The Will to Live

no one has a clear cut answer to the meaning of life because there is no clear cut answer to the meaning of life. Every individual either does or doesn't find a clear cut meaning to his or her own life.


I think it has something to do with differing expectations.

*Did you get your name from that queen song - scaramouche, scaramouche can you do the fandango? (or however it goes). Never thought about that word before - but it's a great word- fun to say.

people who live comfortable lives are more likely to commit suicide than people who are struggling to survive because that is exactly what people who live comfortable lives are not doing, struggling to survive. There is no immediate sense of “purpose” in their lives, as opposed to the poor person, who must fight to survive everyday of his/her life, finding food and water for themselves and their families. Poor people have an urgency in their lives that is much more palpable than for the person who lives a cosy comfortable life, in which food and water, money and all other necessities are not an issue for them. the poor person have little time to stop and think about their own existence, whereas the comfortable person may have plenty of time on their hands which allows them to think about thier own life.

What makes you assume there are living "more comfortable lives?"

When you use the term "more comfortable lives"...are you actually saying, "have more money and goods?"

They don't equate, you know!

Depends on what you mean by "meaning."


What makes you think that most people who commit suicide are those who live more comfortable lives? I suppose the media don't make a big deal of it when some poor schmuck offs himself, so our attention is drawn to those cases where someone who we'd think "wouldn't kill himself in a million years" commits suicide. When some investment banker or movie actor commits suicide, it makes the news. When Joe Schmoe blows his brains out, nobody hears about it. I don't know if anyone keeps these statistics, but I would be very surprised if suicides differ markedly from the average in terms of income levels.

Check out this thread about "meaning of life".

http://able2know.org/topic/127410-1

"Meaning is created, not found"

"What is life about, surviving and reproduction. I think all of you will agree with me this. It is Darwin´s theory of evoltion and natural selection that is so far the best scientific explanation we have about life."

Surviving is build to our code or DNA to keep it safe and pass it on. Selfdestruction is a malfunction. People who commit suicides are often faced with tragedy that they cannot handle or depression. Brains of depressed man is not working right so it is a malfunction of synapses in brain that lead to suicide. As said before here the people who are starving don´t have time to think about anything else than where to get the next meal. Man can survive during the most difficulft time for example Wars because it is build in feature.

The meaning of life is fun or life itself is fun. we all fear pain,thirsty and hunger lead us to drink and eat, we must do anything to relieve the pain and that keep us to survive.In a word,we have to live.

I know one thing for sure: If you feel like killing yourself, you don't have a comfortable life...

that may be true, but what about the people who kill themselves because they believe that they are going to a "better place". do they live uncomfortable lives, not necessarily. you don't have to be depressed or sad to commit suicide.

One can explain the population's will to survive in terms of our evolutionary history (and present, and future): if people didn't have a "will to live" (didn't want to live), they would die. Dead people don't have as many offspring, I'd think.

With that in mind, why should there be a clear cut answer to the "meaning of life"? Is it a proper question in the first place? People have been thinking about these things for centuries and centuries and, in my opinion, have come to no valid universal conclusions which are still as subjective as "meaning". The 'meaning of life' has been diverse between groups of people and changed over time: religions seem determined to supply a dogma of a meaning of life (or a non-meaning) to their followers and philosphers have changed their ideas over time. You can start with Schopenhauer and Nietzsche for some more recent (and still over a century old) philosophy on the subject, although they both indulge in the most popular (imo) pastime of philosophers: invent consistent stories and eschew formal deduction.



I have to admit I don't know very much about the studies behind this popular claim, which comes in a couple of different variations like, 'poorer people are happier' or 'the poor have a greater sense of community'. As such, I'm skeptical (not simply doubting) of that claim. Perhaps it's true, perhaps it isn't. I could come up with some reasons why studies would get positive results and still be inaccurate: the proper reporting of suicide varies between countries and poorer countries may keep worse records. I could also come up with reasons why it would be true: the poor have more essential needs and pleasures and less time to sit about philosophizing or going brain-dead in front of a television. They spend time with their families, they eat, and they work. All of this implies that having that extra time and possessions might mean spending less time with people who care for you or that the different goals alienate you from your self-worth.

To appeal to some more German culture (I've been reading primary texts lately, can you tell?), one idea common in the late middle ages was that of the happy poor free men and serfs who essentially lived such hard lives of such low expectations that being happy was its own reward.

many people live for the search to the "meaning of life". its not the meaning of life itself that drives people, but the quest for the meaning of life that drives people through life.

"its the question that drives us".

we have a will to live because we know that we might find the "meaning" to our lives, we might reach our peaks.