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 Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 6:48 pm
I don't think we have a purpose in life as an individual. Perhaps as a species; we must have evolved to fill SOME niche, right? eek Just...it would appear we have abused our niche to the point where we're on a 1 way ticket to extinction; not only of the species but much of life on earth. Maybe we were created to be the Destroyer...kinda like a volcano I suppose. That sounded funny didn't it. As for the Why: No one is ever going to know why. Perhaps if someone can time travel into the future and return we might know some of the whys, but we can't know them all. Anyway, if we knew all the whys, this discussion and many like it wouldn't be happening. Limits power creativity, as they say... Religion was created to explain whys. ie. Why are we here? Where did we come from? What happens after we die? We want there to be something after we die otherwise it's lonleeeeyyyy crying . But (in my opinion) its just a facade. It becomes almost laughable when you step back and look at all the people that believe in it; religion is like someone pretending to know everything. Once you think about that, things like going to school, getting a job, owning a nice house..it all seems so...pointless. I mean, as soon as we're born we are dying, we just created these things to make the ride more comfortable. XD
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 9:20 pm
"...is there really a meaning to anything? I don't think so."
That actually contradicts what you say, because that's a conclusion you've made. Yet, then, someone can refute and say, "But why is there no meaning?"
Life is an endless stream of questions, and some questions are best left unanswered. Everyone makes ultimate conclusions until they find reason to believe otherwise. The reason we make conclusions and stop questioning is because, I think, subconciously, we all know that everything is endlessly questioned so we only question to a point where we find a sufficient conclusion. Does that make sense?
If not, just ask and I'll try to explain it another way.
The only absolute truth is the one you believe is true: Varying from person to person.
(Great topic, by the way 3nodding )
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 11:13 pm
Kindyetcruel Shinta Hitokiri Kindyetcruel ManateeMan Shiro Yoshiyuki
That made me think of the age old question: "Which came first? The chicken or the egg?"
This is the answer to the ultimate question: "It doesn't matter." Or...you could be idiotic and say "forty-two,"Two things A. The egg did for two reasons -eggs were around before chickens -the first chicken egg was laid by something not quite a chicken B. Never insult the Guide or I shall have to force feed you pan galactic gargle blasters I'm too tired to have more than one thought on a given thread it seems. You two have earned my thought for this thread today. I have a theory. 42 is the answer according to the Guide. They just don't know the question. Perhaps 42 is the number of logical "Why?" questions we must ask before we have discovered the absolute reason or purpose behind our existance. I don't mean why questions like "Why is it called blue?" "Because when our language was made, it was decided that that specific color would be called blue." "Why did they decide that?" because that's self explainatory and pointless. Now we should find the first question and test that out. Ironically, I know how Douglas Adams stumbled upon that number as the answer. I agree with what else you're saying, though, and to say to the person about the chicken or the egg junk, I say the chicken was first, because God didn't want to sit on an egg. Care to shed some light on it then? To be honest I haven't read the Guide yet, I've just heard alot about it, so that was just the ramblings of a man half-asleep. The way he came up with that number for the book, was he took the sides of two six sided dice and added them up. 1+2+3+4+5+6 = 21(x2) = 42
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Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 10:20 am
Shinta Hitokiri Kindyetcruel Shinta Hitokiri Kindyetcruel ManateeMan Shiro Yoshiyuki
That made me think of the age old question: "Which came first? The chicken or the egg?"
This is the answer to the ultimate question: "It doesn't matter." Or...you could be idiotic and say "forty-two,"Two things A. The egg did for two reasons -eggs were around before chickens -the first chicken egg was laid by something not quite a chicken B. Never insult the Guide or I shall have to force feed you pan galactic gargle blasters I'm too tired to have more than one thought on a given thread it seems. You two have earned my thought for this thread today. I have a theory. 42 is the answer according to the Guide. They just don't know the question. Perhaps 42 is the number of logical "Why?" questions we must ask before we have discovered the absolute reason or purpose behind our existance. I don't mean why questions like "Why is it called blue?" "Because when our language was made, it was decided that that specific color would be called blue." "Why did they decide that?" because that's self explainatory and pointless. Now we should find the first question and test that out. Ironically, I know how Douglas Adams stumbled upon that number as the answer. I agree with what else you're saying, though, and to say to the person about the chicken or the egg junk, I say the chicken was first, because God didn't want to sit on an egg. Care to shed some light on it then? To be honest I haven't read the Guide yet, I've just heard alot about it, so that was just the ramblings of a man half-asleep. The way he came up with that number for the book, was he took the sides of two six sided dice and added them up. 1+2+3+4+5+6 = 21(x2) = 42 In addition, Book 3 of the series reveals the question. Anyway... The only way we can learn about ouselves is if we ask "Why?" If we had all the answers, life would not be worth living. In short, life is better when it is shrouded in mystery.
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Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 1:51 pm
Well......I suppose there are two ways to look for the purpose of life. In most religions the purpose of life is to serve God in order to get into Heaven. However for those less religious people it is usually either to enjoy life on earth or to figure out why we are here.
