The Meaning of Life? . . .

[OneBlueSky]

Life Is A Statement
by Bernard Cloutier

http://berclo.net/pages-div/statement-en.html

(snip)

I have come to think that it's better to live with unanswered questions than to fill the void with speculations of dubious value however attractive they might appear. I still do not know the ultimate purpose of the universe nor do I know if there is one. I have also learned to accept that I know nothing with certainty. For me, "knowing something" means fitting some concept in its appropriate place in my "toy village" or putting it on the pile of unused bits and pieces where I store the concepts that I prefer not to use for the time being. I try to tag all the bits and pieces of information I know with a probability value between zero and one (or between 0% and 100% if you prefer), but I'm very careful never to use 0 nor 1, for I'm never that sure about anything. That means that I make an effort not to believe in anything. Not even in these words as I write them, for I wish to be free to think differently tomorrow if I find a valid reason to do so. It is in that frame of mind that I offer, for your consideration, my opinion that life does not need to have a meaning for it is nothing more, but nothing less, than a statement.

- more . . .

http://berclo.net/pages-div/statement-en.html

[Maple]

1. Your Life means

whatever you want it to.

And you will be judged on your choice, because Life is a school.

[Lexingtonian]

2. tres French, that attitude

I think Rene Cartes put the sum of it a little more succinctly, as cogito ergo sum, but there's always some fellow, usually French, coming up with a reinvention of it. Even the 'Postmodernist' folks don't ever get beyond it, it seems.

Your life is what you make it. I like A.J. Heschel's opinion, 'Every man ends either a pirate or a priest.' (What more is there to add to that?)

[alittlelark]

3. 46?

[Old Mouse]

4. 42?

[alittlelark]

6. I assume you knew to subtract 4.....

[Old Mouse]

9. Ah, a trick post!

Let me just throw myself at the ground...

[Old Mouse]

5. The sad truth is people don't really want to know the meaning of life

because deep down they know they will be forced to realize it isn't all about THEM.

[alittlelark]

7. The meaning of life......

you come screaming into the world. You then start screaming because the world is so cold and inhospitable. You understand that human touch can mitigate the gruesome world around you. You strive for that 'touch' - you can be thwarted by society, parents, peers..... . You struggle to make a place for yourself. Situations can improve or impede on your progress. You find a clique or a niche, then you go to college - all priors lost.

This is the point that determines who you are.

Who are you?


The existential question remains.....................

[Old Mouse]

8. that's the meaning of A life

[alittlelark]

10. How many 'A''s are there???

I've been w/ hubby for over 25 years, married for 12 of them. I am indeed a 'still life''. But, guess what.... SPIRIT remains. It can Quell or Invigorate a relationship.

The existential issue remains (at bay).

[Old Mouse]

11. algae doesn't have the same spousal issues

and cuttlefish have little self determination. Sure, consciousness is a sliding scale, but the question was the meaning of life, not the meaning of people.

[alittlelark]

14. Life..... how can it be recognized ?

A cuttlefish cannot recognize it ( in my frame of reference) - therefore is it LIFE? It 'breathes', and has bodily functions... is it LIFE? I would propose that life exists in those that can recognize it as such. All mammals recognize it.


Does a cuttlefish?:shrug:

[Old Mouse]

15. for a life to have meaning

is it required that the life recognize itself as so? I take the question to be the meaning of ALL life, as a whole. Why is there animate, breathing, living. Why is the cost of entry death?

The meaning of life rather than a life with meaning. A grand design.

[alittlelark]

16. First question - yes. How could it be 'true' life otherwise??

The cost of entry = death.... certainly true, but what about...? those that chose to 'cash out early'? They have seen what there is to offer ( for them ) and said 'fuggedaboutit'.


I believe in choice....

[Old Mouse]

17. only anecdotal information there

but I believe there are no easy outs. No early exits allowed. It is about choices so you will face those choices. Even the unbearable ones - especially the unbearable ones.

If you don't answer the question (make a choice), it merely gets asked again until you do.

[alittlelark]

18. You must be Buddist or Hindu !!! Lets chat

(after I sleep)

[Old Mouse]

19. Neither, a solitary path.

But you remind me that I once knew a Buddhist that believed he could sleep his way to awakening.

[Old Mouse]

12. I love your "still life" line

[alittlelark]

13. It is what it is. I can recognize it and have sorrow/hope.

I never know what to hope for anymore, and those in the same boat are sharing my currents.

<edited for PUI spelling>

[RPM]

20. 42 n/t

[lukasahero]

21. Sarte and Douglas Adams

I love both of these quotes, but together, they summarize my philosophy of life.

"One always dies too soon - or too late. And yet one's whole life is complete at that moment, with a line drawn neatly under it, ready for the summing up. You are -- your life, and nothing more." -- No Exit -- Jean Paul Sarte

"Don't panic." -- The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy -- Douglas Adams

[DiverDave]

22. Yes it is indeed

42.