What's the meaning of life?

Use this philosophy forum to discuss and debate general philosophy topics that don't fit into one of the other categories.

This forum is NOT for factual, informational or scientific questions about philosophy (e.g. "What year was Socrates born?"). Those kind of questions can be asked in the off-topic section.
Post Reply
cynicallyinsane
Posts: 118
Joined: March 3rd, 2007, 11:58 am

What's the meaning of life?

Post by cynicallyinsane »

What's the meaning of life? What's the purpose?
captain_crunk
Posts: 41
Joined: March 1st, 2007, 5:45 pm
Location: Harrisburg, PA
Contact:

Post by captain_crunk »

At this point, I think the meaning of life is for every individual to give [his/her] life its own meaning. I don't know why. I'm taking a class right now here at psu subtitled "The Meaning of Human Existence" so maybe I can get back to you with a better answer at some point down the road (not that I expect our class to provide a straightforward answer or anything, but still).
What do you think?
Bk2Kant
Posts: 47
Joined: March 1st, 2007, 11:22 pm

Post by Bk2Kant »

The purpose of life would be to fulfill you're purpose. I suppose that probably sounds a little circular. All I mean is that I think everyone was put on eath to acomplish something and with that in mind everyone has a purpose they are intended to fulfill and should strive for. How do you know your purpose? I think God (or whatever higher power you may believe in) gives you hints and you are born with a passion for something. It may not be something that chages the world in a drastic way and you may not be famously sucessful butI do beleive everyone has a purpose and life is intended to strive for it and leave the impression on the world in some way.
SyKo
Posts: 1
Joined: March 8th, 2007, 8:05 am

Post by SyKo »

I think the purpose is to give back to mother earth as she has given to us. Haha I know sounds weird but just look at all the animals and plants out there. They all help eachother out which inturn helps this planet survive. We seem to have drifted away from helping and started taking it all to ourselves. So I say the meaning of life is to live in peace while helping all living things around you.
MyshiningOne
Posts: 202
Joined: March 7th, 2007, 9:51 pm

Re: What's the meaning of life?

Post by MyshiningOne »

cynicallyinsane wrote:What's the meaning of life? What's the purpose?
This is a difficult question. Everyone has his or her
idea about what life is all about. A Christian's
view of life is definitely different from an
atheist's. The meaning of life for a Christian is
to follow God and serve Him in every part of life.
For an atheist, the purpose of life may be to
strive for success in this life--just because a person may not believe in a higher power doesn't mean is
life is devoid of purpose. In a universal sense,
I think the best was to live life to it's fullest
is to experience what you love, and to feel passion for the things that you love. I'm not talking about just material wealth. I'm not talking about happiness. I'm talking about having a feeling of accomplishment in your life, even if it means that
you have to pass through some areas of darkness to get it. We must make mistakes in order to learn from
those mistakes, and so people should not approach life thinking every skeleton in their closet will
come out to haunt them. Move on, and see what happens. Without hell, there cannot be heaven, and
so we must pass through hell a few times to
achieve what we want to achieve. It's not
easy; it's not fun, but it'll be worth it in the long run.
It's not what you know that makes
you smart, it's knowing what you don't know.
DanteAzrael
Posts: 74
Joined: March 13th, 2007, 7:39 pm
Location: Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Contact:

Post by DanteAzrael »

To me, the meaning of life is simple...The meaning of life...is to live life. The only meaning one can get give it is to live it because it shows that one values life...instead of waiting for death to go to another plane of existence or some other idea about the "afterlife". To me, it's always been that simple. Life itself gives itself it's on worth...it's own meaning. So, to live it, is all one needs to do.
When a man declares: "There are no blacks and whites [in morality]" he is making a psychological confession, and what he means is: "I am unwilling to be wholly good—and please don't regard me as wholly evil!" - Ayn Rand
MyshiningOne
Posts: 202
Joined: March 7th, 2007, 9:51 pm

Post by MyshiningOne »

DanteAzrael wrote:To me, the meaning of life is simple...The meaning of life...is to live life. The only meaning one can get give it is to live it because it shows that one values life...instead of waiting for death to go to another plane of existence or some other idea about the "afterlife". To me, it's always been that simple. Life itself gives itself it's on worth...it's own meaning. So, to live it, is all one needs to do.
You have a very optimistic outlook. Of course, it's always better to enjoy life instead of waiting for death as I used to do when I was younger. Being
miserable all the time didn't help matters; things just seemed to get worse, so I slowly started changing my attitude about all the bad that had happened to me, and things just started to get a lot better. It's really hard to do that; it's much easier
to swim around in self-pity, but after awhile
even that starts to lose it's luster.
It's not what you know that makes
you smart, it's knowing what you don't know.
DanteAzrael
Posts: 74
Joined: March 13th, 2007, 7:39 pm
Location: Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Contact:

Post by DanteAzrael »

I know how that feels. I did it from around ages 6-17. Then I turned 18 and I started to slowly develop out of it...Or at least begin to get over it. I still find myself sort of in that funk every now and then...but I've learned to battle it off now.

