Being "out of control" has a certain allure to it!
That you or anyone else has "control" of one's life is an absurdity . . . that one is responsible in life is reasonable, and the topic we've just discussed . . . did you read any further than a post or two before you put that in ?
Actually I read 5 posts, no need to be dishonest, i was just felling lazy, sorry, but now i've read the entire thread. I'll never post in any other thread that i haven't read all the posts, one again sorry for my never ending mistakes.
Now I read the whole thread, & my opinion of the meaning of life is to know yourself,control you destiny & try to find some truth , however it's an inmature meaning of life, but i'll learn more. I haven't live alot so maybe in some years when i'll be wiser I think otherwise.
About the biological imperitive of surviving, I guess that our own instincts help us survive, its just like breathing, a biological function.
CodeBorg wrote: If I was numb, I would be a machine. But I have rich and diverse emotions, and each one is nothing but a signpost. It points towards something that has meaning. And as soon as I fully acknowledge that meaning, the emotion's job is done and it simply dissipates. People are always wanting their emotions to be acknowledged, simply because they point out what is truly meaningful. It points out who they are.
So I cry, laugh, shiver or fume, at every opportunity while I still can. If I get angry it's because I value something. If I smile it's because I appreciate something. If I mourn and cry it's because I yearn for something. So the more I feel, the more I am able to see meaning all around me in the world. That's why telling someone not to cry -- is like telling them not to live.
So the meaning of life? Perhaps it's just to feel and experience whatever we can. To know with our hearts what is meaningful to us. To really live!
I really like this. This makes a lot of sense to me. Perhaps if you trace your emotions back you will begin to unveil the meaning of your life...
NNY wrote:"Why does there have to be meaning to life? Why not just decide to be happy, to fulfill your life by living to the fullest, to appreciate each moment and to live the meaning as opposed to trying to find the meaning. "
Because some truly sick people thought ignorance might Not be a logical answer.
Its not about logic! We are
the creature that tells stories. Storytelling is ancient. And observe how children learn langauge by soaking up stories. They appear to have a predispostion to think in terms of narratives. And everyday we organise things into plots and sub-plots - with actors, motives, objectives and dangers along the way... gossip is full of this kind of way of structuring things, as is politics and religion. So naturally we think of our lives in this way too.
Yeah that hast to make the most sense out of all these. Sometimes i actually question why we have certain emotions, and i guess that answers mine.
HF, The subject of "emotion" is a whole subject into itself. It includes colors, but also our biological makeup. The chemistry and electrical charges that make up our brain, and how that translates into our thinking is a mystery to most of us. As level-headed as I think I am most of the time, I can fall into anger fits or mini-depressions without any outside stimuli - that I have noticed. I rationalize it as temporary occurances, and it doesn't affect my life in negative ways, but I'm sure that's not true for many people. c.i.
Quote:So the meaning of life? Perhaps it's just to feel and experience whatever we can.
I think that's rather the recipe for disaster. The wise epicurist viewpoint advises to enjoy the day, but not to be tossed around by our sensorial experiences. They called it apathy -- detachment of passions.
Then what is the meaning of life? I don't think life has a
meaning. The term
meaning is too linear and restrictive to reflect the depth of our presence in the universe. We form an important part in a wonderful, mythical creation of energy. The existence of this particular universe has a deep meaning in itself, and can only be thanked for... and its natural features respected.
Life is what we perceive it to be, greatly influenced by our genes and environment. We have 'some' control within the environment in which we live. Those of us that live in economically developed countries are the lucky ones, because we usually have food, shelter, and relatively good medical care, and some trinkets that may increase our enjoyment of life. c.i.
The question 'what is the meaning of life' should be rephrased:
'what makes life meaningful?'
This question is less theoretical and I think it is more likely to generate fruitful answers (although many of the answers to the question posed in this thread have been absolutley fascinating).
