Elysian Shadows

The meaning of life isn't for humans to know, so stop worrying about it.

X Abstract X wrote:The meaning of life isn't for humans to know, so stop worrying about it.

Then who is it for to know?

avansc wrote:

X Abstract X wrote:The meaning of life isn't for humans to know, so stop worrying about it.

Then who is it for to know?

I don't know but I don't think humans are capable of understanding it. Basically my view is don't bother looking for a meaning because you won't find one, whether there is one or not. While I don't believe in religion, I don't rule out a creator. I like to think that humans aren't mentally capable of understanding the origins of our universe or the meaning of life. For that reason I try not to waste time and emotion thinking about the meaning of life.

If you look at a dog, the dog thinks he has everything figured out but we humans know there's a lot the dog doesn't know about the world. Humans need to realize that even though we may be the smartest life form on earth, we aren't as smart as we like to think; we are probably not even close to figuring out the universe.

Even if we were to find the meaning of life, what would it gain us?

ajtgarber wrote:Even if we were to find the meaning of life, what would it gain us?

Exactly, why waste time diagnosing a problem if you know you won't be able to solve it.

X Abstract X wrote:Humans need to realize that even though we may be the smartest life form on earth, we aren't as smart as we like to think; we are probably not even close to figuring out the universe.

And therefore we should stop trying? That is not the kind of attitude that gets us anywhere. Every day we understand a little bit more than we did the previous day, why stop before our mental capabilities stops us, hell, our minds might even be able to understand it all!

The meaning of life is a byproduct of the human brain, of the consciousness. Because you're conscious you know you exist... so the next logical question would seems to be why, and how? And because humans are so self-important, we tend to believe there is a really awesome meaning of life. As in.. life was created for conscious being to appreciate the universe. Yeah.. that's probably just what the first atoms were thinking when they just formed .. "Hey, let's combine into stars to make the building blocks of life, so that conscious beings will be able to see what we did after 5 billion years!". That's just a big NO. But it gets worse...
Probably the biggest proof for self-importance is religion, most of which(if not all) suggest a crazy way in the universe formed(not judging.. we knew basically nothing about the universe, or the origin of life back then), with humans beings as the ultimate goal.
There is no master plan, no universal meaning to life. Everything is made out of elementary particles.
You don't see cats pondering about the meaning of life, so the meaning of life is all about humans - again, self-importance. It's just another kind of religion, less dangerous, but still putting human life above everything simply because we emerged a consciousness.
So if there is no universal meaning of life, but clearly there is a meaning of life otherwise we would just kill ourselves, what is it?
It's a personal meaning, it's our goals in life, our desires and needs, communities etc. That's what drives us and that's what gives our life "a" meaning, a sense of belonging in a community, which makes sense from an evolutionary point of view.

Edit: Oh, just to mention, when people say something like "The meaning of life cannot be understood by HUMANS" ... it's just self-importance combined with ignorance. Elaborated that would sound like "The meaning of life is sooo extremely awesome, and intense and complicated, that not even HUMANS, which are greatest being to have exists ever could figured it out! So lets give up." Can you see it now? The self-importance and ignorance? Self-importance and ignorance leads to religion which is a psychological disorder. We should treat as such.

cats do just sit and stare into space a lot... how do you know they aren't wondering why they exist

adikid89 wrote:The meaning of life is a byproduct of the human brain, of the consciousness. Because you're conscious you know you exist... so the next logical question would seems to be why, and how? And because humans are so self-important, we tend to believe there is a really awesome meaning of life. As in.. life was created for conscious being to appreciate the universe. Yeah.. that's probably just what the first atoms were thinking when they just formed .. "Hey, let's combine into stars to make the building blocks of life, so that conscious beings will be able to see what we did after 5 billion years!". That's just a big NO. But it gets worse...
Probably the biggest proof for self-importance is religion, most of which(if not all) suggest a crazy way in the universe formed(not judging.. we knew basically nothing about the universe, or the origin of life back then), with humans beings as the ultimate goal.
There is no master plan, no universal meaning to life. Everything is made out of elementary particles.
You don't see cats pondering about the meaning of life, so the meaning of life is all about humans - again, self-importance. It's just another kind of religion, less dangerous, but still putting human life above everything simply because we emerged a consciousness.
So if there is no universal meaning of life, but clearly there is a meaning of life otherwise we would just kill ourselves, what is it?
It's a personal meaning, it's our goals in life, our desires and needs, communities etc. That's what drives us and that's what gives our life "a" meaning, a sense of belonging in a community, which makes sense from an evolutionary point of view.

