The Meaning Of Life An philosophy discussion

[richierich1m 0]

ooooh ! isn't this a topic with the most answer , iwouldn't get surprised if this thread has the highest number of answers. hmm. what life , no one can agree to a particular meaning as no one goes through the exact experiences of life.we often live thinking we know our life and the meaning of our experiences and the entire world better and we settle into it,hardly realising that this world is never starving for want of wonders .feeling of settlement is only transient .each day dawns to a more challenged world than yesterday and more so.the more we learn the lesser we realise we know ,imparting lessons of life is such a transient scenario may seem difficult but not impossible ,instead askingf tyhe task to be easy let us ask for it to be worth it.don't asl what it means but u decide what you want your life to mean ,i always feel that the life we live is so small ,why cant wee live for 500 years ans that too,being young and beautiful, Everything in this world is great ,good and challenging, this world has no end i feel .there is so much to discover to experience ,to feel to love ,to dare ,to acheive,to just think about, this world has billions of type of people and there uniqueness is what makes thgis worls and if anyone says that the meaning of life is one particular thing ,tham we would have been like zombies ,who wouldn't do anything except do a certain work like zombies, it good that all of us have different meaning of life,a different meaning of its purpose and a different meaning of its existance,For a painter his canvas is what life means for an actor ,his acting passion is the meaning life ,for a young enterpreneur like me its the passion of businness and the fun in taking challenges is the meaning of life ,everyone decides their own meaning of life and what it means in the overall system of life ,and isn't this difference making this world a beautiful place,its not a question to answer ,but the one to experience and feel.

[mitchellmckain 0]

What if there is no meaning.The only meaning to it all, is the desire to pass on your DNA.

The only reason you have a desire to pass on your DNA, is because things that dont desire ot pass on DNA, dont do it, die, and therfore no-longer exist.

Beeing Social is fun because because it gets you a place in a social hierachy, with potential mates (for sex)

Fruiends are fun ecause of safety in numbers.

Death of a family member is sad because its part of yuor DNA, making Death a sad experiance is natures way of forcing you to help your family, keeping the DNA alive.

What was that phychologists name ?? Froid ?
He was right.. everything you do, evertything that drives you is designed to make you pass on your DNA.

The meaning of life, if anything is the attempt at immortailty via re-production.

Oh yes that is a great philosophy. Put the selfish gene in command and make selfishness the highest ideal. Instead of, "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends", we have "no greater goal has any man but to squirt his seed in as many women as possible." Oh and for the other gender, the ideal is to be a baby factory. Wonderful philosophy. I wonder what this implies about the gay community? You could join forces with the Catholic church in their ecologically insane policy of prohibiting birth control. Death of a family member is sad but I guess the death of strangers is just more resources for you and yours. Richard Dawkins invented a new moral low point with that book of his.

P.S. Sigmund Freud was never a social darwinist of any sort. He was a scientist who observed the critical role of sexuality in human psychopathology.

[xboxrulz1405241485 0]

I agree to those who say that the answer to life and everything is 42.xboxrulz

[demolaynyc 0]

Alright, Im going to ask you guys this question:Out of all the thousands (millions) of species in the world, how come only one has intelligence so much superior than the others?If you disagree with that statement, prove me wrong that another species has the same intellectual capability as us in which they can build cars, houses, phones and other man-made object. I'm sure there's a number of animals that can make their own houses (made of dirt or rock) but can these animals build anything that takes them to outer space? Wage war against each other by the masses?Humans are very special. We are "scientifically" animals, but we are not like any other animal. We have souls, feelings and emotions. How come only one species has so much mind and intellectual superiority?

[foolakadugie 0]

Alright, Im going to ask you guys this question:
Out of all the thousands (millions) of species in the world, how come only one has intelligence so much superior than the others?

If you disagree with that statement, prove me wrong that another species has the same intellectual capability as us in which they can build cars, houses, phones and other man-made object. I'm sure there's a number of animals that can make their own houses (made of dirt or rock) but can these animals build anything that takes them to outer space? Wage war against each other by the masses?

