I think it’s because we’re looking for the meaning. What is the meaning? We have mindless jobs, we take frantic vacations, deficit finance trips to the mall to buy more things that we think are going to fill these holes in our lives. I mean, is it any wonder that we've lost our sense of direction? Thoughts welcome.
General / Off-Topic Where is the meaning?
- Thread starter AluminumAlloy
- Start date
This will change. We are in an impasse. But currently, everybody does not live like you describe it in your post
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There is no meaning to life, other than what you choose to have meaning for you.
For some people meaning is having a shiny new Anaconda.
For some people meaning is working for world peace.
For some people meaning is a pointless concept.
You decide.
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With respect to the point(s) you made about people living on debt, or working meaningless jobs, or whatever - Epicurus the philosopher answered some of those questions very well in about 300BC. He argues that people wish to obtain material possessions or wealth or power in order to protect themselves and their loved ones from the misfortunes of life. Some of those people make a mistake and confuse the ends for the means: they think that it's no longer sufficient to have enough money to survive well - the must have more, more, more, all the money! Epicurus points out that this is a mistake, since life will always bring us ultimately up against things for which no amount of money or power is sufficient to protect us (a heart attack, an asteroid, cancer, whatever) His view was that wisdom consisted of examining ones life and one's wants and establishing a balance between how one spends one's time as one wishes, and how one spends one's time as necessary. His philosophy would best be described as this:
The key to life is low expectations (- Ray Wylie Hubbard)
I would paraphrase that and respond to your question about meaning thus:
Your meaning is what you make of it, so choose something you can meaningfully accomplish.
For some people meaning is having a shiny new Anaconda.
For some people meaning is working for world peace.
For some people meaning is a pointless concept.
You decide.
(Edit
With respect to the point(s) you made about people living on debt, or working meaningless jobs, or whatever - Epicurus the philosopher answered some of those questions very well in about 300BC. He argues that people wish to obtain material possessions or wealth or power in order to protect themselves and their loved ones from the misfortunes of life. Some of those people make a mistake and confuse the ends for the means: they think that it's no longer sufficient to have enough money to survive well - the must have more, more, more, all the money! Epicurus points out that this is a mistake, since life will always bring us ultimately up against things for which no amount of money or power is sufficient to protect us (a heart attack, an asteroid, cancer, whatever) His view was that wisdom consisted of examining ones life and one's wants and establishing a balance between how one spends one's time as one wishes, and how one spends one's time as necessary. His philosophy would best be described as this:
The key to life is low expectations (- Ray Wylie Hubbard)
I would paraphrase that and respond to your question about meaning thus:
Your meaning is what you make of it, so choose something you can meaningfully accomplish.
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“To be is to do”—Socrates.
“To do is to be”—Jean-Paul Sartre.
“Do be do be do”—Frank Sinatra
Ill get my own coat on the way out
“To do is to be”—Jean-Paul Sartre.
“Do be do be do”—Frank Sinatra
Ill get my own coat on the way out
There is no intrinsic meaning to life.
Even religions fail to generate one and they have been trying for thousands of years. They believe they have discovered a deeper meaning, but it is just as empty as everything else, which becomes evident when you analyze their religious fantasies.
Asking for a meaning is an aberration of the human mind. It is the price we pay for being homo sapiens; having a brain that can reflect. It is however a meaningless question.
In general when the naked apes ask for a meaning there is something missing from their life that keeps them going. What helps is following your biological programming (getting a partner, children, friends etc.) and in general keeping busy helps too. You can only create meaning for yourself. Meaning is a relative term, not an absolute one.
Almost missed this one.
You seem to assume there is a direction. There is none.
What you see us humans do on this world is not caused by having lost our direction. It simply is an expression of what kind of animal we are: a very destructive one.
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The life is an obligatory passage before the death. This is already a sense