Thread: the meaning of life

Originally Posted by O'nus

lol sorry, it came up first when I googled "mirror".

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That's probably why she used it too. GoogleisHiveMind.

Originally Posted by Xaqaria

That's probably why she used it too. GoogleisHiveMind.

*Not sure how to respond...googles*

Ohh! Uhm.. yeah! Google has certainly changed a lot over the years! Erm... *Looks* it has grown a symbolic relationship with people now after it's tenth anniversary! Uhm.. search is where google started!

*Turing response fail*

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hmmm, some people t seem to understand the question, some do though, and thats great.

so none of you have heard the great question "what is the meaning of life?"? i suppose this is a more religious question, so i should have put it in religion section, but it is still quite philosophical.

ill help you understand the question by me answering it, my answer used to be, the meaning of life is to die. but thats not very deep so, i suppose i would say to find what we are good at or meant for, and acheive our goals, so we dont waste life.

Originally Posted by slash112

hmmm, some people t seem to understand the question, some do though, and thats great.

so none of you have heard the great question "what is the meaning of life?"? i suppose this is a more religious question, so i should have put it in religion section, but it is still quite philosophical.

ill help you understand the question by me answering it, my answer used to be, the meaning of life is to die. but thats not very deep so, i suppose i would say to find what we are good at or meant for, and acheive our goals, so we dont waste life.

Everyone has heard it.

I say its like asking what is the colour of the number 1. It looks to make sense as a question until you realise that its a category error.

What do you think..?

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Please learn to read your responses properly.

The people understand that there is no question. The question makes no sense. It is meaningless. It is as meaningless as asking 'what is the meaning of air', or 'what is the meaning of trees'.

Meaning is something we give to sets of symbols. Words have meaning. Musical notation has meaning. Mathematics has meaning.

Life is not a set of symbols. Life does not have 'meaning'; neither does it have 'no meaning': the quality of meaning simply doesn't apply to life.

It's like asking, say, 'what does dancing taste like'. Taste doesn't apply to dancing. Dancing doesn't have a taste, and dancing doesn't have no taste. It just doesn't apply.

Another example is asking 'what is 5 sausages divided by 8 eggs'. There is no answer because there isn't even a question.

Originally Posted by slash112

hmmm, some people t seem to understand the question, some do though, and thats great.

so none of you have heard the great question "what is the meaning of life?"? i suppose this is a more religious question, so i should have put it in religion section, but it is still quite philosophical.

ill help you understand the question by me answering it, my answer used to be, the meaning of life is to die. but thats not very deep so, i suppose i would say to find what we are good at or meant for, and acheive our goals, so we dont waste life.

Please regard the link in my signature "What is the onus?" and you will see my detailed response which is applicable.

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Learn to use capitalization, play guitar, find your sexual orientation, pudding, go online and learn internet culture, then marry someone from eHarmony (if they accept you), sell old shit from your parents on eBay for a living, code HTML for shady people, then die happily.

The meaning of life is to live, because this is the only shot we have. So live it up, it's why we are here to begin with, to live and let live. Find how you wanna live, and just live it the way you want to, even if you have got your own set of personal meanings, you are alive, so do whatever you wanna do while you can do it.

Originally Posted by CaLeB-

To me, life is just a temporarily illusion for something greater (afterlife).

Then shall this afterlife have meaning?

The meaning of life is to live, because this is the only shot we have. So live it up, it's why we are here to begin with, to live and let live. Find how you wanna live, and just live it the way you want to, even if you have got your own set of personal meanings, you are alive, so do whatever you wanna do while you can do it.

Ok, sure, why not? But then again, why live in the first place? If it's not worth anything in the end, why try anything? I'm sure the real reason people who don't define meaning still live is because they feel it's natural. Killing themselves is just too abrupt for them.

Originally Posted by TimeStopper

Then shall this afterlife have meaning?

Sure, let me whip out my hardcore psychic abilities and tell you.

