To Be

[Kittens Are Jerks]

11 minutes ago, zep73 said:

Supposedly... 

God aside, the concept of an existence without beginning or end is an interesting one. Difficult to apply to reality, but interesting nonetheless.

[zep73]

I just went through all the major goals of existence in my head, and none of them are worthy of aspiration.

- Knowledge - You know it all, so what? Nobody believes you anyway.
- Wealth - It just makes you callous.
- Power - It's impossible to make everyone happy.
- Fame & Popularity - You lose yourself trying to satisfy.

My conclusion is that it's the other way around. The point of existing, the meaning of life, is to make those you meet happy.
Your family, your friends, the stranger on the street, the faceless guy you meet online. Try your best to make them happy. Nothing else matters.
But do it without compromising yourself.

Edited July 4, 2020 by zep73

[SHaYap]

3 hours ago, zep73 said:

"To be or not to be" is a famous phrase from Shakespeare's Hamlet.

It's the journey, not a destination... In the manner of the logic path of Taoism/Zen philosophy ...

"To be NOT to be"

~

[+and-then]

5 hours ago, spartan max2 said:

This discussion actually reminds me a lot about when i was a kid.

When I was like 6/7 I suffered a severe fall and broke my skull. 

I was in the hospital for 3 months before I "woke up", before I became aware of myself. But I'm told that I was talking and still alive during that whole three months, I have zero memory of any of it until I "woke up".

I remember just thinking. Where am I? Lucky I have great parents and my mom was by my bed and immediately could fill me in on the details.

Apprently I also had to relearn how to do stuff like open doors. 

You just told my father-in-law's story.  In the 1920s, he was about 7-years-old and fell from the seat of a horse-drawn wagon.  The iron clad wooden wheel rolled over his head and he was out for about 3 months.  His teacher had to work one on one for months to re-teach all he had learned before.  

[XenoFish]

10 hours ago, zep73 said:

I just went through all the major goals of existence in my head, and none of them are worthy of aspiration.

- Knowledge - You know it all, so what? Nobody believes you anyway.
- Wealth - It just makes you callous.
- Power - It's impossible to make everyone happy.
- Fame & Popularity - You lose yourself trying to satisfy.

Welcome to my world. The only thing that matters is what matters to you, even though it's temporary.

[lightly]

12 hours ago, spartan max2 said:

For me, I would define self awareness as being aware you are an independent entity in the world. 

Not sure how to word it, but like how alot of animals just act on instinct. 

Humans have a something extra where we are "aware" of ourselves. 

I think animals awareness is superior to ours in some ways.  For instance, cats and dogs seem more aware of people's being  than people are....they seem to be able to sense/read/judge people...much better than we can.   ?  

Dogs often make me nervous and they always seem to sence it....it makes them nervous in a way.  They're not sure how to interpret it...and sometimes sence it as some sort of threat.  ?   I have an affinity for cats...they often sense it immediately and will  approach me and do figure eights around my ankles , rubbing them with the sides of their faces...or flop at my feet and give me that squinty look...where they can see your being.    

 

Edited July 4, 2020 by lightly

[XenoFish]

5 hours ago, lightly said:

I think animals awareness is superior to ours in some ways.  For instance, cats and dogs seem more aware of people's being  than people are....they seem to be able to sense/read/judge people...much better than we can.   ?  

Dogs often make me nervous and they always seem to sense it....it makes them nervous in a way.  They're not sure how to interpret it...and sometimes sense it as some sort of threat.  ?   I have an affinity for cats...they often sense it immediately and will  approach me and do figure eights around my ankles , rubbing them with the sides of their faces...or flop at my feet and give me that squinty look...where they can see your being.    

 

I think their attention span is better. Ours is kinda shot now.