5614 Posted June 29, 2004 Posted June 29, 2004 i was reading a thread about how there isnt many interesting threads any more, and no all-on-all debates or arguments, and i have to say, i agree... so i thought, what would make a good thread, which everyone could have their say in.... and i came up with: LIFE what do you think of it? what is the purpose of it? what is the meaning of it? discuss.......
JaKiri Posted June 29, 2004 Posted June 29, 2004 If our society seems more nihilistic than that of previous eras, perhaps this is simply a sign of our maturity as a sentient species. As our collective consciousness expands beyond a crucial point, we are at last ready to accept life's fundamental truth: that life's only purpose is life itself. -- Chairman Sheng-ji Yang "Looking God in the Eye"
YT2095 Posted June 29, 2004 Posted June 29, 2004 Ewwww, those are some BIG questions! ) 1. I think Life is great! even the bad bits! (only dead people have no worries). 2. purpose??? Hmmm... there are as many answers to that as there are people available to answer it My views on it`s purpose are simple really, A) leave this place in a little better condition than it was when you arrived here. B) be Good to each other, treat them as you`de expect to be treated. C) Try and Learn and Do and Experience all you possible can, WHILE you can! and then share that with others. 3. the Meaning of it, is nothing more than the oportunity to carry out it`s purpose (as outlined above from my personal stance). again, each will have his/her own meaning, and so the question is quite open those are my opinions anyway [edit] more details about question #2 from my view are here: http://www.yt2095.net/about/manifesto.htm
Cap'n Refsmmat Posted June 29, 2004 Posted June 29, 2004 The meaning of life: Anything that dies when you step on it. No, really. I once heard that life's purpose was to spread energy around to achieve entropy. (look that up if you have to)
JaKiri Posted June 29, 2004 Posted June 29, 2004 No, really. I once heard that life's purpose was to spread energy around to achieve entropy. (look that up if you have to) That's not really 'life specific' though. EVERYTHING (except Maxwell's Demon) does that.
senexa Posted June 29, 2004 Posted June 29, 2004 I'm an old Seneca granny, and to me life is breath ... the breathing in of all of creation and the breathing out of the accumulation of experience. Not being separate from the rest of the breath of creation, each individual life has meaning only within the context of the great hoop of all living beings who share in the purpose of the Creator, which is the great mystery. The purpose of life is to become as elegant as possible, achieving the neverending balance of chaos and statis in perfect harmony.
atinymonkey Posted June 29, 2004 Posted June 29, 2004 The purpose of life is to live it. The meaning of life is what you make it. The sandwich of life is salami, with a light salad and french dressing on cipatta.
Ms. DNA Posted June 29, 2004 Posted June 29, 2004 3. the Meaning of it' date=' is nothing more than the oportunity to carry out it`s purpose (as outlined above from my personal stance). again, each will have his/her own meaning, and so the question is quite open [/quote'] I agree. There is no meaning of life; there is only the meaning of a life.
Tesseract Posted June 29, 2004 Posted June 29, 2004 I think the meaning of life is to complete a certain set of predetermined goals.
jgerlica Posted June 29, 2004 Posted June 29, 2004 The purpose of life is to reproduce. End of story. All else is superfluous.
Dave Posted June 29, 2004 Posted June 29, 2004 My own personal purposes in life: 1) Keep the family line going by having a family of my own 2) Try and better mathematics in some way 3) Have a good time along the way
TheMadHatter0 Posted June 30, 2004 Posted June 30, 2004 and i came up with: LIFE what do you think of it? what is the purpose of it? what is the meaning of it? <strange accent> Answer number 1 to question number 1: </strange accent> I think that Life has its ups and downs. We have pretty much done a bang-up job trying to keep this Earth intact' date=' but for the most part it's pretty enjoyable (even the bad times). I say this because we go through bad times for a reason. If we experience something that is only partially awful, we learn from the experience and get better (thus you would think that after two car accidents I would have been able to avoid the one I just had a few days ago, but maybe I needed this third one to learn and avoid a 4th that would be the end of me) <strange accent> Answer number 2 to question number 2: </strange accent> I think that, among other things, this life is here to enjoy it, but not at the expense of others. I see it more as a gift than anything else (I mean, would you rather be a fly that only travels a few square miles over the course of the few hours of its existence?). <strange accent> Answer number 3 to question number 3: </strange accent> You may have already been able to pick up on the topic of my answers (or maybe not). Either way, I've tried not to sound too overtly like an uber Jesus freak or anything, so I'll spare you my real answer to this question (unless you actually do want it). In any event, if you want answer to questions 2 and three from a Christian perspective, pick up a book called "The Purpose Driven Life" by a guy named Rick Warren. It goes into much more detail about the whole thing, and really answers the question of "why am I here?," and if any of this really matters. Or, if you'd rather, just take a look at this website: http://www.lifeway.com/lwc/article_main_page/0%2C1703%2CA%253D151295%2526M%253D150019%2C00.html Okay, I'm sure you guys have had enough of my ranting. -Ian
5614 Posted June 30, 2004 Author Posted June 30, 2004 to you believe in.... destiny, fate, coincidence/purpose ???????????????