Originally Posted by CaLeB-

Sure, let me whip out my hardcore psychic abilities and tell you.

If you can't honestly think of a sense in which this current life could have meaning without an afterlife, then how can the afterlife possibly have a meaning without an afterafterlife and onwards.

Originally Posted by Xei

Please learn to read your responses properly.

The people understand that there is no question. The question makes no sense. It is meaningless. It is as meaningless as asking 'what is the meaning of air', or 'what is the meaning of trees'.

Meaning is something we give to sets of symbols. Words have meaning. Musical notation has meaning. Mathematics has meaning.

Life is not a set of symbols. Life does not have 'meaning'; neither does it have 'no meaning': the quality of meaning simply doesn't apply to life.

It's like asking, say, 'what does dancing taste like'. Taste doesn't apply to dancing. Dancing doesn't have a taste, and dancing doesn't have no taste. It just doesn't apply.

Another example is asking 'what is 5 sausages divided by 8 eggs'. There is no answer because there isn't even a question.

If you think life is not a set of symbols, then what is it? What is the meaning of symbol?

Be careful; most of your argument is built around a strawman (who would have thought, on this forum?). The question, "What is the meaning of life?" is not really at all like 'what does dancing taste like', and still; both questions can be answered. At the very least, the meaning of life is "1 a: the quality that distinguishes a vital and functional being from a dead body b: a principle or force that is considered to underlie the distinctive quality of animate beings c: an organismic state characterized by capacity for metabolism, growth, reaction to stimuli, and reproduction2 a: the sequence of physical and mental experiences that make up the existence of an individual b: one or more aspects of the process of living <sex life of the frog>" and dancing tastes like sweat, and more often than not; alcohol.

Originally Posted by TimeStopper

Ok, sure, why not? But then again, why live in the first place? If it's not worth anything in the end, why try anything? I'm sure the real reason people who don't define meaning still live is because they feel it's natural. Killing themselves is just too abrupt for them.

That is like saying "i am not paid enough to do this", why live in the first place? because you CAN live in the first place, unlike not living, and in complete nothingness. Would you rather not live forever, or live once? saying there is no reason to live because there is nothing else is nothing more then human selfishness. You don't NEED something to live for, you live because you can live and not because there is a reward for not living.

as soon as you start calling it "THE meaning of life" you're on the wrong track.

As soon as 'meaning' and 'life' come in the same sentence, you're on the wrong track.

If you think life is not a set of symbols, then what is it? What is the meaning of symbol?

Be careful; most of your argument is built around a strawman (who would have thought, on this forum?). The question, "What is the meaning of life?" is not really at all like 'what does dancing taste like', and still; both questions can be answered. At the very least, the meaning of life is "1 a: the quality that distinguishes a vital and functional being from a dead body b: a principle or force that is considered to underlie the distinctive quality of animate beings c: an organismic state characterized by capacity for metabolism, growth, reaction to stimuli, and reproduction2 a: the sequence of physical and mental experiences that make up the existence of an individual b: one or more aspects of the process of living <sex life of the frog>" and dancing tastes like sweat, and more often than not; alcohol.

I don't know what you're talking about.

Life is life. It is an individual's sum of experience of the physical world. Why would it be a set of symbols?

And no, your questions were interpreting the question as what is the meaning of 'life', that is to say, the meaning of the set of symbols 'life', in other words, the definition of 'life'.

That would be a valid question, but as far as I know that is not what people mean when they ask 'what is the meaning of life'; they are asking what is the meaning of life itself, not the word 'life'.

The Ultimate meaning goes with the Ultimate Truth.

Things Are what they Are.

The Ultimate meaning would have no projections, no concepts, no ideals and no mentation. It would be a subjective awareness that is beyond thoughts.

The meaning of life is life. The meaning of a tree is tree. The meaning of a sunset, is the sunset. Means of what is, is what is. This is far more significant than what the mind projects on to objects, even to the point where significance itself dissolves into the stunning Truth.

