SereneScene Posted April 30, 2012 Author #26 Share Posted April 30, 2012 The only problem with that logic is the genes that made up you came from your ancestors, they contributed to your survival. In the short term its about you, but long term its the survival of a population. In the end its about individuality though, I have no obligation to reproduce just because I got genes from other people, it was their choice, I never had a choice to be born, so If I want to live my life a certain way that is my choice. May sound selfish but I was never given some kind of choice to be born into this world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bella-Angelique Posted April 30, 2012 #27 Share Posted April 30, 2012 (edited) Using logic, human beings have survived as a species because they have and use both analylitcal and intuative thinking processes. Using too much of either process on a prolonged basis creates an impairment of the functioning of the other process. My personal advice to you is to exercise and build back up your intuative thinking ability. Work on anything that you find pleasurable that is demanding upon your imaginative ability. Section off a small part of your day, a half an hour or hour, to be your creative time. The current obsession with analytical thinking as the only type of good, healthy thinking is actually very unhealthy. As in all things balance is what is actually most important. Edited April 30, 2012 by Bella-Angelique 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CommunitarianKevin Posted April 30, 2012 #28 Share Posted April 30, 2012 LOL, your right, I am sorry. I did react, well a bit overmuch. However, I don't think science is meant to give us some kind of meaning for our lives, though without it we would be up the creek. Being so young is wonderful, I am old enough to be your grand father, so I can get well, cranky. doug No problem. I agree that science cannot really give us a meaning of life but someone asked the question so I tried to answer it in terms of science because I guess that is what I follow. But yeah, it is an opinion, but one I try to back up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyingAngel Posted May 1, 2012 #29 Share Posted May 1, 2012 Come in the religious meaning. Life is to learn. A soul in the form of human is sent here to learn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beany Posted May 1, 2012 #30 Share Posted May 1, 2012 Even if there is no great meaning to life, we are here, with our at least 5 senses, so why not enjoy it and be an asset to our communities? My life has meaning to me, but in the greater scheme of things, it's like a drop of rain in the ocean. I'm a very small part of a greater whole, and I stand in awe of that bigger picture. In the meantime, I try to make the most out of every moment I have and learn whatever I can, I see no reason to despair. My life has a greater meaning to me, perhaps because of my grandchildren. I teach them what I can, love them unconditionally, and let my vision for them & the generations that follow guide me, in the way that native Americans speak of the 7th generation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bendy Demon Posted May 1, 2012 #31 Share Posted May 1, 2012 It is not enough to just simply...exist. Why? Most every other creature does exactly that...exist. And when they no longer exist, life still goes on. Often it seems we think far too subjectively to the point that we end up thinking that our subjectivity represents actual reality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markdohle Posted May 1, 2012 #32 Share Posted May 1, 2012 Why? Most every other creature does exactly that...exist. And when they no longer exist, life still goes on. Often it seems we think far too subjectively to the point that we end up thinking that our subjectivity represents actual reality. That is the point, we do have an inner subjective world, deep, complex and filled with questions and longings that nothing seems to quench in our everyday world. peace mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayMark Posted May 1, 2012 #33 Share Posted May 1, 2012 No harm but I think it's a quite boring way to see life. We will all die someday. If you just focus about living for as long as possible without any other purpose, I think your life will suck. Quite honestly, I have a very deep vision about the whole purpose of life. A philosophical and spiritual (non-religious) one. If you are interested, I can share it. From a wider perspective, I could say that the purpose of one's life is what one decides to do with it. In other words, you make up your own path. And how good or bad it is only depends on how you feel about it. If it makes you sincerly happy, then it's good for you. It's all about listening to your "inner-voice" and your feelings. I beleive, not only that we all have an individual purpose, but that the universe itself has a purpose. I will elaborate upon request. Until then, peace! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bendy Demon Posted May 2, 2012 #34 Share Posted May 2, 2012 (edited) No harm but I think it's a quite boring way to see life. We will all die someday. If you just focus about living for as long as possible without any other purpose, I think your life will suck. No. My life won't "suck" any worse than anyone elses AND I really don't care about how long I live anyways. To me life is life, I care nothing for purpose. I live, do stuff then I die. My so-called "inner voice" says that purpose is an invention and not to worry about having any. Edited May 2, 2012 by Ryu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artaxerxes Posted May 2, 2012 #35 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Near death experiencers routinely describe overwhelming feelings of connectedness and oneness in heaven. One woman who had a near death experience reported that we here in the physical universe can't begin to comprehend the overwhelming feelings of "oneness" in Heaven. Life seems to be one long lesson in separation, from the moment we are born and separate from our mothers till the day we die and our death becomes a lesson in separation to the loved ones we leave behind. We experience separation in a myriad of ways