Purpose Of Existence

[Scott M]

so, if (as it appears) no one on this site has any real religious faith, why do you all believe that we are here?!?! are we just part of the existence cycle, or is there more to life than just 'being'. To add more spice to it, does anyone here believe and adopt the concept of fate? or is free-will more logical?

scott

[RedAnarchist]

Maybe the meaning of life is to realize that there is no meaning to life - that it just is.

[The Feral Underclass]

Originally posted by Scott [email protected] 12 2004, 03:25 PM
so, if (as it appears) no one on this site has any real religious faith, why do you all believe that we are here?!?! are we just part of the existence cycle, or is there more to life than just 'being'. To add more spice to it, does anyone here believe and adopt the concept of fate? or is free-will more logical?

scott
We are animals that are conscious of the fact that we are alive. We know that we think, we know that we talk, we know that we move etc etc.

But we have no meaning or fate that is pre-ordained. We simply are alive. There is no purpose or answer to it.

[__ca va?]

Life has no purpose except if we give it one. (Jean-Paul Srtre said something like this)
And I agree with him. IMO life and conscious life is just a part of the evolution of material. It seems like we are nothing but big chemical reactions :unsure:
So if you want to give a meaning to your life then find one. The fact that we don't live because of some kind of divine will or to reach some kind of a goal doesn't mean that our life is pointless!

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

Haha, nothing like a lil' consensus.

The meaning of existence is inherent in itself. The greatest meaning in our universe is itself - the beauty of the atom is the atom. Beyond that, it is what we build for ourselves, in social terms.

In this case, the meaning is our agreement on meaninglessness. Similarly, if we all nammed this deoderant Fred, that would be beautiful.

[Major. Rudiger]

we have no purpose in the world (like the person said before). IT is humna nature to give everything meaning. If something without meaning is not whole. The world needs to have the meaning and it needs to be whole. Our lives have to have meaning because if it donst we are nothing and we just dont "live". For example, if one person studies his life and doesnt explore everything in the world (drugs, world, experiance) then he is going to say that his purpose in life is to be smarter then everyone else. So its just to make some one whole and not to make someone feel good about them selves.

I think my purpose in life is to educate people and to help as many people as i can when i go through my life and end up in the earth as the atoms i once was. Also to see to the world that is my biggest goal in my life to see the whole world.

any other ideas?

[Individual]

The Undecided Difference

What is the difference between the thought of one individual and the
thought of another? The individual interpretation. What determines who is
correct in their thought as opposed to the other? Nothing. What is the difference
between your interpretation on the purpose of your life and my interpretation on
the purpose of my life as well as ours?

For one to answer the question as to ‘What is the purpose of life’, he must
first have himself a coca-cola. Honestly, that is about as deep as the question
should allow itself. Instead, the existence of too many individuals has taken the
path of destruction. The destruction of what has no other purpose; the individual.
There must be an extreme balance between that of an objective reality and a
subjective interpretation. Who determines the validity of the answer to the
universe? I would like to know, who is it that holds the answers that balance the
human mind amongst that of every aspect of life and its opposite, no life? Let me
take one step from the que and ask you a question: would the universe, still exist if there were not one single mind to interpret its existence?
The common answer would be most certainly the universe would still exist if life
did not. Now let me ask you this: What determines existence? Can something
exist without knowledge of its existence? Assuming the answer to be yes, how
does the universe infact exist when there is no proof of its existence? Similarly, if
there is no thought or sense to acknowledge something’s existence, how would
anything know it to exist? Therefore, whether or not you believe it to be
physically there, would the universe exist without any thought to acknowledge its
existence?

This would bring us to the belief, or faith, in an omnipresent being. Many
individuals find purpose in life through a higher belief. Many believe that they
have a destiny, a path and purpose, in this life. These individuals have balanced a
subjective world within an objective reality; though are they correct? Has the
human mind not created this god on his own terms in order to function within
himself and others? Has the human mind not created this god to justify his own
lack of understanding of himself? It is truly something to think about. It brings
about a circle of subjective truths before you realize there is a major factor; there
are no comparisons. What can you compare your truth to? Anothers truth? Well
let me ask you: who do you believe to be correct? Are you sure that one’s answer
holds more truth over the other’s answer? Do not be so sure. Einstein wrote of
endless human stupidity. I ask of him what he believes the answer of why humans
are stupid to be? Seems a bit of a contradiction if you ask me. Who defines
stupidity, and what can you compare one humans interpretation to anothers?

Answers are created, answers are not found. If you beg to differ, I shall
explain...

Numbers are not physical, nor are they true. You may find numbers in a physical,
objective, reality. Though I assure you that numbers are not physical. We have
created numbers. We, as individuals, have assigned values to what we believe to
be numbers. This is a concept that we have created in order to get about in our
lives. A concept that has proved itself very useful at that. I do not deny that one
plus one equals two for this would be foolish. I do deny the existence of numbers.
Numbers do not exist outside of our subjective world. Numbers only exist within
our minds. Before denying that one plus one equals two you would first have to
deny the existence of numbers in general. Because we have created numbers
within our interpretations, the answer would therefore be a creation. We have
created the answer to be two.