Yet the word why seems to pop out continuoulsy in the latter. For some people with a set religion questioning the purpose of being on earth is considered taboo or questioning the use/need of God. However the latter is free to question everything to their hearts content. I personally think that why is a useless question. What would be put to better use because you can get right to the base of the matter. By asking what you can find out the controller of your question. However even this question tends to lead to either
-Because of God or -Science proves it
Therefor this discussion is one never ending to those who question the motives of God. Wouldn't it be better if poeple could live life happily and content with what knowledge they have and just pick up answers as life (and possibly afterlife) goes by? Sadly I doubt that is possible.
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Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2007 3:00 pm
Heh. I like you.
There are so many ways I can go at all the stuff you said.
If there is a God, I would assume he made people and life out of lonliness. Can you imagine how lonely it would be just being the only life form? All powerful, with no one? That would also go into how he gave people free will. If he controlled people, then we would be little more than dolls. Dolls are not exactly good company. Perhaps it was to fill in the void in his heart? I dunno.
If there is a reason, great. However, one reason seems impossible. I think that there are many ways to go at anything. Why? Plenty of reasons. I don't need a reason. It is, or appears to be, therefore I don't care.
It's just fun to debate. domokun
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Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2007 8:22 pm
synzygus Aye. The "Why" questions always end up in Philosophy or Religion. Ages ago religion provided absolute meaning to everything, but then came the sciences and Einstein to give numbers to causes (causality), and then came the chaos of interpretations and conflicts of pluralism. Now we live in an era of complexity. Facts cannot satisfy the questioning of man, especially now as many live suburban lifestyles. Unfortunately, we are not like Nietzsche’s cows that graze happily. We humans think, therefore we feel; and with thinking comes doubt, and with feeling comes sorrow. Nietzsche’s cow suggests that ignorance makes one satisfied and happy: for why must we burden ourselves with so many questions which are meaningless as well? "For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief" (NIV Ecclesiastes 1:1 cool . As the sage of Ecclesiastes implies in his writings, everything is meaningless...meaningless! And as the ancient Greek philosophers (not sure if its Plato or Socrates exactly) put it, man cannot make his own purpose in life-- man alone cannot find a purpose because life is meaningless and insignificant. This is basically existentialism: we are born for no reason. However, we can have a purpose in life... However, as many philosophers put it, we have no control on them; we cannot seek our own purpse, for purpose comes from God. Purpose is abstract. You can get an apple from a store, but purpose comes from something beyond us. Now we can argue whether purpose exists or not, depending on your perspective upon spiritual existence. But that would take up meaningless space as we swim around an endless cycle of arguments. Such abstraction must manifest or materialize thus through something physical right? Science doesn’t deal with abstractions except concepts with facts; thus purpose requires faith: believing in something without any guarantee. There isnt any empirical data, yes, but if there were. If ghosts or angels appeared and agreed to undergo MRI, religion wouldn’t be called faith anymore. Faith would die! Simply put, no amount of reasoning can give you a purpose. You can be successful and wealthy in the future, then you die. You can live a lazy, boring, meaningless life, and then you die. But for the faithful, you do your life's "mission" and you die too, but you die satisfied, believing they lived meaningful lives. Those who question a lot often die miserably (we can start from the guillotined French to contemporary nihilists). Sure, we live as purely rational beings...but what do we become then? Mere machines and programs. Existentialists, perhaps; and those who make themselves suffer by not being content with believing something. I think there's beauty in a simple, rustic life: one that's romantic and peaceful, without questions or concerns. Happy, healthy and content, enjoying nature's beauties. heart 3nodding (Sadly, I'm an educated city boy crying ) I wanna be a cow! xd Christians hold that we're made in the image of God, yet cows have it better than we do.. ironic, much?
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Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 2:10 am
Dion Necurat Shinta Hitokiri Kindyetcruel Shinta Hitokiri Kindyetcruel I'm too tired to have more than one thought on a given thread it seems. You two have earned my thought for this thread today. I have a theory. 42 is the answer according to the Guide. They just don't know the question. Perhaps 42 is the number of logical "Why?" questions we must ask before we have discovered the absolute reason or purpose behind our existance. I don't mean why questions like "Why is it called blue?" "Because when our language was made, it was decided that that specific color would be called blue." "Why did they decide that?" because that's self explainatory and pointless. Now we should find the first question and test that out. Ironically, I know how Douglas Adams stumbled upon that number as the answer. I agree with what else you're saying, though, and to say to the person about the chicken or the egg junk, I say the chicken was first, because God didn't want to sit on an egg. Care to shed some light on it then? To be honest I haven't read the Guide yet, I've just heard alot about it, so that was just the ramblings of a man half-asleep. The way he came up with that number for the book, was he took the sides of two six sided dice and added them up. 1+2+3+4+5+6 = 21(x2) = 42 In addition, Book 3 of the series reveals the question. Anyway... The only way we can learn about ouselves is if we ask "Why?" If we had all the answers, life would not be worth living. In short, life is better when it is shrouded in mystery. Actually, there's two Ultimate Questions, to be honest.
