What is your opinion on Existence?

[William Keller]

Now, the reason I did not start this thread in the "Religion" section, is that I believe it is not a religious, rather a philosophical matter. So, fellow Escapist, why are we here? What is this experience called "life"? What will happen to us after we die?

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Please, I CAN NOT tolerate hatred because of someone's opinion. Everyone is free to state their own, as long as they do not insult anybody else's.

 

[Shockolate]

We're here because circumstances allow it.

Life is what one makes of it.

Ask me what happens after we die after I die.

 

[IBlackKiteI]

There's no way to know what the hell we're doing here and where we go when we die, if anywhere, so I reckon we might as well take it as it comes and quit assumtions. Maybe we should leave the idea of heaven, reincarnation and immortality alone, let's leave death as a surprise. : D

 

[Byere]

My opinion on existance?

It exists.

Joking aside, I agree with Shockolate. Life is what we make of it. I don't personally believe in any form of afterlife (in the religious sense), though the closest thing my personal beliefs would come to would me the ideal of reincarnation. Not in the karma sense, but in the sense of base-level Physics. One of the first things you learn in Physics is that energy cannot be created or destroyed, only converted from one form to another (chemical energy in wood is burned to create heat and light, etc). If there is such a thing as a soul, in the name sense of things, then I can only believe that it's just another form of energy... just a type we cannot detect (yet, if ever). When we die, said energy is released or moved into a different form... the next life, per se. Now, I cannot explain WHY it would happen. I don't think anyone in the world could fathom why wouldn't bringing in their personal, and usually religious, beliefs. Personally, I don't care about the why, just the what. That's just my way of seeing these things.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

I'm here because I'm alive, and I'm alive because I live.

 

[The Lawn]

Well I'm here because of an astronomically immense series of utterly improbable dice rolls if you will.

Hell if a World War 2 bomb was dropped not even 5 seconds later than it was I would not even be here today to post this.

I am here because through none of my own doing I beat all the odds stacked against me.

And just as my existence and consciousness came from nothing, so shall I return to that nothingness from which I came when my time is over in a dreamless sleep eternal.

 

[Agent Cross]

We are in a constant state of being. Alive or dead we still exist. The greater question is... Is this existence as we know it?

I think Shockolate is going to get back to you on the latter.

 

[Iron Lightning]

So, fellow Escapist, why are we here?

Random chance over a long period of time.

What is this experience called "life"?

Consciousness

What will happen to us after we die?

The end of consciousness.

 

[William Keller]

So, fellow Escapist, why are we here?

Random chance over a long period of time.

What is this experience called "life"?

Consciousness

What will happen to us after we die?

The end of consciousness.

Well, indeed this is true, but what are your very personal thoughts on the subject?
How did this "consciousness" develop and what is it exactly?

 

[teebeeohh]

because if you flip a coin often enough it's bound to land on the side at one point.

 

[ShindoL Shill]

i imagine that when you die, your mind hallucinates your exact life again based on all previous experiences, then you die and it goes all inception. then, if someone gets brought back because of warped time perception it seems like their life just flashed by.

 

[Esotera]

Well, indeed this is true, but what are your very personal thoughts on the subject?
How did this "consciousness" develop and what is it exactly?

Through emergence. For some reason the universe is such that there's more matter than anti-matter, and galaxies and stars and planets formed spontaneously. On one of those planets that we know of the right chemical ingredients existed to create nucleic and amino acids, and the evidence appears to show that this is more common than previously thought. From these basic biochemicals, the first protocell formed by chance. The first protocell died - it stopped existence in its current incarnation, but its materials were used by millions and millions of its descendents.

Evolution continues - the protocell becomes very advanced, it starts to build tools, think & communicate with other descendants, until eventually the descendant is a human. And at some point in the future its descendants will all inevitably die, as heat-death of the universe starts to approach.

That's my take on it at least.

 

[ultrachicken]

Existence is not good or bad - it simply is. I cannot fathom another way to describe it.

I do not know what happens after we die, nor does anyone. At most, we can believe, but this is not the same as knowing. What I expect to happen is that my consciousness will simply cease to be, but the possibilities are endless.

 

[William Keller]

As I wasn't expecting this kind of feedback, I believe it is now time to let you in on my personal perception of life. If you find my ideas radical, please do not express hatred or any similar feelings, just ignore me.

