Meaning of life

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always comes off as self-importance. "my life MUST have greater meaning!"


nope!

Sounds a bit closer to desperation than arrogance. To me anyway.

In my opinion, the meaning of life is to:

"love the LORD your God with all your heart, soul, and strength." Deuteronomy 6:5

and to:

"love your neighbor as yourself" Leviticus 19:18

It's not so much desperation as an attempt to fit one's self into some sort of sensible pattern of activity. Although some lucky individuals locate an area of great interest and rewards a great many people discover that society needs to utilize their capabilities for the profit or interests of others and the only justification for living becomes earning a great deal of money and gaining experience and knowledge useful to others but unrewarding to the individual. In primitive and marginal communities there was not so much choice for the individual. Roles had to be filled to sustain life in the community and individual satisfaction either coordinated with those roles or the individual lead a very unhappy life. Modern life offers much more variety but basically people frequently are not permitted to investigate their inherent potentials which are frequently very different for each person. A competitive society does not tolerate a half assed poet or artist or executive (although a great number of the latter seem to be around to screw up things). Even good poets find that only a few of their poems out of hundreds or thousands are really extraordinary. It's the same with lives. Only a few people attain real accomplishment and the rest struggle to discover what they are really good at and do something with it. And most are frustrated and unsuccessful. That's life.

iamnotaparakeet-Doesn't matter what anybody else thinks man.

It still hurts to be attacked, whether an attack is true or false.

You must be used to it by now. If people believe that religion is nonsense you cannot expect them to be happy with people devoted to what they see as silly ideas. Nothing personal.

"Man first of all exists, encounters himself, surges up in the world - and defines himself afterwards." Jean-Paul Sartre

But if there is no meaning to life, then why does it matter what I believe or don't believe?

In a general discussion each participant proposes ideas. Stating an opposition to an idea requires some sort of retort. It's not a matter of being attacked personally, it's a matter of justifying an idea.

Maybe because you live happier than we are
The misserable may want to drag others within their own misery

It also hurts when we loose a game of chess (especially if it is one of those elven year old wizz kids that beats us).

It hurts when we loose a game of foot ball.. (not that I like sport)

But we always grin and say.. "Let's play another game".

Is pain so bad.. or is it there to teach us things.. ?

If it hurts.. I would suggest you read your bible more..

Not literally.. that is a complete waste of time.. but more as a problem solving exercise..

Try to resolve the apparent contradictions.. and you will see things that you didn't notice before.

It will develope your mind.. to argue more effectively.

For example.. when you read.. Jesus walked on water.. don't say.. "Wow.. that's history"..

But rather.. ask yourself.. what does this really mean.. ?

Then.. holding that question in mind.. search the scriptures for the answer.

It is there.. there are many references to what it really means.

Alternatively.. try using word search for key words.. like treading on waves.. sea.. rebuked.. wind..

Then examine the passages.. and ponder over them.

You will find it fascinating to find out what these words actually mean...

For example.. a couple of verses. (there are many more like this though if you search).. notice the way - treading - is used..
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“Stretching out the heavens by himself and treading upon the high waves of the sea..”

"For, look! God is going forth from his place, and he will certainly come down and tread upon earth's high places (governments)." -


“He is stilling the noise of the seas, The noise of their waves and the turmoil of the national groups. He causes the windstorm to stand at a calm, So that the waves of the sea keep quiet.”

Job 9:8 + Micah 1:3 + Psalms 65:7

So.. Jesus is treading over the top of those in power.. putting them under his shoes.. like dog sh*t.. and silencing their windy words.. with his wisdom. It's all to do with who has the power.

It also symbolically represents that Jesus was taking over from Moses.. who also walked across the sea.

This is the meaning of Jesus walking over the high waves of the sea. All the other miracle stories have hidden meanings too.. the point is to discover them. It's fun.

Problem solving is good for the intellect.. study the bible for long enough and it will teach you how to win your arguments.. The writers were some of the smartist people I have ever read.

As John said in Revelation.. eat this book (not literally.. of course).

It also helps if you have a good translation.. I use one I got from the JWs.. and its a good one (even if the sect is insane)

Many translations have been butchered.. including the old favorite KJV.

My advice is.. if you don't like the pain.. never argue unless you know the topic well enought to produce counter arguments when challenged.

To have opposition.. in any kind of philosophical debate.. is good for all of us. Everyone is capable of being mistaken.. and opposition makes us think things through more carefully.. and keeps us on our toes intellectually.. etc.

We can always learn a lot from the people who are arguing with us.

If our goal is truth.. then.. opposition is a good thing.

And if we are confident enough.. in our opinions.. opposition gradually fades away....... defeated.. by agreement.

---

"Opposition is true friendship."

William Blake

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That's a good one. Life has so many meanings!

There is no meaning in life. If there was a God that created us (which I definitely do not believe), He must have did it because He liked to. Funny little replica's you can bully in any way You like, like sending tsunami's and earth quakes, and making it impossible to drink 97% of all water, oceans don't taste that nice. It is impossible that there is a great, impressive and important meaning of life. God can (if He exists) live on His own, He doesn't need help to do that. And He can solve all of His problems.

If the evolution exists, which I know for sure, there is of course no meaning at all. It is all just coincidence.

Some people believe there is some mysterious energy that gives all of us a special meaning or goal in life. Why should that energy do that? If it's true, that energy is making a mess of it. Our world looks like s**t. But the energy won't have any profit of people having a goal in life.

And if there is a God, He doesn't want people to believe in His existance. If He did, He wouldn't have made fossils, signs of a geological history troughout billions of years, He wouldn't have made so many unlogical things in nature that point in the direction of evolution. Why do some animals have rudimentary claws? Why don't we have a fur? Why are our hips not that well to walk on? Why do giraffes have horns they don't use? And so on and on.

42 is the ultimate answer, not the meaning of life.

42 apparently was an error message or a wrong answer to the Ultimate Question of life, the universe and everything. However by the time Deep Thought, the super computer, had given the number, nobody knew anymore what the Ultimate Question linked to the Ultimate Answer actually was. An even more advanced computer which was the Earth, had to be constructed to find the Question again. 5 minutes before it was to give the answer what the Question actually was, the Earth was destroyed by aggressive aliens.

Last edited by Transcendence on 02 Sep 2008, 2:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.