Absurdism

[firmness]

Wow. The "meaning of life" question.

 

The simple most honest answer is this - each person makes meaning in his or her own way and lives and dies by the consequences thereof.

 

The feelings you feel now are exactly why men created religion/beliefs/deities. We NEED to feel some sense of meaning in what we do. This is one of mankind's vulnerabilities.

 

Without meaning, we can feel despondent. If we seek meaning, there are plenty of charlatans out there to hand us an easy answer.

 

There is magic in life, but it is not what you have been told. There is mystery of life, but not where you have been told to find it. Love exists, but not in the way you have been told it exists.

 

We continue to perpetuate the childish narratives because they are easier...and they work. Complexity, Absurdism, and Atheism are not meant for public consumption. They are meant for complex thinkers who are willing to forego the comfort of the narratives they have been given from childhood.

 

Ignorance truly is bliss. Now that you have crossed that line there is no going back. But that does not mean that you cannot find meaning.

 

I recommend that you look into Secular Humanism. Poke around in that world for a while, but dig deeply. Do not just do the wikipedia thing. You will find others just like you who are questioning such things. And I am pretty sure you will find what you are looking for - but it is not a cult, religion, corporation or other ism (in the typical sense). There you will find fellow human beings and it is in my comrades, lovers, children and friends that I find the most meaning. And it is far better than any religion I have ever known.

[jonsnuh]

I'll try to offer a more positive view

 

Define success.

 

My definition of success is putting my mind onto something and accomplishing it. For example, having a rate of growth compared to my peers, and at their stage of life. Having travelled more, having more degrees and a bigger paycheck or salary. Perhaps having a business, having a family. Most of all, being happy with oneself and constantly on the path to improvement.

 

 

Having a fuzzy direction can be contrasted with being "unsuccessful" how? If you end up happy somewhere all the detours were necessary. Detours increase the knowledge of the area, no?

 

Most detours are a waste of time. You might end up never being happy. One is responsible to oneself to find the most optimal path and make that decision. Breadth might sound good on paper, but the bottom line is whether it helps achieve your goals. Can you get a job with more degrees so that you are more financially compensated? What is to say that you will end up happy having all this knowledge that might not be required by society or asked of you? What if you were never able to achieve or meet you potential and never had your calling and chance?

 

 

What do you believe and why?

 

What I believe and value are changing in my opinion. They do not lock in place like my ex suggested, over time and education. They come from my empiricism and rationalism. I believe in them because they make me who I am, how I make decisions, and what I can accept.

 

Did your ex question your beliefs or make you drop previous beliefs?

 

What she did as a person and what she did for me made me realize that I was very close-minded, and that even she was wrong and aloof. I realized how shakeable some 'truths' were. Does a tree that falls in the foods make a sound?

 

 

Meh, think deep, would you really rather be a sheep, not seeing through the curtains? Life may look a little more dull or bleak, now that the fairies that religions offer are seen for what they are. The cobwebs of lies fed to us to think that there's more than living and having a good life here, making it a good life for ourselves and our close ones are cleared away, and I find it empowering. It lets me focus on the important things:

 

• Being here for my family and friends
  
• Learning as much as I can. Arts, Science, languages
  
• Having a good time, doing things I like
  

And not waste my time with meaningless debates, with people who don't care for an educated discussion. I've freed up an incredible amount of time in my life by not participating in debates with people who emotionally defend answers they like instead of investigating their reasons carefully in the first place. It also took away a lot of my worries (political, social questions).

 

Define meaningless. Everyone will defend based on their biases, their beliefs and values. Does it not make you ignorant that there is a political, social and economic side to every issue? These tend to come in pairs (sociopolitical, socioeconomic, political and economic, etc). I personally don't think these are meaningless. These are real.

 

If you have a talent, something that you love doing and that makes money, your problem is already solved, you just have to go all the way. Because no number, however high, on a paycheck can reimburse you for the time wasted on something you don't like, makes you feel like you lie to yourself or even worry that it's outright evil.

 

It doesn't help when you realize you never had many talents.

 

Create new happy memories. And pursue your dreams. Realizing them is all you will ever get. There is no paradise waiting for you. You are responsible for your own happiness. Adapt your dreams to your capabilities or vamp up your capabilities to match your dreams. relative total Happiness = realized dreams / unrealized dreams. Simple.

 

Ambition and dreaming used to be my favourite traits and pasttimes. I've come to know that following one's dreams is something the successful say. Plenty of people who never make it big, like actors and actresses followed their dreams but never realize it.

[jonsnuh]

the meanderings of feelisophy is to see meaning in personal feeling any particular way that has substance enough to make you feel convicted to a theory an ideal or belief

 

 

if life were meaningless wouldnt you cease to feel the answer to your question needed a definitive response, because if life had no meaning or were as you put meaninglessness....then really what right do we have to live with meaning or even quest for meaning....or serve any purpose but to meander in a dream like state until you go back to dust......

 

 

where is a higher thought required or warranted when everything ceases to mean anything..for if life were meaningless all life is meaning less.....less being not important to think about when you could have more than less........i prefer to think life has a rich and diverse substance of possibility and that every design in all life is intricately suited to a higher power to debunk or theroize and beyond comprehension to the nth degree for a mortals bias opionin garnered between pages of a book that are literally as you said...without purpose...no that fact doesnt make me suicidal...i just would prefer to read the bible and hope and pray for the best for all i love including me....than meander lost in transit on the road to nowhere soon or descend into a pool of pointlessness... or could i possibly desire to hopethereof instead,

 

that hope breathes sanity and instils a certain peace that it matters not what i know but how i live what i do know, for in certainty i can guarantee, I do have this life to live...but most imprtantly I have to live this life reagrdless of meaning or if it were to more of meaning or meaningless to god i entrust my purpose because he gave me that purpose, when i was lacking god gave more, not less, may it be that god also find more in me at the end of this life i have to give and not find in me less of what my life could have amounted to

 

Psalm 71:3

"Be my rock of refuge, to which I can always go; give the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress."

 

I am a skeptic. Doubt has stirred in my heart to believe that there just might not be an afterlife. That there is no religion. That religion was borne through human weakness, and the human desire for bound servitude to a higher authority for purpose. The human's weaknesses are calmed and sanity of the absurdity of life only kept meaningful through religion. And through religion and politics, humans held dominion over others. Prophets and self-ordained, self-righteous individuals legitimized their authority to judge others by claiming divination. All religions have these claims of self-legitimacy and have over many years used it as reason to say they are better than the normal person. In short, my faith has been lost. Religion is tainted, and its weaknesses overlooked by many believers. It is also seen by some as a sign of weakness, when the believers themselves call it their strength. When one tries to rationalize, one is told ultimately that it is not possible because faith in the irrational is all that matters.

Edited June 15, 2014 by jonsnuh