Edit: Oh, just to mention, when people say something like "The meaning of life cannot be understood by HUMANS" ... it's just self-importance combined with ignorance. Elaborated that would sound like "The meaning of life is sooo extremely awesome, and intense and complicated, that not even HUMANS, which are greatest being to have exists ever could figured it out! So lets give up." Can you see it now? The self-importance and ignorance? Self-importance and ignorance leads to religion which is a psychological disorder. We should treat as such.

The only thing you provided was pseudo intellectual garbage, not a single iota of proof. You talk like what you say is fact when its only an opinion, poor philosophical jargon at best. I can see why you think the meaning of YOUR life is pointless.

avansc, I agree with you there.

I just think that the meaning of Life is different for everyone, because Life isn't this unified goal I guess, but more of like a self goal really.
Your life is of your own, not of anyone else. Like the saying, "Life is what you make it".
The meaning of life is what you make it out to be. Because you're acting upon your own life, not someone else's.

With that said, I will now get out of this thread, because I smell a fight coming from adikid89 pretty soon.

avansc wrote: The only thing you provided was pseudo intellectual garbage, not a single iota of proof. You talk like what you say is fact when its only an opinion, poor philosophical jargon at best. I can see why you think the meaning of YOUR life is pointless.

Actually nowhere in the post have I said that life is pointless... I just said there is no universal meaning of life, only personal meaning, that is.. nobody or nothing put us in this universe with a reason. We just happened to be here.

P.S. Yes, this is only my opinion (maybe more share it)... but to claim that there is a universal meaning of life, that there is a higher purpose, that we've been "created" for a reason... well that just puts the burden of proof on you. "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence"

adikid89 wrote:

avansc wrote: The only thing you provided was pseudo intellectual garbage, not a single iota of proof. You talk like what you say is fact when its only an opinion, poor philosophical jargon at best. I can see why you think the meaning of YOUR life is pointless.

Actually nowhere in the post have I said that life is pointless... I just said there is no universal meaning of life, only personal meaning, that is.. nobody or nothing put us in this universe with a reason. We just happened to be here.

P.S. Yes, this is only my opinion (maybe more share it)... but to claim that there is a universal meaning of life, that there is a higher purpose, that we've been "created" for a reason... well that just puts the burden of proof on you. "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence"

meaahhhhh.... well perhaps you should dance to your own jingle there bub. "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence" in regards to "nobody or nothing put us in this universe with a reason. We just happened to be here."

Im not the one saying we were or weren't created by anything, be it a deity or a series of molecular bondings, however you blatantly appose one pr more paths, without any empirical evidence, but your opinion. I dont care what you believe, but dont tell other people they are wacadoos for believing in something that is not in accordance with what you believe.

Is there life in meaning? Do we live life to live? Isn't meaning just meaningless?

davidthefat wrote:Is there life in meaning? Do we live life to live? Isn't meaning just meaningless?

yes, but has thinking that ever helped anyone? no. Only demand the truth when the truth does not lead to such mindsets. Give your life meaning by bettering humanity, if nothing else.

Ginto8 wrote:

davidthefat wrote:Is there life in meaning? Do we live life to live? Isn't meaning just meaningless?

yes, but has thinking that ever helped anyone? no. Only demand the truth when the truth does not lead to such mindsets. Give your life meaning by bettering humanity, if nothing else.

Is truth absolute or relative?