YT2095 Posted July 1, 2004 Posted July 1, 2004 Destiny, No, not in a fatalistic sense, that`s not to say I don`t beleive in cause and effect, and a high probability that certain events will create a very likely outcome (crossing a busy road whilst blindfolded, would probably result in injury, but that`s as far as my beleif in destiny and Fate. Coincidence, sure, they happen all the time. Purpose??? I`m not sure what you mean by that?
5614 Posted July 1, 2004 Author Posted July 1, 2004 i meant coincidence / purpose as in coincidence or purpose eg. if u meet someone because you crashed into each other in a car, and you end up marrying them... was the original meeting coincidence or purpose? as in was a one off fluke, or did someone plan for you to crash and meet each other .eg. God
YT2095 Posted July 1, 2004 Posted July 1, 2004 i meant coincidence / purpose as in coincidence or purposeeg. if u meet someone because you crashed into each other in a car' date=' and you end up marrying them... was the original meeting coincidence or purpose? as in was a one off fluke, or did someone plan for you to crash and meet each other .eg. God[/quote'] In that case, then No I don`t beleive in it
5614 Posted July 1, 2004 Author Posted July 1, 2004 yeah i spose, what the difference between: fate/destiny/purpose/coinicdence? and all of that, theyre all similar things with a different name! u dont actually need to answer that question!
Leison Posted July 20, 2004 Posted July 20, 2004 Life is a big arena where u learn many things like learning to learn, learning from mistake, learning to compete,learning to sacrifice and al last learning to die. Life is the journey where u collect many memories and at last when it's full of memories life ends leaving the memories alone.
Gant Posted July 21, 2004 Posted July 21, 2004 To Live. All life has one thing in common,,,to give seed. To Die. But life has much deeper and complicated substance as a subject,,all i tried to do is keep it simple.
Ubermensch Posted July 22, 2004 Posted July 22, 2004 One of those universal questions that everybody must confront in their lives is the meaning of life. Being able to calculate thermodynamic stresses will not help the poor scientists here. Their whole lives, the scientific consensus has declared philosophy irrelevant and amateurish. Yet here they are, they have finally come to meet it, face to face with the mortal questions that have occupied the frontal lobes of ever human from them and their fathers to the first man-ape to scream his name into the sun on the savannah ten-thousand centuries ago. The great questions of existence stood like a black monolith before the infant minds of the first men. Those same questions still stand before the scientists of today, questions that can only be answered --can only be asked, can only be formed-- by that one rejected word, "philosophy." It is a great and powerful philosophic achievement to have discovered the meaning of life. I say "great" because it takes enormous self-education --no one can know these things for you. I say "powerful" because it is life-changing. The meaning of life is life. For a human being it means that his mind and his actions are to be employed to his own benefit. That he is to enjoy the fruit of his own labor. In other words: I am the Means and the End, the Reason and the Power, the Pride and the Glory of my own existence. This is a superior answer to the middle-school bogus wisdom "the meaning of life is to screw."
Sayonara Posted July 22, 2004 Posted July 22, 2004 Their whole lives, the scientific consensus has declared philosophy irrelevant and amateurish What? When? Who?
Ubermensch Posted July 22, 2004 Posted July 22, 2004 What? When? Who? /me points to the science forums and debate main page. There' date=' sir, "metaphysics" is in the same forum as "pseudo science." There, sir, it says that metaphysics is "a system of theories, assumptions, and methods erroneously regarded as scientific." Metaphysics is one of the five schools of philosophy. It's the set of concepts which are formed using an epistemology --a knowledge mechanism-- upon which are based a man's actions. A man's principles --his metaphysics-- is that set of abstract concepts which he has constructed by using his brain. Included in this school are "the assumptions of empiricism" --the philosophical principles that make science possible. This "science" forum considers the very ideas that make science possible to be "erroneous." It's a very common trend; ever heard of post-modernism? I'm not going to try and maintain the venerable fiction that all science does is display facts that speak for themselves. Science came from somewhere --an objective, testable, verifiable, [i']true[/i] philosophy-- and thus it is a mistake for scientists to condemn philosophy. I don't know how many times I've had a discussion with scientists in science forums or scientists in philosophy forums where the jokers have told me it's better to study "biology" or "any *real* science" than philosophy because philosophy is "irrelevant" and "useless" and "you can't tell anything from philosophy." Smart people say this crap. At least, smart like calculators.
Sayonara Posted July 22, 2004 Posted July 22, 2004 Science and philosophy are inextricably linked, and very obviously so. Academic science is steeped in philosophy - there's no getting away from it. You tar all scientists with the same brush because of your experiences on other forums, and base your opinion of this web site on a non-inclusive and erroneous description of a single forum? You clearly haven't put as much thought into this as you'd like to think you have. I think you're just going for the controversy vote.
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