Why? Why do we decide to keep going? Why do we decide to continue on and live our lives? Life is so full of pain and hardship, what really is the point of dealing with it all? Is our whole existence an accident? Were we really made by a huge explosion? If so then we have no meaning, we are here only because we are. Nothing matters. What if some kind of God was to have made us? Well we have a purpose, but we all fail to do what he says we should do. So are we all failures, or are we just here, so that we can live to die? Or are we supposed to make our own future, our own reason for being here and doing what we do? Is it some kind of mixture of the three? No one can know for sure, but I know you all have heard that line before.
For me I think, life isn’t for you. It is for other people. I know that sounds really religious, but if you think about how your life ends up when you live to make yourself happy and compare that to a life spent helping others, you can see that a selfish person almost always ends up alone and sad, while the other has hard beginnings, but things get better because the people he helps come back to help him. It is a scientific fact that humans are not solitary creature; we are made to interact with others and to help each other. Though we somehow end up spending a lot of time looking out only for ourselves and out interests. It is my belief, that as a human being, our lives should be spent helping others and then, in turn, others will help us. It won’t always happen this way, but it will. Religion an politics a side, this is why I think we are here, our reason for being here. What is your opinion? What do you think is our reason? Please try to be appropriate, this is a serious blog.
It is my belief, that as a human being, our lives should be spent helping others and then, in turn, others will help us.
Why? I think you gave two reasons: 1. the selfish person usually ends up alone and sad and 2. we are social animals. But I know a lot of selfish people who are quite happy and as for the second one, selfishness can be quite compatible with having friends and family. And even then, the second point falls to the is/ought gap.
You have the right idea though. I recommend reading some books on ethics, like for example "Rational Man" by Henry B. Veatch. Go for it!
I'm scared to die....the thought makes me irrationally freak out at the thought of not being able to think anymore; no longer being who I am.
Like what I've always said about the meaning of life, there is no real meaning, but you can assign life meaning. What it holds for you may be different from everyone else, as should be a given. So what's the meaning of my life? I haven't exactly fleshed out such a passion yet, but hopefully I'll have something.
Religion and other instances of belief give people something to occupy themselves so they're not thinking of the inevitable. Whether they become productive because of it, friendly, or selfish, it's all a matter of what they assign.
In philosophy there is a word called nihilism. dictionary.com says it means an extreme form of skepticism: the denial of all real existence or the possibility of an objective basis for truth. As humans, we become so aware of how little we know, that we cannot trust any "real truth" tand therefore lack a "moral compass". We need a structure to help us make decisions but we can no longer trust anything. How can we begin to make decisions that make our short while good if we don't know the point?? How can we die and not feel cheated out of this great opportunity? death after all does not care about us.. Also, a religion could make lives less fulfilling for no reason if they turn out not to be true.. Thus the problem of finding any meaning or goals. If we do not have goals how do we decide? There are decisions to make! we need criteria.
Friedrich Nietzsche's "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" differs from other systems for moral guidance (religions). It differs because it is more attuned to the chaos and woes of life. Why do we envy eachother? because we want to become better! we want to grow. We do not simply want pleasure, we want power! why do we want power you ask? neitzche's answer is that the "purpose of the earth" is to make a being more "powerful" than humans. What would this entail?? To him, it is a person who lives without regrets here on life. A person who gains the power to enjoy reality as it is, with less order, with more pain...with death, and allow our human virtues to punch the face of pain.
Anyways i could go on forever. i'm not a trained philosopher (neitzche doesn't actually prefer disciplined learning like universities so its ok) But i just want to show you how I personally might use nietzsche to give myself a satisfying answer to the questions you raise.
What if some kind of God was to have made us? Well we have a purpose, but we all fail to do what he says we should do. So are we all failures, or are we just here, so that we can live to die? Or are we supposed to make our own future, our own reason for being here and doing what we do?
"once you said 'God' when you gazed upon distant seas; but now i have taught you to say 'Superman'. "God is a supposition but i want your supposing to reach no further than your creating will. could you create a god? - so be silent about all gods! but you could surely create superman"
Having Gods in our thinking makes us search for structure in areas that are not part of nature. Nature does not have gods. gods are a human invention.A way to understand to try to accept and understand the consquences of our actions...The problem is that we cannot always empower ourself to grow...(though sometimes we can) Essentially we cannot just make a god, so its just not useful. We can however act more courageously, we can realize that life is an astounding force on its own and we can learn to empower ourselves.
when you live to make yourself happy and compare that to a life spent helping others, you can see that a selfish person almost always ends up alone and sad, while the other has hard beginnings, but things get better because the people he helps come back to help him.
"You are too pure for the dirt of the words: revenge punishment, reward, retribution. You love your virtue as the mother loves her child but when was it heard of a mother wanting to be paid for her love? Your virtue is your dearest self...and every work of your virtue is like a star extinguished: its light is forever travelling"
Believing in order that rewards us for doing good is wrong. It is an inherited idea. Yes one action may allow you to use your "virtue" which is your inherent goodness but it is not rewarded because a god deemed it good. It is good on its own because that is more empowering to you. If you try to act a certain way because you think its good you are not attuned with the actual flow of life and love itself and therefore you are less empowered.
