What is the meaning of life? (page 3)

BizzyBee

I appreciate Eduardo's eloquent presentation and well thought-out premise that the meaning of life is 42. Upon reflection, however, I think that it might be more accurate to surmise that it is closer to 37.

Twitch

I don't mean to be insulting or anything, but there are many first-semester philosophy students who could have made that observation without having to smoke anything.

Arthur hit the nail on the head. Alterered perceptions induced by artificial chemicals are just that: illusions. No "clarity" emerges from chemically induced alterations in neurotransmission, despite the illusory nature of such phenomena. The human mind and the neuronal networks that support it, work optimally in their natural state.

:-) Such has been my experience; never took philosophy formally. Preferred the fast track and my own curriculum, lol. Choice is paramount though, is it not?

Twitch

First thought was from 1983 and Monty Python's epic "The Meaning of Life"

Why are we here? What's life all about?


Is God really real, or is there some doubt?


Well, tonight, we're going to sort it all out,


For, tonight, it's 'The Meaning of Life'.

What's the point of all this hoax?


Is it the chicken and the egg time? Are we just yolks?


Or, perhaps, we're just one of God's little jokes.


Well, ça c'est 'The Meaning of Life'.

Is life just a game where we make up the rules


While we're searching for something to say,


Or are we just simply spiralling coils


Of self-replicating DN-- nay, nay, nay, nay, nay, nay, nay.

What is life? What is our fate?


Is there a Heaven and Hell? Do we reincarnate?


Is mankind evolving, or is it too late?


Well, tonight, here's 'The Meaning of Life'.

For millions, this 'life' is a sad vale of tears,


Sitting 'round with really nothing to say


While the scientists say we're just simply spiralling coils


Of self-replicating DN-- nay, nay, nay, nay, nay, nay, nay.

So, just why-- why are we here,


And just what-- what-- what-- what do we fear?


Well, ce soir, for a change, it will all be made clear,


For this is 'The Meaning of Life'. C'est le sens de la vie.


This is 'The Meaning of Life'

;-)

frankiespeakin

I agree that the opening quote may not be that profound to some, but to other it may be. Some have never thought that much about the fact that we are programmed by parents, culture, government, tv, etc.., which determines for many what the meaning of life is.

The question about what is the meaning of life is really a question that has no objective answer only a subjective one, and will vary from person to person, it all depends on what type of conditioning our minds have been subjected to. There is no concrete objective answer "out there" the answer lies within and is determined by conditioning.

Satanus

Psychedelics help a person to cut through the programming and to determine the answers for themself. Too much of the stuff can also make a person retreat from the world outside the body. Like every tool, psychedelic drugs need to be used in a rational way.

S

under_believer

Touche, OFG. 90% of TV is trash, but the fact that it's on there means someone is watching it. The accuracy of the 7 hour figure does not affect your point.
Sorry.

yaddayadda

Here is what Krishnamurti said about the meaning of life:

"Now why do you ask this question? Why are you asking me to tell you the meaning of life, the purpose of life? What do we meanby life? Does life have a meaning, a purpose? Is not living in itself its ownpurpose, its own meaning? Why do we want more? Because we are so dissastified with our life, our life is so empty, so tawdry, so monotonous, doing the same thing over and over again, we want something more, something beyond that which we are doing. Since our everyday life is so empty, so dull, so meaningless, so boring, so intolerably stupid, we say life must have a fuller meaning and that is why you ask this question. Surely a man who is living richly, a man who sees things as they are and is content with what he has, is not confused; he is clear, therefore he does not ask what is the purpose of life. For him the very living is the beginning and the end. Our difficulty is that, since our life is empty, we want to find a purpose to life and strive for it. Such a purpose of life can only be mere intellection, without any reality; when the purpose of life is pursued by a stupid, dull mind, by an empty heart, that purpose will also be empty. Therefore our purpose is how to make our life rich, not with money and all the rest of it but inwardly rich-which is not something cryptic. When you say the purpose of life is to be happy, the purpose of life is to find God, surely that desire to find God is an escape from life and your God is merely a thing that is known. You can only make your way towards an object which you know; if you build a staircase to the thing that you call God, surely that is not God, Realty can be unerstod only in living, not in escape. When you seek a purpose of life, you are really escaping and not understanding what life is. Life is relationship, life is action in relationship; when I do not understand relationship, or when relationship is confused, then I seek a fuller meaning. Why are our lives so empty? Why are we so lonely, frustrated? Because we have never looked into ourselves and understood ourselves. We never admit to ourselves that this life is all we know and that it should therefore be understood fully and completely. We prefer to run away from ourselves and that is why we seek the purpose of life away from relationship. If we begin to understand action, which is our relationship with people, with property, with beliefs and ideas, then we will find that relationship itself brings its own reward. You do not have to seek. It is like seeking love. Can you find love by seeking it? Love cannot be cultivated. You will find love only in relationship, not outside relationship, and it is because we have no love that we want a purpose of life. When there is love, which is its own eternity, then there is no search for God, because love is God.

It is because our minds are full of technicalities and superstitious mutterings that our lives are so empty and that is why we seek a purpose beyond ourselves. To find life's purpose we must go through the door of ourselves; consciously or unconsciously we avoid facing things as they are in themselves and so we want God to open for us a door which is beyond. This question about the purpose of life is put only by those who do not love. Love can be found only in action, which is relationship."

the dreamer dreaming

a movie by Monty Python

What is the meaning of life?

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