What makes your life worth living?

[EliCash]

"Hitherto, and it has not been wasted effort, people have played on words and pretended to believe that refusing to grant a meaning to life necessarily leads to declaring that it is not worth living. In truth, there is no necessary common measure between these two judgements." -Camus

So, what makes your life worth living? Is it a/the meaning of life? If so, what is that meaning? If not, how do you conclude life is both meaningless and worthwhile?

 

[L2R]

there is simply so much to do and to see, it is just such a pity we need to balance the labour which enables doing and seeing things with actually doing and seeing things in the weak proportion currently necessary. it helps to be able to do labour which is of a positive value, and this does mitigate the above imbalance quite a bit. this makes life not just worth living, but it makes death worth resisting.

more than anything else, my son has given me a mission and a purpose. hard work, but nothing is more rewarding.

 

[Ferg88]

Thats a tough one, i feel as though i have very low ambition and hardly any positive motivation to continue moving forward with life. I havnt killed my self yet because i have not lost all hope that my life is completly fruitless. On the other hand a lot of the time i don't see a point on proceeding to live. I'm more or less in limbo when it comes down to life or death. Personaly i feel that the only reason im obligated to breath is because my family still wants me around. Life hasnt been a walk in the park and seems like such a pain in the ass to me. In conclusion my thoughts on the meaning of life is it means whatever you want it to mean. If you want there to be a god and an eternal afterlife spent behind the pearly gates of heaven then, so fucking be it, your wish has been granted. If life means nothing but pulling in a monthly pay check that you spend mostly on drugs, booze and women then have at it.

I hope i havent over enlightend anyone.

 

[EliCash]

there is simply so much to do and to see, it is just such a pity we need to balance the labour which enables doing and seeing things with actually doing and seeing things in the weak proportion currently necessary. it helps to be able to do labour which is of a positive value, and this does mitigate the above imbalance quite a bit. this makes life not just worth living, but it makes death worth resisting.

more than anything else, my son has given me a mission and a purpose. hard work, but nothing is more rewarding.

How would you define labour which is of positive value?

Thats a tough one, i feel as though i have very low ambition and hardly any positive motivation to continue moving forward with life. I havnt killed my self yet because i have not lost all hope that my life is completly fruitless. On the other hand a lot of the time i don't see a point on proceeding to live. I'm more or less in limbo when it comes down to life or death. Personaly i feel that the only reason im obligated to breath is because my family still wants me around. Life hasnt been a walk in the park and seems like such a pain in the ass to me. In conclusion my thoughts on the meaning of life is it means whatever you want it to mean. If you want there to be a god and an eternal afterlife spent behind the pearly gates of heaven then, so fucking be it, your wish has been granted. If life means nothing but pulling in a monthly pay check that you spend mostly on drugs, booze and women then have at it.

I hope i havent over enlightend anyone.

I hear that, what pushes me towards the positive is the conclusion that I will not kill myself, at the very least, for the sake of others. Taking that option off the table gives me one choice, live life and enjoy it and I'll do that whether there's a purpose to it or not.

 

[L2R]

How would you define labour which is of positive value?

Labour in the aid of others, either providing essential human services or specialised support. Anything which gives a sense of contribution, without antagonism to clientelle or other stakeholders. while profit is essential for survival, it should be less of an importance than the service itself. money is a means, not an ends.
generally speaking, of course.

 

[RobotRipping]

amphetamines.

the possibility of better drugs.

and why not? i'm already alive, may as well stay that way.

that's about it.

sry i'm a bit cynical - life is beautiful and horrible all at once and that's what makes it worth living. I say this being completely spun, having fucked up my life more times than i can count, no family talking to me, no friends, no money in my bank account, things are shit but there's something fascinating about life that is undeniable. Love, war, death, birth, it's all part of it, life doesn't have to be worth living but if you look at it logically, you may as well live until you die of causes not due to your own choices just for the sake of it, you can't be sure you'll get another chance to. And in the grand scheme of things 80-100 years is not very long anyway, just stick it out.

 

[slimvictor]

Family. Music. Friends. Art. Books. Learning. Food. Yoga. The feeling of the water on my skin, the wind on my face, the sun shining on me.
The smell of the trees, the sky before it rains, coffee in the morning.
Jokes. Laughter.

 

[Robv5]

i dont really have motivation at the moment, apart from cars , so the thought of owning a v8 anjd tuning it up with cams and exhaust , but stancing it euro style, which australia have never seen before lol

 

[-=SS=-]

So, what makes your life worth living? Is it a/the meaning of life? If so, what is that meaning? If not, how do you conclude life is both meaningless and worthwhile?

My body forces life from me. It owns me. It pulls me from one day to the next whether I want to or not. Life is essentially meaningless, and worthwhile is definitely up for debate.. I mean really, this is a kind of madhouse/hell that we've created for ourselves. All we had to do was keep it fucking simple with straw huts and a bit of weed, food, and community, but noooo, we wanted gizmos and stupid shit to distract us from the fact we get fucked in the ass by a corrupt imbalanced system every god damn day.