PumpkinHead, the thing that makes life meaningful is that it's the only thing we REALLY have. Maybe the question is what to do with your life to make it look like you are not wasting the only thing you have.
Not bad, Dux. A kind of natural imperative...
Yes, fair point. The fact that it is the only thing we have does invest it with some significance! But it is still possible to live a meaningless life. The question is - in the terms that u used - what makes it feel wasted? Lack of acheivement? That would give life a social justification. Not living up to your standards of right and wrong? Being unhappy? I suspest that you might say 'not seeing the truth of things'...
Dux wrote:Maybe the question is what to do with your life to make it look like you are not wasting the only thing you have.
(italics added).
This suggests a concern with appearances. Is a person's life meaningful when it is witnessed as being so from the persective of the 'generalised other'? possibly... or is that a thing to be outgrown, a vice?
PumpkinHead wrote:Dux wrote:Maybe the question is what to do with your life to make it look like you are not wasting the only thing you have.
(italics added).
This suggests a concern with appearances. Is a person's life meaningful when it is witnessed as being so from the persective of the 'generalised other'? possibly... or is that a thing to be outgrown, a vice?
Ok,I expressed myself wrong AGAIN, what I meant is the question is what to do with your life to ovecome your insignificance & learn the wonderful thing that one's life is?
I never intented to tell that life's meaning is just a look, however i can' tell that it's not
By those common nutrients you mean knowledge or the pleasures of life?
There are of course thing that make life exciting, when a person losses the thrill of life he/she kills hiself/herself unless they don't the courage to do it.
In my case the thrill of life is knowledge, & to see the culmination in me of my values.
Using terms like wasted, insignificance, achievement, justification--all of these are pejoratives, value judgments which are arbitrary and contrived. Notions like those which lead to such judgments are worse than useless, they interfer with the simple act of living one's life, and experiencing that life free of the aritificiality of imposed human system.
Get a grip everyone, there ain't no white-bearded old man off in the sky obsessively recording the fall of each sparrow and recording your every "sin"--life means whatever you wish to make of it, and you only encumber yourselves by resort to such foolishness as "measuring its worth."
I wouldn't say the nutrients are 'knowldege or the pleasures of life'. For you at least, knowlege is part of the pleasure of life. So what is pleasure?
There's things that make life meaningful that don't do so simply because they are pleasant.
Dux, I've mailed you on a related point. I didn't want to take the thread off track
Setanta wrote:Using terms like wasted, insignificance, achievement, justification--all of these are pejoratives, value judgments which are arbitrary and contrived. Notions like those which lead to such judgments are worse than useless, they interfer with the simple act of living one's life, and experiencing that life free of the aritificiality of imposed human system.
Get a grip everyone, there ain't no white-bearded old man off in the sky obsessively recording the fall of each sparrow and recording your every "sin"--life means whatever you wish to make of it, and you only encumber yourselves by resort to such foolishness as "measuring its worth."
Someone's mad
Btw, part of the characteristics of the huamns it's the desire of naming everything & measuring everything, from a book to the lenght if a sound wave. If we can meausre that, why not measure the importance of life & it's meaning?
Setanta wrote:Using terms like wasted, insignificance, achievement, justification--all of these are pejoratives, value judgments which are arbitrary and contrived. Notions like those which lead to such judgments are worse than useless, they interfer with the simple act of living one's life, and experiencing that life free of the aritificiality of imposed human system.
Get a grip everyone, there ain't no white-bearded old man off in the sky obsessively recording the fall of each sparrow and recording your every "sin"--life means whatever you wish to make of it, and you only encumber yourselves by resort to such foolishness as "measuring its worth."
You say "life means whatever you wish to make of it". I agree. I also agree that 'meausuring its worth" is an encumberance. I have said very little about what i value in life. But what I do think is that the dominant model of life that we receive in the UK and the US doesn't make for the best life. Why? Many reasons, several of which I share with you so I wonder if you're reading posts or just want to find an excuse for a bit of a rant.
