Meaning of Life

[The3ntropy]

Hmm,
This is kind of like the existence thread, but I hope that it does not become like it. Anyway. . .
I was reading the paper this morning just before I went to work, another long day on computers, knowing I cannot wait until I get home, I am going out with a new friend. . .
That is when it hit me, I just started thinking about life and the meaning of it. Then I thought a little deeper. Not really why are we here, but what is the meaning of it. We are here for about 75 years, plus or minus, we train our brains, grow, age, then we die and it is all over with. {Not concerning afterlife or anything of that sort, if you want to discuss that goto that thread} But during this life, what are we supposed to do? I know someone who had the signature here, forgot who sorry, that said 'this life is only a test, I repeat only a test, if this were real we would have been told what to do and where to go' {If that was your sig, please contact me and I will tag it with your name} But really, we're born, we live, we die, then it is over. We are happy, then sad, then happy, but why? I mean really why? What do we really do on this earth? Shall we live for a 'greater good' like the Al Queida, or nazis? Should we live for ourselves and not care for anyone? Should we make our own beliefs like charles manson? Really, what is the point of it all? How about living for your children, {I am not married and have no kids} then they live for their children, and so on and so forth. So what are all of your opinions? I am very curious as to what everyone here believes we should do, and why in the end we should do it?

I would also like to leave with a quote, from some movie forgot which one.
"Maybe the only true meaning of life, is that there is no meaning, you decide."

[xmaddness]

IMHO I think the meaning of life.. (at least mine) is:
1) To help society in some crucial way. I think that people should pick a lifetime goal and go for it. Mine is to travel faster than light. (I'm pretty sure I've got it figured out)
2) To have as much fun as possible

3) To leave your seed and continue the cycle of life.

just my opinion

x

[The3ntropy]

Interesting idea,
But howabout this, let's say you achieve a Humongous goal for yourself and society in general and you change something drastic in life like einstien did. Then what? You still just die and rot away? People may remember you they may not. So what does it still matter? How are you any different than the 600 pound fat man that eats beans 24/7 and died of bursting his stomach open.

[MrLinus]

Perhaps we do not need to go that deep. Perhaps life is just that. Life.

Why do other beings exist? If you answer why things exist on Earth then you answer why we as humans exist.

If you question why YOU exist, well.. that comes from a belief, whatever it is you believe is the reason you exist.

And remember, 42 answers everything.

[xmaddness]

Ya that very tru.. Sometimes I wonder if I would be happier living on an island with no technology, no job, no need of money, living off the land. Alot of times I convince myself that life is here just for my taking. I came in so I could experience what life has to offer. I want to walk along the great wall of china. Explore the great pyramids. Scuba dive along the great barrier reef. I believe the world is our playground. And life is recess. Go have some fun and do something you'll remember in your mind. Remember.. Material goods come and go... but memories will be with you forever. Well don't take that so literally... you can get altheimer's(sp?) But you get what I mean.

[cF_nM]

Originally posted here (http://www.AntiOnline.com/showthread.php?threadid=223126#post484667) by MsMittens
Perhaps we do not need to go that deep. Perhaps life is just that. Life.

Why do other beings exist? If you answer why things exist on Earth then you answer why we as humans exist.

If you question why YOU exist, well.. that comes from a belief, whatever it is you believe is the reason you exist.

And remember, 42 answers everything.

Finally someone that read the Hitchiker's Guide!

Seriously, though-I think the answer to that is extremely simple: The answer isn't important, unless you ask the right questions.

