The meaning of life

[LucidFlanders]

Watching some youtube videos on Atheism, and religion. Besides the obvious question "what is the meaning of life", people say search for the meaning but where would you even look at to start? lots of places people look to like religion, science, their life up to this moment, etc. This is most likely an impossible question to think about, and there really are no wrong answers i suppose because everyone is different. But where would the best starting place be to look? how can we find a meaning if we cannot know where to look to begin with? I'm not going to search because i believe life is a mistake. As a guy on this youtube video said http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WNC6...eature=related I pretty much agree with the 1 thing he has to say, step outside and kill yourself and what will happen? nothing. You'll have killed yourself and not a damn thing matters in the end. No purpose, and once you're gone nothing really matters because in the end it doesn't really matter? life goes on, you get forgotten in time as if you never existed, and maybe after you die you will never exist again, before you were born you never existed. Why does a damn thing matter? What exactly do you need to fill in for your life to have a purpose? why do you need a purpose? etcetcetc. Anyway...me, like you all have like a billion questions that we will never know.

[Serkat]

I started by looking in books. Psychology, Spirituality, Sociology, Philosophy. Read, read, read. There are many books that have touched this issue in ways that I found highly revealing. It is not an easy task, but it can be done. I am now searching for some 6 months and still going. I learned a lot about myself already and continue to do so through this task. If needed I can write a list of books. Another great place to look is www.stevepavlina.com. He writes some good things about life purpose, values etc. Existentialism is always a good starter.

[Ruhe1986]

I have been searching for meaning of existance, the truth behind death, life, and reality ever since my grandmother died. It's a pretty sick (As in complex) obsession, but Youtube does have alot of different aspects you can look at on the situation. I'll just keep my personal views out of it to keep from having a religious war started, but I will say that it all seems pretty bleak when you look at life for face value. There are just too many universals, too many unknowns, and too many unanswered questions for ANYONE to form an opinion on the matter in my eyes. Including myself, but we all do it. We all have our own personalized, almost predisposed meanings for life, and our existance on this planet. My question is why? Beyond the obvious scientific version (Our higher cognitive functions create a fear of death, and question the unknown.) why is it we have Emotion, symbolism. What is the TRUE definition and origin of Time, Space, and Matter, and even taking it a step further to ask the true origin and definition of information, and concepts, and qualia so to speak. But the biggest question I ask for science and religion to answer is: Who is the ghost in the machine? The subjective creature that has come from the 100 billion neurons in my brain. Why am I me, and nobody can tell me different. Are we just highly complex organic machines? Or is there something else there? Why do I have free will and choice? Basically questions that must be answered before we can answer the meaning of true consciousness.

[NonDualistic]

Eventually you will find that looking outside, external to yourself, will not yield any results other than more externals pointing the way to inside yourself. You need to ask yourself "who is the "I" in the statement "I am" ?" What are you referencing when you say "I" ? You might respond quickly referencing the physical body, but is that really so? Are you really using the physical senses when you refer to "I" ? Everytime you make reference to "I" look at it, question it, contemplate it. Spend a few weeks with this. Do not be quick to jump to conclusions.

[Ruhe1986]

Well dont get me wrong. I have ALWAYS believed in the everlasting soul, I just want to hear some valid arguements for it. Instead of always relying on blind faith.

[thegnome54]

I have ALWAYS believed in the everlasting soul, I just want to hear some valid arguements for it. I think you're out of luck, as there are none. (This is, of course, assuming that these hypothetical souls are undetectable and cannot communicate with us) As for the 'meaning' of life, I agree with Flanders. There is no reason to look for one - "meaning" is derived from intention, intention from consciousness. The universe, as far as we know, is not a conscious entity, and so it's not logical to look for objective meaning in life. As for personal meaning, I believe that it is necessary for people to create some sort of goals/purposes for themselves in order to live fulfilling lives. Some people resort to devoting themselves to Gods, some people play sports, some go into research, etc. etc. etc. It's just human nature, perhaps something intrinsic to the human brain. Again, there's no reason to look for objective meaning behind our need for subjective meaning.

[Neruo]

The question "What is the meaning of life?" comes with certain blind assumptions. Why is the question asked, what is the problem we are trying to answer? Why would it be more meaningful than 'what is the meaning of H2O being water' or 'the meaning of laser-beams often being red'? From a certain viewpoint, those questions are quite silly. 'Meaning' in the sense that is used in 'the meaning of life' almost always means some sort of 'higher' meaning. The existence of 'Higher' or divine meanings, judgement or values are quite a big assumption. As for the question. Well, what do you define as meaning? Does it really matter? I like to live for my enjoyment and the enjoyment of others (which often overlaps each other, luckily). That is pretty much all I can say. Does there need to be said more? - (edit: Basically, I said what a lot of people already said. Well. Yay for us.) It's kind of a silly question really, looked at from an objective viewpoint. Of course not from a personal viewpoint, but that isn't what the question is about. The question is basically crap. It happens. Some questions are just crap, because words can be confusing.

[LucidFlanders]

Watching some youtube videos on Atheism, and religion. Besides the obvious question "what is the meaning of life", people say search for the meaning but where would you even look at to start? lots of places people look to like religion, science, their life up to this moment, etc. This is most likely an impossible question to think about, and there really are no wrong answers i suppose because everyone is different. But where would the best starting place be to look? how can we find a meaning if we cannot know where to look to begin with? I'm not going to search because i believe life is a mistake. As a guy on this youtube video said http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WNC6...eature=related I pretty much agree with the 1 thing he has to say, step outside and kill yourself and what will happen? nothing. You'll have killed yourself and not a damn thing matters in the end. No purpose, and once you're gone nothing really matters because in the end it doesn't really matter? life goes on, you get forgotten in time as if you never existed, and maybe after you die you will never exist again, before you were born you never existed. Why does a damn thing matter? What exactly do you need to fill in for your life to have a purpose? why do you need a purpose? etcetcetc. Anyway...me, like you all have like a billion questions that we will never know. You're gay! go away and never come back.