Does life have meaning?
Does life have meaning? Is there a purpose to life? Should we spend much time and effort trying to find a purpose in living? When one dies, whatever purpose one has is gone. Many people feel that they want to leave the world a better place. Some people believe we should try to be happy and try to die with dignity.
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Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.I attend church every week with my wife. She is a Christian and also has a chronic ongoing illness. I am amazed to sit there and listen to the cult driven crap. I wonder a lot if they are even listening to the words they are saying. God is all love. Whatever yo ask for he will give to you. Pray for the sick; when there is no evidence that prayer does anything. When someone gets well from sickness, they actually believe God healed them. They don't mention the baby in the next bed that died.
Every lesson is about "Be a better Christian." There is never any discussion about the real world. The leaders are always saying "do more for God", but the never say exactly what it is to do. I don't think anyone in the church knows what to do.
Grecio
Level 7
Dec 30, 2019
0
I regard meaning and purpose as an emotional reaction we have when there is what we regard as sufficient value in our lives. If you remove enough things that erode value, and enough things of negative value, and add enough things of positive value (to you) then one day you wake up and life feels meaningful and purposeful.
Mind you, "value" is not some transcendent surge of adrenaline, or an epiphany, or the end of sorrow, or of uncertainty. It is just little things that give you a sense of pleasure or accomplishment. It requires one to live within one's true scope. By this I mean, acceptance of your tiny role as an ordinary human and mortal. Too many of us are hung up on what Becker called "immortality projects" and other fool's errands and then wonder why we try so hard and accomplish so little. We wonder why we feel life has provided so little of what we fancy it "owes" us.
I am a husband, [step/grand]father, brother and independent contractor in roughly that order. The things of value in my life include mentoring my stepson, supporting my wife in her endeavors, encouraging my brothers, figuring out new and creative ways to improve performance and reliability in the systems I maintain, reading for pleasure and interest, posting in places like this. These things don't require much effort, they are opportunities that present themselves to me. If I don't have an overwrought notion of what it means to successfully fulfill these roles, I get a lot of value from them.
For example, being a good father -- who protected and nurtured his children as best he knew how in all circumstances -- is not nullified by one of my children having died or by my relationship with the surviving daughter being somewhat distant and not as appreciative as one would think. My children had their own self-determination and responsibility and what they may have done at times to squander the advantages I provided are not significantly under my control. I did right by them and have no regrets, so there was value for me in what I did for them and in having a clear conscience afterward. Of course I've had to let go of attachments to particular outcomes and so forth, and I will always live with the sorrow of my son's death and the disappointed hopes for aspects of my daughter's adult life. But the bedrock reality is that I can be proud of myself and a job well done. There are no guarantees in life that just because we mean well and try hard, everything will be okay. Once I got that through my head, I could put it in the proper perspective.
I've shared my response to this question and it may go unremarked and un-"liked" or it may not. It might even unintentionally offend someone. But the value in making this post has already accrued to me, and anything else is just icing on the cake. And so it goes, action by action, day by day.
mordant
Level 8
Dec 27, 2019
2
You definitely deserve some icing.
Here is a link to the first hour of a fifty hour lecture series on the subject by a cognitive scientist. No one is likely to watch the whole series I suppose (although I did) but I think it's interesting that scientists are now examining this subject:
skado
Level 9
Dec 27, 2019
1
Only if you need it to for you. We all use different tactics and techniques to get through.
If you need meaning then find one, it’s not likely anyone is going to give you one.
Geoffrey51
Level 8
Dec 27, 2019
2
Who are giving you these ideas? Are you still going to church?
We are just biology. There is no deep meaning to life. Just enjoy what you love and live life fully every day and screw the rest.
St-Sinner
Level 9
Dec 27, 2019
2
Is there a reason to try and leave the world a better place than we found it? I think we have forgotten about our grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
But we do have morality for living, regardless of where we get it. I think the Gnostics believe that we are totally spiritual, but trapped in the bad suffering world. By gaining enough of the right kind of spiritual knowledge, we can escape the material world.
If we are trying to leave the world a better place than we found it, then isn't that effort in a way, a purpose?
I agree. We should have a purpose. The purpose to me is humanity. Lift one life - just one life that would not have a chance at good life and success otherwise. Choose from any place in the world and give you help, wisdom, guidance to lift that life. If you have money to spare, give to FFRF whose one cause alone can alleviate world's most miseries. I think that cause alone can fight the evil and spread the good... better than other one, two and 10 single cause charities.
My point was that we do not need to make an effort to understand where we come from, the meaning of life etc. We are biology and the humanity is above all causes. I admire that you are thinking about a cause larger than you.
.Sadly, living has no purpose. Life is like a game, we just play the game and try to be happy for as long as it lasts.
Grecio
Level 7
Dec 27, 2019
0
"Sadly" ? No sadly about it. It is glorious and liberating. What were the chances of you being born at all? To think we came about over millions of years of evolution is mindblowing. We are not bound by man made religious laws, we can make our own meaning. I do and it makes my life fulfilling to be the best version of myself I can be. When I think of art, music, rollercoasters; when I gaze at the stars on a cloudless night, or the beauty of the ocean, to laugh out loud over the most serious subjects; and when I reflect on relationships or love,I don't look for meaning; I am just so damn grateful. And it is more than enough.
@MsDemeanour Well said. Perhaps we just entertain ourselves while we are waiting to die. It is sad when I think of all the people who have died young like infants, children, etc. Also, people living in countries like Iraq and Syria, etc. really have a terrible life. I guess that there are people who are better off dead. I am talking about those in old and in constant pain, or those living in constant fear of being killed, etc..One would have to ask, "Is any kind of life better than no life?"
@Grecio my friend......you must stop thinking about those things you can do nothing about. Stop watching the news. We can be here for our own entertainment until we die but there is nothing fulfilling or meaningful in that. Think about what you CAN do to improve things for others. Volunteer and help those less fortunate. It is amazing how good this makes you feel.
Don't give up on euthanasia. It is now legal in one of the six states in my country. It has to come, the baby boomers are a big demographic to mess with.
@MsDemeanour, For the most part, I enjoy life.I want people to remember me when I am gone as a nice, kind, funny person that helped others. I don't see what could happen to a person's brain that could make them take their own life. Like most people my age, I personally know several people that took their own life. I think for some people, it's like a bug gets in their brain and tells them to kill themself.
I want to die with dignity when it is my turn. I have seen others die with dignity and with no remorse or fear.
@Grecio I too want to die with dignity which is why I support euthanasia. And when it comes to suicide should we really make judgements on someone of Robin Williams age? Life is a struggle for all of us but we don't know his demons.It's not for me and I will do my darndest to see that people get mental health help but at the end of the day if the only way they can find peace is through suicide....I'm not going to condemn them.
@MsDemeanour You are totally correct, of course. I think that as the burden of old people increases in society (because of numbers and expense), we will see more euthanasia clinics. You know, one would have to ask "Why do a heart transplant on a person that is 80 years of age? We never should have put the healthcare system in the hands of capitalist (USA). I think statistics have shown that wealthier people live longer. Of course, wealthy people have access to better healthcare, at least in the USA. However, wealthy people can fly to the USA and get whatever they can afford.
@Grecio yes i think you make a good point there. Euthanasia will win out out over the religious nuts because economics trumps religion. It will be the cost of keeping the elderly alive that will make governments more amenable to euthanasia.
@MsDemeanour Well said, my friend.
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