I've always had the outlook that living life is the only meaning to life. I've had it since I was around 14. I've always thought it in those terms and felt that it was most fitting.
When a man declares: "There are no blacks and whites [in morality]" he is making a psychological confession, and what he means is: "I am unwilling to be wholly good—and please don't regard me as wholly evil!" - Ayn Rand
MyshiningOne
Posts: 202
Joined: March 7th, 2007, 9:51 pm

Post by MyshiningOne »

DanteAzrael wrote:I know how that feels. I did it from around ages 6-17. Then I turned 18 and I started to slowly develop out of it...Or at least begin to get over it. I still find myself sort of in that funk every now and then...but I've learned to battle it off now.

I've always had the outlook that living life is the only meaning to life. I've had it since I was around 14. I've always thought it in those terms and felt that it was most fitting.
I had a very happy childhood until I was 12. Then there was a dark period for three years. At 16, my life began to brighten a little bit, and also, when I turned 18, I felt a lot happier. I went to college and began to hang out with people who were fun and optimistic. I'm like you in a lot of ways. I also
get in the funk every now and then, but I can
transcend it now. Maybe it's because we're more mature now. Things affected us more when we were
younger.
It's not what you know that makes
you smart, it's knowing what you don't know.
thestateimin
Posts: 9
Joined: March 3rd, 2007, 7:06 pm

Post by thestateimin »

I don't believe there can be a universal meaning to life. I believe humans enjoy putting meaning to life in order to make it seem significant. Therefor, I believe the meaning to life can be anything; its whatever keeps you going.
MyshiningOne
Posts: 202
Joined: March 7th, 2007, 9:51 pm

Post by MyshiningOne »

thestateimin wrote:I don't believe there can be a universal meaning to life. I believe humans enjoy putting meaning to life in order to make it seem significant. Therefor, I believe the meaning to life can be anything; its whatever keeps you going.
That's true as well. Not everyone lives by the same
standards, so every interpretation of meaning is different.
It's not what you know that makes
you smart, it's knowing what you don't know.
Etherealpoet
Posts: 2
Joined: March 16th, 2007, 2:33 pm

Post by Etherealpoet »

The meaning of life is simple; it is survival. Everything else is social and secondary to the true meaning. We can discus and ponder and reflect all we want, but in duing this we only pass the time until the inevidible. There is only one true meaning of life, and all life forms on earth, including those that cannot recognize such things, share the same one. I suggest surviving with purpose though.
MyshiningOne
Posts: 202
Joined: March 7th, 2007, 9:51 pm

Post by MyshiningOne »

Etherealpoet wrote:The meaning of life is simple; it is survival. Everything else is social and secondary to the true meaning. We can discus and ponder and reflect all we want, but in duing this we only pass the time until the inevidible. There is only one true meaning of life, and all life forms on earth, including those that cannot recognize such things, share the same one. I suggest surviving with purpose though.
Survival is a large part of life, and in order to survive we must be aggressive by nature. Some philosophers have gone so far to say that all actions
are driven by aggression, not love or affection.
I think this would prove your survival point.
In order to survive, people must compete.
It's not what you know that makes
you smart, it's knowing what you don't know.
Bk2Kant
Posts: 47
Joined: March 1st, 2007, 11:22 pm

Post by Bk2Kant »

A lot of people seem to be talking about creating your own purpose and creating and idea to give life purpose. To me there are two things going on some of you think that the purpose of life is whatevery you make of your life and others of you think that the there is not purpose of life, and we try to formulate all these theories to make ourselves feel significant.

Another suggested response was that the purpose of life is to survive. I think that seems more like a means that an end. That is I think survival is key to living and without which you could not fullfill a purpose but the purpose of life itself cannot be to remain living. It seems like saying the purpose of liveing is to stay living. uPurhaps you mean that the purpose of life is living, just to exist, a sort of purpose in the present but I do not agree that the purpose of life is a sort of survival game.
MyshiningOne
Posts: 202
Joined: March 7th, 2007, 9:51 pm

Post by MyshiningOne »

Bk2Kant wrote:A lot of people seem to be talking about creating your own purpose and creating and idea to give life purpose. To me there are two things going on some of you think that the purpose of life is whatevery you make of your life and others of you think that the there is not purpose of life, and we try to formulate all these theories to make ourselves feel significant.

