Philosophy Discussion Forums

If you take the position that the universe is intrinsically meaningless, (as do I) there a 2 options for you; 1, hedonism, that is seeking out as much personal pleasure as possibly in food sex drugs, whatever you enjoy, and 2 creating your own meaning, if the world is meaningless there is no god and the universe doesn't care what you do then you are free! You can do whatever the **** you want! People tend to struggle psychologically without a purpose so just make your own, any purpose will do, you want to be happy? Find out what makes you happy and do those things, you want to help people? Find out how you can best do that and do so, you say we can't make a difference and if we could it doesn't matter anyways, well that's fine but that doesn't seem a very fufilling or fun way to live, so what the universe is meaningless? We can make a difference even if it's just for a few people, we can try to change the world, we can try to be good people and help others. Why? Why the hell not, I am aware that the universe doesn't care and I am going to die someday, so what? While I'm here I'm going to have fun however I see fit and I'm going to help as many people as I can because that's what I want, that's the world that I want, it's incredible that in a meaningless universe a species was randomly created that has the power to create meaning! Morals have meaning if we say they do, fun has meaning if we say it does, you get what I'm saying? Create your own meaning, do whatever the hell you want, have fun, create your own purpose in life, enjoy it! What's the alternative?

Is there an argument that we in the U.K.and other European nations made the popularity of Hitler inevitable the moment the treaty of Versailles was signed.
Regarding the meaning of life, I believe in God so meaning is clear.
Apologies if that sounds trite it is not meant to be, I just accept some dimensions are beyond our understanding. I applaud your deconstructive stance, guess I am too afraid to look too deep

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?

Living more time wouldn't change anything. And you don't really care about that, you just want something for real life, something you care about, you suffer, and you ask youself why should you keep suffering. Maybe facing the true problem would be better, and the true problem is never being a mortal.

"Meaninglessness" for some reason has a negative connotation in the West, perhaps because we are so influenced by Christianity and progress and purpose-driven world views. In Buddhism, however, meaninglessness is not viewed as negative. What is the meaning of a cloud? What is the meaning of a sunset? These are absurd questions. Because a sunset has no meaning does not mean it is not beautiful!

Moreover, meaninglessness is fun! The best things are meaningless: music, juggling, games. Life becomes a game rather than a chore when we accept that it is meaningless.

In a world of hatred and love it would depend on the circumstances surrounding your own individual life. Need there be some ultimate truth, or only the individuals empowerment to seek out and structure his own. Is there a meaning to it all? Maybe so, but the common man doesn't need to sit and ponder upon such pointless questions. We set the standard for truth and point in the seemingly pointless, that said live life and contribute to the progress of humanity if there ever indeed was a point of contribution.

All i want to say is "the road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom".

BelieveNothing wrote:All i want to say is "the road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom".

Numerous spiritual heroes of Hermann Hesse novels would agree :)

In a nutshell: Pious beginnings, restlessness, rebellion, life experience, hardship, realisation that fun doesn't last, then a return to piety, but this time the hero is happy with the quiet life because he got the FOMO out of his system.

You do have a meaning because you caused me to post I will say this...once you learn how to drive a bicycle, even if you do not enjoy cycling for 20 years, you will be able to pick up cycling again very fast. Every human in the past 30,000 years and more had contributed to where we are today, even if it may appear insignificant. What we do today will mater for the future generations to come.

I have a meaning to life - try to create the main purpose why do I live. Somehow it works, I do not have suicidal thoughts anymore.

The meaning of life can always be found. It all depends on the person.

Alphabravo123 wrote:Therefore, no emotion or action can make any true difference, seeing as our society will last at the most only a few million years.

A few million years of this society (good god, I hope not...unless we actually start teaching kids about paths to enlightenment and such)? I think you meant our "species" did you not?

Alphabravo123 wrote:...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?

I have yet to figure out a "reason" for existence, but I do accept that I am "here" for the time being and maybe my entire "purpose" is to figure out my own "reason".

And I guess that is the problem...no one can tell me what my "reason" or "purpose" is. I have to figure it out and struggle with it on my own...although I hope I will always have people around to seek answers with as well.

As for "justifying" my life...I see no reason to "justify" anything. It just "is".

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?

First you have to be interested enough to read things that are both difficult and insightful. The way you frame your concerns suggests you have not read philosophers who could actually say something interesting about justifying our Being here. It all goes to what you have read. Buber? Levinas? Kierkegaard? Schelling? Fichte? So many hugely important philosophers on this, but do your thoughts head in the direction of the themes they lay out for us? Have you read any Ralph Waldo Emerson? Thoreau? How about Wordsworth? Or Emily Dickinson? Walt Whitman?

There's an ocean of response to your question. Go swimming.

This is the opening statement:

"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?"



To say that nothing we do matters at all, is true in one sense, but false in another. Beethoven wrote music, but he is now long dead, so for him personally, it does not matter that he wrote music. However, I enjoy listening to Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, so it matters to me that he wrote music and perhaps to someone else 100 years from now.

Time, is a human concept which simply does not exist in nature. All there ever has been and all there ever will be is the present moment, which we call "now". It does not arrive, nor does it depart, it is eternally "here".

It matters not, how long the dinosaur's wandered the earth or how long humanity will survive. Even the Sun itself will die, completely engulfing the Earth during it's death, leaving the planet a scorched rock floating through space.

We are here and it is now, that's all we will ever need to know.

Present Awareness:
Time, is a human concept which simply does not exist in nature. All there ever has been and all there ever will be is the present moment, which we call "now". It does not arrive, nor does it depart, it is eternally "here".

A difficult thing to grasp, given that the present moment never actually shows up. Even as you put it down in print, there is no outside of time. A very unusual piece of metaphysics, this "here and now."

Alphabravo123,

we all beings of any kind
are sort of prisoners of infinity
via its by-product
its recursive quality
let's call it
the all or change
or the indefinite

Which is
self-annihilating
not to counterpose
infinity itself
in so doing
letting beings
each other appear
and disappear
like equations
life are given
and superficial noise
in the silence of zero
which all self-annihilating
relative numbers
lets contingently be

As I see it
the inclusive view
is terrible
pure tragedy

Yet
to be able to make
human choices
I believe
is better than
e.g. animals' ones
because
human intelligence
with time
can make
less afflicted
areas of the all
available
for a while at least

In conclusion
my current best judgement
runs as follows

Think positive
or you'll suffer
more

That's our meaning
what else
?!?

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