For another explanation... What would the answer to this question be: what is
your last name? You would then answer ‘yourlastname’ and this would be correct. If I
were to ask you as to what nation you lived in, I assume the answer would be ‘the
United States of America’. Again, this would be correct. If I were to ask you
what the general color of the sky was on a clear, sunny, day; you would surely
reply that it was a shade of blue. Now, if I were to ask you what each living thing
is composed of you would likely answer ‘cells’. What if I were to tell you that
each of these answers were created? You would likely agree with me on the
answers to your last name and country. But to deny that the sky is blue and that
human beings are composed of cells? I must be out of my mind. Well, I very well
may be; but here is my response... We have created all of these answers through
our own interpretations. We have created these answers through another creation;
language. There would be no questions to these answers, let alone answers to
questions, if it were not for language. We would not have language if it were not
for our ability to think. Would we have the ability to think if it were not for the
chemical makeup that composed the human being? Now, would those chemicals
exist if it were not for the thought to assure their existence? We are trapped by our
word games, our language. We have created answers by holding something as
simple as a thought. Yet would these answers to the universe still exist if it were
not for the advent of human thought? Does the universe as a whole hold its own
thought process? Assuming one would reply that it does not. How then does the
universe have answers? How can something that lacks the ability to think hold
answers? Therefore I believe that all answers outside of the individual are not the
universal answers they are believed to be. These answers are creations that have
been universally accepted by individuals according to their own interpretations.

Some interpretations prove to hold more value over others. This is all
subjective and left upon the individual to decide. Who decides whose
interpretations hold more value than others? This is why I believe that many hold
faith in an omnipresent being. They live in a sense of fear of the unknown and
hold that morality should then be implied in order for society to function as a
whole.

I suppose I should quit avoiding the question myself. What do I believe the
purpose of life to be? My answer may be surprising aside from the cold-hearted.
Though do not subscribe me as such. I would divide my answer into two entirely
different aspects; each individuals subjective interpretation of life and the entire
objective world. Within an objective world I believe that the purpose of life is
nothing. Absolutely nothing. We, as humans, move towards nothing. There is no
goal to human existence. There is no certain reason as to why we exist, I believe
we just do. As for the purpose of each individuals life, I believe that this is left to
be determined by each individual. In human life we face many hardships because
we possess thought and emotion. We can assign purpose to ourselves but I leave it
at that. For the overall scheme of things, I believe there to be no purpose to the
lives of human beings. Again, there need be a balance between an objective
reality and a subjective intepretation; who is right?

I shall finish this as I started, with a question: what is the difference
between your interpretation on the purpose of your life and my interpretation on
the purpose of my life as well as ours?

[apathy maybe]

The meaning of life is zero.
The meaning of the universe is two.
The meaning of everything is fourty.
The meaning of life, the universe and everything is fourty two.
But what is the question? What is 9 times 6?

I don't think there is any purpose to anything. At all. This is not to say that I might not be wrong. (Does anyone want me to expand on my "none of us exist" theory?)

[Roses in the Hospital]

The only purpose we have is to reproduce.
And even that's debatable...

[God of Imperia]

Our purpose is to live, to do what we do, to say what we say, etc ...
We are here, let us make the best of it.

[Rasta Sapian]

life is a gift, enjoy it, make the best of what you have been given.

My path guides me through the forest of fear and across the sea of fate, where I am going, I do not know, how will I get there, I do not know. Will I use science and logic to make personal desicions along the way, yes.

[gaf]

life is life
living your life is the only thing you can do
and i think that life is not always a gift.
well if you think pain is,then it could be a gift........

[redfront]

I see existentialism as a philosophy of the liberalists. It's all about "oh, why am I here" and "what am I". It's just the what's-in-it-for-me-philosophy. Most people just can't accept that our so-called "soul" is nothing more than an illusion of neuro-electricity in our brains :) It's kind of amusing I think

[ComradeChris]

Originally posted by Roses in the [email protected] 14 2004, 04:41 PM
The only purpose we have is to reproduce.
And even that's debatable...
I complete concur. Every organism's only goal in life is to spread it's DNA. So everyone lets get making babies! :lol:

[The Feral Underclass]

Originally posted by [email protected] 17 2004, 09:54 PM
I see existentialism as a philosophy of the liberalists.
How?


It's all about "oh, why am I here" and "what am I". It's just the what's-in-it-for-me-philosophy.

No it isn't. Existentialism asserts first and foremost, that we exist and that we die. These are the only facts in our lives which we know and understand. Another important part of existentialism is "Sartre's dictum, "existence precedes essence," which is generally taken to mean that there is no pre-defined moral or spiritual essence to humanity except that which we make for ourselves. Human beings are not pre-determined in any way but are free to do as they choose - they must be judged by their actions rather than by 'what they are', since they 'are' entirely what they do."

