What is the meaning of life?

Well, what do you say?

In my opinion, life may be finite, but there is no way to know how long history will extend, so it could last for an undetermined time. Additionally, we define history. Thus, we must preserve it by serving our country and our fellow countrymen for a future that always seems certain.

I don't believe there to be a universal and inherent meaning within us all.

This may sound corny, but I believe we make our own meaning to life -- our purpose is what we make it, and however subjective that may be, it is perfectly acceptable to think of humans striving to reach their own goals and destinations -- a meaning contained within itself.

That depends on each individual's perspective... In my case it's a modified version of number "4"...

I doubt there's a universal meaning of life. For example, animal lives would have a different purpose to human lives, and so on.

As for what the meaning of life actually is, damned if I know.

I see each one of us as just one tiny piece of a big jigsaw puzzle. As to the meaning of 'our' piece, we could never truly comprehend it in it's fullness.

The 'purpose' of our life, on the other hand, is quite clear. To quote part of the Westminster Confession - "to glorify God and enjoy Him forever." :)

I see each one of us as just one tiny piece of a big jigsaw puzzle. As to the meaning of 'our' piece, we could never truly comprehend it in it's fullness.

The 'purpose' of our life, on the other hand, is quite clear. To quote part of the Westminster Confession - "to glorify God and enjoy Him forever." :)

Lansdowne5

Here's a new one, Lans I agree 100% with the first sentence.  I want to do right by my family, fellow man, country, and world.  Other than raising my children into healthy good members of society, I'm not sure how it all fits.

I couldn't resist making a long post! lol

Warning: this post refers to an ideal version of reality. The question after all demands it imo.

So this question could be answered if we we ask ourselves this: what is the nature of humans? Meaning what can they do, what do they interact with, what do they face, how can they live? Since those questions are answered differently by different people I will only provide with my prespective.

Humans are no perfect beings and to me this is not a bad thing; on the contrary: come to think of it all forms of art come from imperfections of our characters and our passions and also serve to please those passions as well.

So the meaning of life could be found if we knew how can a person live a perfect and fullfilling life; not a perfect life in the sense of what a god wants from us to do (of which we are not sure). For me the perfect life is the life which grants the one who lives it maximum emotional and physical pleasure. But the fulfillment of those things may lead to negative effects concerning other people (ie someone may get pleasure from raping). But the point here is to have a measure of good will which will serve both: maximum pleasure for me but safety for the people around me. Aristotle said: "Evil can be done in millions of ways; for good there's only one way. But which is this way? It is the way of logic. And which logic? The logic of the prudent/sane man."

Now the logic of the sane man for me is not the logic of any religion. And why is that? It has been answered by many of the Evangelists in OT that the restrictions of the Bible are not there to prevent the society from being harmed (which is not the case anyway for most of them - for instance thinking of something bad does not harm anyone) but to behave because god wants us to. But those restrictions, since related to our fellow-humans they must be there to serve them or serve the will of god to live peacefully. If not following the restriction does not harm them or does not shatter the peace, then why follow them? If god placed restrictions, he must have done it because he wanted us to respect each other. Since an atheist for example, does not harm the people around him, why should he/she be punished for being an atheist?

So the first conclusion is that the meaning in life is not in a god; ie in a belief in something supernatural. The will of someone to believe in a god is a totally personal issue. Only behavior is not.

As imperfect beings that we are, I think one meaning in life is to compensate for those imperfections and "soothe" them. And there come the relationships we have with other humans and arts.

Because I'm running out of will to elaborate further I will place this as a final answer.

The meaning in life is in pleasure/happiness: pleasure/happiness through providing pleasure to ourselves (self-respect, arts, food, sex) and pleasure through pleasing others (friendly/intimate relationships, just behavior, support, love). All these in the principles of the logic of the prudent man, something not so hard to find and not hard to obtain through education because as Socrates said: "Evil man is the ignorant man".

Now these thoughts may be a long-shot and may sound "utopian" but it's just my thoughts anyway.

PS: Wow it felt like writing an essay in the last year of high-school :P

I couldn't resist making a long post! lol....................~......................PS: Wow it felt like writing an essay in the last year of high-school :P

Teenaged

Agreed!

Now, I don't know how many people looked at life from this perspective so I'm going to say it now...

If we look at ourselves at a species level and not as humans I think it becomes very clear that surviving as a species in the universe would probably be the only thing we'd ever do and at the same time try to help other members of the same scecies to survive the same way... I guess every species does that, right?

But since we are humans the answers to this question "What is the meaning of life?" becomes vague and varied among individuals. But as a species we still have the sense of self preservation hardwired into us.

Now this may not be the purpose of life but I think our existence is still revolving aroud self preservation and we are continually doing it each and every single moment since the beginning of our species...

The meaning in life is in pleasure/happiness: pleasure/happiness through providing pleasure to ourselves (self-respect, arts, food, sex) and pleasure through pleasing others (friendly/intimate relationships, just behavior, support, love). All these in the principles of the logic of the prudent man, something not so hard to find and not hard to obtain through education because as Socrates said: "Evil man is the ignorant man".

Teenaged

So you're a hedonist?

[QUOTE="Teenaged"]

The meaning in life is in pleasure/happiness: pleasure/happiness through providing pleasure to ourselves (self-respect, arts, food, sex) and pleasure through pleasing others (friendly/intimate relationships, just behavior, support, love). All these in the principles of the logic of the prudent man, something not so hard to find and not hard to obtain through education because as Socrates said: "Evil man is the ignorant man".

