The meaning of YOUR life [Archive]

View Full Version : The meaning of YOUR life

Blodrast

05-12-2006, 19:02

Vladimir

05-12-2006, 19:26

Let me give you my Harkin’s (sp?) Razor answer: To reproduce and ensure the survival of the species, anything else is a bonus.

ScionTheWorm

05-12-2006, 19:26

1. What do you feel is the meaning of YOUR life ? I mean, what purpose do you think you have in life - if any ? What are you here to accomplish ? Does your existence serve some purpose, or are you just yet another one of some 6 billion accidents of nature, consuming oxygen and producing CO2 for about 70-80 years and then contributing to the great fertilizer layer ?
I do believe I have some purpose, but it is so vague I can never understand it. It's no higher will behind my purpose, but rather the nature or ultimately myself. I don't know what my purpose is, but I suspect I would think it's rather sick or meaningless if I knew it. It doesn't really matter anyway, I tend to live the best life possible taking care of myself and my own the way I'm supposed to.

2. What do you think is the meaning of human life in general ? Are we here for anything in particular ? Just to "evolve", to become better ? Better for what ? To achieve what ? What's the end goal - if there is one at all ?

No. I believe in some big bang beginning, so what we are made of comes from the stars - stardust. I am entirely made of food, something else that has been alive. When I die I am food, so I will become a part of everything. No goal. What I cannot understand is why I am inside my body. Soul or whatever, that's for damn sure I am.

3. Do you consider yourself religious - i.e., do you believe in some God ? It doesn't matter which one, I don't need to know that - BUT, if you do, I'd like to know it, because it would most likely influence your previous 2 answers. If you have a feeling about HOW exactly it influences them, if that's not already obvious from your answers, I'd like to know how.

No. I do believe in some force of nature, but there is no distinction between right or wrong but in case some sort of karma. No god, no ethics, no rules. As long as you don't try to f with me ~;)

Duke Malcolm

05-12-2006, 19:48

Unfortunately, I have no booze and boring philosphy... I've got my Higher Physics, Higher Mathematics, and Higher Classical Studies exam this week, so I shall be studying hard on the ways of the true Epicure, the Stoics, Pythagoras, and such and such...

The meaning of MY life is to study for these exams...

Byzantine Prince

05-12-2006, 20:14

The meaning of my life is reaching level 72. Those of you familiar with Kaballah will know what I am talking about.

Louis VI the Fat

05-12-2006, 20:31

1. What do you feel is the meaning of YOUR life ?
https://img484.imageshack.us/img484/8444/nov03lerave6yo.th.jpg (https://img484.imageshack.us/my.php?image=nov03lerave6yo.jpg)

2. What do you think is the meaning of human life in general ? Are we here for anything in particular ? Just to "evolve", to become better ? Better for what ? To achieve what ? What's the end goal - if there is one at all ?42

3. Do you consider yourself religious - i.e., do you believe in some God? No

Blodrast

05-12-2006, 20:37

Vladimir: I'm not familiar with the reference, can you give me a linky or something ?
Louis: lol, the end goal is 42 ? and btw, did you get on that chick-full yacht yet, i.e., did you fulfill your life's purpose yet ? :laugh4:

Vladimir

05-12-2006, 20:43

Oops! Occam's razor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam's_Razor).

Avicenna

05-12-2006, 20:57

Blodrast

05-12-2006, 21:06

Oops! Occam's razor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam's_Razor).
Ah, okay, thank you, now that I am familiar with :2thumbsup:

Divinus Arma

05-12-2006, 21:10

In summary:

(1) To discover and serve the will of God.

(2) To discover and serve the will of God.

(3) Uhm. Read below and then you tell me. :laugh4:

Divinus Arma's Guide to the Meaning of Life :laugh4:
(A collection of my religious ramblings taken from various threads)

I'm an "everythingist" (A Spiritual Eclectic). Essentially I believe that God loves variety in all things, and so loves variety in our worship of him.

Holding a belief that "your" religion is the only true religion is arrogant and impossible to prove.

However, I am not so arrogant myself as to believe that you are wrong. Instead I believe that no one can ever truly know the will and intent of the Lord. This view is reflected in all religious teachings.

One more point: I also do not believ in Original Sin. This concept has lead to guilt-based existential perspectives, a view I cannot embrace. It would be better to allow humanity to die out, then to allow one human soul to perish for all eternity in damnation for merely failing to worship in a specific way. Thus, I can never accept Christianity, but I accept the fact that it is impossible for any living man or woman to know anything for 100% certainty.

To me, faith is believing in something that you know cannot possibly be true. It takes no faith to believe in, and worship, the Lord. This is because purpose defines reality. If there is purpose in one thing, then there exists purpose in all things.

An atheist views the universe as primarily the object of chance. Essentially, the view is held that initially all energy in the universe was concentrated and that a chance occurence caused this energy to interact with itself in a way that resulted in massive and total instability. The result is our big bang theory. The idea that order of any kind has formed from the chaos of this energy, is due in part to the realtionship between chaos, energy, order, and probablity.

Consider the following:

Imagine an empty space. Devoid of light, of objects, of heat or cold, of any impule whatsoever. Now consider an object of energy, a positive impule. This particle of energy can, may, may not, will, or will not act in any manner whatsoever. Will it double itslef? Can it? Will it not? Will it move or remain static? Can it? What if their are two similar particles of energy? Will they interact through attraction? Interact through negative attraction? Will they be netrual to each other? Now multiple this by infinity- an unknown quantity of energetic material in existence. This is chaos.

