Is Life Meaningful or Meaningless?

My personal opinion is that the purpose of Life is simply to be here, with each other. We give everything meaning. Without us there would be no meaning.

Your thoughts?


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Salty Booger said:

My personal opinion is that the purpose of Life is simply to be here, with each other. We give everything meaning. Without us there would be no meaning.

Your thoughts?

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Photo by Steve Johnson from Pexels

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To me the meaning of life is so we can skred our self of our wrongdoing and learn to become good enough to earn a place in heaven again.
And religious practices is the way to do so. So the meaning of l7fe is to practice religion or spiritual teaching.

Salty Booger said:

My personal opinion is that the purpose of Life is simply to be here, with each other. We give everything meaning. Without us there would be no meaning.

Your thoughts?

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To me, the only purpose with life is to aim at being happy. That seem to hold true regardless of who you are. Whether we are talking Hitler or some other random person.
The only thing is, how one person obtain their happiness, should not interfere with someone else's chance of being happy.

Unfortunately some people can be happy while ruining the life of others, such as Hitler, however as a personal reason for life, being happy would still hold true even for Hitler in such case.

But you wake up every day being happy, then life is sweet.

Nimos said:

Unfortunately some people can be happy while ruining the life of others, such as Hitler, however as a personal reason for life, being happy would still hold true even for Hitler in such case.

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Which is precisely why hedonism, while it may be a reason not to kill yourself, cannot really be one’s only reason to live.

He who instead aims for “happiness” as in better understand, inner serenity and peace, is probably better off.

Humbly
Hermit

I believe meaning is (or is not) created. The universe has no meaning, it is a concept created by human minds.

What we find meaningful, with the rest of the universe, Its meaningless.

Is Life Meaningful or Meaningless?
Yes

Salty Booger said:

My personal opinion is that the purpose of Life is simply to be here, with each other.

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Yup. To live.

Meaningful to whom?

Meaning is not something inherent in anything else. It is determined by what is useful to some conscious being. So, life is not *inherently* meaningful; it is meaningful *to* someone. The vast majority of the universe would continue on just fine whether or not I exist, or even whether the human species exists.

So, yes, my life and the lives of my loved ones are meaningful *to me*. They may be quite irrelevant to others.

I find it meaningful to love, to experience, to think, to care, to explore, to learn, to teach, to share, etc, etc, etc.

But, the way I see it, meaning is local, not global.

Salty Booger said:

My personal opinion is that the purpose of Life is simply to be here, with each other. We give everything meaning. Without us there would be no meaning.

Your thoughts?

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I mostly agree. Survival is of upmost importance to humans. We want to survive because we fear the loss of self awareness which in my opinion is what makes us "alive." So to a point, the meaning of life is existential.

Salty Booger said:

My personal opinion is that the purpose of Life is simply to be here, with each other. We give everything meaning. Without us there would be no meaning.

Your thoughts?

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I'm sure life can be meaningful for those having some kind of religious belief, and whatever that is to them I can't comment on, but for those of us without such there are a range of possibilities. And perhaps these can be just as varied as that coming from the different faiths - since they don't all seem to converge as to having the same belief. I can certainly understand the view that life is meaningless - in the sense that if one has no religious beliefs, especially in any creator, then life could be seen as such. In essence, what meaning would one assign to any part of the spectrum of life - as being better than any other or in having any particular purpose - other than surviving to reproduce? Unless one was to see humans apart from the rest of life, which I don't.

For humans, we at least tend to have options, and probably not available to most other life forms. Such that we can create our own individual versions of meaning, even if these might clash with those of others. The obvious one - of tending towards happiness or fulfilment - might so often be at odds with those of others - particularly where we subscribe to some belief as to how societies should be and not envisioning any others. Probably the most glaring example of this would be the 'more equal' societies and the 'naturally hierarchical' ones (simplified version), and where belief in either tends to produce further views based on such. And this is perhaps where the left/right split forms.

My views are probable known enough, such that I would want meaning for any particular person to take into account what it might imply for others, that is, in enhancing their lives as much as yours and in not demeaning or exploiting them. Apart from that, what one finds in life to have meaning is entirely up to others. I have some concerns that religious beliefs might be subverting or perverting what might be better for humans as a species though.

Salty Booger said:

My personal opinion is that the purpose of Life is simply to be here, with each other. We give everything meaning. Without us there would be no meaning.

Your thoughts?

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I don't believe there is a greater meaning to life, it just is. Try asking the universe what is the meaning of life and listen to the silence.

However there is a selfish short term meaning of continuing genetics.

I don't believe life has meaning in the sense of a grand plan or purpose of which we're all a part.

I do believe that life has meaning on a personal and interpersonal level though. It has whatever meaning we give it, either consciously or unconsciously. That meaning can range from the simple, instinctive desire to survive through to the desire to perfect a craft, be remembered or simply have some form of impact on those around you.

There are countless ways to find meaning in life. I just don't see any of them as universally applicable or as an inherent property of life itself.

Life.

It's a simple word.

Living it.

A simple two word phrase that states more than a complex sentence.

My life is meaningful, and I also felt that way as a child even before getting into religion. As a five-year-old, for example, I didn't walk around saying "Whoa is me as I have no belief in God".

Thus, imo, I feel that whether our life is meaningful or meaningless is entirely up to us whether we may believe in God, Gods, or none of the above.

ChristineM said:

I don't believe there is a greater meaning to life, it just is. Try asking the universe what is the meaning of life and listen to the silence.

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Rumi said:

A guide has entered this life
in silence.
His message is only heard
in silence.

Take a sip of his precious wine
And lose yourself.
Don’t insult the greatness of his love,
For he helps all those who suffer,
in silence.

Polish the mirror between the breaths.
Go with him, beyond words.
He knows your every deed.
He is the one
who moves the wheel of heaven,
in silence.

Every thought is buried in your heart;
He will reveal them one by one,
in silence.

Turn each of your thoughts into a bird
And let them fly to the other world.
One is an owl, one is a falcon, one is a crow.
Each one is different from the others
But they are all the same
in silence.

To see the Moon that cannot be seen
Turn your eyes inward
and look at yourself,
in silence.

In this world and the next,
Don’t talk about this and that;
Let him show you everything,
shining as one . . . in silence.

Salty Booger said:

My personal opinion is that the purpose of Life is simply to be here, with each other. We give everything meaning. Without us there would be no meaning.

Your thoughts?

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agree, yet there must also be a larger meaning that isn't individually generated, since we are not responsible for being in this unique condition....making ones own meaning is always a thing and can be quite an interesting journey, but I suspect there is more to the picture than has crossed our minds.....there is always more to it.

The purpose and meaning of life is to find a purpose and meaning for your own, and to be fulfilled by that journey.

I know that's cheesy and cliche, but it's all I got.

Hermit Philosopher said:

Which is precisely why hedonism, while it may be a reason not to kill yourself, cannot really be one’s only reason to live.

He who instead aims for “happiness” as in better understand, inner serenity and peace, is probably better off.

Humbly
Hermit

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But what is the use of living if you aren't going to enjoy some truth, beauty and fun times?

Ratt Blastard said:

But what is the use of living if you aren't going to enjoy some truth, beauty and fun times?

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I think you should be free to enjoy truth, beauty and fun times. Just, possibly not at the obvious expense of others... That’s my personal view, at least.

Humbly
Hermit