[Kindred69]

An interesting idea that is sort of associated in this tread that perhaps might add a slightly different view on thing is one I read in a book my Richard Dawkins called "the river of Eden"

This my own little twists on it to fit within this post and my own option. Perhaps in discussing the meaning of life you should not just think about human life but all life and in so what links all life together what is the commonality of all life. Taken this discussion to a level that is about life; from birds, bees human ants plants fungi, viruses and bateria (ok the last two you might argue about if they are alive and if what they do constitute as life). What is the one thing that they all have? Genes. Perhaps the higher ration functions of society and ones place simply is nothing more than a mechanism for genes to interact, to get the interaction of genetic material, perhaps the meaning of all life is not anything to do with the greater good but ensuring that your genetic mix is passed onto the next generation? Perhaps all this training to prove you worth to a mate and in so pass your genes on like a river running though all species and population. Perhaps that is simply it that at the end of the day we are defined by are genes and it is our genes that wish to survive to make it though the river to mix with other genes, other pairings that drives us to do as w do, in so the meaning of life simply is to pass our genes on. This argument can be used for all forms of life and in so might hold some truth to it or perhaps not. Perhaps looking for the meaning of life within one species is flawed, perhaps you need to look at all life in order to understand what the meaning is, if there is any. Personally I think the opinion of the selfish gene that the meaning of life is all to do with continuation of genes has it merits

Kindred69

[preep]

Its all about what makes you happy, mean i worked on this one for quite a while, untill it took me into depression, but i worked my way back out of that.
Anyway i work cutting vegtables, even the lesser (IQ) find my work mentally frustating, but i work backshift mon-fri, and come on my computer when i finish. My work pays for My computing, as i see it.
Went a little off the subject there, its all to do with doing the things u want to do with the time thats given to you, and make the most of it while it lasts, finding challenges and things that make you happy, gives us satisfaction and enjoyment, and a willing to do more. Somtimes its all a part of learning from the bad aswell, and moving on with your mistakes, i should be dead by now, or getting very close in a drug rehab.
Death---lots of different people hav different opinions, like budism, christianity, scienentology, some say that ou can be magically transported to a paradise, but the scienists say that when the Cogs of the machine break down, the machine breaks down, causing the machine to grind to a halt.

im not any softie incase your reading this laughing, iv just changed a bit and learned allot about what people can do to u, tomake there life....seem wothwhile

My names Preep - dunno what it stands for. I work alone, we`ll i have for quite a while, im starting to branch out allot now, after learning enought for me to survive, i hack not because i ahte the world, or am gelous in anyway of other peoples Wealth, but because i see thing some cannot, i enjoy sifting thought the ISP`s/ Websites/ and Vast networks, connecting to anything that stands out and anything that looks a little too normal.

Im sick fed up of posintg advise to people who dont say thank you, but i will never flame.

Preep


im around

[The3ntropy]

Very interesting,
I liked all of the replies from the scientific gene pool, to the be happy one. But you guys are still missing the real question in this thread. You are focusing to close step back a little bit. Preep, what does it change if you had fun for yourself, or if you gave that time to others. In the end, we can remember whatever we want, we can change it to our liking, and even believe that our thoughts actually happened. And kindred, so we find the perfect 'mate' and we drive on the population, then what? Why did we. The population is fine now. I am not going to be here when there becomes problems with the population. I am not changed if I have found my 'mate' or not. And then after all of the discussion, what was the reason, what would have changed if you would not have read this thread, or if you would not have replied. Now do you understand the Q?

[MrLinus]

Perhaps to answer the question we need to focus on one aspect: either the microscope importance of our lives in the whole or the macroscope importance of our lives in the whole.

If we look at the first, the meaning of life as it were becomes very subjective. It is what we, as individuals, view OUR lives to be worthy for. For some it's happiness; others fame. Some others it is sadistic life we lead while others believe in helping our fellow man.

On the macroscope level we are looking at how our existence as humans affect the environment around us. Why are we humans here in the form that we are rather than say something like the Apes (from Planet of the Apes) or Vulcans or Klingons or whatever slimy beastie you might find on Men in Black (I love sci-fi and these ones came to mind for alien types)? Why are we intelligent enough to make fire? Why do we still reproduce when we are well over the limit of what this planet can support? Why do we still do war when we know it's wrong? Eh, I could go on but the macroscope reasoning for our existance is far different than the microscope reason.

