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More Enlightment >
The Meaning Of Life
"Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolvingAnd revolving at nine hundred miles an hour,
That's orbiting at nineteen miles a second, so it's reckoned,
A sun that is the source of all our power.
The sun and you and me and all the stars that we can see
Are moving at a million miles a day
In an outer spiral arm, at forty thousand miles an hour,
Of the galaxy we call the 'Milky Way'.
Our galaxy itself contains a hundred billion stars.
It's a hundred thousand light years side to side.
It bulges in the middle, sixteen thousand light years thick,
But out by us, it's just three thousand light years wide.
We're thirty thousand light years from galactic central point.
We go 'round every two hundred million years,
And our galaxy is only one of millions of billions
In this amazing and expanding universe.
The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding
In all of the directions it can whizz
As fast as it can go, at the speed of light, you know,
Twelve million miles a minute, and that's the fastest speed there is.
So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure,
How amazingly unlikely is your birth,
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space,
'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth."
--Monty Python
There is no meaning of life. No purpose, either.
Why should we be so arrogant as to assume someone has given us a purpose.
Lauren wrote: "There is no meaning of life. No purpose, either.
Why should we be so arrogant as to assume someone has given us a purpose. "
Did I say that? I asked "Do we have a purpose?" I never said whether we did or didn't, or if that someone gave us one.
Charity wrote: "And Lauren answered you. She didn't say anything about you in her post."Well she said "Why should we be so arrogant as to assume someone has given us a purpose."
I felt that it was aimed at me. But sorry to Lauren if it wasn't.
Charity wrote: "Maybe it was a general question? I don't think you should be so quick to jump to the defensive."Bah, sorry. Bit of a habit in this group I guess :)
It's all good.But, Lauren's question is interesting though. Why should we be so arrogant as to assume someone has given us a purpose? What makes us so special?
Really, truly, what should we be doing with our lives?I mean, sure, we could find a cure for cancer or write a novel. But, what do those things matter after we die? Our name will be written in History. Big whoop. We'll be dead, we can't enjoy that.
It was aimed to everyone who disagrees with it. Why can't you give your life meaning, fill it with things that make you happy?
Immortality isn't something to aspire to, no one can have it.
Well, why do we have to be special? We aren't, just too smart for our own good.
Lauren wrote: "Why can't you give your life meaning, fill it with things that make you happy?"I mean, you can try and give your life meaning. But as I said, once you die, what does it matter what you did in life, whether you were happy or not?
Well, it matters to you while you're alive. Why waste 80 years thinking nothing matters? It matter to other people, to future generations, to you. I could not go around thinking it's pointless. I give myself a point.
Lauren wrote: "I would think that having immortality waiting would make this life even more pointless. "I agree. And what's the point of predestination?
Ninja wrote: "Really, truly, what should we be doing with our lives?I mean, sure, we could find a cure for cancer or write a novel. But, what do those things matter after we die? Our name will be written in His..."
I think if you managed to find a cure for cancer, that would make quite a lot of difference to quite a lot of people.
Your life's meaning is what you bring to it.
The meaning of life is whatever an individual creates it to be. Perhaps for me, it is to love my family and friends and to become the best English teacher I can become.
For someone else, it might be to become great at ice hockey.
For someone else, it might be nothing at all. He may do absolutely nothing with his life. In this case, for him, there will be no meaning to life.
TELL me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream ! —
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.
Life is real ! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal ;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.
Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way ;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.
I love Longfellow. These are the first 3 stanzas.
I mean, you can try and give your life meaning. But as I said, once you die, what does it matter what you did in life, whether you were happy or not?
That's like saying that there is no point to eating an ice cream sundae.
"Ice cream tastes great, but once you eat it, it is gone and you can never get it back. So what's the point?"
Well, ice cream tastes great and it is enjoyable while I eat it. Life is the safe way. It is great while I am living. When I am dead, it won't matter that life was finite. It is fun and great while I am living it though. That is what matters.
Whenever I see this discussion, I think of the book Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life. I don't know why though.
I think that wondering about the meaning of life is a waste of time. Life can't just have meaning. Meaning can only within context. Meaning only exists if there is someone to whom the thing in question has meaning. A better question is, "What does your life mean to you?" To make an analogy, the same word can mean different things in different languages; the meaning of the word only exists within the context of the language. Words don't have absolute meanings, because there is no such thing as absolute meaning.