The difference between atheists and believers is essentially the relationship between chaos, order, and energy.

An atheist believes that this chaos, through chance alone, has interacted with itself to eventually become the current state of things. The existence of this energy is indisputable. How the energy initially came to be is irrelevant- it simply exists. This notion is furthered by scientifically solvent principles that matter cannot be destroyed- it can only alter its form.

On the other hand, someone who believes in God sees the order as evidence of God. A believer would see the relationship between chaos, order, and energy from a different perspective. The guiding principle behind this is that chaos itself is impossible. No true chaos actually exists. If true chaos existed, then that would mean that order could not exist, because the two are mutually exclusive. The question then becomes one of explaining our perception of chaos. This is where predictable chaos fills the gap for religious orderists. In essence, if chaos were to be engaged within defined limitations, then chaos itself could be made predictable. If chaos is predictable, the it is useful. Now we come to religion. Chaos can only be made predictable through purpose. By assigning intent to chaotic exchange, it can be controlled through prediction.

That is why I say, if there is purpose in one thing, then there is purpose in all things. Chaos is made predictable through purpose. This purpose is imposed by the will of God.

The Lord does not act in some imaginery 4th dimension. He is a living God. His acts are thus visible for study in our lives. The evidence of His will surrounds us. The purpose behind His will is what escapes humanity.

Consider this: Close you eyes and let the world evaporate from your consciousness. Ignore the sounds, the smells, your breathing. Ignore your very mind telling you that this is stupid and what is the point.

Consider this state as the perspective of God. But the difference between you and God is that He would remain in this state for eternity, while you, a mere mortal, will perish.

Existence, our existince, is His purpose. The purpose of God's will is existence itself. We live for God's pleasure. And all religious texts offer that information.

He created the "universe" as an environment. But imagine a fish tank with no fish.

He created living this that will serve him automatically. They are pre-programmed to serve his will. Thus there is no good or evil in their actions. Their will is God's will.

Then he created humans. Unique as can be in that we have free choice. We can do the will of God or we can refuse. And it is this choice that defines not us, but the Lord.

By choosing to act as the Lord desires, we fufill his purpose. Our will reinforces his will. We are his reason for existence, and He is ours.

But what about violence, murder, senseless acts of selfishness?

That is our actions against God's will.

What about natural disasters and random accidents that cause death and mutilation?

That is the environment that God has placed us in. In order for it to exist, there must exist some chaos. We cannot exist ourselves without this environment. And God works within his creation, not outside of it.

What about Big Bang?

That is God's will. Let there be light!!!

What about evolution?

Again, the Lord works within his creation. We do not "magically appear". You are the product of living material that has existed for thousands, if not milions of years. We did not appear out of thin air. We came from genetic material that has existed for longer than recorded history.

Consider the concept of adam and eve. Before "the apple" they were unable to differentiate between good and evil. Thus they were incapable of following God's will voluntarily. An event, call it an apple or whatever you wish, occurred that transformed the human consciousness into what it is now. That event was the will of God. And it is the reason I do not believe in "Original Sin" as is presented by Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. We should not be regretful of that event. We should embrace it! And thank God for giving us the gift of knowledge of Good and Evil so that we may voluntarily choose to do his will.

You see, since matter cannot be destroyed, only "recycled", our bodies did indeed come from the earth. Our bodies are up of substances taken directly from digested plant and animal matter. This plant and animal matter itself did not come from nothing. The plants grew from a combination of nutrients in the soil, oxygen, adn water. So, in that sense, we most certinaly come from the dirt itself.

Consider further- Evolution explains that man, through a lengthy process, came from a series of less and less capable and adaptable beings. The very bottom of this step is the creation of life itself- a single-celled being with just the right balance of properties (probably a simple early form ofplant life). This was then "injected" with the ability to govern it's own behavior in accoradance with the programmed will of God. It became the difference between dirt and, well, living dirt. It would be indistinguishable to us. What is a dead man? He is not living, but yet he is made up of material that once was alive. What is the difference between a dead man and dirt? Nothing. The cells have ceased to be self-governing. That is the only difference between life and dirt.

But God would not create a man from thin air. He works within his own creation to achieve what we see today. YOU are the direct product of that "living dirt". YOU are actually a very very old being. You were not "created" at the day of your conception. You, or what would become you, existed in living material for millions of years. We are all actually much older than ourselves.

God comes in before that. It we who do the interpreting, and many times we who do the MISinterpreting.

I do not believe that God wants to "work from behind the curtain", like the wizard of oz. Nor does he work in mysterious ways.

God wants us to find him. Through science. At that point, all knees will bend. And humanity will be changed for the better. We will still have choice, but the relevance of that choice will be real. Because now, people can act like they do not have a choice by arguing that there is in God.

Take away the mystery and we do not take away choice. We make the choice more real than ever before.

I do sin. And I do ask for forgiveness. And it is given. The messiah is each of us, within ourselves. Our savior is ourselves- to have a relationship with the Lord and continually seek to do his will. We can never be perfect, and Jesus was right when he said that all will fall short. But what differentiates one man from another is his continual individual development towards God's purpose. Man must continually strive to align his own purpose with God's purpose. This is neither action, nor thought, not attitude, not intentions alone. It is all of this, but under the recognition that one will never attain perfection, though one can certainly pursue it. And through this pursuit, one finds himself closer alligned to the will of God.

