THE BIG QUESTION
As I have mentioned previously, I am an atheist. Because of, or despite this (depending on your point of view), something I constantly ponder is the meaning of life: Why do we exist and what are we supposed to do with our existence?
I know, but as my profile says, I have too much time on my hands, a lot of which is due to the fact that I am an insomniac.
As an atheist, I don’t believe the meaning of life is to ensure a better after/next life. In some ways I envy the religious for the simplicity of this, because I really do have trouble exactly what the meaning of life is, and as such what one should do with their life. I have however worked out some of what are not the goals of human existence. These are:
* The goal in life is NOT to earn the most money possible
* It is also not to own the biggest house, yacht, car or own the most material possessions.
* To be the most famous person in the world is also not the goal of life.
* Fucking the most people possible I am sure is not the reason we exist on this planet
* Similarly getting drunk, stoned, coked off your face etc. as often as possible is not our reason for being.
* Sitting around doing nothing I am certain is also not why we exist for.
This is all I have come up with in my many hours and days of pondering existence. Does anybody else have any idea of what things we do not exist on this planet for, or, heaven forbid (pun intended) what we DO exist for?
posted by Aleks - Anarcho-Syndicalist at 11:20 am
10 Comments:
We all know the answer is 42, the Earth was built to ask the right question about the meaning of life. Once we have the question, we know that 42 is the answer. Job done.
or was that a book/tv show/movie?
maybe the meaning of life is that little cotttage down in a french village?
or was that a movie too?
Poblem is, if we all spend our time thinking about why we are here, we'll miss the world as it goes by.
3:00 pm
If I knew, I would know the meaning of life.
3:25 pm
No.456 (I can call you no.456 can't i) yes I am in paid employment; it's just I have mastered being able to think about 2 or more things at once.
Anon, I was going to say don't answer 42, but I thought people would have the good sense not to refer to a joke that 90% of the English speaking world has heard, but you proved me wrong. Good for you.
Zac, one of my pleasures in life is hassling scientologists offering free personality tests. Sometimes I even go along and pretend to take them, then start yelling and threatening everybody so that people start to leave. Hey, it's been a while since I've done that....
3:39 pm
If all the world's a stage, some of us are acting really badly.
Generally speaking, we try and have as much fun as possible when we're young, then we try and get money, then raising the kids is our purpose, then keeping ourselves occupied until death.
As for any higher meaning, there isn't any really, it's just a free-for-all down here. You don't get a score at the end, theres no bonus round, you can't sceance-a-friend. There might be, and it's worth pondering, but ultimately proof can't be found, so logically speaking, we have no purpose.
Although, our main purpose may be to convert oxygen into carbon dioxide, to digest fluids, and plant/animal matter into other matter, be a part of the food merry-go-round. What's the point of a single-celled organism? It does a few simple things and divides itself. That's it's job, and we do quite similar things. So let's breath together, and know that our job of making CO2 is being done.
With a lack of any great meaning in life, we can concentrate on little goals - family/friendship/material goods/life-style, without seeing the bigger picture because it's daunting, and provides no answers.
Crap, this is too deep for a Friday, stick with Slartibartfast's philosophy.
6:17 pm
Perhaps there is no meaning of life. We may exist for no real reason. But as we are so uncomfortable with emptyness we need to generate reasons, however false. Hence we have many 'hungry ghosts' who live by the 'he (and it almost always is a he) who dies with the most toys...' philosophy.
Sometimes i find joy in the simplest of things...the smell of the lemon scented gum after its rained as i walk along nicholson st, the sunset over faraday st (i really must leave the neighbourhood more often..or maybe not) and i worship the wonders of modern plumbing whenever i step into a hot shower.
and sometimes i forget the simple things and get caught up in total dross and mundanity. I don't know, forget intellectualising for a while and just be :)
9:49 pm
hi aleks,
i think the meaning of life is to make other people happy, to connect with people, to do the right thing always. to see the value in diversity, to understand and accept our old, our young, our weak, our poor. we need to see and value the different among us, as we are all different, to someone else. i think society has a responsibility to all, to look after the vulnerable.
once i had a child, it made me realise what is NOT important. it is not important to get so caught up in the bullshit time- and energy-wasting of life, so much so that you forget to play a game with your daughter or you are so stressed and too tired to smile and tell her you love her. everyday. and it is important to not turn into yourself too much.children take you out of yourself. i still really think far too much for my own good, but it is much less self-indulgent than before.
importance and pleasure can be found in the smallest and simplest things; the flowers, the breeze, the sun. we have to know that nothing stays the same, good or bad, it all passes. people grow old and die. we all return to the earth. to the dust. there is no god other than what has been constructed by the human mind for comfort. it makes a wonderful story doesn't it. much like the tooth fairy and father christmas. religion is fine if it helps you but don't force it down my throat, don't force it on others, don't judge others for not following what you believe. there had been much pain caused by religion.
all living things have value and must be respected. this is something we come to understand as we get older - if we are lucky. family is important, love, friends, children, old people, animals, plants, nature. nature is a wonderful healer.and laughter. nothing is better.
don't live on the deferred payment plan - that you will be happy if this or the other is so. if you catch yourself in a happy moment, stay with it, hold it right there and savour it. it will pass, there is no doubt, but it will also come again. the trick to to realise it.
sorry to hijack and be boring and preachy so late on a saturday night
xxx
2:44 am
Thanks Larry, AOF and Melbourne Girl, what you all say it true. I just find it hard to totally put behind me certain aspects of 13 years of Catholic schooling, and as such I try to find a bigger meaning to life when there probably isn't one. That, and as people often say to me, I think too much.
2:53 pm
Biologically speaking, fucking as many people as possible probably is the goal of human life.
1:02 pm
yeah tim
and its fun too (at least that's what I've been told)
especially when combined with reason #3
6:55 pm
d'oh
i meant #5, but what the hey, i'll sign up for all of them.
except for maybe the big house thing. too much vacuuuming
6:57 pm
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