I'm quite primitive. I can see the non-dualism thing and as far as I understand it, agree with it, but it is not at the center of my own reaction to life, which is primarily experiencial.
Osso, experience is non-dualistic; our thoughts about it are dualistic.
Hmmm. The difference between us is I don't much care, not to be rude. I enjoy my self awareness/in conjunction with surroundings at many levels, and that's my prime interest, whatever category others name it.
Let's cover the bases.
If you believe in God, then you think he's there above you, watching the ballet he wrote eons ago play out, and every scene has a purpose, and when you exit stage left, you come upstairs to his personal bachelor party.
If you think there is no God, then you believe we're in a random, meaningless universe, where there is no purpose, plan, rhyme or reason, so nothing we do matters. But this leaves everything open for meaning, since now you are the sole arbiter of what is meaningful.
Personally, I think that if there's a God, he set the world into motion, but left us alone after that to decide for ourselves what matters and doesn't, and so everything we do is up to us.
Basically, I'm saying that even if your life has no inherent, God-given meaning, you can still earn meaning, and leave the results of your actions as your testament to the world. What you do always matters to somebody.
There you go. We're free to create our own meanings and values. Rejoice!
I haven't real this entire thread, but if JL wants me to rejoice, well, dammit, I'm gonna rejoice.
<Gustav climbs onto his desktop and begins to pump his fists in the air and shout rejoicing kinds of phrases>
Everyone has to have a meaning to life, whether it is religion, money or otherwise. I think part of religion is about culling our fear of death.
Myself? I don't believe in God, or at least not the kind of the Bible. So I have a different answer to death. I will create a multi-national business empire. Then I will create secret laboratories researching a number of scientific areas, one of which being longevity. I will use this science to extend my life, maybe only 20 years, but 20 years will be long enough to further expand my research. And so a chain reaction will have been started, with every year of my life gained used to find out how to add another. I will then become the pupeteer of humankind, steering my species towards success. I will always remain hidden, working through chains of contacts. I will stop the general public accessing the technology that I do not wish them to have, making sure that I am always one step ahead of everyone else. And when man has spread throughout the universe and colonised every corner, I will create a machine to destroy the fabric of time and space, and annihilate the universe and its inhabitants.
Or not.
given the responses it can be said that your point is not lifeless
