Seriously - what is the meaning of it all (life)?

Diomedes Industries

Diomedes Industries

Joined
Mar 19, 2007
Messages
7,440
I know - I know...

I found myself, whilst hiking and camping with the family this weekend asking myself 'is this it?'. I am turning, specifically, to my brothers of the woods, to ask your two cents (or more if you are so inclined).

I have always suffered from anxiety (broken home, alcoholic step father and the like seems to breed it in children - turned adults) - and I have been slowly and steadily getting rid of that which triggers my anxiety or that I do to self medicate (obsess, over work, and the like) - and what I am left with is - well - nothing much.

I am very happy with my wife and family, I enjoy my job deeply, and have enough toys to make me happy (paintball markers, knives, and the like). I don't work all that hard (about 15 hours a week) and have one good friend (more than some) with many friends that I like to hang around with.

I am left wondering though - now what? I am 36 (that may be part of the reason for the contemplation) and I wonder what I do from now on? What is the meaning of all of this.


Feel free to post your stuff up. This isn't a place for an argument about other peoples posts - just a conversation on the meaning of it all.

TF
 
we are nothing more than infinite specs of dust drifting thru the cosmos. We are but a blip in time. Nothing matters. There is no meaning to it all.

party like its the end of the world.

LETS DRINK! (no disrespect intended Tal)
 
Being able to ask the question is a luxury of standards of living and the circumstances you live under. I've decided a long time ago that buying a mountain of crap isn't really the meaning of it all. My family is a huge part of the equation, but also not the full scope of the meaning of it all for me either. That isn't to say my family is not part of the meaning, but I refuse the convention you sometimes read about it being a focal point, just like my job and performance at my job shouldn't define my world view and self identity.

I think as individuals we should continue to grow our spiritual selves. Like Tal, I'm an admitted agnostic, but that doesn't mean I don't believe in the capacity of the human character to transcend selfish impulses and to engage in activities for the betterment of their community, family, nation etc. I think opening oneself to compromises is a product of maturity and not one of weakness. Hubris gives way to acknowledged ignorance and that is only combated by keeping an open mind to different points of view. Learning to use your intelligence to take in observations outside of your childhood teaching or assumed traditions.

To be a better man is to contribute to society, to be acknowledged for those contributions and to endeavor to improve your surroundings. That is what I think it is about.
 
Your heading in the right direction and at 36 yer just a pup
Long way to go yet my friend
For me it was best push posible for the children
Never quit learning with them and for my own personal good.Lucky for me it was the outdoors.I studied at plants, rocks, geology, birds, animals, stars old timey ways and history.Still at it even though the children are grown and gone
I never set goals or set myself up for failure just went along working, learning.
Besides heres a lesson I passed on to my children.A person needs a little sad in their life, only so that they can gauge the happy cause if you didnt how would you know the difference And not to dwell to long on the sad
Dan'l
 
Last edited:
Revelation 4:11b - for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

Like fish out of water, we'll never be happy until we find ourselves living for Him.

My 2 pennies.
 
Seriously - what is the meaning of it all (life)?

To crush your enemies, drive them before you, and hear the lamentations of their women.


~~ Note no smilies ~~
 
I have no idea but I do know one thing , for sure.
Those with less stuff have a much "fuller"life.

I had no idea until I left the states.The happiest people I know are relatively poor.
People ask me how Costa Rica could be number one on the Happy Planet index.
Its quite simple. They don't have a lot of BS to distract them from life.
 
Too assit my sons to be the men they can be. That leaves a lot of space in-between, I know, yet it is. Just is.

I ask this question often too, TF. I recently got unceramoniously dumped by my gfriend so she could go back to her worthless, alcoholic, cheatin'/beatin ex-boyfriend. I was devastated--it came outta no where. I questioned everything. I realized that it had nothing to do with me...it was all about her. We control nothing. Love is. It just is. We have a capacity the depth of which is never to be known.
The meaning of it all? To love...in whichever way we choose, and whatever we choose.
 
Cpl Punishment said:
Seriously - what is the meaning of it all (life)?

To crush your enemies, drive them before you, and hear the lamentations of their women.