As individuals we are just cogs in a system and that system is part of a larger system (human race on Earth). And yet that system is part of an even larger system (Earth within the Solar System) and so on. Until you get to the Universe. Perhaps a quantum existence level at this point. Rather than ask the Meaning of Life, ask the Meaning of the Universe. I suspect we might find the answer to both.

Have I given you an answer? No. I think in this case the best you might get is a personal perspective. My own personal view is that our existence helps the greater goal of existence of Nature itself. We are the balancing act often. It is like the debate I have with friends sometimes. Can you have good without evil? Inheriently no. In order for you to see good, you have to compare it against something, evil. But these are vague terms. Even the words life and meaning are vague.

What does one mean when we say life? When we ask for meaning?

Some things to ponder.

[11001001]

Meaning of Life: "People aren't wearing enough hats."
-Monty Python's Meaning of Life.

Seriously--
I have long-held the belief that everyone is here for a set period of time. We are here to learn. If, in learning, we help to better society or others than that's even better. The point is, when we have learned all we can learn, we pass on. I guess I have a "Grand Scheme of Things" mentality.

[Kindred69]

The3ntropy I like this post a lot perhaps using the theory I put forward to answer one of your question then in another way of thinking about life. You put forward the idea of finding the perfect mate, however this was not what I was trying to convey, the perfection of a mate is a higher function of human thought not down the genetic level at the end of the day my post is about genes being self fish that they wish to be passed on no matter if you have found the perfect mate or not, just a mate someone to procreate with. Taking this to a higher perspective and refining it into the human species itself trying to think about MsMittens post. If you consider the whole gene pool i.e. not just human but all the genes found in the entirety of the world in all species consider this a river, at one time all genes be it though form fish to those in human where together in the river at the source over time these genes paired off mixed with themselves, the successful genes formed new tributaries this process continuing to create the diversity now upon the earth. From this analogy some of these rivers now are so far apart that they can not mix successfully any more ((i.e. humans cant mate and produce offspring with apes for example)) but still come form the same source, as in the tributaries and the large river come for the same source if you go back far enough. Each river has specific characteristics, the stick insect river has the characteristic of its camouflage, humans have there higher reasoning there ability to invent adopt there environment to suit themselves. Each of these specific to the tributary but because they all come from the same source so certain characteristic are similar, i.e. you see invention and use of tools within apes. Now humans can invent firstly fire and processed into modern day , we as humans have got to a point in which we are the dominant force over the earthly environment though are ability to think at higher levels. This is where we need to move out of the genetic analogy but still keep it in mind. The thread is turning into the reason why humans do as they do, why and individual selects the tasks and decisions they do. Perhaps its our success within the world that will be our downfall that in time humans will in fact destroy all of the other life and end many of the rivers formed, or they may not, but this still does not answer why we do as we do. Perhaps the answer is as simple as to pass on our genes but with higher rational thinking we can move beyond the selfish gene, and the flow of genetics though all populations, to this I have no answer however I would like to pose a thought.

Using the analogy of a pinball machine. The ball travels in seemly random directions each time the ball ricochets off a wall’ a cushion and the flippers it head of in a different direction if you take these as decisions then it would appear that their consequences are random, however the flippers are slightly different a person can decided when to press the button where on the flipper they wish the ball to stick and in so what direction that decision will take until it hits a bumper or something to alter its course, this is human higher function, you can tilt the table to try and effect the course of the ball. This very abstract but I’m going to get even more abstract in a way. Take a person driving a car in he first situation the person is driving though choice above the speed limit this his choice why he chose to is that he wants to get home as soon as possible or something of such, anyway moving on, this guy turns a corner where a young childe is in the middle of the road due to his speed he runs the child over, the child incurring fatally injures this child. Now the divers decision to speed resulted in the child death, if he had driven at the speed limit the child would be still alive it was that decisions of driving too fast that caused the death, just because he wanted to get home faster. Now to put a twist, if that child would grow up to be a medical scientist and in so find a cure to AIDS 20 years before anyone else then effectively the decision of the driver to exceed the speed limit, has caused many thousands of people to die a horrible deaths form AIDS. Or vice versa if the childe was going to be the next Aldof Hitler then the decision to speed and in so the reproductions of the death of the child has prevented a world war and much pain and tragedy. This is going outside of this thread and perhaps I have gone too far so I will bring it back to this thread by suggesting this. Perhaps the meaning of life has nothing to do with the decisions we make, because the effects can be so random and unpredictable that for someone to define there decisions into a tight definition of "life is about ??????" would not be feasible or practical. Perhaps The higher rational of the humans has nothing to do with the meaning of life itself, or that the meaning of life can not be a set definition that it is a fluidic devise that adapts itself throughout the ages and that each person has there own personal meaning in which they work to or there lives are defined by. Moving back to the genes, perhaps all that I said means nothing, perhaps is a simple as passing on genes, keeping the flow of genes on earth contently moving changing mixing so new variation are created. But what is the purpose of that?

