Thoughts on life and existance

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What is the meaning of life? This is a common question. Is the real meaning of our lives to just live going from emotion to emotion to live in constant temperary states to fill our time until we reach our end? Or is it more to try and learn and understand more about the universe and existance in general and to evolve to a higher state? I would like to think it was some thing meaning ful like the last sentence but its probably not.

I would like it to be that. I think seeking knowledge and understanding would be a mighty meaning to life. At the moment the reasons that I see in others is to get social reactions. People to me don't seem much more than Intellegent animals. Still violent still emotional still dramatic and to top it off humans are spreading like a virus.

People polute the world with out a thought they manage to go through there day to day lives knowing that they care for others without really caring for others that are differen't to them selfs. People are judgemental and can not stand change or difference hence there problem with people of differen't skin colors or nationalitys.

People with Aspergers are just a drop in the ocean but I think we are a very important drop. that is ignored.

So are the meanings of our existance simple? Eat sleep procreate or more complex like growing to be greater. I know there are many many other possiblitys out there just throwing some random ideas out here to see what I get back.

The purpose of life is procreation. Everything else is just entertainment.

Life is the path of least resistence in the systematic reduction of usable energy.

The meaning of life is to steal. Do not ask anything more of me. I have told you all you need to know.

42.

/obvious H2G2 reference

I don't actually think there IS a meaning.

I don't think that the meaning of life can be found. How you deal with that is now up to you. You can go for nihilism(there is no meaning, this thought can be expressed in many different ways), you can go for solipsism(I am the center of the universe), you can go for philosophy(I will figure out meaning through trying to think things through), you can go for religion(the meaning of life is through the divine as represented by *insert favored cult, religion, or mystical belief*), heck, you could go for materialism(there is nothing outside of what is physically here).

I really don't know what to say. People really are stupid and thoughtless and all of that but then again the only reason why you realize this is probably because life isn't going well for you in some form or fashion. You probably feel like an outsider and don't know how to react to those feelings and see this as injustice. If you had success you might start thinking differently. Reality is this way and probably should be this way simply because other forms of it would be unnatural and cause even greater harm.

What he said. ------------/\

What does the question "What is the meaning of life?" , mean?

It means "can you tell me what the meaning of life is, according to your rational thoughts, beliefs, and evidence if applicable" The meaning of life can typically be defined as the reasons for existence, why we were created, the nature of the universe, and it usually seeks to find a spiritual or mystical answer to this question but by its nature wants this spiritual or mystical answer put forth in a rational manner so that it cannot be refuted. It is in the end a rhetorical question because the answer can usually never be found in a manner that would satisfy the speaker's spiritual longings thus leaving the speaker to try to solve this problem on their own. In the end each individual must solve this problem on their own because of the fact that their own individual needs cannot be answered by others due to the lack of knowledge that others typically have, however, the individual will still try out of desperation and maybe to get inspiration as others answers can provide leads that will lead to what the asker desires.

To be short and concise, I don't know what the meaning is to the meaning of life question but I can try to make one up.

For me, the meaning of life is to make yourself and others happy and to TRY and fulfil your own personal goals. Oh and enjoy it.

As Awesomelyglorius said, meaning is something that people search when in a bad spot. People who have all they ever wished for don't stop and think "wait, why am I doing this?" This is a generalization, and may not be true for all humans.

From a logical viewpoint I must say that there is no ultimate meaning. And if there is, there is no way for me to find out what it is.

However, if it is in my power to create meaning, then there can be loads of meaning. For example, I can say that the meaning of life at this very moment is to drink this cup of tea. It is meaningful to me, therefore it is, at this moment, 'the' meaning.

In my opinion the meaning of life is what you want it to be, therefore it varies with person to person. I have set out 3 basic meanings below

From a Religious view of the Meaning of Life:
1 - Love Your God
2 - Follow his set of commandments
3 - Procreate (or there will eventualy be nobody to love God)
4 - The rest is your "free time", enjoy it.

From an Evolutionist point of view (this is basicaly what Lygophile wrote):
1 - There is no meaning except to mate
2 - Enjoy your life as much as posible

From my point of view:
1 - Structure your life and actions on Logic
2 - To gain better and better mental control/self dicipline as time goes by
3 - Expand your knowledge as much as you can
4 - Emotions and most of what acompanies them are simply distraction
5 - Avoid small talk at all costs

From a Monty Python point of view:
1 - You'll have to watch the film!

Yay!! ! I added something constructive to a conversation!! !!

Yeah, there is no absolute meaning of life otherwise we would have all reached the same conclusions on existence and we would pretty much all be invoking similar policies and stuff like that. If the meaning of life were known or even easily knowable then there would not be a need for philosophy or even politics because of the fact that the truth of what needed to be done would be there to be seen.

I suggest that the best thing that can be done to deal with your slight depression is to not think about it. If there is something wrong that you know can be done to fix things then do it, if there isn't then just try to push forward because often times things will fix themselves. Our emotions are like our economy, sometimes they are at the top of the world and sometimes they are in the dumps, when they are in the dumps there are 2 things we can do, wait for improvement or use our keynesian economics to pump money/fun into them and get improvement that way.

One of the mistakes I made was dismissing the notion of balance as banal.
Try to do the family thing,
The learning thing.
The meaningful work thing,
The community socially resposibility thing, and try to keep them in proportion.
Don't beat up on yourself if you fail.

