Meaning of Life.

[AllisonForbes]

Life is meaningless is the statement. You defined meaning I presume by showing us what it is not? One's cells combine to form a highly functional human being of intelligence and interacts with others and in the end dies. Therefore that is meaningless.

What separates us from animals is the ability not only to communicate with other humans, but to reason and to contemplate our existence within the realm of space and time. We contemplate because we seek to know. It is the seeking that defines the meaning. If we did not seek, we would merely be nothing more than a highly sophisticated animal.

Seeking meaning allows us to contemplate beauty, art, writings, truth, act courageously or justly. The fact that you are writing on a philosophical board about the existence of meaning, implies that you seek to prove or disprove it. Life has meaning or we would not seek to love, learn, create societies, better ourselves, or enjoy life. It would be a fruitless existence, one of selfish gratification over greater good.

[jon1jt]

To drive free! to love free! to dash reckless and dangerous!
To court destruction with taunts—with invitations!
To ascend—to leap to the heavens of the love indicated to me!
To rise thither with my inebriate Soul!
To be lost, if it must be so!
To feed the remainder of life with one hour of fulness and freedom!
With one brief hour of madness and joy. (Whitman)


We write on the world, the world does not write on us. (Nietzsche)

[Smooth Operator]

I understand what you mean by asking this question Sharp, but one should not question it because there is no other answer than life. I think the problem is that your looking at the big picture rather than the small one(your own individual life).

[iwnttoknowall]

Smooth, i think ur on the right track. Of course, some things only apply to a certain religion, like christianity. In the Bible doesnt it not say, "Be fruitful and multiply." that could be the meaning, but sharp, i take it as u belive in the principle of the ancient Greeks, u believe we are mere pawns in an insane game played by gods? Atheists probably just say, "heck, we are here, make the best of it, lets party, or something." there may not even be a meaning of life, as some1 said, but then u wonder, about your faith and the theory of evolution. some1 post back

[IamMissingaLink]

i agree with sharp. Life has no inherant meaning, atleast none that I can grasp. We're here for a period and then die. that's all i can be certain of.

[dionesa]

It is in my humble opinion that life truly has no meaning. We are organisms put on this planet to live our life and and do what pleases us. We are nothing but another species with superior intelligence and reason. That is why our life has so much structure and beurocracy. We live our life in guaranteed death. We reproduce and the next generation goes through this life cycle. Repeated hundreds of times all while the process of Evolution takes place. Therefore our life truly has no meaning. In a broader sense nothing really has any meaning whatsoever. But our emotions, our emotions is what blinds us into this anomaly which very few ever realize that we are meaningless. On this earth to do only what pleases us.

I realize that this idea has brought many poets to their death by suicide.

Sincerely, A thoughtful adolescent and realist.

Well,,this is orobaby your life but i think that is true.This life well is a cicle,,that evryone that comes after us is doing the same,well,sincerly,,dionesa,,macedonia

[dionesa]

If there is anybody who is satssfied from this life completly that he lies himself,,there is not perfec life but also we should live it

[hitchhiker]

Live. That is the meaning of life. Pull from life everything there is to draw and that is living it to the meaning.

[bluevictim]

Wow. So much discussion. I thought the answer was 42.

[maggie yang]

Live. That is the meaning of life. Pull from life everything there is to draw and that is living it to the meaning.

yeah...i agree with you ...to live is to have the meaning of life..
to live as a new baby

[trismegistus]

We're here for a period and then die. that's all i can be certain of.

Pfft! You're certain when you're hungry. You're certain when you're tired. You're certain when you're horny. I can go on all day.

Feeding the machine is the meaning of life. If you don't value feeding the machine, well there are many tall buildings from which to leap.

[jon1jt]

It is in my humble opinion that life truly has no meaning. We are organisms put on this planet to live our life and and do what pleases us. We are nothing but another species with superior intelligence and reason. That is why our life has so much structure and beurocracy. We live our life in guaranteed death. We reproduce and the next generation goes through this life cycle. Repeated hundreds of times all while the process of Evolution takes place. Therefore our life truly has no meaning. In a broader sense nothing really has any meaning whatsoever. But our emotions, our emotions is what blinds us into this anomaly which very few ever realize that we are meaningless. On this earth to do only what pleases us.

I realize that this idea has brought many poets to their death by suicide.