Humans are very special. We are "scientifically" animals, but we are not like any other animal. We have souls, feelings and emotions.

How come only one species has so much mind and intellectual superiority?

How do you know that other animals do not have emotions and feelings? Can you prove that? How exactly do you define a "soul"? There has to be extremes to any spectrum.

Humans were not traveling to the moon and building cars and phones until very recently (relatively). Even humans were hunting and gathering nomads at one time. They probably started out using tools much like tools that monkeys have been found to use. Our technology builds upon other technology. We would have never gone to the moon until we discovered how to start fire. Even certain birds have been known to use tools. The human brain has become larger over the time that our species has survived. Who is to say that that couldn't happen to monkeys or any other species in another few million years?

[demolaynyc 0]

Who is to say that that couldn't happen to monkeys or any other species in another few million years?

Okay... monkeys have existed waaay before we existed, yet they still haven't developed technology that ties in with us. Since we "came from monkeys" they've existed before us, thus should give them soo much time to develop their minds.

However, monkeys are at a stall, and they still haven't developed technology the same as humans do. They still act the way they do millions of years ago. We've just been here recently and we've developed the fastest. How come other animals couldn't do that?

[foolakadugie 0]

Okay... monkeys have existed waaay before we existed, yet they still haven't developed technology that ties in with us. Since we "came from monkeys" they've existed before us, thus should give them soo much time to develop their minds.
However, monkeys are at a stall, and they still haven't developed technology the same as humans do. They still act the way they do millions of years ago. We've just been here recently and we've developed the fastest. How come other animals couldn't do that?

Well, we could be a branch off from the development of monkeys, in which case the monkeys would have evolved (humans being the product of evolved monkeys). Just because part of a species evolves doesn't mean that the rest of the species will. Time alone does not change a species. There needs to be an environmental factor driving the change. A species could stay the same for extended periods of time if it is fit for it's environment. This is why we still have roaches and lampreys which haven't evolved much at all within the past hundred(s) million years. They don't have to evolve because they have no problem surviving as they are.

I would say that a possible reason for our intelligence and accomplishments is that we eventually stopped wandering and learned to farm and live in a localized area. Since humans spent less time searching for food and hunting, they might have had time to use their brains more for things less related to survival. It seems that there were more arts, crafts, and other non-survival related activities being created once people started settling in one place for extended periods of time. Some of these activities involve more abstract thinking.
Edited February 13, 2007 by foolakadugie (see edit history)

[demolaynyc 0]

Well, we could be a branch off from the development of monkeys, in which case the monkeys would have evolved (humans being the product of evolved monkeys). Just because part of a species evolves doesn't mean that the rest of the species will. Time alone does not change a species. There needs to be an environmental factor driving the change. A species could stay the same for extended periods of time if it is fit for it's environment. This is why we still have roaches and lampreys which haven't evolved much at all within the past hundred(s) million years. They don't have to evolve because they have no problem surviving as they are.
I would say that a possible reason for our intelligence and accomplishments is that we eventually stopped wandering and learned to farm and live in a localized area. Since humans spent less time searching for food and hunting, they might have had time to use their brains more for things less related to survival. It seems that there were more arts, crafts, and other non-survival related activities being created once people started settling in one place for extended periods of time. Some of these activities involve more abstract thinking.

Okay, if you say that species don't evolve is because they're fit for the environment they live in. So if they're fit for that environment then that must also mean that their resources are right where they are--leaving room for them to settle and discover new things such as creating more advanced tools than what they've been using before their settlement.

Monkeys have settled in the jungle for long periods of time, yet they haven't used much of their brains.

[foolakadugie 0]

Okay, if you say that species don't evolve is because they're fit for the environment they live in. So if they're fit for that environment then that must also mean that their resources are right where they are--leaving room for them to settle and discover new things such as creating more advanced tools than what they've been using before their settlement.
Monkeys have settled in the jungle for long periods of time, yet they haven't used much of their brains.