in this life, from moving away from friends, leaving home, divorce, pets dying, and different religions, politics, race, culture, language, dialects, wealth, I.Q., education, gender, sexual orientation, weight and height, status, etc. It can also be as simple as picking a tomato or a grape off a vine. The death of someone we love is the ultimate lesson in what it means and how it feels to be separate. The more emotional the experience the more powerful and long lasting the memory it creates. Perhaps this life exists simply to teach the soul what it means and how it feels to be separate, something it can't learn in Heaven due to those overwhelming feelings of oneness and connectedness. Perhaps our souls come here to become separate unique individuals and they do that by experiencing duality and separation, time and space, and make memories of what it was like to live in a 3 dimensional + 1 time universe? Art Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Only Posted May 2, 2012 #36 Share Posted May 2, 2012 In the end I think we are no different then other animals in the world, we do everything we need to do to survive and make ourselves happy and then most of us reproduce and eventually die. Thats it. I don't know. I don't feel other animals would suddenly drop their other animal jobs that put food in their mouths, to chase a dream that makes them happy, like becoming a starving painter or making a musical work of art. At some point, we have evolved from simply needing to survive, to wanting something more. Call it what you will; a glimpse of something more, or a fault of an over developed brain. But many of us have passed the point of simply surviving. What now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
failturner25 Posted May 2, 2012 #37 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Maybe there isn't a meaning to live in general. Maybe we just have to create a meaning to live for ourselves. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paracelse Posted May 2, 2012 #38 Share Posted May 2, 2012 In studying biology this is the conclusion I have come to also. I base this on living things as a whole. Many creatures live very short lives with reproduction as their one goal. Others die in the process of reproducing. I think the passing on of genes in the point of life. The entire process of passing the genes is one reason life can be enjoyable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayMark Posted May 2, 2012 #39 Share Posted May 2, 2012 No. My life won't "suck" any worse than anyone elses AND I really don't care about how long I live anyways. To me life is life, I care nothing for purpose. I live, do stuff then I die. My so-called "inner voice" says that purpose is an invention and not to worry about having any. Whatever works for you bro. If you are happy like this, I see no reason in trying to convince you otherwise. And besides, beleifs are beleifs so it's not ever a matter of trying to convince anybody to begin with... From my point of view, there is nothing that exists that has no purpose. But that's me. I love to wander in that kind of philosophical / spiritual thinking. Just as much as I love to study sciences. That is my purpose right there; to do what passionates me. If it's all just a big illusion, well be it. Peace. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Only Posted May 2, 2012 #40 Share Posted May 2, 2012 (edited) Maybe there isn't a meaning to live in general. Maybe we just have to create a meaning to live for ourselves. I guess this is a good way to think about it. Life being like a song. We all hear the same song, but it is up to the person to find the meaning in the song. Not even the songwriter can take this right away. A good songwriter when asked the meaning of a song will ask the listener what they think it means. Then tell them their own intended meaning was no more right or wrong than the listeners. edit: Or to take that analogy in a different direction, maybe the "song" is a joint effort between all of us, and we each are responsible for our own addition, or part, to the song. We all are the songwriters. Is there a grand meaning that comes in the end when all of the individual meanings are put together to create the finished work? Who knows. But I still feel failturner might have the right idea, in that we are responsible to create our own meanings, and no one can tell us if we are right or not, if it is how we truly feel. Maybe there is a meaning to life in general we all are a part of, but I don't think anyone will ever truly figure out what that is fully, so why bother? Edited May 2, 2012 by _Only 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bendy Demon Posted May 2, 2012 #41 Share Posted May 2, 2012 From my point of view, there is nothing that exists that has no purpose. You obviously never seen a mosquito then, have you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alzimba Posted May 16, 2012 #42 Share Posted May 16, 2012 That is what I come up with when I think about the purpose of life, whats the point of eating? Working hard? To survive, you dont need to reproduce in order to survive, in caveman days the point of life was to get food and survive, is it the same today? Well what do we go to school for? What do we work for? So that we can earn money to buy food, a house to sleep in, pay our bills, but we also want to buy nice things, for what? To make us happy, so what IS the point of life? To survive or to just overall be happy? In the end I think we are no different then other animals in the world, we do everything we need to do to survive and make ourselves happy and then most of us reproduce and eventually die. Thats it. I dont feel that we are meant or "destined" for anything else, we are simply just "another" organism. It sucks because my mind keeps wanting another purpose, something "deeper" but my logic tells me that's all we are. I have come to terms with this reality. Your mind wants another purpose because there is in fact another purpose. The fact that the point is to survive is really because without life, the universe doesnt exist. If you read quantum physics, the observer effect is quite clear in stating that when you focus on something, you actually just collapsed a quantum