Tim_Lou Posted April 7, 2004 Report Share Posted April 7, 2004 whats the purpose of life? whats the meaning of it?hmm, everyone has a different view point of life... this is not an arguing topic.just wanna see ppl's opinions of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sycosis Posted May 13, 2004 Report Share Posted May 13, 2004 there is no meaning of life. its just an illusion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sanctus Posted May 13, 2004 Report Share Posted May 13, 2004 eventually there are two devils........ Well i believe that all and every of our actions are selfish an egoistic, therefore the purpose of life is to be alright with your ego and yourself. You can do that saying it out loud and then you're classified (by the people who judge) as an egoist or you can not be aware of it and then people will say that you're "normal (or not an egoist)". Now the question is what does you make feel alright with yourself, as this is the aim of living? There are only personal answers, I personally feel alright with myself when I do actions that I judge as good (as helping somebody who wants/needs help, making people that don't think think and so on..), because then I'm happy with myself. I know this doesn't seem very altruistic, and it's true when I help someone there is no altruism there, I do it for myself as I feel good by doing it. In my vision of life and human beings it's impossible to be altruistic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freethinker Posted May 13, 2004 Report Share Posted May 13, 2004 Sanctus, you sound like an Objectivist. The very question of "what is the meaning of life" has the problem of whether it is even a valid question. Who says there is or even has to be a "meaning to life"? We are begging the question in even asking it. It needs to be defined further. First we need to know at what level is the question being asked? Are we to assume, with a total lack of support, that some outside agent is providing life and thus there is an outside objective answer? Or do we assume, that since there is nothing to justify acceptance of any outside agent myth, that it is up to us individually to provide a meaning for our individual life? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sundog Posted May 13, 2004 Report Share Posted May 13, 2004 As I see it, we can only 'create' a meaning or purpose in our own life to give it direction. There is no meaning or purpose to life as a whole. So whatever ones view of their purpose, it is still only a creation of the mind. Life can exist without a concept of purpose or meaning. Only actions or events can change that. As sycosis says "it's just an illusion" We question to get answers, to help our understanding. But just because we can form a question, does not mean there 'must' be an answer. What's the purpose of life? What's its meaning? There is no correct answer. It's like asking "what is the meaning of rain, what is its purpose?" It's just a process of events. We can understand what causes it and what effect it has. But its purpose or meaning could only exist in our minds. I see life as the end result of a complex combining of elements. Given the right elements, conditions and given enough time, I think life can develop. We are just part of a process. Just as elements come together to form stars and planets, elements came together in a complex way and formed what we call life. I find it better to try and understand 'how' something came to be, rather than try and find a 'purpose' of it being. Well, that's my humble opinion. sundog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freethinker Posted May 13, 2004 Report Share Posted May 13, 2004 Originally posted by: sundogBut just because we can form a question, does not mean there 'must' be an answer. WOW! If you had any idea how many times I have typed that very sentence! I thought I was reading my own post for a sec! Often regarding this question or "What came before the big bang." It's nice to have some company for a change! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim_Lou Posted May 14, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2004 this is NOT an arguing topic!what im asking is that what do you think your goal is in your life?what do YOU think is the purpose of being here? this is all personal, i just wanna see how ppl's opinions differ.dont judge other ppl's opinions based upon your own opinions... thx for those who replied! :-) as i said in other post, i believe that the purpose of life is find out the purpose of it.... once you try, you will truely get something out of it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexander Posted May 14, 2004 Report Share Posted May 14, 2004 Freethinker, i totally agree with you, and once again, just because we can come up with a question, does not mean that it makes sense and has to have an answer... As to the original question of what the meaning of life is, we can only answer a question with any persiceness if the question asks a specific thing, but in case of your question I'd say that you are asking about something that is so vaigue that nobody will ever be able to answer it but yourself, an noone wil be able to prove it but you to yourself. Your question can't be answered until we can declare that there is life, that we are alive, that there are other people, that there is communication, that whatever i'm writing, i am not writing to another part of whatever i simulate in my own bain or do i even have a brain, only to be answered for me by another part of me. Is there a life, is there a meaning, does life have a meaning, can a meaning be a part of life and what the meaning (or therefore purpose) of life is, noone knows or can ever find out defore their death.... As to my theory, I rarely disclose it, since many people after hearing about it and try to cloud me with their meaning of perceprion of what I just told them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freethinker Posted May 14, 2004 Report Share Posted May 14, 2004 Originally posted by: Tim_Louthis is NOT an arguing topic! what im asking is that what do you think your goal is in your life? Ah, GOALS! that is very different from "purpose" in terms of the typical claim of human life having some "purpose" given by some outside agent. My goal is to have as positive of an influence to society as I can while enjoying life as much as possible. as i said in other post, i believe that the purpose of life is find out the purpose of it.... once you try, you will truely get something out of it... We find out the purpose of life through introspection. You make your OWN purpose in life. Some waste their lives trying to please some mythical vengeful sky god to stop from being tortured for eternity. Others understand that this is the life we actually KNOW we have and put their energy and resources into making it as positive as possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim_Lou Posted May 14, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2004 "Some waste their lives trying to please some mythical vengeful sky god to stop from being tortured for eternity." you might think it is stupid, but that person might be happy about it. "waste?", well, many of my friends think that it is a waste of time to type essays in this forums...