Jesus was unique because he recognized that he was his own pathway to God. It not "No one comes to the father but my me". It is "No one comes to the father but by you". He was "the way the truth and the light", but so can each of us be. We are each simultaneously our own worst enemy and own best friend. We can facilitate our realtionship with the Lord, or counter it and deny ourselves. But each is a Messiah. Our relationship with God is on an individual level, so each of us requires an indivudal saviour. Ourselves.

How do we atone for our sins? Simple. By recognizing them and asking for forgiveness. We know when we do wrong. Some are bigger sins (like checking out naked hotties on the web. ), and some are almost forgetable, like cutting someone off on the freeway then flipping 'em the bird. And some are just downright evil- murder, rape, molesting alter boys, etc.

How God forgives us and what we feel in that forgiveness is a little different depending on the sin. Do evil and you will know how long it stays with you, no matter how much you ask for forgiveness. Do a minor sin and you will be forgiven with relatively little difficulty.

More importantly tha even forgiveness, is life allignment. Namely, setting a course in your life that is alligned to the will of the Lord. Plan your day knowing that you will be challenged throughout. Seek strength, comfort, wisdom, and tenacity from the Lord. When you begin to falter, ask for assistance. When you still fail, ask for forgiveness. It is not a matter of "doing good deeds", it is a matter of living a life alligned with God's will. When this done, one no longer needs to think about doind good deeds for their own sake. It becomes automatic and ingrained within your spiritual self. And in this way, we pre-emptively act to prepare ourselves against sin and to do the will of God. The best "atonement" for sins is to not commit them in the first place. Through right allignment, we can actively pursue perfection, while planning for oursleves to evetual fail in some measures.

Then the Lord will know we are his servants. And when we ask forgiveness of him individually, he will not hesitate to forgive and continue his love for us.

Buddhism teaches that all suffering is the result of desire and ignorance. Essentially, our ongoing want is the cause of suffering. We want many things: happiness, life without pain, comfort, food, etc.

Only by recognizing the impermanence of all things can we alleviate suffering. We must, as Christians say, Let go and Let God.

This does not mean that we should not work towards peace and prosperity, instead it means that we should recognize that everything is temporary. When we realize this, everything comes into perspective.

This works well with an ecletic religious perspective, because it recognizes the freedoms that God has given us while providing a way to cope with the pain that we experience in our short lives.

Our attempts to be eternal instead of worship, gratitude, and humility is the source of human pain. We should continually strive for perfection in right action while simultaneously recognizing the futility of all.

Because we are the Lord's agents and it is our purpose to freely choose to do His will, the Lord answers prayers through the actions of people.

What do people ask for when they pray? Money? Power? Health?

They should be praying for strength, for understanding, for patience, and for humility. Our prayers are ALWAYS answered, when our prayers are unselfishly motivated and fall within the Lord's design.

For example, let us assume you have a sick child. Do you pray for his health? Instead pray that your child will be filled with understanding and courage. Pray that you, too, will be understanding and accept our impermanence in this world. Of course you want your child to be well! But this is the cause of your suffering- desire for more than our fragile mortality offers. Thank the Lord that you were able to know your child and be grateful that he had a life to live at all.

When we pray for the external, our wishes will not be fullfilled. When we pray for the internal, our prayers are always answered. And because of this, we can do the good work of God and become agents of change. Through us, God will do external work and make our human experience a better one.

On the matter of intervention, just to clarify. First of all, the Lord is a living God, one who dwells on our level of existence. He is all things and all things are in Him. He does not "live" on a cloud in a bodily form sitting atop a throne, presiding over the dead. He is here. In our time and with us.

God does not intervene by causing us to be remotely controlled robots doing his bidding. Animals do this. Existence is God's "purpose"; He simply exists and was not created, He has chosen to enjoy that existence with His creation. Our purpose is to choose freely to align our will with that of God's will. This is morality. We know what is God's will through prayer. Human experience can contribute towards guiding that prayer ever closer to the Lord. This is a collective experience of humanity, and we are drawing ever nearer to Him.

God operates "externally" (to us) through science. He has created existence using defined limitations on energy which act to make chaos predictable and consequently useful to Him in its ability to interact with itself. It is this order that provides proof of the Lord's existence. The alternative is based on chance, which is unpredictable chaos. The problem with unpredictable or total chaos, is that rules of order are unable to form because chaos itself counteracts against itself. Thus when a trend begins to form, chaos destroys the trend.

A simple proof that shows that chaos is not unpredicatble is this simple rule:
Matter cannot be created or destroyed, it can only alter its form. This is important because unpredictable chaos allows matter, or energy, to do anything, including double itself or cease existence without another force acting upon it.

How does predictable chaos prove God? Another way to frame this question is, can predictable chaos self-purpose? Or in other words, can chaos designate for itself how it is predictable? The answer is no. Chaos requires a will to shape its limitations, no matter how small. The opposite would be unpredictable chaos, because the energy decides action for itself, to include chaoticide and self-perpetuation.

Thus, predictable chaos proves the existence of a will that defines the limitations of chaotic energy in order to make that energy interact usefully with itself towards some end. This will is what we call God.

The question than becomes whether this will is self-directed or externally directed. Or in other words, is this will self-aware or not. This is the difference between a personal God like that of Judeo-Christian belief systems or an inpersonal God like that of Eastern perspectives.

Is he self-aware or is he simply a "will"? Is this "will" purposefully self-directed or does it act without purpose.

