Poll: Is the meaning of existence relative?

[Jedoro]

I believe there's a God and He has a greater purpose for us to work towards, but until He fills me in on the game plan I'll be sticking to mine.

But if your god knows the purpose, what is the point of making us?

Like I said, I don't know the plan, which probably includes the purpose for it. I know jack shit about why He put us here, or what we're supposed to do here, but I'm okay with that because I can figure something out.

 

[Averant]

Ah, philosphy. The unanswerable question.

I'm similar to an athiest, but I had fun and came up with my own faith. I call it Univism. I believe that the universe is eternal, a living thing. And I don't mean just endless is distance. It's eternal in all aspects. Each big bang/big crunch is a heartbeat. There were infinitely many big bangs before now, and there will be infinitely many after. There is no God as we know him, the universe itself is the ultimate force of nature, IS nature. And we are part of it, made of it, so we ourselves are eternal.

Hey, philosphy can be fun if you want it to be. XD

So, to relate to the OT, life is pointless. What we do doesn't matter. Live life and have fun.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

As a side note, my mate once put forward to me the idea that nobody can prove that anything exists outside of what we can each see, hear, feel etc. We can't prove something exists until we feel it with our senses. That notion is pretty cool, I think

And he is quite right. I have never been to or seen, say China, with my own eyes. Therefore I cannot know it exists. I only have the word of the rest of the world, and while it is ridiculously unlikely that the entire world is pretending China exists just to trick me, the possibility is still there.

 

[NeoShinGundam]

I believe there's a God and He has a greater purpose for us to work towards, but until He fills me in on the game plan I'll be sticking to mine.

But if your god knows the purpose, what is the point of making us?

Like I said, I don't know the plan, which probably includes the purpose for it. I know jack shit about why He put us here, or what we're supposed to do here, but I'm okay with that because I can figure something out.

But if your god knows everything and has seen the future, including what will happen to us, why make us?

It's like watching a movie you've seen a million times.

So you're saying its life is like a game of Scrabble. Only there are no numbers on the board and God refuses to let us look at the score card?

 

[Jedoro]

I believe there's a God and He has a greater purpose for us to work towards, but until He fills me in on the game plan I'll be sticking to mine.

But if your god knows the purpose, what is the point of making us?

Like I said, I don't know the plan, which probably includes the purpose for it. I know jack shit about why He put us here, or what we're supposed to do here, but I'm okay with that because I can figure something out.

But if your god knows everything and has seen the future, including what will happen to us, why make us?

It's like watching a movie you've seen a million times.

Think of it like watching a really awesome and funny movie: some parts just don't get old. Boondock Saints, when Rocco slams his hands on the table and kills the cat; I'll never stop laughing when I watch that scene. Hell, just thinking about it makes me chuckle.

 

[Creos]

Well, let me put it this way. If you sat down and tried for the rest of your life to understand the nature of the universe, one of two things would happen. Either you would die in your, having gotten no closer to the answer you seek, and thus die having wasted your life; or you would have an epiphany and realize how the universe works--at which point you do this:



Existence is an incomparably vast and complex thing, and to stretch your mind beyond its limits is to invite a quick and unfufilling death. There are only so many things humans can comprehend, and the nature of the universe is not among that number.

So, in short: yeah, I guess.[/QUOTE]

What exactly do you mean by the 'nature of the universe? We understand quite a bit about it. Definately not all, almost as definately not most, and in all likely hood, we only know the beginnings of its workings. And yet, we know enough to have stepped off our world, we can fly, we can build towers to awe inspiring hights, we can cure diseases that would have been a death sentence just decades ago, we understand the mechanisms by which most life on our planet procreates to the point that we're now able to mix and match them to a point, and are far enough along that we're able to start working towards building custom creatures from the ground up. The very internet we're using to talk about this is testament to our ever growing comprehension of the universe. And you say the only way to proceed is by epiphany when we've made such incredible advances simply in the bit over two decades since I was born? Cell phones didn't exist then, but we've worked out the technology to make a plain cellphones all but obsolete now, and we keep computers in our pockets that would shame most laptops of around 2000 that also function as phones.

I guess what I'm asking is, do you really think dedicating yourself to the study of the universe and how it works can only lead to disappointment when you'd actually be able to die knowing your work added to the collective knowledge of the human race and it's ability to understand the universe? Or have I totally missed your point?

 

[HT_Black]

I guess what I'm asking is, do you really think dedicating yourself to the study of the universe and how it works can only lead to disappointment when you'd actually be able to die knowing your work added to the collective knowledge of the human race and it's ability to understand the universe? Or have I totally missed your point?

You kinda missed me. What I said was that the universe--and by that I mean everything-- is so spectacularly complex that it is literally impossible to understand all of it; and as such, nobody should waste their time trying to. Understanding some of it is nice, and most of it is preferable; but to aspire to omniscience when mankind has one foot out of the cradle and in the grave is a fool's errand.

 

[katsumoto03]

It all really depends on whether or not there is a "god" and what he want's us to do, really.

 

[SovietSecrets]

No. While people define their own lives (existentialism), there is a common underlying ground that unites us that doesn't make it relative.

 

[Thaius]

If anyone can choose whatever their purpose is, there is no purpose to life as a whole. Relativism in most philosophical areas (purpose, morality, etc.) completely destroys any sort of value or purpose it could have. If there is no general purpose in life, then the only purpose is to live a selfish life and ensure our own existence and happiness in whatever way we see fit. The only reason to do otherwise would be social codes and values, but what point do they have if the point of our entire existence is up to the individual?

 

[LongAndShort]

I would say subjective rather than relative.

Probably a better definition. Subjectivity tends to indicate reliance on the individual context, while relativity relies upon a comparison or measurement of facts (at least that is my definition of the terms).

However following this line of reasoning I would agree that purpose is quite a subjective experience, from most points of view. Especially when we take into account how morality and subjective views of what is helpful and what is harmful come into play.

 

[Jedoro]

It's like watching a movie you've seen a million times.
Think of it like watching a really awesome and funny movie: some parts just don't get old. Boondock Saints, when Rocco slams his hands on the table and kills the cat; I'll never stop laughing when I watch that scene. Hell, just thinking about it makes me chuckle.

But this movie (life) is filled with horrible things. Why does he want to watch us go through that?

By the way, thank you for taking the time to reply. I've always wanted to just talk about this.

Because we often forget about the nice things in life, the things that we celebrate. He watches it all for the same reason we all don't off ourselves: enjoying the good is worth suffering the bad.

And my pleasure, I certainly don't mind a good conversation.

 

[Lyx]

The meaning of "existence" is relative to the english language.

Also, i could not reasonably vote, because the answers have nothing to do with the question. Actually, almost everything in this thread is a contradiction.

 

[Deleted]

The meaning of life (if that's what you meant) is to enjoy it. If you aren't happy with where you are in life, you're not living right in my opinion.

Of course that doesn't just mean having fun, it could be work, helping others, anything that makes you feel good and makes others feel good. The best thing a human being can do is make another human feel happy. And inversely the worst thing is to make someones life worse.

 

[quetzal231]

I think there is no greater or minor meaning to life, but I also belive that everyone can percive one of their own if they need/want one. Thus I say the meaning of life is imaginary, but no less real to some, and utter nonsense to others like myself.