For example, someone might be happier spending time alone but the "inherited thought" that its good to spend time with others might lead them to live a way that they do not enjoy optimally. That said, i personally enjoy the company of others but i don't want to help them because i think i should but rather because thats what i want.
Life is so full of pain and hardship, what really is the point of dealing with it all?
"Life wants to raise itself on high pillars and steps; it wants to gaze into the far distance and out upon joyful splendour-that is why it needs height. And because it needs height, it needs steps and conflict between steps and those who climb them! Life wants to climb and in climbing overcome itself"
To neitzche life on earth has an ultimate goal and that is something that grows out of human chaos. it strives into being when we suffer to overcome hardship.
hmmmm so i don't know if i answered it even for myself.. there are many good ideas out there though, thats for sure.
It is my belief, that as a human being, our lives should be spent helping others and then, in turn, others will help us.
Why? I think you gave two reasons: 1. the selfish person usually ends up alone and sad and 2. we are social animals. But I know a lot of selfish people who are quite happy and as for the second one, selfishness can be quite compatible with having friends and family. And even then, the second point falls to the is/ought gap.
You have the right idea though. I recommend reading some books on ethics, like for example "Rational Man" by Henry B. Veatch. Go for it!
Well to me it's a balance between generosity/solidarity (as a whole) vs. Selfishness. I try to know when being selfish is really in my interest and out-weight being generous.
At the same time I quite often accept to be generous while I could be self. But I don't mind helping people , and I insist, I don't MIND. I hardly like to help them when it comes to general matters, but if it is to teach them something - anything - then It is a complete different issue. I like to teach people things, to educate them.
So, I was willing at first to answer 42, many of you will understand.
But I don't have much reason, I just want to live peacefully, trying to improve everyone's knowledge. Not forcing them, forcing someone to learn is misusing energy and time, wasting others time and energy as well.
I am quite tired so i can't much elaborate right now but i'll keep in touch with this blog.
Those are very interesting ideas. I really like what meteorskunk said. It really makes one think about the world around them. I never really looked at things in that light and I feel like I was blindsided by what I read. Not because it was bad, but because I simply didn't ever think of life like that.
I don't. Nothing has a meaning, things just happen because they cannot not happen at that exact point in time and space. They have no choice to happen at that one moment; there is no meaning behind any event or the existence of a thing. Things are what they are because they cannot be otherwise.
But the thing is, meaninglessness is not synonym of uselessness in my opinion. Things without meaning (everything I believe) end up being more useful than things with meaning (nothing I believe), because I'm somewhat of a nihilist (not too sure if you can categorize what I just said as nihilist but yea
Life is so full of happiness and joy. You either choose to believe in that paradise that is life or choose to believe in that hell that is also life. If you need a reason to seek peace and happiness, than make one up, but I prefer not to lie to myself
I don't know if it was the case at the time it was posted but I love the fact that this was the first reply and the user has 42 posts.
On September 02 2012 00:08 EffervescentAureola wrote: We live in a computer program called the Matrix. Any glitches in that system are called déjà vu.
On the serious side of things though, I don't think there is a "reason" to exist, or that one is needed. We've got maybe a century atm, find your own reasons and make it work. I think life would be far more boring, with events and decisions being far less interesting if everyone had a reason, even if it was something as seemingly harmless as 'help each other'. Without the exploration of who we are as people and what we want our time to mean, we take a lot away from life in my opinion.
The universe doesn't owe you a reason for existing. You are not entitled to a purpose.
We aren't born to help others, the beauty is that we are not born to do anything.
We aren't born as slaves to some omnipotent dictator, nor are we born in chains to serving others. I have no obligation to feed the starving, no obligation to be nice. Everything that I do, I do because I want to do it.
I have no divinely mandated purpose, I have my own goals, made by me. I give meaning to my life.
It is important that people can live their lives as they see fit. Nobody can demand that their ideals are made yours, you are your own person in ever single way, entirely of your own design.
What is your purpose? Whatever you make of it. You hold sway over your own life, and nobody has the right to deny you that, certainly not with pleas to altruism and other obligations that are piled on you from birth.
We aren't born to be anything, and that is beatiful thing when you grasp it.
really 0123456789? Why do you have to do that? Eveybody hates on religion for no reason and it isn't cool man. zalz I want you to know you're a bad ass baller, thats a cool point, I like it and you put it in a way that is understandable.
On September 02 2012 12:15 genesis_crimsonheart wrote: really 0123456789? Why do you have to do that? Eveybody hates on religion for no reason and it isn't cool man. zalz I want you to know you're a bad ass baller, thats a cool point, I like it and you put it in a way that is understandable.
but if you think about how your life ends up when you live to make yourself happy and compare that to a life spent helping others, you can see that a selfish person almost always ends up alone and sad, while the other has hard beginnings, but things get better because the people he helps come back to help him.