The question, my friend, is one of purpose. We must ask: what is God's purpose and is that purpose one chosen by God? A self-aware "will" designates its own purpose. A "will" without self-awareness does not assign its own purpose. What is God's purpose, if God Himself did not designate it? There is only one answer. God is chaos. He is a self-directed "will" without purpose. This is an impossibility, because, as was discussed early, chaos is self-defeating. Chaotic will could be self-destructive or self-replicating. Deicide. Or similarly, multiple and competing wills without purpose. Order would not exist because time is outside of this. A second is infinity and infinity is in a second.

That means that God is self-aware. A singular self-aware will that designates its own purpose in shaping the predictability of chaos, and thus of order. Consequently, It or He, may design.

Design and purpose are interrelated and a component of the discussion on intervention. From what I wrote, I believe it is difficult to refute the existence of God when debating within this frame work of chaos logic. I believe it is also difficult to refute that god is self-aware when using this logic.

But what about us? Why would God care about us?

It comes back to purpose. God's self-decided purpose is his design. His creation. To determine our own purpose within that design, we need to understand the purpose of everything within the design. This could get quite complex, but humanity has categorized and classified much of everything within our small sphere of influence. We know how our environment interacts withitself to remain self-sustaining. Our earth, this self-sustaining object acts in complete harmony with the will of God. It does everything it is "told" according to predictable chaos, exactly as God has designed. That's where we come in. We are unique in known existence in that we are the only being similar to God in a way that we can relate. We fullfill God's purpose by choosing to do his will. This validates his purpose for existence. We complete the circle.

"Divine Intervention" as you may call it, would be when we have a direct relationship with the Lord and our will is alligned with his. We pray for an internal embrace of him, nothing more. We are not asking for anything that is not naturally there. We reconnect the link and become a conduit for his will. Thus he acts through us, by our choice, and can directly influence his creation.

All world religions share a similar vision of the Lord. Our God is a living God. We have no evidence of any other existence than this one, but it is arrogant to assume that our feeble human minds know all. We do know for certain of this existence. And if the Lord is a living God, than he dwells with us here and now, not in a place of our imagination.

This, I think, is a critical foundation for a discussion on the nature of the relationship between mortality and relevance. After all, our search for heaven is nothing less than a search for relevance. If we conclude that our existence ceases beyond our mortality, than in existence our lives are futile and without purpose. Our existence, then, is without purpose, the universe is without purpose, and thus ultimately, there exists no self-aware will.

The two are interlinked and provide the key to our existence, the realtionship between the Lord, and our innate sense of being and purpose.

Through logical interpretation of the nature of chaos, we have discovered the truth of a living will. Through logical interpretation of the purpose of the living will, we have discovered that this living will is self-aware.

And now us. We exist. But toward what end? What purpose? We complete the cirlce of purpose through choice, choosing to serve the will with our own will. This, therein is heaven. This, you have found in life, should you manage to achieve it. We remember our impermanence in state to release our struggle with desire. Through the acceptance of things as they are rather than as we would wish them, we achieve harmony with our surroundings.

We come now to death. And as our will is alligned with the will of the lord, so to shall that continue in death. Our alligned will and harmony with the continual change of state will allow us to join the will. As we have been the will through our lives, choosing to allow God to work through us, choosing to sacrifice ourselves in order to truly be His will in life, so to should there be no reason for this ceasing upon death. We simply continue in being his will, and in so doing, become the will.

Because we have sacrificed ourselves and chosen to be his will, there is no self, only His will. And so the differences between us in life dissapear as we become the will. You do not cease to exist. You always were. And you always will be. You were never "born", as you have been alive since life was formed. You are aged. Older than yourself. Older than your parents, and they too, as old as you. And so on back through the ages, you have been alive, until the day that you were on this earth, in order to have choice.

Blodrast

05-12-2006, 21:28

DA - that's cool, that's exactly the kind of stuff I was looking for. Thank you for taking the time to put all your ideas together - much appreciated.

Scurvy

05-12-2006, 21:33

1. to live so that when i die i can look back and smile...

2. to survive

3. i belive in "a" god (i feel that the universe is simply too detailed to be created by coincidence (ie. something has to start the science) but dont belive in any of the religous interpretations of "god" so i dont think it would influence the above, although i do find the idea of Hindu karma (ie. good actions bring good, and so we should live as "good" as we can) quite fulfilling...

Alexanderofmacedon

05-12-2006, 22:37

1. Relax. Enjoy life and all it brings...

2. I'll go with Louis answer of 42...

3. God? We'll see...

Louis VI the Fat

05-12-2006, 22:45

btw, did you get on that chick-full yacht yet, i.e., did you fulfill your life's purpose yet ? :laugh4:I'm that chick in the middle. :book:

Csargo

05-12-2006, 22:47

1. I not quite sure yet but I'll find out.

2.Louis is wrong the meaning of life is 43

3. meh

Lemur

05-12-2006, 22:48

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v489/Lemurmania/mistakes.jpg

Samurai Waki

05-12-2006, 22:54

1. To Love and Protect my Amy
2. I believe that humanity makes themselves out to be a bigger screaming deal than we really are. I don't know think Humanity has an ultimate purpose except perhaps to eventually die out.
3. While I do not believe in the existance of "god" or dieties, I do believe to some extent that the belief in kindness and benevolence are really more important. I've seen too many bible thumpers or people that use going to Church or Worship of some kind as an excuse to everything bad they have done. I get way more satisfaction out of my day knowing that each and every year I buy several thousand dollars worth of Toys and donate them to the US Marine Program Toys-for-Tots for needy children then to go to Church or spend ridiculous amounts of money on myself.

