What's the meaning of life?

No particular meaning, no purpose. You could create a meaning for yourself if you wanted to, but with everything being meaningless the meaning you would create really wouldn't have that much meaning or enough. That leaves creating a meaning anyway or not bothering.

Now, a person in this forum wrote that his meaning of life is sex.

But can you have sex for 24 hours a day?

Can sex give a person true happiness?

Now, a person in this forum wrote that his meaning of life is sex.

But can you have sex for 24 hours a day?

Can sex give a person true happiness?

That's not how the answer should be interpeted. Sex is the main purpose to sustain our suvival of humans, else we would have ben extinct.

The meaning of life is the same as the meaning of the universe, which is to improve itself. We know that non living matter becomes more complex until it becomes living matter, and living matter becomes more complex until it becomes self aware. Now those of us who are self aware can understand the meaning of life by learning astronomy and human evolution. Where does all this evolving lead to? No one knows yet. Maybe to Godhood for those races that reach a certain point on the evolutionary latter. Certainly no race on this planet has reached that stage yet, and by the way we're going it doesn't look like any race ever will. Have a nice day!

To me is to secure the body. You have your life, I have my life. That is an ideal which does not happen in practice. Instead there is a range of dependencies, obstructions, manipulation and so on. These come from the insecurities of the body.

What I learn from Zhuang Zi is this. If we can understand why the statement "Nothing exists" is truth then and only then we will understand the meaning of life.

Definitely, there is no meaning to life, or of life. What is the meaning of a world without life? It is the same question. In a deeper sense there is no meaning. It is as it is and cannot be any other way, otherwise it would be what it isn't... which it cannot be.

But if operating as we must in day to day life, in this mind frame things do have meaning. This person means more to me than that one, this artwork speaks to me and this one does not. Therefore if life is taken at this level it must also have a meaning. The meaning of life would then be to want the things you want and to try to get them(whether it's wanting nothing, wanting to want nothing, wanting death, wanting pain, life, happiness, to procreate, etc).

The meaning of life would then be to want the things you want and to try to get them(whether it's wanting nothing, wanting to want nothing, wanting death, wanting pain, life, happiness, to procreate, etc).

What about if you want to destroy?

The meaning of life would then be to want the things you want and to try to get them(whether it's wanting nothing, wanting to want nothing, wanting death, wanting pain, life, happiness, to procreate, etc).

What about if you want to destroy?

Yes, I would include that as well.

The meaning of life would then be to want the things you want and to try to get them(whether it's wanting nothing, wanting to want nothing, wanting death, wanting pain, life, happiness, to procreate, etc).

What about if you want to destroy?

Yes, I would include that as well.

And after one destroys everything one wants to destroy, what happens?

Destroy oneself is a possibility.

I'll repost this here, as it might be more appropriate for this thread:

I find it really hard to find meaning in life and feel that I'm being pressured into a society which values and morals are inauthentic with my own. And I feel some kind of unexplainable despair towards conforming with the way we are spending the majority of our life's. Feeling as a contributory gear in a big machinery and are unable to find out if the motion of this machinery brings the world in the right direction. And why, if it is for the best, does it cause so much pain, distress and meaninglessness.

How are you suppose to achieve meaningful life in those circumstances? Just settle and accept those emotions as a natural part of life? And what if you are unable to just accept it? Then the time has come for you to seek psychological therapy and let a psychiatrist tell you that you've got a mental illness? What puts them in the position to decide weather those reflections are a product of a "diseased mind" or a "diseased world"?

I'll repost this here, as it might be more appropriate for this thread:

I find it really hard to find meaning in life and feel that I'm being pressured into a society which values and morals are inauthentic with my own.

And have you tried to find a society with morals and values closer to yours? If you find that, then that will be the answer.

The meaning of life would then be to want the things you want and to try to get them(whether it's wanting nothing, wanting to want nothing, wanting death, wanting pain, life, happiness, to procreate, etc).

What about if you want to destroy?

Yes, I would include that as well.

And after one destroys everything one wants to destroy, what happens?

Destroy oneself is a possibility.

Which may support a meaning of death, with death the unarguable ultimate destination, and meaning being a kind of ultimate focus which may be interpreted as whatever the final destination happens to be.

