me feel worse. I guess the way I manage to keep depression in check was doing a mix of other activities like mountain bikes, cooking, traveling and painting. For me the meaning of life can't be answered directly as any direct answer becomes another meaningless statement e.g. "the meaning of life is for it to end" whilst might be true it neglects all the subjective experiences of life.

Most people would approach the meaning of life philosophically, and i think the film 'the matrix' meant more to me metaphorically about the meaning of life rather than being another action film. Worth the watch if you've not already seen it. There are many references to philosophical issues.

Fight club was another film which encourages thinking out of the box, it challenges the rigid institutionalized thinking that society imposes on us. Again the trashing of franchise coffee shops, destruction of corporate art are intended as metaphors of destroying the way society has us thinking, as microsoft has us thinking that computers only run their products.

As morpheus stated "i can only show you the door, your the one that has to walk through it"

[DeusEx]

Meaning of life is pretty much to procreate and sustain.
The meaning of YOUR life, well, that's something you are free to fill in! Better make it worth something to someone.

[blargon]

All of us are a convention of numerous molecular objects, coming together to form part of a giant fractal, the one that we're part of. It is like how the architect (The Matrix) would explain it, but you mustn't think of it as being 'balanced', but as being like a gyroscope. If you move the gyroscope so that it's different then normal, it's not 'unbalanced' it's just in a different state. This can be applied to any system, your cells, you, your household, your city, or even the world. From now on I will refer existing things to being on the 'top' of the gyroscope, and non-existing things to be on the 'bottom' of the gyroscope. Beings with the correct hormones were light, and stayed on the top, while beings with other hormones were heavy, and sank to the bottom, due to their lack of want. Want forged everything you see before you, while want carved out crime and hatred. That's how the universe works, attraction. Life itself may have no meaning, but you want life, and you want your world, and if not, you're already sinking to the bottom.

[mrgnash]

It's simple, this one:


Are we here to make the best of our short-lasting life?

And how do we do that? By loving; that is to say, through reaching beyond ourselves. This is Eros in the broadest sense, as employed by Freud, and to a lesser degree by Plato (I say to a lesser degree, because he was all about reaching out to the forms/principles, which I think is not only delusional, but harmful).

I embrace that drive, and that's what keeps me living. I only wish I was better at the details :)) -- As for worry about what it all means 'in the end'; don't. This is really just a failure to grapple with the finality of death. Once you're gone, you're gone, it's only that the ego has a hard time conceiving of its own extinction, and tends to conceive of the continuation of its operation even after post-mortem :P If you live in the present, leave yourself open to giving and receiving love, and try to live a rich and rewarding life then the question of your legacy will resolve itself into a present answer, visible in the faces of those around you. Of course, we'd all love to leave some great body of work behind us as well, but once again I don't think this is a particularly healthy orientation if it obscures the fact that our work should be, first and foremost, a rewarding activity in the here and now.

Hmm, I think that's about all there is to it.

[Soarer]

"For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?

And what is to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?

Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing.

And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb.

And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance. "

The PROPHET, by Kahlil Gibran (http://www.columbia.edu/~gm84/gibtable.html)