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Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 6:08 am
My favorite 'why' answer (being a parent and kindergarten teacher) is "Because I said so". I try to remember that when I question life's little detours. I think God has a phenomenal sense of humour and quite enjoys watching us mess about down here with our questions. Sometimes there is no why - just cuz.
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Posted: Sun Aug 26, 2007 10:51 pm
[Zana] Yeah, I don't think I spelled that right, but whatever...This guild is just chalk full of discussion, which is great, because I love discussion. So here's another to ponder, and in a way, it's kinda my general response to some of the threads that ask those really deep questions about life, the universe, and everything. So, just lookit my thoughts here and tell me what you think: There is no truth or meaning to anything. At least, not that we can comphrend. Why? Exactly. Why. Why is the ultimate question. It has no definite answer. Instead, it kinda just keeps going and going...like the Energier Bunny! Does this make sense? Lemme try to give an example: You can ask the question, "Why do we eat?" And in response, get: "Because that's how we obtain our energy." "Why do we need energy?" "So our bodies can function." "Why do our bodies function?" "So we can live." "Why do we live?" And there are endless responses that could go here. For example, "To learn and experience." "To populate the earth." "Because that's what happens when you reproduce." "Because God gave us life." Let's go with that last one. "Why did He do that?" "Because [insert your reason here]." "But why?" And so on and so forth. (Does that make sense?) When it comes right down to it, is there really a meaning to anything? I don't think so. If it means something, then it must serve some sort of purpose. So when someone says, "What's the meaning of life?" it's like asking, "What's the purpose of life?" No one can truly answer that; they can only give opinions. So maybe there isn't a purpose? Maybe "it just is". Meanings and purposes are human inventions, I think. We need to have a reason for the ways things are. If there's no reason, there's no point, and if there's no point, then what is there? It sounds depressing, I know, but if you think about it, you can look at it two ways: 'If there's no point, then there's nothing.' Or 'If there's no point, then I don't need one.' Or something like that. I'm not sure if I'm expressing myself the right way; it's kinda hard to put this idea into words. I'm not even sure if anyone's gonna understand anything I'm saying here. Do you? rofl but if why is the ultimate quetion then how can the answer be 42?
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Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2007 8:20 am
edwina_half_elven Christians hold that we're made in the image of God, yet cows have it better than we do.. ironic, much? And better looking, too. We sure did get the short end of the stick on that one... I think the most (only?) important 'why' question is: Why do we need to find meaning? We're only here on this earth for a very short amount of time and we spend half of it either too young to use our time wisely or senile. We ought to be making something of ourselves, perfecting ourselves, becoming better people - but instead we waste time arguing about whether the universe was created with a big bang, divine fart, or bowl of spaghetti. It's a useless distraction that will only serve to prevent us as individuals from achieving enlightenment (or a perfection that will allow us into heaven, or simply a sense of psychological inner peace, depending on your particular beliefs). Question where we came from, by all means, but it shouldn't take precedence over what really matters. We're all going to die. Are you ready?
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Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2007 1:46 pm
[Zana] This guild is just chalk full of discussion...
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Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2007 10:43 pm
I think I've come up with an answer to the Chicken Question.
It was most likely the egg that came first. If you look at it from the evolution perspective, the egg came first because it would have come from a species that wasn't entire a chicken. It would have hatched into a full chicken.
Thus, the egg came before the chicken did because the animal that laid it wasn't completely a chicken.
Voila!
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Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2007 4:53 pm
(In reply to OP)
I see where you're going. I think people really want to know the one answer, "What is our true purpose?". There's a group of people that believe on a whole, that life is pointless. I agree with them.
Like I said in another thread in this Guild recently, I honestly believe life just took it's course and we were able to think way too much into everything. We came up with all these strange rules that life must follow by, for example, "Everything has a purpose". When life doesn't abide by the rules, we sit around dumbfounded and don't know what to do. Because it basically means everything we live by is a farce. Once again, I think it is. But it seems to make life easier and 'better' for us, so why not continue doing it?
(Ironic how I end my answer with a question beginning with 'Why'. I have an answer to the question I asked too, but it'd just come right back around with a different question and we wouldn't be making progress.)
(In reply to Shiro Yoshiyuki)
You don't even have to believe in evolution to know that the egg came first. The question is flawed. Chickens weren't the first things to lay eggs, dinosaurs laid eggs. They existed a LONG time before the chicken, so there's your answer.
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Sand From The Future(GTD)
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Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 12:53 am
If there's no truth or meaning to anything, then there can also be no truth or meaning to the claim itself. And ultimately, nothing you said in the first post can have truth or meaning. Moreover, nothing in this post can have truth or meaning.
It's a bit like the liar paradox. There's really no way for the statement to be consistently true - unless you can figure out a way to make an exception.
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Reply