Theokhoth

So you're a hedonist?

I mean pleasures of any type, even those that come out of rewards for overcoming difficulties. I should mostly emhasize on happiness though...

I just aimed at that direction to completely show that it's wrong imo when some people put themselves through a strain (ie extreme Christians) because of any reason without expecting anything. I don't mean that any action should have some sort of tangible or clear reward like money or a favour perhaps, but even some ethical reward or a cozy feeling inside is a reward in my opinion. That's why I also mention the pleasure through serving others (by being just, by having relationships with them, by supporting them and loving them). If you have the logic of the prudent man (and consequently if you are a benevolent person -something education should teach you) then you get your own personal reward when someoe smiles at you when you're showing them affection, when you see you have done somebody a great deal of good by being just to them etc.

It's all about the peaceful and rewarding coexistence with other humans, not because you know you must live peacefully in fear of consequenses but because living peacefully grants you happiness and pleasure as well; but happiness and pleasure directly to you and happines and pleasure you receive when others are happy and pleased.

Pretty utopian huh?

PS: Maybe what I just described is AGAIN hedonism, but idk...

[QUOTE="Theokhoth"][QUOTE="Teenaged"]

The meaning in life is in pleasure/happiness: pleasure/happiness through providing pleasure to ourselves (self-respect, arts, food, sex) and pleasure through pleasing others (friendly/intimate relationships, just behavior, support, love). All these in the principles of the logic of the prudent man, something not so hard to find and not hard to obtain through education because as Socrates said: "Evil man is the ignorant man".

Teenaged

So you're a hedonist?

I mean pleasures of any type, even those that come out of rewards for overcoming difficulties. I should mostly emhasize on happiness though...

I just aimed at that direction to completely show that it's wrong imo when some people put themselves through a strain (ie extreme Christians) because of any reason without expecting anything. I don't mean that any action should have some sort of tangible or clear reward like money or a favour perhaps, but even some ethical reward or a cozy feeling inside is a reward in my opinion. That's why I also mention the pleasure through serving others (by being just, by having relationships with them, by supporting them and loving them). If you have the logic of the prudent man (and consequently if you are a benevolent person -something education should teach you) then you get your own personal reward when someoe smiles at you when you're showing them affection, when you see you have done somebody a great deal of good by being just to them etc.

It's all about the peaceful and rewarding coexistence with other humans, not because you know you must live peacefully in fear of consequenses but because living peacefully grants you happiness and pleasure as well; but happiness and pleasure directly to you and happines and pleasure you receive when others are happy and pleased.

Pretty utopian huh?

What about the Sadist?

[QUOTE="Teenaged"]

No that's why I added the comment of the logic of the prudent man. If I was a hedonist I would go straight for sex, food, drink etc. :P

 

I mean pleasures of any type, even those that come out of rewards for overcoming difficulties. I should mostly emhasize on happiness though...

I just aimed at that direction to completely show that it's wrong imo when some people put themselves through a strain (ie extreme Christians) because of any reason without expecting anything. I don't mean that any action should have some sort of tangible or clear reward like money or a favour perhaps, but even some ethical reward or a cozy feeling inside is a reward in my opinion. That's why I also mention the pleasure through serving others (by being just, by having relationships with them, by supporting them and loving them). If you have the logic of the prudent man (and consequently if you are a benevolent person -something education should teach you) then you get your own personal reward when someoe smiles at you when you're showing them affection, when you see you have done somebody a great deal of good by being just to them etc.

It's all about the peaceful and rewarding coexistence with other humans, not because you know you must live peacefully in fear of consequenses but because living peacefully grants you happiness and pleasure as well; but happiness and pleasure directly to you and happines and pleasure you receive when others are happy and pleased.

Pretty utopian huh?

 

Theokhoth

What about the Sadist?

I guess the logic of the prudent man doesn't apply in the case you brought up because sadism and rapism (which I referred to) are not conscious. But if we go by popular belief which says that sadism is due to an unstable/violent family environment (from what little I know or at least have heard), then if my worldview came into reality even at the basics then that would create good conditions so as to prevent people from being sadists, because they will have been raised in healthy families.

That's why I said my view is pretty utopian...

I say there is no meaning of life, however there are goals:
1) reproduce
2) survive, so you can reproduce

That's it, everything else is meaningless in context. 

I say there is no meaning of life, however there are goals:
1) reproduce
2) survive, so you can reproduce

That's it, everything else is meaningless in context. 

awsss

Why are those goals meaningful?

[QUOTE="awsss"]

I say there is no meaning of life, however there are goals:
1) reproduce
2) survive, so you can reproduce

That's it, everything else is meaningless in context.

Genetic_Code

Why are those goals meaningful?

To continue the existence of the human race or simply to have future generations of your blood. Or maybe he just likes sex.

I'm "one of those" who believes a person's meaning in life is dictated by God (which is ultimately to bring glory to/praise God).  Outside of that, any meaning a person has in life is what they give it.

if you look at humans as a species and not just individuals you would see that the only meaning of life is to pass on your genes. Most people want to be remembered and to leave their mark on this world more than anything. Paople want to leave a mark on humanity and what could leave a better mark than evolving the species by means of natural selection? This is why i believe the only meaning to life is to produce offspring, and anyone who cant just proves Darwins theory.Thessassin

That reasoning is circular.

What you're saying is that the meaning of life isto procreate and create more life, if you can see where I'm getting at.