Rodion Romanovich

05-12-2006, 23:04

2. You learn the meaning through your emotions. You are to find your pure (by society unaffected) emotions and they'll tell you what you desire. You shall strive for what you desire. If that brings you to destruction, you're worthy of destruction. If that brings you to joy and luck, you're worthy of joy and luck. Nature will spare those who are strong enough, and good (as opposed to evil) enough, and if you don't act close enough to what your emotions tell you, you will, if you get children, bring life to another being that will be miserable as misadapted, which gets nothing but pain in the world, because just like you they desire to act in another way than that in which they are forced to act, which is the cause of suffering.

That's the natural principle, but it has one serious flaw, in that society isn't natural. Any appliance of natural emotions in a civilization will result in you making different choices than you would in nature, so your built-in instincts may direct you to power abuse, murder, theft and hatred, even if in nature you would be good, or direct you to good pursuits even if in nature you were evil. As society changes all the time, no evolution will ever make man's emotions adapted to living in a civilization. We only have our rationality, we can only live as emotion free psychopaths. If you want to achieve the natural goal, all you can do is try to guess what your feelings would give you, honestly try to evaluate if your feelings are fair and good for the species. Then you may strive to reproduce. Otherwise, you may live well until your natural death, but shouldn't reproduce. No matter what, it's your duty to strive for the changing of civilization so that the ideal society is created - a society where the inventiveness of man (the curse that has given us weapons, sytems where power can fall into the hands of people who can't handle it, and blurred the judgement of man and woman in love) won't prevent man from living in a society where the natural emotions again, like before civilization, told us the truth on what to do to act in the best interests of the species. The question is if that society is possible to recreate at all. If not, life has been meaningless since the first hominids picked up their sharpened flint axes against each other.

To truly understand why our emotions are so important, one must understand the complexity of nature, and how simplistic and foolish any human attempt to create a model for evolution has been. Only then can you understand why it's important to recreate a society where man can act more by emotions. To understand how futile human attempts at making models for evolutionary strength have been, you only need to look at those theories presented in the past. Once it was thought that physical strength alone was the one measure of a man's strength. But then it was realized that a strong man who hurts his flock and kills to achieve power, eliminates his entire flock and thus has very small chances of surviving at all, even smaller chances than the weakest man in a flock, if that weakest man is a bringer of peace. Every time humans find out a new factor in the strength concept, that they previously forgot, they are overjoyed and think "now I have found the entire truth". But it is not that simple. Rationality can only weigh in 100 factors or less into making a conclusion, but do it very exactly. Instincts who have been formed by evolution for millions of years weigh in every factor there is. If a man abused power as a child, and was killed in revenge when he grew older, the memory of that makes it into the genetical code. If a man uses his rational thinking abilities when he makes his decision on whether to abuse power or not, he can't see the future in the same way, and is tempted to abuse power, for he sees only the short term consequences of it - glory. If a man carries a genetical recessive disease, out of his grandgrandchildren, a large percentage die, and his genes are removed. If a woman when choosing a man can differ between those who carry recessive disease genes and no disease genes, her choosing the one without disease gene will be more successful. The woman can thus see into the future when choosing a man - she sees what will happen to her grandgrandchildren, when making her decision. Just like survival instincts evolve, so do the instincts for choosing a partner to reproduce with. Those who choose poorly may get sick offspring from making a bad match (inbreeding etc.), thus instincts of men and women when they are attracted to each others, see into the future, and already know much about how their children will be, when they choose each others. The instincts can see into the future, the rationality only into the past. In all great things, emotions are wiser than our rationality. But again, emotions don't work in the artificial society we've created since the advent of civilization.

Edit: one reference I forgot to add is the explanation of why emotions don't work in society. It's because instincts and emotions are based on turning impressions into action. The impressions are received through our senses, which aren't perfect and often fool us. Furthermore, it's seldom possible to base emotions on the things they should logically be based on. For instance if it's good to reproduce in the summer to get maximum ability to supply the offspring with food next spring, then the instincts must have some pattern of impressions to trigger more sexual activity in the summer. How do we define summer? When do we know it's summer? Why do we reproduce more in the summer? Because the summer is usually 9 months before next spring. By knowing the past, we predict the future, so we reproduce in the summer because we know it'll mean there's spring in 9 months. How do we know it's summer? We judge from the heat, the stronger sunlight, and the greener plants. The problem with this is, that we aren't basing our judgement on when to reproduce on how long it is to next spring, but on a pattern of events that usually exists 9 months before next spring. If summer happens early or late one year, the reproduction may occur earlier or later that year. Similarily, by using artificial light (electrical light and fire), as well as articificial heat and plants indoors, we may trigger more sexual activity even if it's winter and -10 degrees centigrade outdoors! The pattern is similar also for other instincts - they aren't always triggered by the actual thing that should logically trigger them, and our senses aren't perfect, so we can make wrong judgements even in nature, but we're even more likely to do so in civilization, when we can artificially create patterns of impressions that come in the wrong situation, and that confuse us.

1. For me, this means the following: I don't know if I'm worthy of reproducing. I don't know which women are good for me, as my judgement of women has been taught by culture rather than by emotion. When I seek respect, I get civilized power, with civilized power I get corruption of the mind. When I seek safety, I must seek money, but money gives me power, and corruption of the mind. When I seek safety, I find that safety is more randomly distributed than ever, and any struggle is pointless, for randomness might in the end be what determines my faith. So what is the meaning of my life? I can't change society in a lifetime, saving society takes more than that. So I must face the idea that I will never live in a society created FOR humans, but instead in a society created BY humans. In such an arbitrary society, is there any meaning of life? I'll let every leader of a nation who since the first civilization has uttered a word on the subject answer that question for me. Answer what the purpose of war, genocide, rape, harassment, child abuse, removal of freedom and replacement of true sexual attraction with attraction taught by cultural ideals is.

