For Deep Thinkers ONLY

[magichands]

There is no center. Who said there ever was a center?

There could be a centre. How do you know? It might be shifting around a bit, though.

[magichands]

and when Copernicus said that the Earth in fact revolved around the sun he was sentenced to death for it.

A romantic notion, but Copernicus wasn't sentenced to death. Maybe you're thinking of someone else? I think the occasional person was burned at the stake back then.

[Fun2BMe]

There could be a centre. How do you know? It might be shifting around a bit, though.

 

We can't determine the center without defining the universe's boundaries and edges, something we don't even know for certain if it exists.

[magichands]

We can't determine the center without defining the universe's boundaries and edges, something we don't even know for certain if it exists.

I've decided that the centre of my universe is you, Fun2BMe. And I'm a stubborn bastard, so I'm very unlikely to change my mind.

[Fun2BMe]

I've decided that the centre of my universe is you, Fun2BMe. And I'm a stubborn bastard, so I'm very unlikely to change my mind.

 

WOW I don't know how to respond to that one, but for someone with so much baggage to be your center, I'll accept that bowing down:)

[Almost]

There could be a centre. How do you know? It might be shifting around a bit, though.

 

Good point, there might be.

 

I think Einstien thought that the universe was shaped like a doughnut, and if you traveled in one directon long enough eventually you would come back to the place you started from.

 

So if you left earth heading north from the north pole, and never made any turns or veered off course, you would eventually come back to earth at the south pole.

[Guest]

my friend, good luck with this. you're looking for people who believe there is no deeper meaning to life to convince you of one. you're asking the wrong question. to a group of people who, by definition, cannot have found the meaning of life.

 

 

so you've decided there's no higher being. you've answered your own question. no higher being = no deeper meaning than you get born, you suffer, you die, worms eat you.

 

 

i am not going to challenge your assertion. if it was as easy as explaining quadratic equations, everyone would believe in a higher being logically.

 

but ask yourself why you want to know. the question implies that you think it is possible to know a higher meaning atheistically. and if that's not a word it should be. i've never come across an atheist who had a satisfactory answer to the question you're asking.

 

and if you're not getting an answer that satisfies you, consider that you're asking the wrong question. while you believe life is meaningless, it's illogical to think you could be shown the meaning of it. and either you're comfortable with the meaninglessness of it all, or you're not. if you're not, ask yourself why.

 

because to realise life without deeper meaning is meaningless, isn't meaningless.

 

a superior being does exist. most cultures in this planet support this theory.

[bluescreenlife]

interesting stuff! and nice to see some lao tzu thrown into the mix. here's my take:

 

life doesn't have to have meaning to have value.

 

sometimes the meaning is in the process itself, not the goal. life just is and the purpose isn't to be better or be kind or be clever... the purpose is just to be here now.

 

yet there's also an element of progress, of learning, and I think that's part of our duty here on earth. I used to put my purpose in two words, "evolve and enjoy".

 

I say "used to" because I've learned that "love", as a verb, is as important as anything else. And I'm not talking about sex or romance or even family... just the capacity to look beyond yourself and do good for other beings.

 

Silenttype wants objective meaning... well objectively, happiness is preferable to suffering, so create happiness in the world. that's pretty objective. goodnight everyone...

[Craig]

Do you think there is any point or great meaning to our existence?

Any point or great meaning to our existence is relative and depends upon the POV of the observer.

 

Lets say that one day you find the answer to this question but you have your own point of view so you don't believe the answer and dismiss it as wrong.

 

You may have already found the answer to your question. How will you know if you have found the correct answer?

[BARBGURL]

Life's biological purpose is simply to reproduce.

 

George Carlin believes the meaning of life is "to find a place to put all your stuff."

 

From The Matrix, " It was your life that taught me the purpose of all life. The purpose of life is to end."

 

Things in a persons life can have meaning, but the meaning of life itself can't be discerned. These things have meaning ( significant to himself and others ) in the form of events throughout life and the results ( awards, family, etc. ).

Logic asserts that statements are meaningful only insofar as they are verifiable.

[crazy_grl]

You say you don't want to bring religion or the existance of a higher being into the discussion, yet everything you've said only makes sense if you're thinking in terms of a higher being.

 

So we were basically put into existence so that we can just interact and explore? Really? All this at the expense of poverty, hunger, heartbreak, disease, and death?

 

"Put into existance" implies that someone or something actively put us here. If there is no higher being, we weren't put here at all. We just came to be and all the poverty, hunger, heartbreak, disease and death are just random results of us coming into existance. Plants and animals have hunger, disease and death too. Animals even appear to feel sorrow or heartbreak.

 

I think there has to be some point to life in order to justify all the pains we undergo throughout life. There has to be some goal for us for all the trials and tribulations we endure.

 

Why?

 

i should add that even if there was a higher being, i'm still not sure there would be a deeper meaning to life. i mean, i don't understand what's the point of creating us was? was this higher being bored? did it just want to try out an experiment in good vs. evil? are we just actors in a tragic comedy-drama?