Anyway hope I didn’t go too far form the point

Kindred69

[The3ntropy]

Wow,
Damn good read Ms and kindred, I like your ideas, both of them with the gene pool and basically a theory of chaos it sounds like from kindred. I cannot think of anything to argue about them. Very good reads.

[SarinMage]

the meaning of life is to create your own meaning from whats placed in front of you during your life, define it yourself in your own way,

[Dr Toker]

I think we are much more important than we could ever imagine.
But for those who must deny that here is your basic Goals in life.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.) Show kindness, help others with things they cannot help themselves with.
2.) Fall in Love with a member of the opposite sex.
3.) Be fruitfull and multiply
4.) Learn, and share what you have learned.
5.) Make someone else happy.

[Juridian]

Here is my view on the meaning of life - http://www.antionline.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=484684#post484684

[preep]

kindred thats was deep, what do you each think about fate? as that may be the deciding role in our lives? even the simplest of beings have a will to survive and..sow their seeds or keep the DNA going, how can we not relate to that?
if you plan for tommorow, when tommorow comes your too busy plannig the next day, as "intelectual beings" we must have substince to keep us going food, thought and feeling. a lack of any of these can cause the person to deteriorate (hunger/mental illness) it can be the same for any animal, true though that they may not have the capacity, but animals feel, think, eat, sleep and reproduce, but what is the meaning of their lives? merly playings for the animals higher in the food chain, or as a tool, in a thread just as the one im typing in just now having little added on to it each time, evolving, and waiting for the end(but this is an endless discussion of course) its just like us, all of us, we set out as a(sorry for the pun) "blank sheet of paper" ready for printing, and from the time we are born we develop (not in order) hearing, sight, speech, we grow(etc)...each bit of hte chain adds a bit onto the original, sometimes improving it, sometimes not, but we have the capacity to learn from our mistakes, in order to survive, ive figured out that some animals have not meaning as they do what they have done for thousands of years for example:
crocodile an animal who has been around since the Dino`s, he stays in the water and waits for an animal to come and drink, then when it does, bang, thast dinner, and when you watch it on tv, you can think....if i went back in time i prob see that same animal using the same mehods to capture the animalwanting a drink

its not why we live our lives the way we do, it shouldnt be a question it should be "so im here, what do i want to do? what can i do?(cuz u get atheltes trying to beat each other all the time, and you dont really care who won the bronze in 1860 or what time it was, the guy got, you dont know him, but i bet he`s enjoyed the things he`s achieved and the life he lived.

em......does that make sence?? you`ll prob have to read it over a few times to get what i mean.
not just Why, but How that matters, think of life as a challege quiz, you will get some wrong and a few right but by the end of the test it all gets added up, and you want to see "how may you got right!" its the end result that matters, but we wont see how we`ll we done till the end, not half way through the test, but when its all on the table, theres no going back.
and i hope when you reach your end (and you will) you will be able to add up what u done and accounted for.
i wont be there for you to tell, but its not my life, i`ll find mine out when i die
what a cheery person iam today, lol
:)
jeez 2794 chars long!
see!!! at the start i didnt know how much i would write, but i do now, lol

hope u make sence of it, just made me realise

Preep

[BERBURT]