Though if meaning is interpreted as not being about wanting the things you want and trying to get them, but rather discerning what you should want, then I would argue we should want death, for it is the only certainty. Life is certain only as a journey towards this destination. Which has more meaning, the journey or the destination? Conventional wisdom would tell us the journey. Though we know conventional wisdom, just as common sense, is not to be relied upon.

But is death a part of life? The question was about the meaning of life.

Perhaps I would argue life is meaning, without life there is no meaning, we came up with it. So the question posed is really "what is the meaning of meaning?". Nonsense really.

I'll repost this here, as it might be more appropriate for this thread:

I find it really hard to find meaning in life and feel that I'm being pressured into a society which values and morals are inauthentic with my own. And I feel some kind of unexplainable despair towards conforming with the way we are spending the majority of our life's. Feeling as a contributory gear in a big machinery and are unable to find out if the motion of this machinery brings the world in the right direction. And why, if it is for the best, does it cause so much pain, distress and meaninglessness.

How are you suppose to achieve meaningful life in those circumstances? Just settle and accept those emotions as a natural part of life? And what if you are unable to just accept it? Then the time has come for you to seek psychological therapy and let a psychiatrist tell you that you've got a mental illness? What puts them in the position to decide weather those reflections are a product of a "diseased mind" or a "diseased world"?

If you measure your life against the reality of your death you will be able to weed through what holds meaning for you. I believe most of us spend a lot of time avoiding the knowledge of the reality of our death. I believe we do so with distractions, money, cars, war, accumulation of stuff, debt, and on and on. Once I decided to stop filling my life with distractions I felt as though my mind could breath. That my mind was mine again. I have realized that what is important to me does not require social status, big salary, new car, big house. Although this may be important to others. Which is fine. I stopped watching tv. Just try doing that and you will find out how addictive tv is. I began to read more, spend time with my family and friends, get rid of debt, live smaller, hike, kayak, write, These are the things that are important to me. I will retire at 55 and lose a fair amount of money doing so. But I have decided it is more important for me to do the things that I want to and stop running in place for things that hold no meaning for me.

I'll repost this here, as it might be more appropriate for this thread:

I find it really hard to find meaning in life and feel that I'm being pressured into a society which values and morals are inauthentic with my own. And I feel some kind of unexplainable despair towards conforming with the way we are spending the majority of our life's. Feeling as a contributory gear in a big machinery and are unable to find out if the motion of this machinery brings the world in the right direction. And why, if it is for the best, does it cause so much pain, distress and meaninglessness.

How are you suppose to achieve meaningful life in those circumstances? Just settle and accept those emotions as a natural part of life? And what if you are unable to just accept it? Then the time has come for you to seek psychological therapy and let a psychiatrist tell you that you've got a mental illness? What puts them in the position to decide weather those reflections are a product of a "diseased mind" or a "diseased world"?

If you measure your life against the reality of your death you will be able to weed through what holds meaning for you. I believe most of us spend a lot of time avoiding the knowledge of the reality of our death. I believe we do so with distractions, money, cars, war, accumulation of stuff, debt, and on and on. Once I decided to stop filling my life with distractions I felt as though my mind could breath. That my mind was mine again. I have realized that what is important to me does not require social status, big salary, new car, big house. Although this may be important to others. Which is fine. I stopped watching tv. Just try doing that and you will find out how addictive tv is. I began to read more, spend time with my family and friends, get rid of debt, live smaller, hike, kayak, write, These are the things that are important to me. I will retire at 55 and lose a fair amount of money doing so. But I have decided it is more important for me to do the things that I want to and stop running in place for things that hold no meaning for me.

Funny you're mentioning the avoiding part and the TV. I've written a poem/monologue on that recently actually, how we avoid ourselfs by all of this. Escaping our anguish in a never-ending drive for material goods, non-stop stimuli and so on.

I also try to spend my time preciously, by reading, writing etc. Kind of found myself in the Schopenhauerian/Nietzschian spirit (not the anti-sosialism parts), but just their world-view with regards to art, which opened my eyes to Wagner, and I had already enjoyed some of Goethe's works. That whole era is really inspiring to me! If I would only be able to enjoy all of that in an Epicurean society, that would probably be my paradise, as of now at least!