3. Whether God exists or not is a matter of definition. People define God differently. For example if the definition of God is a man sitting on a cloud in the sky, everything indicates he doesn't exist. If God is the term for fate and cause and effect itself, the systems by which the world seems to work, then God may exist. But Occam's razor as mentioned above states that if God isn't necessary to create a model of nature, then God has no purpose for understanding the world, and if he exists, it doesn't matter. The definition of the word God and his existence or non-existence goes hand in hand. I can't tell whether God exists or not, or whether it's impossible to determine whether he exists or not, until someone tells me what their definition of God is.

Strike For The South

05-12-2006, 23:41

1. The 3 B's
2. Whatever they want
3. Christian Jesus be a comin

Quietus

05-13-2006, 03:19

Ok, the weekend is almost upon us, so it's time for booze and ... cheap philosophy. Or is it cheap booze and philosophy? Oh well, doesn't matter.

I have 3 questions for you, my fellow orgiasts.
I'd like to know what you think about this, so rants and such are more than welcome.

1. What do you feel is the meaning of YOUR life ? I mean, what purpose do you think you have in life - if any ? What are you here to accomplish ? Does your existence serve some purpose, or are you just yet another one of some 6 billion accidents of nature, consuming oxygen and producing CO2 for about 70-80 years and then contributing to the great fertilizer layer ?
Please refer to YOUR own life only - for generalizations, I have another question ~D Do you mean Function or Meaning?

Life has no known meaning. Life has function (survival and reproduction).

The best analogy I can think of from the top of my head is the meaning of the Beatles' song lyrics to "I Am the Walrus".

It has no meaning. It is gibberish (says John Lennon). But it has a function. Song lyrics has a function which is to be sung with the 'tune'. Same with 'scatting'. The scat on Bob Marley's "Crazy Baldheads" doesn't mean anything, but extremely catchy when 'sung'.

Lastly, it's not just 6 billion of US. The Earth is teeming with life. You can say that for the past, present and the foreseeable future.

My life has a known function but no known meaning.

2. What do you think is the meaning of human life in general ? Are we here for anything in particular ? Just to "evolve", to become better ? Better for what ? To achieve what ? What's the end goal - if there is one at all ?

I've split this into two questions, because not everybody may have an opinion about the second one (humans in general), but most people should have some idea about their own purpose in life.

The short term function is to survive and reproduce. The long-term function is not known. When the Earth is destroyed, there is nothing that will intervene at all whether the Humans species are still present, another dominant specie(s) - down in the future - or even if the Earth already became devoid of 'life'.

Secondly, Evolution is really random. You can't Evolve a wing! The best random mutations simply get passed from generation to generation.

Penguins have wing-like limbs but since they live in the cold, the best penquins that survive and reproduce are mutants that are Fat and Heavy and therefore can't use their 'wings' to fly. Nobody told those Penguins to be fat, heavy and unable fly nor they strive to be fat, heavy and unable to fly. It's all random.

3. Do you consider yourself religious - i.e., do you believe in some God ? It doesn't matter which one, I don't need to know that - BUT, if you do, I'd like to know it, because it would most likely influence your previous 2 answers. If you have a feeling about HOW exactly it influences them, if that's not already obvious from your answers, I'd like to know how.

Despite my somewhat funny formulation, I'm asking these questions in all seriousness. I'm really curious to know how people think - and, like I said, feel free to rant on how you feel about all these.

Thank you.:bow: No, I'm an Atheist and not 'religious'.

Blodrast

05-13-2006, 03:54

Quietus: I meant meaning, not function - at least not function in the purely biological sense (sorry if that wasn't clear). So, yes, beyond the function of survival through reproduction.
And you do have a point about life meaning more than our species, but I was interested (in this thread at least), about how people feel about themseleves as human beings, and about our species - about the purpose/meaning of these two entities.

All in all, absolutely great answers so far - I am really happy about this, and I appreciate the effort you guys all put in this thread so far - thank you very much.:bow:

Alexanderofmacedon

05-13-2006, 05:41

No religion has ever entered my life yet.

My purpose? Reproduce, enjoy life and try to do my best.

In the end, I'll die, my body decompose and produce energy for future generations.

EDIT: 852 posts! :balloon2: Anyone think they can guess the significance of 852?

Hmm. Well there are three digits in 852. If you subract 8-3 you get 5, which is the next number in the series. If you subtract 5-3 you get 2 which is the next number in the series.

:2thumbsup:

Quietus

05-13-2006, 06:00

Major Robert Dump

05-13-2006, 10:56

I like to have sex with young, drunken women and then have them buy me Chinese takeout with the credit cards their parents pay for because "I lost my wallet." Go College!!!!!

I dont think I'm too religious because of that.

rory_20_uk

05-13-2006, 13:04

Divinus Arma

05-13-2006, 13:43

The USMC has a "toys for tots" programme??!? Something like they give toys to the tots who are orphaned (due to a mixture of collateral damage and friendly fire)? Or is it to try and make them have a more cuddly image from the group of testosterone fulled nutjobs that is their typical image?

Still, I'd be hapier giving the USMC toys for tots than the Catholic Church with their track record...