Originally posted here (http://www.AntiOnline.com/showthread.php?threadid=#post) by xmaddness
Ya that very tru.. Sometimes I wonder if I would be happier living on an island with no technology, no job, no need of money, living off the land. Alot of times I convince myself that life is here just for my taking. I came in so I could experience what life has to offer. I want to walk along the great wall of china. Explore the great pyramids. Scuba dive along the great barrier reef. I believe the world is our playground. And life is recess. Go have some fun and do something you'll remember in your mind. Remember.. Material goods come and go... but memories will be with you forever. Well don't take that so literally... you can get altheimer's(sp?) But you get what I mean.

this is a great outrlook on life and i wish i felt that way
but i find myself questioning every aspect of my own existance and wonder why i was born
i just want to know what does it all mean? what is the point of even living
is it so u can talk about the good old days? so u can tell the upcomming generations how much they have strayed from the way things should be.
sometimes i have thoughts that are disturbing , even to me, believe me it doesnt make one
feel well when u think the kind of thoughts that i do and im sure im not alone.
if i could have one wish it would be to experience death, and find out whats going on.
once i obtain that knowledge of what happens when i die, have the option to chose
life or death. the way i feel is if there is nothing than i chose death.
whats the point in experiencing lifes ups and downs only to meet the enevitable
Resistance is Futile

[BERBURT]

Originally posted here (http://www.AntiOnline.com/showthread.php?threadid=#post) by Kindred69
An interesting idea that is sort of associated in this tread that perhaps might add a slightly different view on thing is one I read in a book my Richard Dawkins called "the river of Eden"

This my own little twists on it to fit within this post and my own option. Perhaps in discussing the meaning of life you should not just think about human life but all life and in so what links all life together what is the commonality of all life. Taken this discussion to a level that is about life; from birds, bees human ants plants fungi, viruses and bateria (ok the last two you might argue about if they are alive and if what they do constitute as life). What is the one thing that they all have? Genes. Perhaps the higher ration functions of society and ones place simply is nothing more than a mechanism for genes to interact, to get the interaction of genetic material, perhaps the meaning of all life is not anything to do with the greater good but ensuring that your genetic mix is passed onto the next generation? Perhaps all this training to prove you worth to a mate and in so pass your genes on like a river running though all species and population. Perhaps that is simply it that at the end of the day we are defined by are genes and it is our genes that wish to survive to make it though the river to mix with other genes, other pairings that drives us to do as w do, in so the meaning of life simply is to pass our genes on. This argument can be used for all forms of life and in so might hold some truth to it or perhaps not. Perhaps looking for the meaning of life within one species is flawed, perhaps you need to look at all life in order to understand what the meaning is, if there is any. Personally I think the opinion of the selfish gene that the meaning of life is all to do with continuation of genes has it merits

Kindred69

nice post but in my world its not the most intelligent humans reproducing at an alarming rate
in my world where weakness is greeted with compassion and stregnth is greeted with agression.
in my world natural order is disorder. the intellectualls are having few children while the rif raf
are going at it like rabbits. my world is on a downward spiral

[rcgreen]

in my world its not the most intelligent humans reproducing at an alarming rate
in my world where weakness is greeted with compassion and stregnth is greeted with agression.
in my world natural order is disorder. the intellectualls are having few children while the rif raf
are going at it like rabbits. my world is on a downward spiral

Maybe the "rif raf" have discovered the meaning of life, while the
"intellectuals" have their heads up their asses.
:cool:

[jcmcb]

I think that is was Asimov that thought of the human experiance as a comsic tapestry, with each person being an individual thread. To me the meaning of life is to make your thread the most beautiful and meaningful thread you can...

Its up to you how you go about that (posts to AO, nobel prize, scuplture), as long as you contribute to the tapestry...