Another suggested response was that the purpose of life is to survive. I think that seems more like a means that an end. That is I think survival is key to living and without which you could not fullfill a purpose but the purpose of life itself cannot be to remain living. It seems like saying the purpose of liveing is to stay living. uPurhaps you mean that the purpose of life is living, just to exist, a sort of purpose in the present but I do not agree that the purpose of life is a sort of survival game.
I don't agree with the whole survival thing. I don't
believe that the entire meaning of life relies
solely on survival. I believe we are capable of
affection as well as aggression. I do think we are aggressive to a point, but I think the whole "kill
and eat" theory is just too brutal for some people.
It's not what you know that makes
you smart, it's knowing what you don't know.
Post Reply

Return to “General Philosophy”

2023/2024 Philosophy Books of the Month

Entanglement - Quantum and Otherwise

Entanglement - Quantum and Otherwise
by John K Danenbarger
January 2023

Mark Victor Hansen, Relentless: Wisdom Behind the Incomparable Chicken Soup for the Soul

Mark Victor Hansen, Relentless: Wisdom Behind the Incomparable Chicken Soup for the Soul
by Mitzi Perdue
February 2023

Rediscovering the Wisdom of Human Nature: How Civilization Destroys Happiness

Rediscovering the Wisdom of Human Nature: How Civilization Destroys Happiness
by Chet Shupe
March 2023

The Unfakeable Code®

The Unfakeable Code®
by Tony Jeton Selimi
April 2023

The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are

The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are
by Alan Watts
May 2023

Killing Abel

Killing Abel
by Michael Tieman
June 2023

Reconfigurement: Reconfiguring Your Life at Any Stage and Planning Ahead

Reconfigurement: Reconfiguring Your Life at Any Stage and Planning Ahead
by E. Alan Fleischauer
July 2023

First Survivor: The Impossible Childhood Cancer Breakthrough

First Survivor: The Impossible Childhood Cancer Breakthrough
by Mark Unger
August 2023

Predictably Irrational

Predictably Irrational
by Dan Ariely
September 2023

Artwords

Artwords
by Beatriz M. Robles
November 2023

Fireproof Happiness: Extinguishing Anxiety & Igniting Hope

Fireproof Happiness: Extinguishing Anxiety & Igniting Hope
by Dr. Randy Ross
December 2023

Beyond the Golden Door: Seeing the American Dream Through an Immigrant's Eyes

Beyond the Golden Door: Seeing the American Dream Through an Immigrant's Eyes
by Ali Master
February 2024

2022 Philosophy Books of the Month

Emotional Intelligence At Work

Emotional Intelligence At Work
by Richard M Contino & Penelope J Holt
January 2022

Free Will, Do You Have It?

Free Will, Do You Have It?
by Albertus Kral
February 2022

My Enemy in Vietnam

My Enemy in Vietnam
by Billy Springer
March 2022

2X2 on the Ark

2X2 on the Ark
by Mary J Giuffra, PhD
April 2022

The Maestro Monologue

The Maestro Monologue
by Rob White
May 2022

What Makes America Great

What Makes America Great
by Bob Dowell
June 2022

The Truth Is Beyond Belief!

The Truth Is Beyond Belief!
by Jerry Durr
July 2022

Living in Color

Living in Color
by Mike Murphy
August 2022 (tentative)

The Not So Great American Novel

The Not So Great American Novel
by James E Doucette
September 2022

Mary Jane Whiteley Coggeshall, Hicksite Quaker, Iowa/National Suffragette And Her Speeches

Mary Jane Whiteley Coggeshall, Hicksite Quaker, Iowa/National Suffragette And Her Speeches
by John N. (Jake) Ferris
October 2022

In It Together: The Beautiful Struggle Uniting Us All

In It Together: The Beautiful Struggle Uniting Us All
by Eckhart Aurelius Hughes
November 2022

The Smartest Person in the Room: The Root Cause and New Solution for Cybersecurity

The Smartest Person in the Room
by Christian Espinosa
December 2022

2021 Philosophy Books of the Month

The Biblical Clock: The Untold Secrets Linking the Universe and Humanity with God's Plan

The Biblical Clock
by Daniel Friedmann
March 2021

Wilderness Cry: A Scientific and Philosophical Approach to Understanding God and the Universe

Wilderness Cry
by Dr. Hilary L Hunt M.D.
April 2021

Fear Not, Dream Big, & Execute: Tools To Spark Your Dream And Ignite Your Follow-Through

Fear Not, Dream Big, & Execute
by Jeff Meyer
May 2021

Surviving the Business of Healthcare: Knowledge is Power

Surviving the Business of Healthcare
by Barbara Galutia Regis M.S. PA-C
June 2021

Winning the War on Cancer: The Epic Journey Towards a Natural Cure

Winning the War on Cancer
by Sylvie Beljanski
July 2021

Defining Moments of a Free Man from a Black Stream

Defining Moments of a Free Man from a Black Stream
by Dr Frank L Douglas
August 2021

If Life Stinks, Get Your Head Outta Your Buts

If Life Stinks, Get Your Head Outta Your Buts
by Mark L. Wdowiak
September 2021

The Preppers Medical Handbook

The Preppers Medical Handbook
by Dr. William W Forgey M.D.
October 2021

Natural Relief for Anxiety and Stress: A Practical Guide

Natural Relief for Anxiety and Stress
by Dr. Gustavo Kinrys, MD
November 2021

Dream For Peace: An Ambassador Memoir

Dream For Peace
by Dr. Ghoulem Berrah
December 2021