Finding Meaning in Life

I don't believe in God, at least in the traditional sense. I think it is a far to simplistic way of thinking about life. The trouble I'm having is finding meaning. Why are we here? What are we supposed to spend our valuable time doing? Should we spend it advancing technically to ease the lives of our predecessors? Loving each other? Obtaining capital?

I'd love to here your views.

I don't believe in God, at least in the traditional sense. I think it is a far to simplistic way of thinking about life. The trouble I'm having is finding meaning. Why are we here? What are we supposed to spend our valuable time doing? Should we spend it advancing technically to ease the lives of our predecessors? Loving each other? Obtaining capital?

I'd love to here your views.

The meaning of life is to enjoy it, there is nothing else.

@H2Oyea said:

@Wolverine said:

I don't believe in God, at least in the traditional sense. I think it is a far to simplistic way of thinking about life. The trouble I'm having is finding meaning. Why are we here? What are we supposed to spend our valuable time doing? Should we spend it advancing technically to ease the lives of our predecessors? Loving each other? Obtaining capital?

I'd love to here your views.

How will you ease the life of your predecessors by advancing technically? They're dead.

Building time machines to go back and give the pilgrims Twinkies and shit.

@Wolverine said:

I don't believe in God, at least in the traditional sense. I think it is a far to simplistic way of thinking about life. The trouble I'm having is finding meaning. Why are we here? What are we supposed to spend our valuable time doing? Should we spend it advancing technically to ease the lives of our predecessors? Loving each other? Obtaining capital?

I'd love to here your views.

I don't think it's to advance technologically at least not for its own sake. Making future lives a bit easier is a really minor thing compared to all the suffering in human history and the suffering which is still ongoing that humans are complicit in.

Humanity is a debt that cannot be repaid imo.

Either we are being used by our alien overlords, or our purpose is something to the effect of systematic extinction of all life on this planet. (which come to think of it is odd since any day now a meteor can come and do the job by itself) Or maybe there's something we don't know and creating life in itself is somehow doing good. (bringing more human life from the ether until there's none left, and 'maximum' number of human life is reached, achievement unlocked) This perhaps involves gaining immortality technologically to stop people from dying and being reborn in the place of an actual NEW human.

But this is in terms of humanity as a whole, it's so much bigger than you or me, all we can do is enjoy the ride so to speak. It makes no point to aid humanity toward its ultimate goal seeing as 1) we will never live to see it to completion (unless reincarnation in true and therefore NOT moving humanity forward in our lfetime indirectly equates to more lifetimes we have to live through), 2) we don't know what humanity's ultimate goal is.

@James_Giant_Peach said:

Building time machines to go back and give the pilgrims Twinkies and shit.

I was going to come up with some sort of serious response, but hell, this is too good to not agree with.

@Hizang said:

The meaning of life is to enjoy it, there is nothing else.

We have a responsibility not to cause suffering in others, and to help alleviate suffering we did not cause.

I think life is about not dying as long as possible while still trying to have fun. And trying to eliminate the unfun stuff from the world so that coming generations won't have to bother with them.

@egg said:

@Hizang said:

The meaning of life is to enjoy it, there is nothing else.

We have a responsibility not to cause suffering in others, and to help alleviate suffering we did not cause.

We don't have that responsibility, that's a personal world view.

This is easy;

Fucking everything and anything that moves. Become one with with the universe by getting inside of it.

Biologically our goal is to mate and thus continue the species. That along with remaining as comfortable as possible (having enough shelter, enough food etc) is really the main things we are trying to do. Once those have been achieved we are more or less just blowing time till it is all over. Personally I think the best thing to do in that time is have fun and enjoy what you can.

@jasonefmonk said:

@egg said:

@Hizang said:

The meaning of life is to enjoy it, there is nothing else.

We have a responsibility not to cause suffering in others, and to help alleviate suffering we did not cause.

We don't have that responsibility, that's a personal world view.

And one everyone should have.

This world would be a better place if more people would take responsibility and think about their actions and the consequences.

Everyone who thinks the meaning of life is to enjoy it is seeing things a bit too simple-minded in my opinion.