~:smoking:

Toys for tots is a program that the Marine Corps reserve has been involved in for years. It is simply the use of soldiers in pretty uniforms to obtain donations of toys for impoverished children on xmas.

That's about it.

Sjakihata

05-13-2006, 13:51

1. Reintroduce metaphysics into the modern world.

2. No other purpose, than what is biologically feasible - reproduction.

3. I am not religious.

Avicenna

05-13-2006, 21:16

There is no long term function. Short term, survive and reproduce. Long term, just wait until we get engulfed by the heat when our sun turns into a red supergiant. Or, if we manage to move further away from the sun by this stage, wait until the eventual end of the universe by the Big Cruch, Big Rip, Heat Death or Big Freeze (?)

GoreBag

05-13-2006, 22:14

1) To live, and then to die.

2) Nothing beyond reproducing. See #1.

3) I adhere to no organized religion.

rory_20_uk

05-14-2006, 00:14

Erm...

Not much really.

I find focusing on the now assists in thinking about the then. If I thought about it too much, I'd never make it out of bed - as what's the point? :inquisitive:

~:smoking:

Brenus

05-14-2006, 10:42

1: Meaning of MY life, none. I had (and still have) an interesting life but with no meaning. No reproduction, I was too busy and didn’t find the good victim, but brothers and sisters took care about the blood line, so something else NOT to bother.

2: In general, the answer depends on my mood. Today, I don’t thing there is a meaning, an ultimate goal to reach to reach the Nirvana…

3: No, I don’t believe in a Supra Entity. I just accept I haven’t all the answers.

Devastatin Dave

05-15-2006, 05:22

It should be to please the Lord but I admit my meaning and main reason for living is my wife and kids. Nothing makes me happier than making them happy.:2thumbsup:

Reverend Joe

05-15-2006, 05:40

1. The 3 B's
Bread, Beer and Bitches? :confused:

As for me...

(My beliefs are in a bit of a flux at the moment, so this isn't permanent.)

1. Refer, if you will, to Nikos Kazantzakis's "The Saviors of God." Part of my purpose is the idea laid out here- to discover my suty in attempting to help the multitude of humanity, as well as to help further the evolution, formation and salvation of God. The other part is based more on "Zorba", or rather the ideas of Zorba the Greek; I wish simply to live out my own life, and enjoy it, because when I die I shall reenter the multitude of the second Abyss; the ancestors of Humanity; and my only chance to live and love will be over. If I do feel that there is another way that I should be helping God to slog forward up the mountian of existence, I will change my life; but at the moment, I have heard no such cry.

2. The meaning of humanity... good one. I am uncertain at the moment what the meaning of Humanity is; my personal beliefs focus primarily on me, and not how everyone else operates. I shall be reading "The Saviors of God" again, and paying careful attention to how man realtes as a whole to each other, to God, and to Nature.

3. Yes, I am very religious, but I follow no set doctrine. Instead, I am focusing mainly on the spiritual teachings of Nikos Kazantzakis.

Hope that helps.

Divinus Arma

05-15-2006, 05:50

Bread, Beer and Bitches? :confused:

As for me...

(My beliefs are in a bit of a flux at the moment, so this isn't permanent.)

1. Refer, if you will, to Nikos Kazantzakis's "The Saviors of God." Part of my purpose is the idea laid out here- to discover my suty in attempting to help the multitude of humanity, as well as to help further the evolution, formation and salvation of God. The other part is based more on "Zorba", or rather the ideas of Zorba the Greek; I wish simply to live out my own life, and enjoy it, because when I die I shall reenter the multitude of the second Abyss; the ancestors of Humanity; and my only chance to live and love will be over. If I do feel that there is another way that I should be helping God to slog forward up the mountian of existence, I will change my life; but at the moment, I have heard no such cry.

2. The meaning of humanity... good one. I am uncertain at the moment what the meaning of Humanity is; my personal beliefs focus primarily on me, and not how everyone else operates. I shall be reading "The Saviors of God" again, and paying careful attention to how man realtes as a whole to each other, to God, and to Nature.

3. Yes, I am very religious, but I follow no set doctrine. Instead, I am focusing mainly on the spiritual teachings of Nikos Kazantzakis.

Hope that helps.

Zorba, have you ever been to North Dakota?

Reverend Joe

05-15-2006, 05:55

Zorba, have you ever been to North Dakota?
:inquisitive: ...What?

Uh... no?

Divinus Arma

05-15-2006, 05:57

:inquisitive: ...What?

Uh... no?

How about Iowa?

Reverend Joe

05-15-2006, 06:00

How about Iowa?
Okay, you're starting to freak me out. Stop it.

What is the point of this? There are places where people do not evolve? God hates corn? What?!

Divinus Arma

05-15-2006, 06:07

Okay, you're starting to freak me out. Stop it.

What is the point of this? There are places where people do not evolve? God hates corn? What?!

Are you sure? You have NEVER been to North Dakota or Iowa?

What about Idaho?

Reverend Joe

05-15-2006, 06:14

Are you sure? You have NEVER been to North Dakota or Iowa?

What about Idaho?

I have never been to any state except for North Carolina, Illinois (specifically Chicago), DC, Virginia or Georgia. Okay? :stare:

Oh, yeah, and Massachussetts. Once. It sucked.

...And Florida, when I was really young.

...Tennessee, too. But again, just once.

So what's your point?

