there is no secret

[awakened_mind]

I try to understand what people mean when they say "the meaning of the Universe" and it seems like a very unintelligent question in my own opinion. What if there is no meaning to the universe. What if its just expanding, and changing, and altering, and expanding, and changing etc. I'd like to believe that theres a meaning to the universes existense, but what could that possibly be? Waht if theres no beggining and no end? I assume that once we do find "this secret" to the univers, that we will only have more to puzzle, and a whole other meaning of life (or whatever is beyond life) will be our new goal. A new "secret" to uncover.

[Replicon]

The way I look at it is... you know when someone doesn't want to tell you something for whatever reason, and you're dying of curiosity so you press him? Then he says "it's not a big deal, and you wouldn't be interested anyway..." and then you keep pressing him cause the curiosity's killing you? And then he finally caves and tells you what the big secret is, and you're thinking... "huh... yeah, that's disappointingly boring"... I have a feeling that if there IS a meaning to the universe, even if we could comprehend it, we'd be disappointed and kind of lose our purpose in life. In that sense, it's best to not know, and even to make up things that make up happier .

[Adrenaline Junkie]

I don't think that there is one single meaning to the universe, theres bound to be loads of different reasons, it just seems like something too big to be described by one certain meaning.

[Xei]

I agree, I never understand this question. Nobody seems to have a real definition for 'meaning' here. Can anybody explain what it actually means? Questions such as, 'what is the purpose, if any, of the universe', or, 'why is the universe here', or, 'what should I ideally be aiming to achieve in my life', all make sense to me. But the 'meaning of life' question seems to take all of them and bundle them into a pointless and incomprehensible mush.

[awakened_mind]

I don't think that there is one single meaning to the universe, theres bound to be loads of different reasons, it just seems like something too big to be described by one certain meaning. I try to feel the same way about the universe.

[awakened_mind]

[QUOTE=Xei;459682]I agree, I never understand this question. Nobody seems to have a real definition for 'meaning' here. Can anybody explain what it actually means? Questions such as, 'what is the purpose, if any, of the universe', or, 'why is the universe here', or, 'what should I ideally be aiming to achieve in my life', all make sense to me. But the 'meaning of life' question seems to take all of them and bundle them into a pointless and incomprehensible mush.[/QUAll of these I guess, except the third.

[wer]

Well, meaning can mean a variety of things. Time has meaning because it hold together the physical universe. Space has meaning because it keeps our physical universe together. So, what is the meaning of consciounsness? I think (assuming consciounsness is not just bound to physical matter) that there must be a reason consciousness exists. So, I think that there is a "meaning to life" in a sense. There may not be some major goal to life, but I don't think consciousness exists for no reason at all.

[awakened_mind]

Well, meaning can mean a variety of things. Time has meaning because it hold together the physical universe. Space has meaning because it keeps our physical universe together. So, what is the meaning of consciounsness? I think (assuming consciounsness is not just bound to physical matter) that there must be a reason consciousness exists. So, I think that there is a "meaning to life" in a sense. There may not be some major goal to life, but I don't think consciousness exists for no reason at all. Thats what im implying. All of these things are all parts of the Universe, constantly expanding. What if there is no language here to understand. Just a series of finominons. Consiousness could be collective memory. In that case, it would expand just like time and space does in the universe. This is what I'm saying. What if the universe just continues expanding with no meaning until a new set of laws govern it. What if there's really no meaning to the universe at all.

[wer]

Thats what im implying. All of these things are all parts of the Universe, constantly expanding. What if there is no language here to understand. Just a series of finominons. Consiousness could be collective memory. In that case, it would expand just like time and space does in the universe. This is what I'm saying. What if the universe just continues expanding with no meaning until a new set of laws govern it. What if there's really no meaning to the universe at all. Maybe. But as every force in the universe has its purpose, then what is the purpose of consciounsness?

[Snooze]

i think its only natural for us to seek a purpose for ourselves. wether its religion or sience, we are always looking for hope / answers.

[awakened_mind]

Maybe. But as every force in the universe has its purpose, then what is the purpose of consciounsness? To expand the universe, just like time and space do. All of these fundimental energies of the Universe have one objective: to react with eachother and expand. At least, this is what I have come to believe.

[pj]

42.

[skysaw]

Things do not inherently have meaning. We give things meaning. If you find meaning in the universe, it has meaning for you. I've always wondered why people think there is exactly one meaning. I mean, if there is one, why not four? ... "Bow down to me, for I know three of the four meanings of the universe!"

[pj]

The following is a piece of a much longer meditation that is relevant to this thread. (This piece is relevant, anyway...): We are creatures who yearn for an comprehensible structure, who crave the comfort of understanding and the control and predictability that usually follows. Consciousness itself begs for an answer to how it can exist. We humans have an innate understanding that the eternal is real and cannot be confined in any physical way. It follows quite naturally, (though paradoxically if approached through reason,) that we cannot comprehend a finite universe with nothing beyond while at the same time we cannot fathom infinity. Like simple division, which is what we humans use when dissecting a problem to gain understanding, science and reason fail at both nothing and infinity. In contemplating these places where the established functions of reason fail, the rational asymptotes of infinity and eternity are actually easier to accept than some place or time where it just all ends with nothing beyond. We can and will always wonder what lies past the next boundary, while the concept of "Nothing" is just too absurd to grasp. We struggle mightily to reconcile that inborn sense of the infinite with the physical world and our objective experience, constructing experiment after experiment to move reason ever forward, in the naive hope of eventually encompassing everything in its path. But then we fall asleep and dream. We wake up and love. We mourn and long and enjoy and hope. Some among us fail to repress that irrational knowledge of the greater Reality and end up creating art, music, poetry and prose in an effort to express the frustration and awe that recognition brings. Science and reason fail in providing a means to explore or convey these matters. How could they, when the very paths of reason and science rest upon and are supported by this greater Reality? The asymptotes are failures in our invented tools and methods, not in Reality.