 

I'd offer you an explanation based on a religion that I studied that so far has been the most logical one I've heard, but that would be bringing religion into the discussion, and since you've already made the biased assumption that people who are religious aren't capable of and/or willing to participate in this type of discussion, I'll leave you to figure those things out without my perspective.

 

btw guest, this is a mute point.

 

This is going to seem like I'm being nit-picky, pompous *ss, but this is just something that bugs me and I've seen it at least twice now in this thread. It's "moot point" not "mute point". A moot point technically means one that is debatable. It has more commonly become known to mean a point not worth debating. (The change came from legal hypothetical debates referred to as moot. Since the hypothetical debates no had real meaning or importance, people assumed "moot" meant to have no importance.) Mute would mean the point is silent, which is just wrong.

 

(Admittedly I've accidentally typed "mute point" myself once on here, but I was thinking "moot" and accidentally typed "mute". I noted the error after I posted, but couldn't go back to edit. I was intrigued when I saw other people making the same mistake, and so I looked it up.)

 

This ends your daily grammar lesson. Now we may continue.

 

so a child born with a horrible health problem....such as a horrendous deformity...was put into existence to fill some void? this child has to breathe, eat, and exist...all the while enduring much suffering....to "assist nature in filling the void"

 

There you go again with "put". If there's no higher being, nobody put us here. As someone earlier said, it's just "random sh*t" happening.

 

But none of these people know why they are playing in this game in the first place and how they get involved with it. It's like they are mindlessly running around trying to shoot the ball into the net, but they don't even know why they are playing.

 

They have 3 choices: 1. Quit playing. 2. Try to figure out the rules. 3. Make up their own rules.

 

Even if they do #2 and are successful, who decides that the rules they discovered are more correct than if they were to make up their own rules? Using your basketball analogy, the NBA (or some other sports authority. I don't know exactly how it works.) would be in charge of determining who's right and wrong. But that amounts to a higher power determining the rules.

[Storyrider]

Well, I thought this thread had died, but since it has popped back up I will give my two cents. I believe the purpose of life is for each of us to discover and use the particular and unique combination of gifts we have been given, whatever they may be. (Yes, my theory assumes a higher being who created us.)

 

There is a traditional Jewish wives' tale that goes like this:

 

An

old

man (we will call him Irving) died. When he reached the gates of heaven, he expected God to ask him, "Why were you not more like Moses?" instead he was confronted with the question, "Why were you not more like Irving?"

So, it isn't only a question of "Why am I here?" but "What am I meant to do while I am here?" No one else is exactly like you. How can you use your gifts to help others, connect with others, or express or convey something that can only come from you?

 

That is what I think.

[RecordProducer]

Do you think there is any point or great meaning to our existence?

 

My answer: NO

 

(And before someone says "Well we should just all kill ourselves then," I'd say no...because what's to say what comes after death has any more meaning than this pointless life?)

I don't think you are competent enough to answer if our existence means something to somebody else or something else.

 

Whatever is above us (I don't believe in god) doesn't make my life purposeful to ME. We live with the desire to be happy and healthy and whatever that means to each of us - is our personal purpose.

 

We all share one purpose equally - to make the humanity better. Our misterious genes gave us the urge to explore things and improve the world. WE don't do it because we want the world to be better. A software developer doesn't have this goal in mind when he develops software that helps everyone. Scientists, doctors, engineers, all those who have created everything that we are using and is making our lives better, had some purpose, but they were born with the desire to pursue it.

 

You don't need to seek a special purpose in life. Do what makes you happy without hurting others. And if you feel like you have to have a purpose and contibute to something then do it.

 

Look at the animals: they have no purpose other than to survive and reproduce. But they also have the ability to feel love, anger, jealousy, happiness, sadness, etc. (the more advanced animals).

 

People feel good when they are helpful, helped, loving, loved, taking care of others or taken care of by others. So "god" gave us the talent and desire to make the humanity develop in many directions.

 

But the same god (Nature) gave us destructive urges. I don't believe that fits in any constructive concept of mother nature. I will never accept that Hitler was sent to earth by god to kill millions of innocent people.

 

It's scary when you start thinking how and why the planets, the sun, and life exist at all and you don't have the answer. My children ask me these questions, too and I tell them that nobody really knows how and why everything started.

 

But what I think you're looking for is not the purpose of humanity, but the purpose of your own life. Whta's the purpose of studying so hard when we're all gonna die anyway? What's the purpose of pursuing prestige, careers, status, positions, when we'll die and it can be way sooner than we think? Is there really anything else in life except to be healthy? And who cares whether we're healthy when death is inevitable and 20-30 years sooner or later doesn't really change anything? And why do we want love so much when it will end some day? Why do we suffer when somebody dies on us when we know that we'll all die?

 

You could go on and on and simplify life to the point where it has no point whatsoever and we should all kill ourselves. But mother nature gave us feelings, instincts, desires, and needs to follow and fulfill. It's not a coincidence that most people have goals and desires.

 

I really think that waiting until you're married to have sex is pointless, because you'll die anyway. I think washing the plastic bags and folding your napkins in a special way and wasting time on such stupid things is unnecessary, because we'll die anyway, so why waste our lives on little things that mean nothing (unless they mean something to us or somebody else). I think the fact that life is temporary should be kept in mind, but it shouldn't restrict your mind in every aspect.

