A lot of people say that they you find your own meaning for life....

Well... im not exactly looking for one.. but has anyone out there got a realistic reason for this torture we endure?

42

I once read a nice theory about the meaning of life, saying there is no such thing as 'life' itself, only the life of someone/something. Hence the meaning of life is variable both between people and within people. Whatever motivates you to hang on for the next 5 seconds is the current 'meaning' of your life. Doesn't sound like the answer people want, but there is some truth to it I suppose.

Perhaps the existence of other beings than human has a "purpose", in respect of contributing to a stable environment. Human beings used to have a purpose, too, but that was many evolutionary steps ago. Nowadays we don't contribute to a functional environment, we destroy it. However, destroying the basis of our own existence is not a purpose in terms of a useful biological function. Therefore human life has no meaning, no objective intention.

For this reason, everyone must define the meaning of his life by himself. The first step to do that is acknowledging that there is no objective meaning. That doesn't inevitably create nihilism, though. For me, a respectable aim is creating a personal definition of reasonable, universal ethics and their appliance as well as enjoying life in terms of hedonism.

The religious approach to provide life with an objective "mission" issued by an external source such as an imperative god who tells you what you have to do doesn't work, as I can't cheat myself and believe in something I don't notice a sign for. I am an independent being, and becasue of that the ultimate instance of defining my way of life is myself.

Edit: "Universal ethics" is not supposed to mean "same ethics for everyone". I mean my personal behaviour in relation to everything, not limited to human interaction.

Edited by Tapuak at 13:23 on July, 11th 2005

Im going to take 42 as the most meaningful so far.

And for the least meaningful, im going to aggree with Tapuak



I still i guess have to find something that defines me... i mean, at the moment im going through so many stages and each one seems to only last a day... maybe this is me just realising what life is about in a strange 'carpe diem' fashion, but who knows... i certainly dont.

I guess i started this post because a year ago i became unhappy in my job, so i got another to try and improve things, and move on from what had happened while i was at the place... many bad memories... but in moving on, it seemed clear i was on a downward spiral... because things worsened... things about my childhood came out that shouldn't have and relationships with all my friends became massively affected to the point where i am now an almost complete recluse. the last time i left the house was last monday and that was to take a 5 minute walk to get stocked up on cigarettes...

that is hardly the kind of life i want to lead, but it seems that changing it isnt that simple, when i havent the qualifications that i need to get into the job that i want to get into, i tend to get left behind... in a dead end job. If i dont force myself to act now, then that will be the way of my life for the rest of my life, and i dont like that thought, i mean who can realisticly be happy in a 15,000 GBP a year job? very few i think... especially when your anual outgoings are already over 8,500 a year... it doesnt leave you much in the way of leisure money...

so there... i guess from my ramblings that my meaning for life is money? but that doesnt seem like enough, because really where does money get you? into a nice house, yes, into bought happiness? possibly... but it doesnt stop the ultimate... it doesnt change the fact that you are going to die....

so... i dont know, i dont want to live forever, i just dont feel that i want to live either... morbid i know, but unless i find something worth hanging on to, i guess i will always feel that way.

Sorry for the mood killer.

Well, honestly, I don't believe there is any 'deeper meaning' to life. Believing the opposite and looking for something 'higher' is just going to get you depressed, no matter what, because all you'll find is a bunch of esotheric mumbo-jumbo.

The question should rather be why so many people are looking for a meaning or purpose at all. Why can't people just enjoy life as it is? Easy example: Do children think about the meaning of life? No. Do they live badly? Usually not.

Why worry about money or the future? Take life as it is, I say.

I think religious ethics and prophecy have been a major source of human unhappiness throughout history. How many millions have suffered because of "higher" rules that interdicted them to do completely normal things? How many have felt guilty because some idiots told them that sexuality is bad, it's a "sin"? How many have endured unthinkable horror because they were afraid of hell? Believing in such rules is dangerous because they can make you hate yourself and can make life itself a hell.

Money doesn't make me happy. It enables you to buy fancy things, not more. I'm quite sure that I wouldn't be happier if I had tons of money. Probably it's great at the beginning but finally it's an empty pleasure that doesn't provide satisfaction.

...The meaning of life...difficult one.
Even Monty Python couldn't answer it.

All I can do is give my personal interpretation, even though we can't define the meaning of life since we don't even know what life is, anyway.

As Tapuak said, we no longer have a role "in nature", and to me, divine interference is out of the question (proud member of www.apatheticagnostic.com), so, it will have to be outside of that. I now define the meaning of life as: To live the life I want to live.

What life is that? I don't know. I expect it will take me the major part of it to find out.

So, until I do, I'll make sure I don't live the life I don't want to live. Example: if I don't want to live my life without a higher education (for whatever reason), I'll get it. If I feel strongly enough about that, I get it whatever I need to do for it, be it evening school, working extra or whatever. When faced with a big obstacle: identify the first thing you can do about it and do it. One thing I've learned like that is: If you don't do it yourself, nobody's going to do it for you.

That's just the way I see life.

What? How can you claim that? It even found its way into Wikipedia!