~~ Note no smilies ~~
Click to expand...

Conan the Barbarian. Excellent. I can hear Arnold saying it in my mind.
 
tal,
dont let the bullsh!t get in the way of your life, contentment is found in doing the things you like to do with the friends you like to do it with. all that is worth collecting is memories . dont worry about the rest, it is just not that important. make your life fit your happiness, after spend a large amount of money and time and traveling over a fair number of continents the most important things i have are the memories of the time spent with family and friends, the one that dies with the most toys does not win, he just has spent the most money on materiel things that he wont take with him.

alex
 
Hi mate, i'd get yourself to some of the Rendezvous over your neck of the woods,and meet like minded folk all over the Country :thumbup:

Have made plenty of real friends in the UK, by attending bushcraft Meets here,folks who just love to live in the woods :thumbup:

Bernie
 
You're young to have reached this point.

The meaning of life is different for every one of us, I suspect. Or maybe, the path to meaning is unique to the individual ... not sure yet.

So, you need to find what it is for you. You might start by getting beyond yourself; focussing on someone else and what they need. Get it for them and see what that feels like.

I've found that isn't a bad way to start.
 
OldPhysics said:
You're young to have reached this point.

The meaning of life is different for every one of us, I suspect. Or maybe, the path to meaning is unique to the individual ... not sure yet.

So, you need to find what it is for you. You might start by getting beyond yourself; focussing on someone else and what they need. Get it for them and see what that feels like.

I've found that isn't a bad way to start.
Click to expand...

Well said :thumbup:
 
There is no intrinsic, categorical meaning of life that applies equally to all.

The meaning of life is our responsibility to choose for ourselves.

For me, there are several, but the main one is: To help others.

Choose wisely.
 
Personally, I have no idea what the meaning of life is, so I can't pass it on. I had a buddy that claimed to know, but he died laughing before he could pass it on to me.

There was a time in my life that I never expected to live to see thirty. I did, though, and every day since has been a bonus (35 years of bonus days so far... and counting).

I can't answer for you, but for me, there are kids (not mine, just any kids) and puppy dogs in the world to watch and enjoy, and clients still pay me to write meaningless drivel and make pictures. Life is fun. Even the rotten days are good, somehow.

You explained all the wonderful things you have, TF, things that many of us don't have (wife, family, etc.) Maybe if that's not the meaning of life, you need to look at those same things with a different eye.
 
Well you're ahead of the game compared to me. I'm 32, unmarried, no kids, a job that isn't secure or that I particularly enjoy and i'm living in an apartment I want out of.

I've got a 4 year plan which involves qualifying in architecture, moving apartment, getting married, maybe starting a family.

From then on my plan is to raise my kids well, see them grow and in turn see the grandkids come along. Be an asset to my friends and family without being used. Explore something new each month.
 
For me, answering questions like this begins by addressing the question of where the universe came from.

Every theory regarding the origin of the universe falls into one of these categories:

1 - it existed forever
2 - it never existed
3 - it was created without a Creator
4 - it was created by a Creator

As best I can discern, there is no scientific or philosophical support for 1 or 2.

The question for me is then whether it is more plausible that the universe created itself from nothing without a cause, or whether it was created by an uncaused first cause (what we call God). That is to say, is it plausible that once upon a time there was no time, space, matter or energy (the stuff that makes up the universe) and that the entire universe sprang into existence from that nothingness without a cause.

In an age of relative scientific enlightenment, for me :) it strains credulity to the breaking point to assert that nothing caused something, i.e., that the universe sprang into existence by itself. It would be as if I asked, "where did that basketball come from?", and someone answered that it created itself. Except that the universe is vastly, incomprehensibly more complex than a basketball, and thus vastly less likely than a basketball to have created itself and then magically caused itself to function.

If I ask somewhere where universe came from, they might say the big bang. I then ask what caused the big bang, and maybe they say a singularity - an infinitely small point of space-time. I then ask what caused the singularity, and eventually it becomes clear that this line of thought leads to an infinite regression of finite causes. The real question is what started it.

Contemporary culture would opine that nothing started it. That it just started by itself.

