What is the meaning of life?

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bahman
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What is the meaning of life?

Post by bahman »

Whatever it is it cannot be in the thought and feeling category. Well, if there is such a thing as the meaning of life then one should be able to experience it.
Veritas Aequitas
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Re: What is the meaning of life?

Post by Veritas Aequitas »

Whatever is the meaning of life, it is within the period from the Big Bang to the current time in 2022.

To find the meaning of life, one need to find the core trends and patterns within the activity of that period.
Therefrom one can give weightages to the various elements and represent them in a hierarchy.
You use the fishbone technique or others.

Image

One of the core pattern of life for any normal human is to stay alive at all cost till the inevitable. Thus this is one meaning of life.
There are many other meanings of life and they can be ranked in terms of criticalness and other factors.
Thus if one were to flow and align with these primal meaning of life, one will be in a state of greater peace.

It is only the pervert and suicidal who do not want to stay alive.
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Dontaskme
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Re: What is the meaning of life?

Post by Dontaskme »

bahman wrote: Mon Apr 25, 2022 10:31 pm Whatever it is it cannot be in the thought and feeling category. Well, if there is such a thing as the meaning of life then one should be able to experience it.
This question is man-made, it's a human subjective idea....not actual reality.

The meaning of one's (my) life would basically be to fulfill their own existential needs and to have a reason to live.

And the fact that none of us who are alive today chose to be alive makes any meaning totally meaningless.
Dimebag
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Re: What is the meaning of life?

Post by Dimebag »

bahman wrote: Mon Apr 25, 2022 10:31 pm Whatever it is it cannot be in the thought and feeling category. Well, if there is such a thing as the meaning of life then one should be able to experience it.
For me, the meaning seems to be inherently already existing in the seemingly meaningless.

If I can find meaning in the meaningless, then life itself is self validating. What I mean by meaning is, this moment is enough just as it is. Nothing else needs to be added or subtracted.

But the key is, the movement from meaninglessness to meaningfulness is, there is no sense of time, not that time itself doesn’t exist, but a certain way of perceiving, for perceiving’s sake, no ulterior motive, no means to an end.

The moment must be an end in itself. That to me is meaning.

As far as the question of the meaning of life, I don’t like that statement, because it invokes some feeling of a need for our life to be of cosmic significance.

Our life is of significance to us, we find the meaning. But we don’t create it. Meaning cannot be created, only found. At least not the kind of meaning we are talking about, an existential kind.
Dubious
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Re: What is the meaning of life?

Post by Dubious »

Evidently to keep seeking what can't be found since the question has been asked a million times.
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bahman
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Re: What is the meaning of life?

Post by bahman »

Veritas Aequitas wrote: Tue Apr 26, 2022 5:12 am Whatever is the meaning of life, it is within the period from the Big Bang to the current time in 2022.

To find the meaning of life, one need to find the core trends and patterns within the activity of that period.
Therefrom one can give weightages to the various elements and represent them in a hierarchy.
You use the fishbone technique or others.

Image

One of the core pattern of life for any normal human is to stay alive at all cost till the inevitable. Thus this is one meaning of life.
There are many other meanings of life and they can be ranked in terms of criticalness and other factors.
Thus if one were to flow and align with these primal meaning of life, one will be in a state of greater peace.

It is only the pervert and suicidal who do not want to stay alive.
How to staying alive just for sake of living could be the meaning of life?
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bahman
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Re: What is the meaning of life?

Post by bahman »

Dontaskme wrote: Tue Apr 26, 2022 7:18 am
bahman wrote: Mon Apr 25, 2022 10:31 pm Whatever it is it cannot be in the thought and feeling category. Well, if there is such a thing as the meaning of life then one should be able to experience it.
This question is man-made, it's a human subjective idea....not actual reality.
I am asking for something objective, the meaning of life, without it life is meaningless.
Dontaskme wrote: Tue Apr 26, 2022 7:18 am The meaning of one's (my) life would basically be to fulfill their own existential needs and to have a reason to live.
As I mentioned the meaning of life cannot be in the thought and feeling category. So a reason or a need cannot give meaning to life.
Dontaskme wrote: Tue Apr 26, 2022 7:18 am And the fact that none of us who are alive today chose to be alive makes any meaning totally meaningless.
Now you are countering what you said before.
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bahman
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Re: What is the meaning of life?

Post by bahman »

Dimebag wrote: Tue Apr 26, 2022 8:17 am
bahman wrote: Mon Apr 25, 2022 10:31 pm Whatever it is it cannot be in the thought and feeling category. Well, if there is such a thing as the meaning of life then one should be able to experience it.
For me, the meaning seems to be inherently already existing in the seemingly meaningless.
What you are talking about?
Dimebag wrote: Tue Apr 26, 2022 8:17 am If I can find meaning in the meaningless, then life itself is self validating. What I mean by meaning is, this moment is enough just as it is. Nothing else needs to be added or subtracted.

