What's the meaning of life?

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Steve3007
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Re: What's the meaning of life?

Post by Steve3007 »

Atreyu:
No. Life exists to progress, whether we agree or not.
Nevertheless, I do disagree. It's a silly as saying that planets exist for the purpose of orbiting stars.
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Fairwinds
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Re: What's the meaning of life?

Post by Fairwinds »

Procreation.

Without procreation life will wither so my conclusion is that sustaining and promoting the continuity of all the species is the most obvious meaning. It could also be argued that life has no meaning, so the question, although interesting, is a false one.
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Ranvier
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Re: What's the meaning of life?

Post by Ranvier »

Atreyu wrote:
No. Life exists to progress, whether we agree or not. I was speaking in very general terms, as in life in general. The purpose of life in general is to evolve. As in taking "Life" as a sort of Whole.

If an individual organism cannot evolve itself, then it exists for the purpose of helping other entities evolve. It is food for them, or it aids them in their own evolution just by virtue of their existence, whether they wish to or not. So you might not be able to evolve, nor want to, but you can certainly be "food" for some other organism which can evolve, i.e. another organism can use your existence/life for its own progress. A bird cannot progress to know calculus, but if you eat a bird you can use its energy in order to think about and understand calculus.

So you might say that the "highest" purpose of an individual organism is to evolve (for itself). A "lower" purpose would be to at least exist so that other organisms can evolve. The "general" purpose of life is to just evolve in general.
This is an interesting way of explaining the "meaning of life". It's short and a little out of the full context but essentially correct in my opinion.
Belindi
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Re: What's the meaning of life?

Post by Belindi »

Fairwinds wrote:Procreation.

Without procreation life will wither so my conclusion is that sustaining and promoting the continuity of all the species is the most obvious meaning. It could also be argued that life has no meaning, so the question, although interesting, is a false one.
Who is it that is doing the meaning?

-- Updated September 18th, 2017, 6:02 pm to add the following --

Who means?

-- Updated September 18th, 2017, 6:09 pm to add the following --

Genes cannot mean anything as they don't have brain/minds to mean with. Live cells don't have brain/minds to mean with. Animals with brain/minds are the only things that can mean anything, and this applies when mean=intend .
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Ranvier
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Re: What's the meaning of life?

Post by Ranvier »

Belindi

Everything "means" something simply because it exists, even if only to offer a "word" for such a "thing".
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Re: What's the meaning of life?

Post by Belindi »

Ranvier wrote:Belindi

Everything "means" something simply because it exists, even if only to offer a "word" for such a "thing".

But most things that exist don't offer words.
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Ranvier
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Re: What's the meaning of life?

Post by Ranvier »

Belindi

Yet we have words for most things, including such that "don't exist".
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Fairwinds
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Re: What's the meaning of life?

Post by Fairwinds »

Life is probably an illusion. Don't remember who said it, but it was said that " all things that are transitory, are an illusion" and this appeals to me. Following on, there is therefore no " meaning" as such. It just exists in a very transitory way.
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Re: What's the meaning of life?

Post by Belindi »

Ranvier wrote:Belindi

Yet we have words for most things, including such that "don't exist".
But we cannot know all that exists, therefore we cannot have words for all that exists. Arguably, we don't even have words for 'most things'."Most things' are known only to mostly- omniscient beings

-- Updated September 19th, 2017, 8:46 am to add the following --

Your reality, Ranvier, is what you have learned. What you have learned you have learned within a certain culture of learning: your reality, Ranvier, is social reality not Reality.

-- Updated September 19th, 2017, 8:47 am to add the following --
Fairwinds wrote:Life is probably an illusion. Don't remember who said it, but it was said that " all things that are transitory, are an illusion" and this appeals to me. Following on, there is therefore no " meaning" as such. It just exists in a very transitory way.
It appeals to me too but as a saying it is no use to man or beast. Illusion or not we have to deal with life and if we fail to do so we are irresponsible.

-- Updated September 19th, 2017, 8:50 am to add the following --
Fairwinds wrote:Life is probably an illusion. Don't remember who said it, but it was said that " all things that are transitory, are an illusion" and this appeals to me. Following on, there is therefore no " meaning" as such. It just exists in a very transitory way.
It appeals to me too but as a saying it is no use to man or beast. Illusion or not we have to deal with life and if we fail to do so we are irresponsible.
Having written my objection I should add the caveat that there are some people, such as slaves, or prisoners , or starving, who are so helpless that the saying will a help to them.
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Ranvier
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Re: What's the meaning of life?

Post by Ranvier »

Belindi

I draw upon your post #1159, to which I wrote:
Everything "means" something simply because it exists, even if only to offer a "word" for such a "thing".
If you think about "matter" 10 billion years ago, it was just a stardust, which became a "rock" 4.5 billion years ago... today "its" human typing words on the computer screen. In a sense, everything is "alive" and has a "meaning", the only difference is in the point in space and time.
Belindi
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Re: What's the meaning of life?

Post by Belindi »

Ranvier wrote:
In a sense, everything is "alive" and has a "meaning", the only difference is in the point in space and time.
I do see what you mean.

This is the view from eternity, that living things and intentions are present in the eternal now, and the eternal now necessarily is all that was, is, and will be.

However we are not eternal but temporal. It is as temporal beings that we must make meanings and harbour intentions.
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Fairwinds
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Re: What's the meaning of life?

Post by Fairwinds »

" The meaning of Life" is a variant of the classic Q, " Why are we here?" There has never been a satisfactory answer as far as I can see. Maybe, the old song lyrics, " We're here because we're here, because we're here, because we're here, comes closest

I do know life is a precious gift that we make of it what we will. One aim that I would like to meet, and which I probably fail in miserably, is to depart for eternity having spent the years creatively, without harming any living creature, and contributing something unique, maybe art. On the way, we have the opportunity, if circumstances permit, to savour the utter beauty of planet earth.
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Fairwinds
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Re: What's the meaning of life?

Post by Fairwinds »

" The meaning of life " question is a variant of the old chestnut " Why are we here", and there are no convincing answers that I have seen. Maybe the well worn song lyric, " We're here because we're here, because we're here, because we're here", etc comes the closest!

I do know that life is a precious gift that we are given. A place on this breathtaking planet. It's a wonderful opportunity, depending on all the circumstances, birth, wealth, etc, to savour life to the full. My own aim when eternity comes, which I have probably failed miserably at, has been to go through the short years, harming living things as little as possible, and leaving behind something unique and positive, however small. Art work would be one example.

Eventually, the planet will surely go through a rebirth or catastrophe, depending on your view, and will revert to barren land and gas, and words and questions will then be meaningless.
Belindi
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Re: What's the meaning of life?

Post by Belindi »

Fairwinds wrote:
" The meaning of life " question is a variant of the old chestnut " Why are we here", and there are no convincing answers that I have seen. Maybe the well worn song lyric, " We're here because we're here, because we're here, because we're here", etc comes the closest!
The tune of Auld Lang Syne fits the words :D
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Ranvier
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Re: What's the meaning of life?

Post by Ranvier »

We are Energy that was neither created nor can be destroyed...

The "meaning" of life is to "experience", that should be clear with all our senses. The "purpose" is to become "better" in life to experience more but life only becomes "better", when the "purpose" is to help "others" to achieve their maximum potential. The selfishness of life is to maintain life in an individual success only to be of greater "value" for life of "others", to achieve the maximum success. An individual death is nothing but a dream, only to "wake up" again... Better.
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