Kindness.

@Wolverine: I have trouble with this. I actually think about this every day. What is life? How did the universe start? What was before the universe?

I like to think of it this way; life has absolutely no meaning. You can argue forever about what it means, or that its good to treat others well, turn the other cheek, be happy etc, but all of that means nothing. We are so small in relation to our 1/10000th of the galaxy, let alone the entire universe. Just think about it, how small we are, but then again, even thinking of what I just said, 'how small we are', means nothing. We live for 80 years and we all die, then life goes on, but it still has no meaning even for the people that are the next generation and the next generation. What is physicality, thought, imagination, creation, destruction, emotion? If you think about it in the sense that your lifetime is the only lifetime, and the universe ends once you're dead, it has no meaning. If you think about it in a sense that you live and the universe lives on for trillions of years, it also has no meaning.

It is incredibly hard for me to put how I feel about this into words. Just thinking about what all of this is, it's a fucking trip. I try to think back to before the universe was created, and I get a mental block that's forcing me back, almost saying 'you're not aloud to go there'. Everything means nothing, just like Shepherd saving the galaxy means nothing because who the fuck cares if we don't even know why we're here in the first place? That's the funny thing, we've advanced so much over how ever many years humans started to think, but we still have absolutely no idea what the fuck we're doing here. Life is a game, and none of us know the rules, so we just play the rules of the person who is deemed the greatest/smartest, such as the president, God or public opinion.

If you think about it like I do, then good luck, because it doesn't have an answer, it makes everything meaningless, and just the thought can make one feel useless and depressed. I'm trying to change and think about it positively, and put positive energy into my surroundings and the people I love, and just live out my life using that energy to be as happy as possible. Its either that or end your life, and I don't want to do that.

One last thing, if you've never done any type of psychedelic, then try it. Get a day of your life, make it free of all distractions, and eat some shrooms, or even smoke some weed, and have a think about your question. If I get flamed for this suggestion, then whatever. negative energy isn't good, and any form of growth, either mentally or spiritually is always good, so if you still have the bad stigma of 'drugs' then all I say is good luck and I hope you grow.

@Morrow said:

@jasonefmonk said:

@egg said:

@Hizang said:

The meaning of life is to enjoy it, there is nothing else.

We have a responsibility not to cause suffering in others, and to help alleviate suffering we did not cause.

We don't have that responsibility, that's a personal world view.

And one everyone should have.

This world would be a better place if more people would take responsibility and think about their actions and the consequences.

Everyone who thinks the meaning of life is to enjoy it is seeing things a bit too simple-minded in my opinion.

I agree. I think people do have the responsibility to not mess things up for other people. Other people have the right to enjoy their lives too, and if others are preventing that, well, that's not very nice.

Alleviating suffering we didn't cause...not so much, but one out of two ain't bad.

@Mahonay said:

This is easy;

Fucking everything and anything that moves. Become one with with the universe by getting inside of it.

deep ;)

Meaning seems to be breed and die, be recyled as fungi and be replaced by less obsolete evolved humans. More or less bacteria on a little dust of rock not even the size of a grain of sant on a beach. Our existence was random luck. Dinosaurs killed by Asteroid, 90 percent of life killed barring the smallest You do technically have a god. It's called Jupiter. Without it's pull we probably would have been wiped out like the dinosaurs a long time ago. It's been alot more useful than Jesus and definitely more worthy of blowing yourself up over than Allah. The sun is also awsome, without that we would be dead. Although I guess if you got skin cancer, the sun killed you anyway.

@TechHits said:

@Mahonay said:

This is easy;

Fucking everything and anything that moves. Become one with with the universe by getting inside of it.

deep ;)

Some might say...balls deep. HAH AM I RIGHT?

@Mahonay said:

@TechHits said:

@Mahonay said:

This is easy;

Fucking everything and anything that moves. Become one with with the universe by getting inside of it.

deep ;)

Some might say...balls deep. HAH AM I RIGHT?

yes thank you that was the joke.

@MooseyMcMan said:

@Morrow said:

@jasonefmonk said:

@egg said:

@Hizang said:

The meaning of life is to enjoy it, there is nothing else.