[BERBURT]

Originally posted here (http://www.AntiOnline.com/showthread.php?threadid=#post) by rcgreen


Maybe the "rif raf" have discovered the meaning of life, while the
"intellectuals" have their heads up their asses.
:cool:

ha ha thats very possible I definatly see ur point

[SarinMage]

the meaning of life is to exist.

[titanmike]

the meaning of life : to evolve,to unlock all of the brains potential,to ever spiral upwards
to finely become part of the supreme energy force, to live,to love ,to be

[stflook]

Forgive me if I stray from the flow of the conversation for a minute here, but I noticed that if you look at it, The3ntropy's sig can be associated to this discussion.

en·tro·py

1.) A quantitative measure of the amount of thermal energy not available to do work.

2.) A measure of the disorder or randomness in a closed system.

3.) A measure of the loss of information in a transmitted message.

4.) The tendency for all matter and energy in the universe to evolve toward a state of inert uniformity.

5.) Inevitable and steady deterioration of a system or society.



You see, this word basically applies to everything, whether it be matter at the molecular or atomic level, simple or complex organisms, ecosystems, the planet, or even our galaxy, this word basically sums up the destiny of everything that exists. For instance, I, as a human, am destined to die. You are damned to the very same, like it or not. The same applies to every organism. Entire species grow to superiority, but unwaveringly will die out for whatever reason. The dinosaurs did it. When the beginning of the Ice Age began (from whatever cause), those who couldn't handle the climate died off. This was followed by the rise to power of the phylum mammalia. Out of all of them, our species rose to the top of that class. Now, we face all kinds of threats to our existence. Pollution, plague, extraterrestrial forces, and climate changes all are a threat to our superiority. Some are bigger dangers than others, and some even tie in with each other. I guess that what I'm trying to say is that everything is destined to deteriorate or die. There's just no avoiding it.

As you may have noticed, I have stuck to the fifth definition of this word. Whether or not you realize it, it ties in directly with the fourth. Whether or not you know it, everything in our known universe is destined to a future of uniformity. You see, the pattern of galaxies is constantly expanding, but that doesn't mean that they have escaped each other's gravitational forces. Even if it's just a little bit, those galaxies are still pulling on each other, and slowing each other down just a little. Of course, by the time the universe has begun to start contracting, the majority of the galaxies will have become giant black holes, and those that have no central gravitational force, such as a black hole, will be slowly sucked into black holes that used to be other galaxies. These black holes are nothing more than lots and lots of matter with such a gravitational pull that it actually collapses in on itself, and the very atomic structure of all matter in that black hole collapses. Thus, you have total inert uniformity. These black holes will slowly gain speed as they move toward each other. Eventually they will collide, one by one. Now, what happens at this point I don't know. However, there are two different theories I have. On is that the force of the impacts will cause these black holes to explode as other big bangs, and will eventually the matter will group and form new galaxies. My other theory is that they will collect into one giant black hole, with a central pressure so great that (with the aid of the vacuum of space) will simply explode into another Big Bang, and the universe will start anew.



The point I'm trying to make is that everything moves in cycles. Things must begin, and things must end. Living things die, but when they do, they provide for other life that depends on the substances in the dead organism. So basically, our purpose on this earth is to die. But upon doing so, we're supposed to provide for future cycles of life, and even somewhat stimulate the evolutionary process. However, humans have developed such a fear of death and the natural, that we have altered our environment to suit our desires, and we have taken to sealing away our dead. This is not the way it is supposed to be. We have become so advanced in our society, that we're actually trying to separate ourselves from the processes of earth. It just doesn't work that way. We need to accept the fact that our big purpose in life is to die, and come to the realization that death isn't nearly as grim as society has made it out to be throughout history. We need to accept our fate, and go through it with dignity and the same sense of responsibility that we do everything else.



So next time somebody asks you a question like "What is our purpose?", simply respond with one word, "entropy".