proability. When you close your eyes, all possibilities come back in form of virbational patterns. So what I'm trying to tell you is, we are all part of something bigger and more beautiful than ourselves. Many famous scientists will tell you the purpose of the universe is to create more life as the purpose of living organisms is to ensure the survival of its species. Being that in fact, it means life IS actually special. The universe spent billions of years settling on probability to create you through a extremely complicated method of evoultion. You do have purpose. We are all part of the wonderful system of nature. In fact, it is more beautiful that any god humans can come up with in their head. Life after death will be as beautiful as life here simply because nature is beautiful. If you appreaciate the beauty of the way the universe works, you will find that there is a gerated purpose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alzimba Posted May 16, 2012 #43 Share Posted May 16, 2012 Why? Most every other creature does exactly that...exist. And when they no longer exist, life still goes on. Often it seems we think far too subjectively to the point that we end up thinking that our subjectivity represents actual reality. Life is a journey of experiances and connectivity. All things that live, me and you and the world are experiancers on this journey. When we die, this journey continues to another life similar to this one and we will die again.Time and space also dont really exist and in that sense I guess consciousness can exist in different time frames. But honestley our experiance here on earth is just a fragment of a larger reality, one that is extremly beautiful and too complex for humans to understand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astrometry Posted May 17, 2012 #44 Share Posted May 17, 2012 (edited) That is what I come up with when I think about the purpose of life, whats the point of eating? Working hard? To survive, you dont need to reproduce in order to survive, in caveman days the point of life was to get food and survive, is it the same today? Well what do we go to school for? What do we work for? So that we can earn money to buy food, a house to sleep in, pay our bills, but we also want to buy nice things, for what? To make us happy, so what IS the point of life? To survive or to just overall be happy? In the end I think we are no different then other animals in the world, we do everything we need to do to survive and make ourselves happy and then most of us reproduce and eventually die. Thats it. I dont feel that we are meant or "destined" for anything else, we are simply just "another" organism. It sucks because my mind keeps wanting another purpose, something "deeper" but my logic tells me that's all we are. I have come to terms with this reality. A part of me agrees with you. The materialist reality agrees with you. Science agrees with you. I myself attend environmental sciences at university, but I have come to terms that even if there is nothing else but matter, I like to think of the Universe as a small part of the whole, the 'whole' we will never be able to understand completely. This is what gives me inspiration. Just look at love. One thing that pretty much solves all possible issues. We can have a biochemical point of view of love. Serotonine, dopamine, etc. But everytime we are with a loved one, we do not think 'oh, this situation is so cool, I am with another human being who makes my brain produce dopamine and that makes me feel happy'. Science is great, it impresses me on a daily basis, but to me, it's useful to see 'more' than just matter, even if there's nothing more. THAT is what keeps me alive and helps me survive. You might be interested in the book 'The selfish gene' by Richard Dawkins. According to his theory, all your life is about trying to make your body the best place for your genes, and to be able to reproduce your genome, so he basicly says that it's your genes trying to survive, not 'you'. Finally, an irrational answer to your main question: "All animals except man know that the ultimate of life is to enjoy it." - Samuel Butler Edited May 17, 2012 by Astrometry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talion Posted May 18, 2012 #45 Share Posted May 18, 2012 That is what I come up with when I think about the purpose of life, whats the point of eating? Working hard? To survive, you dont need to reproduce in order to survive, in caveman days the point of life was to get food and survive, is it the same today? Well what do we go to school for? What do we work for? So that we can earn money to buy food, a house to sleep in, pay our bills, but we also want to buy nice things, for what? To make us happy, so what IS the point of life? To survive or to just overall be happy? In the end I think we are no different then other animals in the world, we do everything we need to do to survive and make ourselves happy and then most of us reproduce and eventually die. Thats it. I dont feel that we are meant or "destined" for anything else, we are simply just "another" organism. It sucks because my mind keeps wanting another purpose, something "deeper" but my logic tells me that's all we are. I have come to terms with this reality. The whole purpose of life is procreation. Think about it, when your out in nature what do you see? Procreation everywhere, whether its germination or other if it wasn't for procreation in every single organism life on earth would be zero. I believe mankind are the only organics that chose whether to procreate or not. Taking religion or philosophy or reasoning out of our equations thats basically why were are here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Star Posted May 19, 2012 #46 Share Posted May 19, 2012 (edited) Isn't it that ones individual conscious awareness which gives meaning/purpose to ones life or not? If fred sees no meaning/purpose other than to ****, eat and live like a worm then for fred there is no purpose other than what he sees. If sue see's meaning/purpose to all things then there is meaning/purpose to all things. Surely? Edited May 19, 2012 by Blue Star Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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