We have a responsibility not to cause suffering in others, and to help alleviate suffering we did not cause.

We don't have that responsibility, that's a personal world view.

And one everyone should have.

This world would be a better place if more people would take responsibility and think about their actions and the consequences.

Everyone who thinks the meaning of life is to enjoy it is seeing things a bit too simple-minded in my opinion.

I agree. I think people do have the responsibility to not mess things up for other people. Other people have the right to enjoy their lives too, and if others are preventing that, well, that's not very nice.

Alleviating suffering we didn't cause...not so much, but one out of two ain't bad.

Agreed. Too many people have a NIMBY attitude and grief others without a care.

Wolverine is questioning existential reasons. The fuck is going on?!

Living. Everyone has it's own opinion about living their life as how they want to. Some people would like to leave a mark in history, no matter how big it is. Some people would like to be respected by other people, because of their actions. We can't generalize it.

I'm in the Douglas Adams camp. "What's the meaning of life" is such a clumsy question that we probably wouldn't understand the answer to it. We humans are so in love with questioning and we don't care if it's utter nonsense. Why not ask...

"Do I find meaning in life?"

or

"What IS meaning to me?"

@Christoffer said:

I'm in the Douglas Adams camp. "What's the meaning of life" is such a clumsy question that we probably wouldn't understand the answer to it. We humans are so in love with questioning and we don't care if it's utter nonsense. Why not ask...

"Do you find meaning in your life?"

or

"What IS meaning to me?"

I was waiting for somebody to post 42 but that's the closest we got so far.

It's fascinating that this process repeats itself with every single human being on the planet.

@TechHits said:

@Mahonay said:

@TechHits said:

@Mahonay said:

This is easy;

Fucking everything and anything that moves. Become one with with the universe by getting inside of it.

deep ;)

Some might say...balls deep. HAH AM I RIGHT?

yes thank you that was the joke.

BALLS DEEP.

Life has no meaning, it is an organic process. The question is akin to asking is there any meaning to photosynthesis.

man hands on misery to man.

it deepens like a coastal shelf.

get out as early as you can,

and don't have any kids yourself.

We don't have the right to know all the answers yet, when even our own biology and consciousness remain a mystery, let alone the outside universe. So practise humility first.

Then go read some Nietzsche. Get used to the idea that Meaning is just a word, and we can attach it to anything we like. Yes, life remains unexplained, but that's an advantage - it means we can forever thrive off it, see new things, overturn old beliefs. If the universe was all wrapped up and explained, life would be incredibly dull.

The meaning of life is - what you make of it. So make something of it! Some choose the Ego (Nietzsche), others love, beauty, kindness, God, accountancy - nothing is correct, and nothing is true, outside of what you select for yourself. Meaning is yours to exercise, you do it every time you take a breath. Don't surrender that authority - cherish it.

Gettin' pshyco bro!

@DeF said:

@Christoffer said:

I'm in the Douglas Adams camp. "What's the meaning of life" is such a clumsy question that we probably wouldn't understand the answer to it. We humans are so in love with questioning and we don't care if it's utter nonsense. Why not ask...

"Do you find meaning in your life?"

or

"What IS meaning to me?"

I was waiting for somebody to post 42 but that's the closest we got so far.

It's fascinating that this process repeats itself with every single human being on the planet.

It's just part of growing up. And suddenly, some day, you realize... "Hey, I'm actually pretty happy even if this question doesn't have an answer... I'll just leave it then."

Abstracting from religion and spirituality, it is fair to say that we are here to experience and grow. Doesn't our knowledge support that? Don't we experiment all the range of emotions and feelings, integrate them in ourselves, and take that with us? :p

Now the real question rises: "Grow towards what?" And the plain answer is "Towards where you wanna go."

Desire and search for meaning in your desires, and each time you reach them, you will change with your objectives, and you'll grow towards where you wanna be.

Anyone say getting balls deep in something yet? Probably that.

@egg said:

We have a responsibility not to cause suffering in others, and to help alleviate suffering we did not cause.