Sincerely, A thoughtful adolescent and realist.

i'm not so sure people only do what pleases them. actually i think just the opposite, which is why society is obsessed with value-laden rules self-imposed. in the process institutions are erected and gods are worshipped in all varieties: the god of sports; the god of clean air; the god of self-advancement; the god of family; and oh, can't forget jesus and allah, yahweh and god herself, and let us not to forget the one and the many. they're all self-preserving mechanisms which facilitate the pursuit of a meaningful life. to state categorically that human life is meaningless is like lightning that stops itself while flashing to ask why it's flashing. it just flashes. human beings are imbued with a self-reflective capacity that allows for judgment toward things and itself, thereby acting as spectator and performer simultaneously. and so distinguishes itself from the purely impulsive. whether this is a curse or blessing, you decide.

just think about this: you derived meaning in the very meaningless proposition you set forth for this thread, or else you would have figured there's no point and not bothered.

[alhara]

I find there is meaning in that which is not explained. To find real meaning religion is the easiest way, but think about it in what is natural and in the most reduced and primitive standards. What we do, what we do without thinking; breathing, blinking ECT, are necessary things. Breathing is sweet, breath is good. Life, livening is good. This is true because we from birth fear death. Babies scream when they need feeding because without food they will die and it hurts to be hungry, it hurts to bleed. Living is a healthy and natural thing. It is also natural to seek meaning in life, seeking meaning is natural and is good. Society does motivate us but man creates society because it pleases him/her to have it. I personally believe the meaning of life is to be perfect and to find perfect happiness, but that it is impossible, so we each try to get as close as we can. we need to do this because life is movement life is change. Love the 42 comment. It is part of that is true the meaning of life is to pine over the meaning of life and to know life’s meaning is to nullify life, to rob life of meaning, or the world will explode, what ever floats your boat. The thing is, the bad thing to do is to stop searching. We know we can’t be perfect people, they tell us from kindergarten on up that no one is perfect, but if you try all the same to be perfect and so doing are (without any help from the army) be all you can be. The same rules apply to the meaning of life, you search your whole life for the meaning of life and don’t find it but so doing have the most meaningful life you can. The meaning of life is to seek truth to answer the unexplained knowing full well there will always be that last thing you don´t understand until the day you die. I feel like I am repeating my self, the point the real point is that I feel bad when I think there is no meaing to life in the same way I feel bad if I eat something I shouldn´t so to not bealieve there is meaning in life is unatural, what is natural feels good and what is not natural feels bad. Not believe in a meaning to life feels bad and is thus unatrual and not right.
I also have question, If life is meaningless because of what science tells us, that crap about carbon based organism, reproduction and death, if we are children of evolution and all the things in our bodies are products of evolution, then WHY do we have emotions at all? If all we have to do is reproduce and evolve and emotion is simply an obstacle than why hasn’t it been evolved out? Why do we cry when we are sad? What purpose does that serve? Maybe we just haven’t reached point yet, if so than why is there not more emotion in say the writing of Homer that the writing of Mary Shelly or other writers. Human emotion is the same through out history it will not be evolved out because emotion is out side evolution, but emotion is a strong obstacle to evolution we all must agree emotion makes us do very stupid things that endanger our species (War, or chastity). Yet it still exist, that signifies that emotion is outside of evolution and thus there is more to life than Darwin, sure he’s great and he explains a lot of things but he doesn’t explain everything because you can’t. I think your just being lazy like those people who decide to worship to fill the emptiness in their lives science is as much a religion as Christianity or Judaism, religion has gods, and science has Proof and Darwinism, and those too tired of thinking to care, attribute everything to evolution in the same way Christian say “it is the will of god” or to quote Douglas Adams “and it’s Bob’s will so it must be perfectly normal” don’t get lazy, think, philosophize, and doubt, above all doubt, we must Doubt everything to find our own truth. Now I have to stop or i´ll take up the whole page.

I don´t think this will change your mind, its sad thought because seeking lifes meaning is part of what makes our lives passionate and beatiful, but in the end i respect your opinion and have gone through the life is meaningless science has jaded me stage and you have to get out of that all on your own nothing I say will help.

[godhelpme2]

Well, personallly, I think all of us may feel life's meaninglessness in a certain period of time. But it is rather temporary.
We cannot be too ambitious to ask every moment of life is full of energy and meaning. Until one day you think you have the courage finally to commit suicide, will you send out that exclamation,"Life is meaningless."
Hope everyone can cherish our precious life!!!

[IamMissingaLink]

Pfft! You're certain when you're hungry. You're certain when you're tired. You're certain when you're horny. I can go on all day.

Feeding the machine is the meaning of life. If you don't value feeding the machine, well there are many tall buildings from which to leap.

nice .
I was going through somthign if a crises when i wrote that! I've always been more of a phenomenologist to be honest.
anyway...seeing life as lacking inherant meaning mean you don't embrace expereinces of life and that death is preferable.