Lol, this is cute. Too bad most selfish people ending up alone and sad is a massive generalization that's not true, and something you would get if you were 15, and most of your life experiences come from watching TV. Every1's selfish or have ulterior motives(can be subconscious), even those who are considered "unselfish" by society's standards. It's just human nature.
Also the part about hard beginnings and the whole "I helped others, and they come back to help me and I live happily ever after" type shit is only something I've seen from saturday morning cartoons.
Ok, so let's be real here. What do you consider to be "helping others". Because the whole "helping others" thing is pretty vague, and human beings will only help others depending on the opportunity cost. The more you have to give up to help others, the less likely you will "help them". You made it your entire life point to "help others". But I'm willing to bet that if you wouldn't even be willing to give up your first world country lifestyle to help others live a better life.
It is a scientific fact that humans are not solitary creature; we are made to interact with others and to help each other. Though we somehow end up spending a lot of time looking out only for ourselves and out interests. It is my belief, that as a human being, our lives should be spent helping others and then, in turn, others will help us.
Cute, so you believe in helping others so that they will help you. That doesn't sound like you're doing something for your own self interest.
I say all this because I believe that you should "help" others without expecting anything in return. And because human beings in dire times won't really help others if the cost of helping others is too high, unless they get something in return(doesn't have to be materialistic)
On September 02 2012 04:29 zalz wrote: The universe doesn't owe you a reason for existing. You are not entitled to a purpose.
We aren't born to help others, the beauty is that we are not born to do anything.
We aren't born as slaves to some omnipotent dictator, nor are we born in chains to serving others. I have no obligation to feed the starving, no obligation to be nice. Everything that I do, I do because I want to do it.
I have no divinely mandated purpose, I have my own goals, made by me. I give meaning to my life.
It is important that people can live their lives as they see fit. Nobody can demand that their ideals are made yours, you are your own person in ever single way, entirely of your own design.
What is your purpose? Whatever you make of it. You hold sway over your own life, and nobody has the right to deny you that, certainly not with pleas to altruism and other obligations that are piled on you from birth.
We aren't born to be anything, and that is beatiful thing when you grasp it.
I love that answer. Great post.
As for my purpose. Make money and use it to fuck bitches. Greatest thing in life is the taste of a new woman. I don't really want anything else. I couldn't care less about grand schemes of destiny, like religion offers or delusions of grandeur like wanting to be the first this or that or an Olympic champion or going to the moon or being a prolific writer or any of that shit. You may think I'm shallow, well.....don't really care. Not here to please anyone.
On September 02 2012 04:29 zalz wrote: The universe doesn't owe you a reason for existing. You are not entitled to a purpose.
We aren't born to help others, the beauty is that we are not born to do anything.
We aren't born as slaves to some omnipotent dictator, nor are we born in chains to serving others. I have no obligation to feed the starving, no obligation to be nice. Everything that I do, I do because I want to do it.
I have no divinely mandated purpose, I have my own goals, made by me. I give meaning to my life.
It is important that people can live their lives as they see fit. Nobody can demand that their ideals are made yours, you are your own person in ever single way, entirely of your own design.
What is your purpose? Whatever you make of it. You hold sway over your own life, and nobody has the right to deny you that, certainly not with pleas to altruism and other obligations that are piled on you from birth.
We aren't born to be anything, and that is beatiful thing when you grasp it.
I love that answer. Great post.
As for my purpose. Make money and use it to fuck bitches. I don't really want anything else. I couldn't care less about grand schemes of destiny, like religion offers or delusions of grandeur . You may think I'm shallow, well.....don't really care. Not here to please anyone.
On September 02 2012 04:29 zalz wrote: The universe doesn't owe you a reason for existing. You are not entitled to a purpose.
We aren't born to help others, the beauty is that we are not born to do anything.
We aren't born as slaves to some omnipotent dictator, nor are we born in chains to serving others. I have no obligation to feed the starving, no obligation to be nice. Everything that I do, I do because I want to do it.
I have no divinely mandated purpose, I have my own goals, made by me. I give meaning to my life.
It is important that people can live their lives as they see fit. Nobody can demand that their ideals are made yours, you are your own person in ever single way, entirely of your own design.
What is your purpose? Whatever you make of it. You hold sway over your own life, and nobody has the right to deny you that, certainly not with pleas to altruism and other obligations that are piled on you from birth.
We aren't born to be anything, and that is beatiful thing when you grasp it.
I love that answer. Great post.
As for my purpose. Make money and use it to fuck bitches. I don't really want anything else. I couldn't care less about grand schemes of destiny, like religion offers or delusions of grandeur . You may think I'm shallow, well.....don't really care. Not here to please anyone.
You don't need to make money to fuck bitches.
Did I save you a lot of time and grief?
No you don;t but its the most expedient way. Guy with no little or no money may get a 10 once maybe twice in his life but to a guy with money its the norm. When every girl you fuck is no less than a 9 then you've made it.
EPT