This. Regardless of where you stand on theism and spirituality, this is something that any human being should get satisfaction out of. If you don't feel you need to do good in the world, at the very least don't make it any worse.

@SlasherMan said:

@egg said:

We have a responsibility not to cause suffering in others, and to help alleviate suffering we did not cause.

This. Regardless of where you stand on theism and spirituality, this is something that any human being should get satisfaction out of. If you don't feel you need to do good in the world, at the very least don't make it any worse.

I think that everyone develops a world view (we have already seen quite a few) and then lives according to it. For me there is no grand meaning I am going to do whatever I feel like doing while keeping to my world view. As far as @egg 's two responsibilities go I think the first should be included in everyone's world view. The second I think is something we should achieve not for its own sake but as a byproduct of doing what we feel like doing. I understand helping others might be something you want to do but I mean you may help others by being great at your job or a hobby which you share with others.

EDIT: Thought I'd mention my own view. I think the ultimate goal for my life is achievement. I don't know what kind but the bigger the better. I think it would be a disgraceful if I let everything at my disposal go to waste, not for others but for myself. Any great achievement by nature helps others anyway but its a goal of mine for my own sake, not just because I want to benefit from the results (which I do) though. Hmm its really hard to explain why I want to chase achievement but I feel it's the greatest thing I could and will do with my life.

You can't ask the question "what is the meaning of life" without first explaining why you think that life has an objective meaning in the first place.

My personal purpose in life is to be happy.

Oh, also: the only immoral things are: the initiation of force and disrespecting someone else's property. Aside from that you can do whatever the fuck you want.

The meaning of life is to crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of the women.

Sick jams and tight bros

The meaning of life is to live your life as you see fit.

The meaning of life, is death. It's just that simple folks.

One cannot exist without the other.

Death is the one true equalizer amongst all living things.

I don't believe in much of anything. Most of the things that people hold dear are illusory. They don't mean near as much as people think they do. Meaning can be lost or found in just about anything. It's a crapshoot.

The meaning of life is to just pass the time until something else happens.

When it comes to the meaning of life, you really kind of have to become a solipsistic person and find what makes you tick and gives you satisfaction in your day to day. The universe is a non human thing, so to try and attribute a trite concept of humanity such as "meaning" to it is a useless exercise.

TL;DR: Come to terms you won't find a higher meaning and set your own goals in life that will leave you satisfied.

Here is all the meaning you'll most likely ever want in life.

Who said that life had to have meaning? Who said that there was any purpose to it? Existence is a very chaotic thing.

To live and die. Not much else.

Look at life Metaphysically. Anything that exists can be recreated. As the universe teaches us to control it threw science, it is teaching us to in effect become god. At its core god is the embodiment of thought, or consciousnesses which are traits that also define us. As those traits are already proven to exist they therefore support the potential of a god. You can also look at god at a elemental level. IE the universe IS god. It created us, and it teaches us.

Also marvel at the fact that the universe is intelligent, and self aware threw you. It is capable to rearranging itself, and creating solely threw information. You could look for meaning in themes that the universe presents. Such as pairs, evolution, and creation. Largely meaning is subjective, but finding meaning with the golden rule of do onto others as a foundation seems to be the way to go. The universe is largely pretty clear on what it good and what is bad, ethical or not ethical. Consider why that is. On some level that universe has to know what good, bad, love, hate are. How do little bits of energy understand all the nuances of life, how does the universe know what they are?

The omega point, where we become or create god.

http://science.discovery.com/videos/through-the-wormhole-2-the-omega-point.html

@egg said:

@Hizang said:

The meaning of life is to enjoy it, there is nothing else.

We have a responsibility not to cause suffering in others, and to help alleviate suffering we did not cause.

We don't have that responsibility, that's a personal world view.

The meaning of life is to make the front page on Reddit.

@Wolverine:

Why are we here? we aren't here for anything, instead we arose because the earth was a nice area for life. think about it that way.

What are we supposed to spend our valuable time doing? whatever you like to do.

Should we spend it advancing technically to ease the lives of our predecessors? up to you

Loving each other? up to you

Obtaining capital? up to you

There is no Inherent meaning.

I like to go with "cuz".

Being happy.