Since we recognize that every effect must have a cause equal to or greater than itself, I cannot accept the common notion that the universe created itself out of nothingness. When I look at plausibilities, I am inexorably led to the conclusion that there must be an uncaused first cause - God.

This is not based on mere faith in the inerrancy of the Bible, which I have, but on reason and evidence. Much more could be said, but I won't.

Having concluded that God must exist, the next question for me is "who" is that God and what is the nature of God. By asking "who", I am attributing human characteristics to God, but that is how we mere humans have to handle these questions. Without writing a thesis on the subject, I believe it can be demonstrated that God is real, that the Bible is divinely inspired and contains literal truth about Him, and that Jesus has the credentials to support his claim of being God incarnate.

Developing a relationship with God helps to answer the question set out in the original post. It gives us hope - not in blind faith - but faith in evidence. And, for me, it would be a frightening prospect to contemplate the claim that mere randomness created us and that we are a mere compilation of atoms. I do not believe, though, that we assembled ourselves from nothingness without a cause, but understand that angst of those who believe that we did. It would be a truly frightening prospect for me to believe that our Creator did not have his hand on our lives.
 
Last edited:
"Achievement of your happiness is the only moral purpose of your life, and that happiness, not pain or mindless self-indulgence, is the proof of your moral integrity, since it is the proof and the result of your loyalty to the achievement of your values."
-Ayn Rand

I think that sums it up pretty well. There's no grand meaning prescribed by some super-human force. Our lives are exactly what we make of them. Do what makes you happy and do it well. People who build bridges should build them and people who are called to paint should paint.

As humans, we are animals with a tremendous capacity for experiencing the world in an infinite amount of ways. How we perceive the universe we live in is largely up to us.

kgd's point about improving our surroundings and contributing to society is interesting. I think that that's what it might be about for some people, and that those people who can find happiness in improving society are usually highly developed. To try to find meaning by "contributing to the world" could be useless for other people, however. I subscribe to the general idea that working towards your own happiness - if that happiness is true - will also work towards a better world. In Ayn Rand's works, for example, she points to the industrialists who became millionaires by building rail roads and inventing new devices that ultimately raise everyone's standard of living. As a college student, I know a bunch of kids who will tell you they are deeply committed to "helping others" who don't succeed at it very well and whom I suspect aren't actually finding meaning in their ventures. By contrast, there are a handful of students who genuinely LOVE to help the community, be it teaching inner-city kids or finding ways for third world nations to develop. Those people are the ones who are able to really make things happen and make the world a better place.

The meaning of life is what you decide it to be. I believe life is a fascinating phenomenon which has arisen from the forces of nature in our corner of the universe, and probably elsewhere as well. We're the sentient beings. We're the ones who realize that we're alive. Therefore, it is up to us to decide what life's significance is.

As far as pursuits for identifying life's meaning go, I'm a fan of some eastern philosophy (such as Zen Buddhism) which advocates gaining the ability to see things as they truly are. What exactly it means to do so is a topic thousands of books have been written on, but the general principle is that as conscious beings, we develop all sorts of concepts and understandings which are only partially true and therefore also partially wrong. To see things as they really are is to remove all false understandings. Easier said than done.

I'm also a fan of sciences which allow the world to be described in absolute terms. "This is a such and such particle and this is how it behaves." With enough statements like that, the hope is that we'll be able to understand, at least cognitively, how the universe behaves as a whole.

Whatever knowledge there is to be gained, cognitive or spiritual, for me, the ultimate point is to be in-step with the universe. Work towards good, for yourself and for others. Work for the things that make you happy and that work itself should bring happiness.

I don't have any strong religious convictions, but I believe that if there is a god, he's omnipresent and arises from the nature of all things. This is often clearer in the great outdoors.
 
It's too easy to let the stresses of everyday life get you down. Everyone needs an outlet, to recharge your batteries, blow off steam. Having a good relationship with family and friends is definitely top priority. Hobbies and passions for things are very important too. Some of the best workouts I've had are on days when the last thing I wanted to do was go to the gym. A hike on a nice day is amazing therapy for body, mind and soul. Trying to figure out the meaning of it all is can be exhausting.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top