WHY ARE WE HERE?
Probably the first question to ever cross man's mind, along with "What will I have for dinner?". A question that, unlike the second, remains up to this day an unanswered one, as are most of our philosophical endeavours. Hard as I have tried, I haven't progressed far. So, Why are we here, on this planet called Earth?
- One of the very first things I thought is that there is no meaning (in the human sense) of life. As Howard Phillips Lovecraft wrote, "the universe is fundamentally alien" and any attempt of man to understand it is futile. Something similar to this is the "universe within universe" theory, which states that our universe is nothing but a particle somewhere in the atom of another universe. Endless!
- Perhaps, to continue my references to H. P. Lovecraft, we are an experiment. Yes, call me the real-life Fox Mulder, but it is highly probable that the "creator" is nothing more but an alien race, which created us in order to gain answers. Think of how we study bacteria: they build an entire civilization of their own in very short time, and we simply destroy them when we get our answers. Are we not Gods to them? Do they ponder about their existence as we do about ours? What if god is nothing more but an egotist, selfish, stress and hatred-ridden bastard just like man, who has created us for goals more "human" (to battle others like him/her, to boost his/her self-esteem etc) and less "divine"?

WHAT IS LIFE?

Consciousness

Indeed. Life is consciousness. But what is consciousness?
- Is it the opposite of death? If it is, why do we think of "death" as an "after-life", i.e. continued consciousness?
- Could we actually be "dead"? What if all our life is nothing more but internal stimuli induced by our brain? In fact, it is now commonly accepted within psychologists' and neurologists' circles that one can never and by no means be sure about what one witnesses in life. I could actually be a crazed madman in an asylum and all this could be in my mind.
I know it sounds impossible, but it is. Think of it: How can one be sure about what we call "reality"? H. P. Lovecraft (again) wrote that "men of broader intellect know there is no sharp distinction betwixt the real and the unreal".
- Strictly speaking, life (as well as death) is nothing more but a time span.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO US AFTER WE DIE?
Will we live again (religious afterlife) or perish forever (nihilism)?
- What if, as I have mentioned above, we are already dead? I mean, the way life is, I would compare it more to hell than heaven. What if life is Purgatory? What if we are tested (wars, crime, truth, honesty, helping others) and, according to our actions, when we die, we are truly going to be born? What if this is nothing more but a miniature or a caricature of the real life?
- What about all our thoughts, our feelings, our experiences of this world? What about our conscious "energy"?

One of the first things you learn in Physics is that energy cannot be created or destroyed, only converted from one form to another (chemical energy in wood is burned to create heat and light, etc). If there is such a thing as a soul, in the name sense of things, then I can only believe that it's just another form of energy... just a type we cannot detect (yet, if ever). When we die, said energy is released or moved into a different form... the next life, per se.

Exactly. Does energy get destroyed? No. Does it get turned into something else? Yep.
So, what does this all mean? Are we going to go through this hell we call "life" again, or are we going to live something different?

I hope I gave you some food for thought. Thank you, I really wanted to share these views with somebody. Tell me what you think.

 

[William Keller]

Through emergence. For some reason the universe is such that there's more matter than anti-matter, and galaxies and stars and planets formed spontaneously. On one of those planets that we know of the right chemical ingredients existed to create nucleic and amino acids, and the evidence appears to show that this is more common than previously thought. From these basic biochemicals, the first protocell formed by chance. The first protocell died - it stopped existence in its current incarnation, but its materials were used by millions and millions of its descendents.

Evolution continues - the protocell becomes very advanced, it starts to build tools, think & communicate with other descendants, until eventually the descendant is a human. And at some point in the future its descendants will all inevitably die, as heat-death of the universe starts to approach.

That's my take on it at least.

Well, that does solve the problem of material existence. But what about our "consciousness"? Our thoughts, our feelings, our aspirations and fears? How and why did these develop?

 

[Wuggy]

why are we here? What is this experience called "life"? What will happen to us after we die?

Why are we here?
Because of chance. Because that's what happened. I don't see a reason to trying to find an explanation, because the explanation really would be just an endless string of cause and effect. I do not believe in a creator, a god essentially, because I don't see any reason to believe in one. If you're willing to provide me with such reasons, you're more than welcome to. Just keep in mind that I have probably heard it already and dismissed it and I will tell you why the claim is dismissable, regardless if it'll "offend your beliefs" or not.