Because we fear death, we desire a larger context for our lives than our own limited lifespans. This leads many people to religion, because God can give your life boundless meaning. But that just introduces infinite regress: What's the point of your life in heaven? What's the point of God's life? Etc. Whenever you ask "why" questions, you can always respond to the answers by repeating, "why?" You can always say, "Okay, but what's the meaning of that?" The only way to satisfactorily answer a "why" question is to establish a context. For me, my context is the world I live in, my family, my friends, and my descendents. I want to have a positive impact on the people I know, my children, and, if possible, the world at large.
What's the point of your life in heaven?
Duh, Dan. To endlessly worship god. Uh, hellllooooo...
I want to have a positive impact on the people I know, my children, and, if possible, the world at large.
Sure, sure. I can agree with that. But maybe make a porno at some point too.
Everyone should have dreams as noble as yours, Nathan. X)It seems Heaven seemed pretty nice to think about if you were a slave in Egypt, but no one really thought about what would happen if you actually got there.
Has anyone ever noticed that the elderly tend to be more religious? And why? To make them feel better about dying soon.Which is the same as life having meaning. I mean, if you believe in religion and heaven, then that would be the meaning of your life, to get there.
But the meaning of life doesn't have to be so BIG, you know? It's changing other people for the better, I think. Like the finding a cure for cancer thing. Do you know how many people's lives that would affect? Sheesh!
An afterlife robs people of meaning, because then there is no point in this life, if one is waiting.
An afterlife robs people of meaning, because then there is no point in this life, if one is waiting. I agree totally. The idea of an infinite afterlife trivializes this one. The idea of a duty to an imaginary God trivializes the duty that you have to your family, friends, society and planet.
The idea of a duty to an imaginary God trivializes the duty that you have to your family, friends, society and planet.
Great point. A friend of mine in college always said, "My first priority is God."
I said, "Your first priority is an imaginary person living in the sky? That sucks."
What a waste of time and energy.
Ninja Wrote: Well, what IS the meaning of life?
Do we have a purpose?
Should we have a purpose?
Personally, I view it as a big test for heaven, but then you could say what's that? Does it really exist?
So it would really depend on your own beliefs.
So from that you could therefore concluded it is unknown, but that is for you to decide.
Personally, I view it as a big test for heaven
That's a bit silly. I am a teacher. You know why I test my students? I test them to see what they know and what they don't know.
Why would god need to test anyone? He already knows whta they will do and what they will not do. The test would be futile.
But he knows what will happen, even before you're born. He knows whether you will have faith in him or not, so life is just a sadistic exercise.
But He lets you CHOOSE what to do. Whether or not He knows, you choose everything you do. Don't you agree with that logic, Lauren, that you choose everything that you do, from what you say to what you wear?
Don't you agree with that logic, Lauren, that you choose everything that you do, from what you say to what you wear?
Of course atheists do, but that is because we don't believe in a preordained future. If god made a divine plan from the beginning of time, that means he set everything up in advance and, therefore, everything that I will say and do in advance. In that way, I have no choice in what I say or do because it is all included in his divine plan.
"1345249 I heard a quote somewhere. Basically it was: "God made me an atheist." "...and you are you to question his wisdom?"
Excellent quote.
If the purpose of life is to get to heaven, then what is the purpose of Heaven?
To worship Jesus for eternity. Gee, that just sounds like a blast.
Richard wrote: "ah the old questions of god and divine plan-etc-it was all that that drove me to philosophy-going from Descartes to Hegel to Sartre-which brought me to the closed door of "self" and "other"-at 21 i..."Dear Richard,
Yes. Just like that.
In fact, of all the "sacred writings" I've ever read, the Kena Upanishad is by far the best, quite possibly the only one really worth reading. Atheists can enjoy it for the poetry and for its analysis of the self/other question on purely philosophical grounds, or can even accept it as being "wisdom", since it more or less concludes that "Brahman is not the being that is worshipped of men". It describes Brahman as the instantaneous process of awareness.
There are translations I might like better, but online and free this one is pretty good:
http://www.hinduwebsite.com/sacredscript...
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