Like I already said, just because part of a species evolves, that doesn't mean that there wouldn't still be some left how they are.
If humans evolved from monkeys, that doesn't mean that the rest of the monkeys are going to evolve into humanoids. The species
branches off from the other and they both continue to exist.

[demolaynyc 0]

Like I already said, just because part of a species evolves, that doesn't mean that there wouldn't still be some left how they are. If humans evolved from monkeys, that doesn't mean that the rest of the monkeys are going to evolve into humanoids. The species
branches off from the other and they both continue to exist.

Okay fine, but don't you find it interesting that Humans are the only speicies who have these advanced technology compared to the rest of the animals. ONE RACE

[foolakadugie 0]

Okay fine, but don't you find it interesting that Humans are the only speicies who have these advanced technology compared to the rest of the animals. ONE RACE

Yes, I find it to be very interesting and I definitely don't mean to discount the amazing creatures that we are.Nature and life itself are mind-bending.

[iGuest 3]

SoleqThe Meaning Of Life

This topic is really interesting. I think the thread created by Soleq and Majestic treefrog needs to be studied and pondered about a little bit more. Like Soleq I believe that everything exists as pairs of opposite. If love and hate are two poles of the something, when you travel from love toward hate you will invariably reach a point (a zero point) which is neither love or hate or conversely it will appear as if love and hate would have formed out of this zero( Note that zero is the only commodity from which an equal quantity of positives and negatives can come out.)

I think the same principle can be used to understand, why Human being are the best on earth.

ASHOK

-reply by ASHOK

[iGuest 3]

Your defenition of what constitutes a pole for dualism is arbitrary........The Meaning Of Life

Evrything that exists is an effect. So there has to be cause for its existence. Isnt this cause and effect the poles of dualism.

ASHOK 

-reply by ASHOK

[iGuest 3]

Why humans are the best on earthThe Meaning Of Life

Creation is in four different levels of limitation. These limitations are the limitations of the four basic elements ( + the self makes it five) that went into the making of this universe. The four basic elements are solids, liquids, gases and ether ( fire is the 5th that represent the self).The solids are the maximum limited(with all the three dimensions +ve). Liquids with one dimension -ve is slightly less limited than solids( ++- ). Gases with two dimension -ve is less limited than liquids(--+ ), and ether with all the dimensions negative (---) is the least limited. Now these four elements, along with the fifth fire element is the physical structure of our universe. This is the same structure, that goes in to the making of every being known to us. This means that the creation is homogenous. Let us take for example the earth which is the maximum limited sector. It contains stomes, which cannot move at all , but still has a life( reffered to as half life period, because its full life is too cumbersome for computation). Then earth has trees or plants which can move in one direction ( can grow vertically.). Then we have animals which can grow vertically and move horizontally as well. Then we have humans who also have a mind in addition to the properties enjoyed by animals.

Here we find that the humans are the least limited and animals are one level below that of the man. This is according to the limitation of the four great elements.

ASHOK

[iGuest 3]

Meaning of lifeThe Meaning Of Life

Meaning of life is to live and the effort is to live with happiness, lasting happiness. We try so many methods to be happy. Each one of them teaches us a lesson, and the lesson is that all these enjoyments are shortlived. After several trials and error we start looking for lasting happiness, a happiness that will last forever. This turns us towards God. So it would appear that the meaning  of life is to look for God.

Happiness is some thing that comes out of overcoming of  limitations. An example would be a game of foot ball. The idea of foot ball as we all kmow is to put the ball in the goal post. Now there are so many ways to do this. You can take the ball, run to the goal post and put it in. But then that is too simple. So we go about putting limitations, such as that one cannot touch the ball by hand. One has to negotiate the ball using only our legs and through the opposition position and still score the goal. Then only there is happiness. God's way of playing a game is what is life.

He puts limitation and pushes us to transcend it...

ASHOK