The Meaning of Life?

[Ysh]

Nothing is having intrinsic meaning. Man can give to it meaning. This is the magic and burden of man.

[GenghisKhan44]

Everything that exists is totally meaningless and impossible to comprehend

Well the purpose is to keep life going... Having families and raising children who will then go on to have families and children

As for the meaning I don't think that there really is one.
To enjoy your time spent while alive and maybe to leave the world a better place for when you're not here anymore (to go along with the purpose)

Meaning? None.

Purpose? Constructing the Machine.

So, there is no purpose. Hell, even "purpose" itself is a construct of how humans think. But that doesn't mean there's nothing to do in life other than cry and die.
Obviously, the "best" thing we can do, is just enjoy life. Do you very best to be your very happiest.

I don't mean to put myself on a pedestal, or say I am better, save in knowing a few quaint truths. And God knows I reliably fail at living well. But doesn't all this seem a bit daft?

Somehow, the modern man who has invented the Internet, the scientific method, the iPhone, either can't be arsed to find the meaning of life, or can't find it.
Yet the men who were banging rocks together or defecating in the open streets can, not only find the meaning of life, but make extensive logical deductions about the details.

Really. I'm kind of sad that so many of you don't believe there's any real point to your actions, or mine, or anyone's. Y'all aren't stupid. Assinine, but not idiots. And absurdism is, to say the least, completely counter-intuitive. If not the only actual "tale told by an idiot, signifying nothing".

[jordancoles]

I'm sorry but until I see any quality proof of an afterlife or devine being I have a hard time believing in any religion; and the bible as a source is just not good enough for me

[GenghisKhan44]

I'm sorry but until I see any quality proof of an afterlife or devine being I have a hard time believing in any religion; and the bible as a source is just not good enough for me

Is there anything that makes you absolutely positive there is no point to the universe?

[Jalpha]

Agnosticism is spirituality for the thinking person. Just because science can't prove there is a god now doesn't mean it will never be able to. How much of the universe are we only able to perceive with the aid of observational instruments. How many more such instruments will be created by science and what secrets will they unlock?

On the flipside placing blind faith in a book which is thousands of years old and has been rewritten many times over by people with an obvious agenda seems kind of foolish.

As far as the meaning of life, there is something more to it than the mere biological urge to reproduce. We are able to conceive our own interpretation of lifes meaning. What I'm curious about is why we seem to seek answers beyond the obvious purpose of reproduction. What evolutionary advantage could there possibly be in our search for a deeper meaning from life? Religion has gained popularity because it gives answers, whether they be correct or not.

From my perspective I think our purpose (beyond the biological) is simply to observe and experience. This would explain our drive to learn about our environment and our desire to seek experiences. We are made of the universe, and so it seems to me that we have appeared as an effort of the universe to observe and experience itself.

[GenghisKhan44]

Agnosticism is spirituality for the thinking person. Just because science can't prove there is a god now doesn't mean it will never be able to. How much of the universe are we only able to perceive with the aid of observational instruments. How many more such instruments will be created by science and what secrets will they unlock?

By what scientific apparatus have we discovered the number five? What is the mass of the number five? What is the number five's width, depth, and height? What colour is five?

Is it at all possible I am making a category error by trying to assign physical properties to an immaterial, abstract thing - real though it may be?

[Jalpha]

Five isn't real. It's an idea which gives us the ability to deduce or add meaning from or to things which are real.

[DafyddapDafydd]

noun

1. the condition that distinguishes animals and plants from inorganic matter, including the capacity for growth, reproduction, functional activity, and continual change preceding death.

[Thedrah]

meaning of life is 42

other than that i think the meaning of life is finding what gives you life
for me that's bring life to the world such as gardening. then to corrupt it or take away that gift of life is also satisfying

as for God, i think God is just trying to have fun. explains why there is the devil and so much evil in the world. it's more entertaining
i think God was lonely and bored so he made angels then us. btw in the Bible, It states that there were other humans than adam and eve which It doesn't explicitly say God made them. angels could impregnate women as well in the early times, they were named nephilim

[jordancoles]

I'm sorry but until I see any quality proof of an afterlife or devine being I have a hard time believing in any religion; and the bible as a source is just not good enough for me

Is there anything that makes you absolutely positive there is no point to the universe?

Look at everything else on the earth that has died before you

When you squash a spider, that is the end of it all for that creature. In seconds its life is forgotten and gone

Aside from it eating to remain alive and reproducing, what was the purpose of that life?

I don't really see humans as any different

Sure, we accomplish greater things and we grow over time, but 200 years from now no one will know your story or how many friends you had, or how much money you made or whatever. Everyone that currently exists today will not exist at that point in time

All that's left then is:
- descendants from your line
- positive changes that you may have left from throughout your life

Any innovations or discoveries that were made by you would be molded and built onto until your small contribution merges in with the rest and you yourself are forgotten

When enough time has passed, the sun explodes and we go out with it, to be erased and forgotten, or maybe to be replaced by something new

In the end, I think that's its best to live your life in a way that satisfies yourself. To continue on with the human race until the very end, and to try your best to leave things in a decent shape for the people who will take the wheel when you are gone

I don't know why we are here, but I don't look to the stars and see a creator that cares about us, or anything for that matter. That's just just based on what I've seen

Death is a scary thing, and rather than fabricate ideas about what happens after the fact, or worry about if my beliefs are the right ones or not, I try to keep it simple for now

I'm sorry if you want to believe in something more, and are hoping that I will accept your beliefs, and in a way I wish that I could have that sort of faith because it would take a lot of the stress away from The End. It's just not something that I see as probable right now