But the key is, the movement from meaninglessness to meaningfulness is, there is no sense of time, not that time itself doesn’t exist, but a certain way of perceiving, for perceiving’s sake, no ulterior motive, no means to an end.

The moment must be an end in itself. That to me is meaning.

As far as the question of the meaning of life, I don’t like that statement, because it invokes some feeling of a need for our life to be of cosmic significance.

Our life is of significance to us, we find the meaning. But we don’t create it. Meaning cannot be created, only found. At least not the kind of meaning we are talking about, an existential kind.
I agree that we have to find the meaning of life. But where and how?
Walker
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Re: What is the meaning of life?

Post by Walker »

bahman wrote: Tue Apr 26, 2022 4:11 pm I am asking for something objective, the meaning of life, without it life is meaningless.
Life is meaningless without the next moment. The next moment begins with the next inhalation.
Magnus Anderson
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Re: What is the meaning of life?

Post by Magnus Anderson »

Can you define "the meaning of life"?

I'd say Veritas gave the best answer so far.
simplicity
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Re: What is the meaning of life?

Post by simplicity »

Thought of as the central inquiry of philosophy [essentially the same as, "Who am I ?"], this question alone paints an accurate picture of the human ego.

When one considers the enormity of the Universe, how is it possible that some insignificant species on a planet out in the middle of nowhere could have, "a purpose," AND, if [by some miracle] there was some sort of purpose, that we have the cognitive ability to understand such?

I say we spend our time figuring out why the vast majority of humanity spends so much of its time attempting to procure something for nothing. Now that would be something worth figuring out! Imagine a world where the vast majority was involved in productive activity [like every other species] instead of sitting round and doing God-knows-what all day long.
Impenitent
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Re: What is the meaning of life?

Post by Impenitent »

42

-Imp
Veritas Aequitas
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Re: What is the meaning of life?

Post by Veritas Aequitas »

bahman wrote: Tue Apr 26, 2022 4:02 pm
How to staying alive just for sake of living could be the meaning of life?
Note "meaning of" "life".
Thus the striving to stay alive is the basic meaning of 'life'.

The next task is how to make life more meaningful by understanding the basic mechanisms of life and align with the mechanisms to avoid sufferings, optimize pleasure and a sense of peace.

There are many other variables to life and the meaning of life up of the levels of peak performances and achievements etc. to be optimized according to one's physiological and psychological state within one's environment.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)
    In positive psychology, a flow state, also known colloquially as being in the zone, is the mental state in which a person performing some activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. In essence, flow is characterized by the complete absorption in what one does, and a resulting transformation in one's sense of time.
Apparently you seem to be seeking merely a single variable to represent 'what is the meaning of life' and you will never find a meaningful life.
Dimebag
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Re: What is the meaning of life?

Post by Dimebag »

bahman wrote: Tue Apr 26, 2022 4:15 pm
Dimebag wrote: Tue Apr 26, 2022 8:17 am
bahman wrote: Mon Apr 25, 2022 10:31 pm Whatever it is it cannot be in the thought and feeling category. Well, if there is such a thing as the meaning of life then one should be able to experience it.
For me, the meaning seems to be inherently already existing in the seemingly meaningless.
What you are talking about?
Dimebag wrote: Tue Apr 26, 2022 8:17 am If I can find meaning in the meaningless, then life itself is self validating. What I mean by meaning is, this moment is enough just as it is. Nothing else needs to be added or subtracted.

But the key is, the movement from meaninglessness to meaningfulness is, there is no sense of time, not that time itself doesn’t exist, but a certain way of perceiving, for perceiving’s sake, no ulterior motive, no means to an end.

The moment must be an end in itself. That to me is meaning.

As far as the question of the meaning of life, I don’t like that statement, because it invokes some feeling of a need for our life to be of cosmic significance.

Our life is of significance to us, we find the meaning. But we don’t create it. Meaning cannot be created, only found. At least not the kind of meaning we are talking about, an existential kind.
I agree that we have to find the meaning of life. But where and how?
Just question what you are, look internally in your experience. What right now do you take yourself to be? If you think you are the body, notice the body can be seen by you. If you think you are the thinker, notice thoughts come and go, yet you don’t.

This is the kind of meaning I am talking about.

By meaning in the meaningless, once your self concept shifts, seemingly meaningless things seem imbued with meaning.

Just sitting quietly, seems inherently worthwhile.
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bahman
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Re: What is the meaning of life?

Post by bahman »

Walker wrote: Tue Apr 26, 2022 5:42 pm
bahman wrote: Tue Apr 26, 2022 4:11 pm I am asking for something objective, the meaning of life, without it life is meaningless.
Life is meaningless without the next moment. The next moment begins with the next inhalation.
You are kidding. Don't you?
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