You can only work forward from where you are.
Learning to stop your thought when you start to worry, rather than plan, too far ahead
is really important.
A well rounded life has stages-these differ from society to society.
Know which stage your in and want to be in-for example, if you want to have kids, you
better know when to settle down.

Well, philosophically speaking, the question, "what is the meaning of life?" may not be a question at all in a metaphysical sense. Just because string of words has a question mark at the end does not necessarilly make it a question. Only in the right context does a question become a question. For example, the following questions, "how much time can fit in a automobile?", or "how much is a triangle plus a square?" are meaningless when thought of in a metaphysical sense. Try to think of an answer right now, which I suspect will only leave you scratching your head. Only in the proper context do these types of statements have answers, thus giving them meaning, and making them questions.

If I were to walk into a store and see that triangle keychains were 25 cents and square ones were 50 cents, then I would be able to ask and answer such a question as "how much is a triangle plus a square?". Or if I walked into a store and saw that a book called time was about 12 inches by 12 inches square, then I would be able to ask and answer the question, "how much time can fit into an automobile?". Similarly, if a foreigner were to come to this country and overhear someone say the word "life" in a sentence, then one may ask and answer the question, "what is the meaning of life?".

In a metaphysical sense, these types of questions are meaningless, but in the proper context, they are perfectly legitimate and answerable (a triangle plus a square is 75 cents, about 2 hundred books of time can fit into your automobile, in german, the word life means leben, etc). Does not the question, "what is the meaning of basketball (the game)?" seem like total nonsense in a metaphysical sense?

Perhaps one should not ask "what is the meaning of life?", but "does your life have meaning to you?" (similarly, one should not ask, "what is the meaning of basketball?", but, "does basketball have any meaning to you?"). These are questions one can answer. Perhaps that is why people say the meaning of life is religion, work, etc. Not because they are the answer to the meaning of life, but because these activities give their life meaning.

I wish I could take credit for this line of thought, but it is actually an exposition on thoughts that Wittgenstein put forth in his book the "Tractatus". This is probably not an exact quote, but he says something like, "the solution to the question presents itself with the dissolvement of the question".

This is just an opinion, everyone should find their own path of course......

I have often got stumped on the meaning of life... in just that, the meaning. What is life?

I have spent a lot of years trying to pretend I knew what life was and all I did was waste a lot of time. If life exists inclusive to consciousness, I would say, life must then be very diverse. but I have no proof that life is conscious, the scientists do.

scientifically, biology is very mechanical chaos because it is always self-regulating. for biology, there is no existential delema, biology only exists the moment that living thing becomes separated from it. In the science lab, the sterile enviroment and the scientist merge together to be objective, and empiracle, and introspective and disective... The first ideas of how the body worked were peiced together at the morge. there have been many studies on life which I have to say wasted a lot of peoples time, in order to even be published or read to the point where the scientist is relevent to their peers and their words become science.. the experiment can't help but leave the lab. Until, the scientist begins to embody how we look at life, life as they know it won't embody conscious. the introspection of modern man is a process of dead-time not lived experiance.

even if life is just biology... anyone who thinks this way, that man is somehow biological, has not considered or dismisses my opinion that consciousness negates life. We just manifest a very complex and socio-scientifically enveloping suicide machine. but what is common to everything biological, though in varying degrees of complexity, is that nature has limited any existence to parameters beneith consciousness in the subconscious. the survival instinct. Any scientist who I have ever discussed this with understandably became very defensive. So, I doubt such an idea as this will make it into the science journals or win a nobel prize, or in anyway be representative of our societal views...

To be conscious of life is to be unconscious of nature, and to be unconscious of life is to live. but the only evidence of this is the experiment and the nature which has kept us surviving, though in recent times our survival has persued dying of boredom.

So, in my opinion, to be conscious of life is to actively persue your death with many many options. The scientific monopoly on the consciousness of life has always narrowed our persuit, though seemingly beneficial, it is constantly redefined and reapplied to maintain their consciousness. the empiracle structure which has made scientists of every kind control what we know of life.

science gained real momentum after the industrialization of the world it attempted to be the source of life. To narrow the society into survival based roles, into being both unconscious of nature and unconscious of life, but always always searching and advancing on a meaning which, though seemingly universal, (play/educate yourself/work/marry/have kids/make friends/travel/retire) rarely is.

The only time most people got to play was previous to almost the majority of their memories, and to me, this must be seen as the source of consciousness and where science pulls us in... that which pulled us away from play, the very universal meaning to this life we all so actively persue, is the consciousness which would physically suppress the human mind to combat the chaos which regulates life.

This process of social-scientific evolution reduces the chances of a question like you just asked ever getting an answer with something similar to the one I just gave..

Aspergers is a biological development of social detachment. It creates a lot of stress and conflict in the conventional life. In some ways this makes me feel that it might just be a part of the chaotic self-regulation... Though, the problem is created where being conscious of A.S. leaves you very very vulnerable to the scientist.

I have more and more confidence everyday that people with A.S. have the unique urge to play and to ask questions. If we do continue to follow along we will consciously attempt to fit in and that uniqueness will be eliminated.. and isn't to say I believe this is only unique to A.S.. or that a lot of you haven't swallowed handfuls of science by now... I just think the person with A.S. is a target.