Originally Posted by Xei

I don't know what you're talking about.

Life is life. It is an individual's sum of experience of the physical world. Why would it be a set of symbols?

And no, your questions were interpreting the question as what is the meaning of 'life', that is to say, the meaning of the set of symbols 'life', in other words, the definition of 'life'.

That would be a valid question, but as far as I know that is not what people mean when they ask 'what is the meaning of life'; they are asking what is the meaning of life itself, not the word 'life'.

How exactly are experiences not symbols? Experiences are sets of stimuli that have subjective meaning. Pictures, sounds, feelings that all represent something to the individual who is experiencing them. Sounds an awful lot like symbols to me.

Symbol- 1. Something that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention, especially a material object used to represent something invisible. See Synonyms at sign.
2. A printed or written sign used to represent an operation, element, quantity, quality, or relation, as in mathematics or music.

Do you not see how life can be a set of somethings that represent something else by association, resemblance, or convention? To me, that sounds like a perfect definition for subjective experience, i.e. life.

How exactly are experiences not symbols? Experiences are sets of stimuli that have subjective meaning. Pictures, sounds, feelings that all represent something to the individual who is experiencing them. Sounds an awful lot like symbols to me.

But in this case you would be creating the meanings. Why would a distinct set of relationships (this picture reminds me of my holiday, this shape reminds me of a tree...) have a meaning as a whole?

Originally Posted by Xei

But in this case you would be creating the meanings. Why would a distinct set of relationships (this picture reminds me of my holiday, this shape reminds me of a tree...) have a meaning as a whole?

Sometimes they don't. Sometimes the meanings of your life are exclusive to your own subjective experiences. Sometimes meanings are based in archetypal relationships that have meaning to everyone or nearly everyone. These archetypes generally fit in to two categories; ones that are easy to understand, and ones that are not. A circle, for instance is connected to the sun for everybody, and that archetype is easily understood. Others are not so easily understood. Jung's archetype of the self is a strange one. We all experience it, but where does it come from? Why do we feel a sense of self? I think you'll agree, this question is deeply connected to what people generally mean when they say, "what is the meaning of life?".

Its important to point out that all meaning is created in some way. I don't believe any meaning is inherent in the world, but that doesn't make it any less important to question; especially when the creation process of the meaning isn't clear. There are meanings to our lives that are created seemingly outside of ourselves but still somehow connected to our own subjective experiences. These are the types of deeper meanings that people are searching for answers about when they ask questions like this.

I don't believe any meaning is inherent in the world

Well I agree. I also think this is specifically what people are asking for when they ask for the meaning of life... otherwise they would ask, 'what is the meaning of my life?'.

Any meanings in our lives are synthetic ones.

Originally Posted by Xei

Well I agree. I also think this is specifically what people are asking for when they ask for the meaning of life... otherwise they would ask, 'what is the meaning of my life?'.

Any meanings in our lives are synthetic ones.

But there are meanings that are created as a natural response to being alive. These would be created by all living things, and therefore would constitute a "meaning of life" in general. The desire to remain alive is one of these. Are their other more subtle ones?

The meaning of life, is the search itself.

Originally Posted by Xaqaria

If you think life is not a set of symbols, then what is it? What is the meaning of symbol?

Be careful; most of your argument is built around a strawman (who would have thought, on this forum?). The question, "What is the meaning of life?" is not really at all like 'what does dancing taste like', and still; both questions can be answered. At the very least, the meaning of life is "1 a: the quality that distinguishes a vital and functional being from a dead body b: a principle or force that is considered to underlie the distinctive quality of animate beings c: an organismic state characterized by capacity for metabolism, growth, reaction to stimuli, and reproduction2 a: the sequence of physical and mental experiences that make up the existence of an individual b: one or more aspects of the process of living <sex life of the frog>" and dancing tastes like sweat, and more often than not; alcohol.

*Applaud*