 

 

Don't think of your life as something that has to have some immortal purpose. Live your life as if every day is your last.

[UCFKevin]

I believe the meaning of life is different for every person.

 

Some have a good meaning. Some bad.

 

Some people believe the meaning of life is love. I think that's closest to the mark one can get. It's just that each person loves something different.

 

Maybe to someone, the meaning of life is being rich and having a lot of money. That's why they feel they're on this planet, to be rich.

 

Someone else could think the meaning of life is to find love.

 

Or to bring life to this earth.

 

Everyone has a different one. If I ever get to talk to God, and I ask him, "What is the meaning of life?" I wouldn't be surprised if the response is, "What do you think it was?"

 

And I'm sure whatever I answer will be the right answer for me. To make a difference.

[SummerRae]

Congratulations, Mr. Deep-Thinker. Maybe we'd get better answers if you'd teach your dog to type.

 

HAHAHAHA Johan, that is HILARIOUS. I'm laughing out loud here. LOL!!

[rich60]

So if your only answer is the word no! then how intelligent is that. If the greatest minds in this world believe that there is something after we die, then who are you to argue with that. That is the problem with some so called intelligent people they are scared to open their minds to believe that there could be life after death, there could be a purpose to all this. Know one can prove this,but know one can disprove it either! But one thing for sure is we are energy! energy cannot be destroyed.Two names for you my friend Albert Einstein, Steven Hawkins. Are you more intelligent than them ? I doubt it ?

[Craig]

Viktor Frankyl in his 1963 edition of Man's Search for Meaning has some thoughts as well...

 

"A man who becomes conscious of the responsibility he bears toward a human being who affectionately waits for him, or to an unfinished work, will never be able to throw away his life. He knows the "why" for his existence, and will be able to bear almost any "how."

 

"It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life - daily and hourly. Our answer must consist, not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual."

 

From Frankyl's perspective the meaning of/in life changes, is unique to the individual and not a one size fits all definition.

 

Whether your meaning to life is "great" depends upon your own point of view.

[lindya]

This is going to seem like I'm being nit-picky, pompous *ss, but this is just something that bugs me and I've seen it at least twice now in this thread. It's "moot point" not "mute point".

 

In 100 years time the Chinese Whispers effect will have set in, "mute point" will be the accepted form - and every now and again people will say "Mute point? What does that mean, exactly? It doesn't really make any sense when you think about it, does it?"

 

"A man who becomes conscious of the responsibility he bears toward a human being who affectionately waits for him, or to an unfinished work, will never be able to throw away his life. He knows the "why" for his existence, and will be able to bear almost any "how."

 

"It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life - daily and hourly. Our answer must consist, not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual."

 

I like that definition. Wonder if Silent has discovered the meaning of his life yet?

[Storyrider]

Viktor Frankyl in his 1963 edition of Man's Search for Meaning has some thoughts as well...

 

"A man who becomes conscious of the responsibility he bears toward a human being who affectionately waits for him, or to an unfinished work, will never be able to throw away his life. He knows the "why" for his existence, and will be able to bear almost any "how."

 

"It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life - daily and hourly. Our answer must consist, not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual."

 

From Frankyl's perspective the meaning of/in life changes, is unique to the individual and not a one size fits all definition.

 

Whether your meaning to life is "great" depends upon your own point of view.

 

Frankyl is one of my heroes. But I don't think he is saying it is up to your own point of view, exactly. He is saying we need to search for the truth of what life has in mind for each of us. I don't think he would say it is completely relative.

 

For those who don't know, Frankyl was determined to publish his philosophical/psychological work. He was at one of the death camps. The Nazis destroyed his manuscript. He rewrote it in his head in the camps while he was in daily forced labor, memorized it, and survived torturous conditions to eventually be freed and publish it. He believes that this passionate purpose saved him from death while others died around him. It was the one and only thing the Nazis could not take away from him.

[lonelybird]

You can't straighten out what is crooked; you can't count things that aren't there.

1:16 (*)I told myself, "I have become a great man, far wiser than anyone who ruled Jerusalem before me. I know what wisdom and knowledge really are."

1:17 I was determined to learn the difference between knowledge and foolishness, wisdom and madness. But I found out that I might as well be chasing the wind.

1:18 The wiser you are, the more worries you have; the more you know, the more it hurts.

 

I also piled up silver and gold from the royal treasuries of the lands I ruled. Men and women sang to entertain me, and I had all the women a man could want.

2:9 (*)Yes, I was great, greater than anyone else who had ever lived in Jerusalem, and my wisdom never failed me.

2:10 Anything I wanted, I got. I did not deny myself any pleasure. I was proud of everything I had worked for, and all this was my reward.

2:11 Then I thought about all that I had done and how hard I had worked doing it, and I realized that it didn't mean a thing. It was like chasing the wind-of no use at all.

2:12 After all, a king can only do what previous kings have done. So I started thinking about what it meant to be wise or reckless or foolish.