[Kindred69]

Stflook Made some very interesting points taking the whole meaning of life onto a comic level.
The point I'm trying to make is that everything moves in cycles. Things must begin, and things must end
Perhaps that is all that the theory I put forward is, smaller a smaller cycle in the whole comic make up of thing.
Whether or not you know it, everything in our known universe is destined to a future of uniformity. You see, the pattern of galaxies is constantly expanding, but that doesn't mean that they have escaped each other's gravitational forces. Even if it's just a little bit, those galaxies are still pulling on each other, and slowing each other down just a little. Of course, by the time the universe has begun to start contracting, the majority of the galaxies will have become giant black holes, and those that have no central gravitational force, such as a black hole, will be slowly sucked into black holes that used to be other galaxies. These black holes are nothing more than lots and lots of matter with such a gravitational pull that it actually collapses in on itself, and the very atomic structure of all matter in that black hole collapses. Thus, you have total inert uniformity

Perhaps this is where genetics is going this constant expansion. Without spontaneous mutations there would be a finite number of possible permutation, then what happened. As we know with incest there is increased amount of genetic related defects. This is where I would like to go off slightly and bring in another theory. Mitochondria are a female only marker, they are only passed down the female linage, this simply because of space, Sperm only carry mitochondria in there tail which is discarded upon entry to the ovum, the ovum having mitochondria within, and mitochondria having there own genetic structure and a symbiotic relationship within our own cells means you can look at mitochondria themselves and trace the female line right back. This theory goes under 2 names African eve and mitochondria eve. The premise of it is that you can trace all mitochondria back to a single female person and in so we are all from one “mother”. Now if this is true then surly that means that to a degree we are all incestuous (please no flames for expressing a theory or negative response this is just a theory I have read and am putting forth). In so are we destined to become the failings of our own nature of our own success is this one threat that is not consider but might actually be the one that ends all life upon earth and in so compete a circle with the cosmos. Perhaps.

Kindred69

[blade1337]

The meaning of life is to try and understand it

[tanqeri]

My meaning of life has changed with each differant stage of my life.20s where drugs,sex and rock & roll.
30s children and security for my family.
Now Iv'e just turned 40 im trying to head back to drugs,sex & rock & roll, but the boss wont let me. :mad:
One thing that does make me think are a few words from a song.

What have you done today to make you feel proud.

[KorpDeath]

I've stopped trying to figure out how we got here or why we are here, I'm just trying to figure out what to do with my time while I'm here.

[The3ntropy]

Damn,
I have been gone for a couple of days {week vacation} but I still like the responses. I really like stflook's point. We are destined to die, and die of Entropy << Liked that even more, haha.}} But anyhow, I have been thinking a bit about this myself, and thought of this idea. We are destined to live here as we are, there is no reason to it, just to better ourselves for ourselves, not trying to sound selfish, but if we are not gratifying ourselves when we are here we minus well not be here. And then I went to thinking, whoa, everything in this world revolves around Self-Gratification, if you really think about it, to the root of every thought and action, we ultimately just try to help ourselves. It does not matter how you cut it, even if you look at christians, {i am athiest by the way, correct me if I say anything wrong} people donate money to their church, help others, sing to their "god" and eat and drink his body and blood. But why do they do that? Because it feels good to themselves. They may not look at it that way but it really is exactly what they stand against. Christians help their neighbors as themselves because they want to better THEMSELVES and open the gates of heaven to THEMSELVES. They give money to poor starving children because they feel all warm and tingly inside, when they think they are doing something to help someone else. But when they donate that money, they think, into a simpler thought, oh boy, I am going to go to heaven cause I am giving my money to some poor little boy. So, in the end, sharing, beliefs, helping, we all do it for ourselves, don't we? I mean, if you really hated doing anyone of those, you would not do it. If sharing did not make you feel "good" inside or get you something in return, would you still do it? Going back to the cathlics again, I would like to see any one of them goto afghanistan and donate money to the tali-ban. That would impress me, have someone do something that is not for themselves. Everyone following me here? What do all of you think?