Camus, maybe my favourite existential writer beautifully shows how absurd our existence is in his book 'The Outsider'


"...I was sure of myself, sure of everything, surer than he was, sure of my life and sure of the death that was coming to me. yes, that was all I had. But at least it was a truth which I had hold of just as it had hold of me. I'd been right, I was still right, I was always right. I'd lived a certain way and I could just as well have lived a different way. I'd done ths and I hadn't done that. I hadn't done one thing whereas I had done another. So what? It was as if I'd been waiting all along for this moment and for the early dawn when i'd be justified. Nothing, nothing mattered and I knew very well why. He too knew why. From the depths of my future, througout the whole of this absurd life I'd been leading, I'd felt a vague breathe drifting towards me across all the years that were still to come, and on its way this breath had evened out everything that was then being proposed to me in the equally unreal years I was living through...For the first time in a very long time I thought of mother. I felt that I understood why at the end of her life she'd taken a 'fiance' and why she'd pretended to start again. There at the home, where lives faded away, there too the evenings were a kind of melancholy truce. So close to death, mother must have felt liberated and ready to live her life again. No one, no one at all had any right to cry for her. And I too felt ready to live my life again. As if this great outburst of anger had purged all my ills, killed all my hopes, I looked up at the mass of signs and stars in the night sky and laid myself open for the first time to the benign indifference of the world. And finding it so much like myself, in fact so fraternal, I realized that I'd been happy, and that I was still happy. For the final consummation and for me to feel less lonly, my last wish was that there should be a crowd of spectators at my execution and that they should greet me with cries of hatred."

Sartre shows the absurditty even more. We are forced to take responsability for our existence simply because we exist, through no choice of whether we want to have existence we have to choose how to exist. As Sartre says "Man is condemed to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsable for everything he does."

Another great quote is the Sartre quote in my signiture.

[Palmares]

The meaning of life? Hasn't anyone watched Monty Python? :lol:

Canikickit thought the meaning of life was simply represented by this:

http://www.che-lives.com/cgi/community/upload/The_meaning_of_life.gif

Source (http://www.che-lives.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=5966&hl=meaning%20of%20life&st=0)

When it comes down to it, such questions about meaning are invariably petitio principii. It assumes that other things have meaning, hence it also assumes that there is meaning at all. Meaning is in the subjective, not objective (meaning entails something that represents another thing/concept, etc while objectivity is intrinsic).

So you want a meaning? Well look at this Paul Eluard quote (which just happens to be in my sig):

"Elephants are contagious."

Now tell me what that means (it has a meaning). :lol:

[Fidelbrand]

I believe we are born as a part of the existence cycle but with a task - as an influence to the world to make some kind of a balance or imbalance maybe?

[lena]

i think the best thing you can do is just enjoy your life as much as you can and dont start thinking about its sense - i know that is easier said as done, but i think when you want to find out the purpose of living you will not be able to enjoy your life anymore, because not everything must have a reason - just expect the situation ,which comes up to you and try to make the best out of it you can....!
;)

[Freedom Writer]

Life is life is life is life.
living is living is living is living.

http://www.oikeuttaelaimille.net/foorumi/style_emoticons/default/think.gif

hmm...

http://www.oikeuttaelaimille.net/foorumi/style_emoticons/default/pull_hair.gif

Hard question, I must say: "There isnt one."

[Zingu]

Meaning of life is nothing that is destined or has no universal manifest destiny for everyone, the meaning of life is what we want that meaning or goal to be for our individual life. Ambition, future goals and a passion for something is what sets the meaning and/or purpose for our individual life.

[ComradeChris]

Originally posted by [email protected] 19 2004, 01:39 AM
Meaning of life is nothing that is destined or has no universal manifest destiny for everyone, the meaning of life is what we want that meaning or goal to be for our individual life. Ambition, future goals and a passion for something is what sets the meaning and/or purpose for our individual life.
Ambition and progress could just been seen as wanting a better life for our offspring, from who we give our DNA to. It all comes down to that. We just happened to evolve the most advanced brain, and the appropriate appendages to use it.

[Zingu]

Originally posted by [email protected] 19 2004, 10:48 AM

Ambition and progress could just been seen as wanting a better life for our offspring, from who we give our DNA to. It all comes down to that. We just happened to evolve the most advanced brain, and the appropriate appendages to use it.
Sort of what I was going to get to, these feelings, let it be in our DNA or not, gives a purpose to our existance, it drives us to progress. If not, humankind would have been extinct by now, if we just layed around and let evolution do its work upon us.

So really, in a sense, our existence is pointless, but we can make a purpose for us existance! By setting goals, pursuing dreams ect. I don't think this is pointless, since we do not feel that it is pointless, there must be some meaning to it. Theres nothing supernatural to it, its simply something in our power that we choose to do.