What is Life?
Life is being able to self-sustain. Life isn't an experience, it's an charasteristic.

What happens when we die?
I believe, that after death we stop self-sustaining. Human is simply a bag of chemical reactions. When we die, those chemical reactions stop. There's been no indication that anything happens after that. Thus, I believe it is just the end of consciousness. I do not believe in the existence of a soul because, again, I have no reason to.

 

[The_ModeRazor]

So, fellow Escapist, why are we here?

Random chance over a long period of time.

What is this experience called "life"?

Consciousness

What will happen to us after we die?

The end of consciousness.

Well, indeed this is true, but what are your very personal thoughts on the subject?
How did this "consciousness" develop and what is it exactly?

Someone went and stated all my opinions. I guess atheism and nihilism are far more widespread than I thought.

But yeah. Life developed, you are conscious, then you die and cease being conscious forever. You all know what death is. It's the same thing as before you were born. That is, you don't exist. Life has no purpose, because there is no sacred greater meaning behind anything. Morality exists because our continued survival demands it. I guess this might make some people feel bad, but that's what's up.

 

[SckizoBoy]

So, fellow Escapist, why are we here? What is this experience called "life"? What will happen to us after we die?

Seeing as how those questions are completely different in philosphical inclination and content from the topic title, I will answer the thread's question.

Now, I will preface this by saying I am not a philosopher, nor have I made any in depth studies into philosophers or their writings. Also, what do you mean by 'existence': 'being'; or 'essence' (that something 'is', or what something 'is', respectively)?

My general belief is that the world exists, or rather, functions by virtue of abstract conceptualism (this is in no way associated with 'abstraction', I'm merely using the word 'abstract' in more of an artistic sense). Everything that occurs within this realm of existence has a core reason for occurrence whether it is through causality or caprice/felicity. Hence we have the abstract concept, which at first sounds vague, but is the birthing place for essential concepts. The key here is the distinction between 'concept' and 'idea', but I'll get to that later. Abstract concepts associate themselves with the root existence of matter and generally devolves into particle physics from which the scale increases to chemical reactions, biochemical reactions, biological action and interpopulation dynamics. Essential concepts (dealing with 'essence') are applied upon the population with regard to its desires, not needs, though they often overlap. This then influences the behaviour of said population and lends credence to societal evolution. It is with this evolution that 'ideas' (applicable to the individual) can occur, as it is only in keeping with the present time frame and only a sample of the population. Thus, 'essential concept' is the basis on which a population functions and can only arise through general and mutual consensus as tacit acceptance must be reached to prevent it from being questioned (and thus turning it into an 'idea'). The 'idea', consequently, is the series of thoughts posited by the individual that by its nature attempts to change society (i.e. promote societal evolution, but is not necessarily the cause of it, this bit needs more work, shit all of it does).

However, I've gone off topic there. What is required from an ontological perspective is confirmation and justification of abstract concepts that can be used to validate the purpose of existence, but since only arguments for 'essence' can be applied to this, the abstract is left a bit dead in the water. But, were we to take an abstract concept at its base definition as reasoning for the non-essential functioning of the individual, perhaps it can be done. The only problem is that relating the absolute of a 'being's' existence with the existence of said being's 'essence' is difficult.

Consequently, I cannot have an opinion on 'existence'(!) (Or at least not yet...)

I realise that most of the above can't withstand much scrutiny, but had I written it down when I first thought of it, I'd've posted something less non-sensical.

snip

A cropped, though faithful biologist's take on it, but not an accurate philosopher's take on it (in the contemporary sense, as opposed to 'natural philosophers').

 

[Esotera]

Well, that does solve the problem of material existence. But what about our "consciousness"? Our thoughts, our feelings, our aspirations and fears? How and why did these develop?

Entirely through emergence. All the materials were there for nervous systems to develop, and once they did, they gradually became more and more complex. Intelligence is a rather damn good evolutionary trait - look how many humans are alive today. All the things you've described help us survive, or are a byproduct of some survival mechanism. Feeling crap? Your body is telling you that something isn't right in your environment, and that you should change it. Scared of someone? Your body thinks that that person is a threat (although there could be other reasons).

OT, why do you not want others to insult opinions? As long as they have a rational argument and haven't made a personal attack, isn't it better to find out that you or they are wrong, or maybe adjust your viewpoint to something completely different? That's how progress happens.