Divinus Arma

05-15-2006, 06:16

I have never been to any state except for North Carolina, Illinois (specifically Chicago), DC, Virginia or Georgia. Okay? :stare:

Oh, yeah, and Massachussetts. Once. It sucked.

...And Florida, when I was really young.

...Tennessee, too. But again, just once.

So what's your point?

hmmm. Really? Ohhhhh wait. Florida? You've been to Florida?

Reverend Joe

05-15-2006, 06:28

hmmm. Really? Ohhhhh wait. Florida? You've been to Florida?
WHAT IS YOUR POINT?! :bigcry:

Divinus Arma

05-15-2006, 06:33

WHAT IS YOUR POINT?! :bigcry:

My point? Well... Are you a fan of stage plays?

Reverend Joe

05-15-2006, 06:34

My point? Well... Are you a fan of stage plays?
:dizzy2:

Divinus Arma

05-15-2006, 06:38

:dizzy2:

Hold on. Easy Zorba. It's all good. :2thumbsup:

Are you a fan of stage plays?

Reverend Joe

05-15-2006, 06:41

Hold on. Easy Zorba. It's all good. :2thumbsup:

Are you a fan of stage plays?
Fine.

Um... not really. Well, actually, yes, but I never go to them.

If this is a ploy to try to prove that I am gay, after all this random crap, so help me god... :furious3:

Divinus Arma

05-15-2006, 06:44

No. Not at all. :2thumbsup: I actually like stage plays quite a bit. I've seen a few and I find them quite entertaining. I wish there were more, but anyway,

so, stage plays, florida, and .... oh. Do you drive a Toyota?

Reverend Joe

05-15-2006, 06:46

Okay, now you're scaring me. :hide:

Yes, I do. A basic Corolla, stick-shift, crank windows et al. I would rather have a beetle, but there you go.

Divinus Arma

05-15-2006, 06:52

90's model? Couple of dents/scratches etc?

Reverend Joe

05-15-2006, 06:56

Uh, 2000's, actually- but yeah, it has some dents and scratches.

Divinus Arma

05-15-2006, 06:57

Brown hair? Kinda messy/dirty sometimes?

Reverend Joe

05-15-2006, 07:01

Uh... short brown hair... not really messy or dirty often, but I used to be rather unwashed a couple years ago.

Divinus Arma

05-15-2006, 07:04

Wear shirts from music bands?

Reverend Joe

05-15-2006, 07:05

No. Never.

GoreBag

05-15-2006, 07:06

Wear shirts from music bands?

Sorry to interrupt DA's bizarre, stalkeresque attempt to hit on you over the internet, but the phrase 'music bands' makes me laugh myself stupid.

Divinus Arma

05-15-2006, 07:07

No. Never.

Huh. What do you know.

Reverend Joe

05-15-2006, 07:10

Huh. What do you know.
:help:

Divinus Arma

05-15-2006, 07:17

~:snowman: :pumpkin:

Devastatin Dave

05-15-2006, 14:34

DA, you're being mean!!! Shaaame...
Never thought I'd befend Zorba!!!
You should be nice to him BTW, you know how certain people can be very "sensitive"!!!!

Reverend Joe

05-15-2006, 18:16

I'm not really offended, just to set the record straight... just freaked out and confused. What the hell was that? :dizzy2: And what does it have to do with the meaning of one's life?!

Dutch_guy

05-15-2006, 18:19

What the hell was that?

You're not the only one who'd like to know.:yes:

:balloon2:

yesdachi

05-15-2006, 18:36

Tachikaze

05-15-2006, 19:15

What do you feel is the meaning of YOUR life ? I mean, what purpose do you think you have in life - if any ? What are you here to accomplish ? Does your existence serve some purpose, or are you just yet another one of some 6 billion accidents of nature, consuming oxygen and producing CO2 for about 70-80 years and then contributing to the great fertilizer layer ?
Please refer to YOUR own life only - for generalizations, I have another question

1) I don't see any reason to believe that life has a meaning. If other people didn't ask that question, I wouldn't even think about it. I can give my life purpose, but for there to be a meaning beyond that seems to require an intelligent diety, which makes no sense to me. I just accept existence.

What do you think is the meaning of human life in general ? Are we here for anything in particular ? Just to "evolve", to become better ? Better for what ? To achieve what ? What's the end goal - if there is one at all ?

2) My answer is similar, except that other people assign a meaning to their lives that might differ from mine.

Do you consider yourself religious - i.e., do you believe in some God ? It doesn't matter which one, I don't need to know that - BUT, if you do, I'd like to know it, because it would most likely influence your previous 2 answers. If you have a feeling about HOW exactly it influences them, if that's not already obvious from your answers, I'd like to know how.

3) The closest labels that fit me are 'Taoist" and "Buddhist", neither of which includes anything resembling a god as the West labels it. Taoism does not address why we exist. While Buddhism doesn't address the reason for our existence, it does give us a goal in life; that is enlightenment or nirvana. You could call that meaning.

Mithrandir

05-15-2006, 19:28

1. life has a meaning now?
2.see 1.

Blodrast

05-15-2006, 21:13

Mithrandir: I dunno, I'm just asking to see what opinions other people have.
DA: What was that all about ? I didn't get it...:inquisitive: And I certainly didn't see how it relates to the thread...~:confused:

thank you again to all who took the time to answer.

BHCWarman88

05-15-2006, 22:54

I love Life,period..

Byzantine Prince

05-15-2006, 22:58

Divinus, that was hillarious. :laugh4:

Reverend Joe

05-16-2006, 02:29

I love Life,period..
:2thumbsup: