There is no meaning to life

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Alphabravo123
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There is no meaning to life

Post by Alphabravo123 »

Nothing we do matters at all. Our short physical existences are but a micro fraction of the blink of an eye in the face of time. Therefore, no emotion or action can make any true difference, seeing as our society will last at the most only a few million years. Our corpses will have turned to ash, disintegrated, and have been reabsorbed and redistributed by the universe myriads of times, and any insignificant deed will be forgotten. In light of this knowledge, I implore you, what reason is there to exist at all? How can we justify our lives when they are so inconsequential in vast scope of this entire metaphysical plane?
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Grecorivera5150
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Re: There is no meaning to life

Post by Grecorivera5150 »

Why do we have to justify our lives to anyone when we can just live them instead?
Belinda
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Re: There is no meaning to life

Post by Belinda »

Grecorivera, you may as well ask why do we try to make sense of the world.Making sense of the world is a human necessity if the species is to survive.

Alphabravo wrote:
How can we justify our lives when they are so inconsequential in vast scope of this entire metaphysical plane?
We justify our lives practically by reason of the necessity to stay alive. From the view from eternity, we justify our lives by creating truth and good during the process of existing.
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Grecorivera5150
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Re: There is no meaning to life

Post by Grecorivera5150 »

I think what we have here is a difference in perspective. I feel there is no need to justify my existence at all to anyone. I am here and did not choose to be hear and I don't know how I got here. How I could have gotten here has no baring on the way I live my life because I focus my energy on being here. As for eternity , its is also an abstraction that I do not waste time on. I have no children and no desire to for the purposes of keeping the species going. Having children would take to much of my time away from pursuing my own interests but I do admire people who choose to have families and make creating a nurturing environment for them a priority. I tend to follow Neitzche's idea of the will to power that everyone seeks to try and empower themselves in some way in the world to find their own sense of self or purpose. In this being in time and seeking purpose good and evil becomes relative to each individual's personalities, environment's and normative values of the social groups they are exposed too.
Fimbulthul
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Re: There is no meaning to life

Post by Fimbulthul »

There can be reasons for things. If there had never been a first cell on our planet, or an event that caused our universe to be created, then things could be quite different.
Piros
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Re: There is no meaning to life

Post by Piros »

Alphabravo123 wrote:Nothing we do matters at all. Our short physical existences are but a micro fraction of the blink of an eye in the face of time. Therefore, no emotion or action can make any true difference, seeing as our society will last at the most only a few million years. Our corpses will have turned to ash, disintegrated, and have been reabsorbed and redistributed by the universe myriads of times, and any insignificant deed will be forgotten. In light of this knowledge, I implore you, what reason is there to exist at all? How can we justify our lives when they are so inconsequential in vast scope of this entire metaphysical plane?
The meaning of life is your own presence in the universe, however short lived. Make good use of it, find something that fills your soul. There is something for everyone that they can passionately pursue, but you need to find it. Nobody else can do this for you. Once you immersed yourself into your significan passion you won't have time to be concerned with insignificance. Act and you will find meaning.
Belinda
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Re: There is no meaning to life

Post by Belinda »

Grecorivera, what has having or not having children to do with eternity?
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Grecorivera5150
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Re: There is no meaning to life

Post by Grecorivera5150 »

I have seen many times on these boards in the few days I have been here that somehow the ability to reproduce and drive the species by continuing progeny has connected humanity emotionally to their biological imperative and that it not only provides purpose but is purpose. I think that many people who have not been able to convince themselves that they continue on in some way spiritually through eternity look at having children as an opportunity to move a part of themselves at least towards eternity.
Chinny
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Re: There is no meaning to life

Post by Chinny »

To say that life is meaningless because we are mere specks in a vast universe isn't a convincing argument. If the universe were smaller, or if you were bigger, would that make your life any more meaningful? It is unclear what the answer such a question might be, and there are good reasons for dismissing your "cosmic" argument as an unconvincing one.

A similar argument is found in relation to time -- we only live a short while on a very long time-scale, so therefore our lives are meaningless. Once again, this is also a bad argument, since it is not clear whether our lives would be any more meaningful if we happened to live longer.

Perhaps there is no "meaning" ascribed to our lives from some third-party source (God? the "universe"? etc.), but meaning always starts with the things you take for granted -- meanings that you don't choose but find yourself always already with: memories of childhood, grandma's baking, the value of friends and family. Such meanings are not "chosen" by the individual actively, but are passively acquired by virtue of being a human being. We can surely evaluate such meanings after the fact, but that already presupposes there is such meaning in the first place. Despite what the existentialists say, meaning isn't always chosen consciously. Most meanings are ones that creep upon us without our realizing it. Quite often we find ourselves with meanings unbeknownst to ourselves. This is not due to any God or third-party source implanting meanings in us, but this is rather the way human consciousness operates on conscious and subconscious levels.

Such is the nature of human existence (and it does have an essence).

Cheers.
Jinxy
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Re: There is no meaning to life

Post by Jinxy »

...and why does there have to be 'meaning' to our lives in the larger scheme? This kind of thinking, I believe, gets us off point and distracted from living happy or fulfilling lives. I'm grateful to be alive - regardless of my 'meaning' - and strive to make it the best it can be for myself and others. I think the human ego gets in the way, all too often, and pushes us to find meaning for that which we only need to be grateful...
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Grecorivera5150
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Re: There is no meaning to life

Post by Grecorivera5150 »

Felling that we need to be grateful is also ascribing meaning.
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Spiral Out
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Re: There is no meaning to life

Post by Spiral Out »

Any type of meaning must be given to the life by the individual. Meaning is not inherent to life itself. This is the void that religion attempts to fill.
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"meaning" vs purpose to life

Post by Schaps »

One may never be able to establish what the meaning of one's life is. That is not the same however, as establishing a purpose to one's life - which (I think) is much more important than "meaning". The purpose wil serve as a motivating reason to "keep going", despite what would otherwise be an empty void of purposeless existence.
Chinny
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Re: There is no meaning to life

Post by Chinny »

The question concerning the meaning of life is usually set up as a dichotomy between two possibilities: EITHER 1) There is an external source that "gives" meaning to one's life -- i.e., religion. spirituality, etc. OR 2) The individual chooses the meaning for himself.

I suggest that this is a false dichotomy. In fact, both of these choices mean the same thing, since embracing religion is a choice just like any other, but this is not the point I would like to make...

The point I would like to make, however, is that there is a *third* alternative that few people often recognize. This is the position that life consists of meanings (notice the plural) that are often acquired by virtue of being a human being existing in the world -- a human being with emotions and a capacity for passivity. This is to say that in life there are meanings that are neither actively chosen by the individual (i.e., the myth of existentialist choice) nor given by some transcendent source like God, etc. There are very simple examples of such meanings everywhere in our lives:

* fond memories of childhood * looking forward to an event * feeling love someone close (grandmother, spouse, close friend)

Of course, we always have the capacity to take a "backward step" and re-evaluate such meanings at any given time. However, such meanings are not initially "chosen" by an individual as meaningful. Rather, such meanings *happen* because we are human beings who *naturally* place meanings on things often without realizing it. If you will, some meanings are *unconsciously* meaningful unbeknownst to the choosing radars of the conscious individual.

If you ask a person why they love grandmother, it would be strange of them to say "because I choose to." Rather, one's love for grandma is *acquired* because one recognizes the kindness and gentleness of grandma and feels a natural inclination to love her. Likewise, a fond childhood memory is meaningful to a person because they associate positive emotions with it. There is no active "choosing" of meaning here. It is a meaning that one finds oneself with. After the fact, one can surely re-evaluate that meaning (such as the memory or love for a person), but that already *presupposes* the meaning is there in the first place.

There may not be an overarching single big-M Meaning to life in general, but life does consist of MANY little-m meanings that are all around us pulling the strings of our emotions and choices without our realizing it.

Life is indeed naturally meaningful, and our capacity to choose seemingly has little to do with it.

Any thoughts?
Windy34
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Re: There is no meaning to life

Post by Windy34 »

Alphabravo123 wrote:Nothing we do matters at all. Our short physical existences are but a micro fraction of the blink of an eye in the face of time. Therefore, no emotion or action can make any true difference, seeing as our society will last at the most only a few million years. Our corpses will have turned to ash, disintegrated, and have been reabsorbed and redistributed by the universe myriads of times, and any insignificant deed will be forgotten. In light of this knowledge, I implore you, what reason is there to exist at all? How can we justify our lives when they are so inconsequential in vast scope of this entire metaphysical plane?

Sad, but I don't know.
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