(judging is probably one of the most troubling things in the world...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geko Posted May 15, 2004 Report Share Posted May 15, 2004 Originally posted by: Tim_Lou<brjudging is probably one of the most troubling things in the world... But alas, it will be done. Onto topic: Personally i believe that is no purpose to life. A product of contingency i suppose. My goals on the other hand are tremendously important. The pursuement of which bring me my supposed subjective happiness. So i guess they are "the purpose" i live for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Martin Posted June 23, 2004 Report Share Posted June 23, 2004 Originally posted by: sycosisthere is no meaning of life. its just an illusion I think this may be incorrect. It seems to me that no one has considered that there is a very definite meaning of life. To me the meaning of life is to survive. It is the most basal instinct we have as individuals and as a species. And it applies to all life, no anthropomorphic bias. No external factors, we're born with it and we die with it. What is stronger than the will to survive and procreate? Survival of the individual to prosper, have offspring and care for their young to ensure the survival of the species. Alot of you may disagree, but it seems obvious to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim_Lou Posted June 24, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2004 dont you feel empty about life? ppl being born and died....pass and go...and nothing is left at the momment of death... the only thing left might be a soul...which is nothing in this physical world... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Martin Posted June 24, 2004 Report Share Posted June 24, 2004 Tim,You are way too young to be worried about death. You should feel like you've got the world by the you know whats.(spherical objects) I'm old enough to be your grandfather and I don't have half the defeatist attitude that you do. And I promise you, the world has tried to beat me down, but it will never,......ever...succeed!!! So stop your whining and go out into the world and claim what is rightfully yours!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ldsoftwaresteve Posted February 12, 2005 Report Share Posted February 12, 2005 It's simple, really. To perceive existence is my purpose. I believe it is the single purpose of all life. Just to perceive what it is in one's nature to perceive. Why? I have no freakin idea, except that it sure seems to be a driving force of some kind. Look at the spectrum of life from the perspective of what it is capable of perceiving. If there is an inherent property of matter (or existence) that for some as yet unknown reason requires its own notice, then it would all make sense. It's almost as if existence has some 'need' to be seen. The contradiction is that 'need' only applies to a living thing. So, strictly speaking, it can't be a need unless the universe is alive and if that's the case we're talking about a snowflake in a blizzard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHADS Posted February 12, 2005 Report Share Posted February 12, 2005 All life has the ability to reproduce and maintain its existance ... maybe not straight away ,like a new born child .. but eventually through learning ...Bio diversity is amazing but we all feel pain ...... This pain aids biological organisms to set there parameters ... otherwise if you felt nothing you would surely exstinct yourself in an instant......Life has been given a chance with sensitive nervous system which says what you can and cant do .... (you cant play on the sun .. this will not do ) .. These built in mechanisms aid life in prolonging its self and reproducing more life..Im not sure about botany but im sure plants have a different nervous system .. but definatly sensitive to changing conditions .. they climb to the sun. So with this inbuilt survival aid im sure it would be rational to assume that the meaning of life would be to live and aid other life forms to survive and maintain favourable , comfortable conditions ... or if intelligent enough .. maintain there chance of admiring the bueaty that can be found in life ...... But this veiw is dashed when confronted with bad viral organisms... why would lifeforms wish to maintain these in there favourable conditions ..Maybe the meaning of life is to live and just see what life can maintain its own and progress to the end of time and see what organism has the highest survival rate at the inevitable end of the universe ...... and then do it again and again .. again ... and see what creature wins the most ... and if there is a god he would see what it was and ask why they wanted to survive so much ...The creature would be so far advanced from its basic biological programming .... These forces of nature and life are here to maintain our survival to the end ... strive and struggle to keep life ... these forces dont rationalise .. aware creatures rationalise ... these forces just do there basic job but there foundation has acheived imense sucess throughout the universe ... and the very first biological organism ever .. probably will also out live all others to the last .... meaning of life ..keep it .Dont you like it?life has gone through too much evolution and it would be an insult to swap life for machines .. they maybe intelligent in the future but life is always held in precedent .. cos we feel the pain .. the pain that helps us survive ... Hopefully it would be nice to start our own garden on another world one day and help life begin and maintain itself and when aware find its own bueaty in it all and then do the same process ... Life is the best thing the universe can create .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeleMad Posted February 12, 2005 Report Share Posted February 12, 2005 sanctus: Well i believe that all and every of our actions are selfish an egoistic, therefore the purpose of life is to be alright with your ego and yourself. … In my vision of life and human beings it's impossible to be altruistic. So a mother who risks her life – say during a tsunami – to save her child is doing it so that, if she happens to survive, she will feel good about herself? It’s not primarily to help the child? What about a single mother who works two jobs to save up money so her child can go to college one day? That’s not a sacrifice primarily for her child? It’s done just so the mother can feel good about herself? Shoot, do you know how much it costs to have a baby and raise it – the hospital bill, the diapers and formula, the clothes, the food, the time and effort, the lost ability to do things you used to like to do, and so on. Parents give up a lot in order to have a child and there are many many much less costly things one could do to boost one’s own ego. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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