I think deep down I've known it's meaningless since I was little, in fact i think most people do, but it wasn't until my teens that it hit me full force.

So why keep going? Well I was hoping something would happen in 2012, for better or worse. Now I'm not sure what to do. I mean 'experiences' are great and all, but it doesn't satisfy.. it's just more bait to keep you going on behalf of nature. I guess I want an answer, the Truth. Or death. Perhaps both.

 

[Droppersneck]

Thats a tough one, i feel as though i have very low ambition and hardly any positive motivation to continue moving forward with life. I havnt killed my self yet because i have not lost all hope that my life is completly fruitless. On the other hand a lot of the time i don't see a point on proceeding to live. I'm more or less in limbo when it comes down to life or death. Personaly i feel that the only reason im obligated to breath is because my family still wants me around. Life hasnt been a walk in the park and seems like such a pain in the ass to me. In conclusion my thoughts on the meaning of life is it means whatever you want it to mean. If you want there to be a god and an eternal afterlife spent behind the pearly gates of heaven then, so fucking be it, your wish has been granted. If life means nothing but pulling in a monthly pay check that you spend mostly on drugs, booze and women then have at it.

I hope i havent over enlightend anyone.

Sounds like me. You got to quit and wait about six months and I promise you it gets so much better. Ambition+sex drive+healthy living = a way better outlook on things in general imho

 

[Bardeaux]

there is simply so much to do and to see

This.

More personally, I don't believe in afterlives or reincarnation. I feel that this one life that I was so extraordinary luckily afforded is enough to make it worth living in itself. The world is a giant place filled with an inconceivable number of sights, ideas, potential relationships and connections. Thousands of years of human history has come and gone, and (hopefully) thousands more are to come. There's so much to learn and so much to look forward to that 1000 lifetimes wouldn't be enough to experience it all.

 

[EliCash]

Labour in the aid of others, either providing essential human services or specialised support. Anything which gives a sense of contribution, without antagonism to clientelle or other stakeholders. while profit is essential for survival, it should be less of an importance than the service itself. money is a means, not an ends.
generally speaking, of course.

Ah yes, this has always been difficult for me to implement. My good deeds often feel insignifcant in the face of the worlds ills, the challenge is accepting that you can not cure all those ills.

amphetamines.

the possibility of better drugs.

and why not? i'm already alive, may as well stay that way.

that's about it.

sry i'm a bit cynical - life is beautiful and horrible all at once and that's what makes it worth living. I say this being completely spun, having fucked up my life more times than i can count, no family talking to me, no friends, no money in my bank account, things are shit but there's something fascinating about life that is undeniable. Love, war, death, birth, it's all part of it, life doesn't have to be worth living but if you look at it logically, you may as well live until you die of causes not due to your own choices just for the sake of it, you can't be sure you'll get another chance to. And in the grand scheme of things 80-100 years is not very long anyway, just stick it out.

Cynical, maybe. Well put, definitely.

My body forces life from me. It owns me. It pulls me from one day to the next whether I want to or not. Life is essentially meaningless, and worthwhile is definitely up for debate.. I mean really, this is a kind of madhouse/hell that we've created for ourselves. All we had to do was keep it fucking simple with straw huts and a bit of weed, food, and community, but noooo, we wanted gizmos and stupid shit to distract us from the fact we get fucked in the ass by a corrupt imbalanced system every god damn day.

I think deep down I've known it's meaningless since I was little, in fact i think most people do, but it wasn't until my teens that it hit me full force.

So why keep going? Well I was hoping something would happen in 2012, for better or worse. Now I'm not sure what to do. I mean 'experiences' are great and all, but it doesn't satisfy.. it's just more bait to keep you going on behalf of nature. I guess I want an answer, the Truth. Or death. Perhaps both.

"In a man's attachment to life there is something stronger than all the ills in the world. The body's judgement is as good as the mind's, and the body shrinks from annihilation. We get into the habit of living before we acquire the habit of thinking. In that race with daily hastens us toward death, the body maintains its irreperable lead." -Camus

 

[Foreigner]

I don't know if it's a question worth asking anymore, to be honest. My first existential crisis relating to this was when I was a young teenager and it went to depressive levels until my mental health went south. At this point I would say it's important to check in with yourself to see where you're at with the way life is going, but on the whole the more you think about it the more you'll just burn your neurons out. It's mental masturbation, in other words.

I've learned to treat my mind as a problem-solving tool... when an actual, practical, real-world problem arises that needs solving, I'll use my mind. If it's asking whether or not my life is "good", I don't bother as much. There will never be a fixed answer and it'll always depend on my mood. If I get stuck in the mind trap and invest too much energy in the question, then I'll start finding problems where there aren't any.

 

[L2R]

Ah yes, this has always been difficult for me to implement. My good deeds often feel insignifcant in the face of the worlds ills, the challenge is accepting that you can not cure all those ills.

good point. you can't fix everything, and you can't keep everyone happy. i think any positive contribution, no matter how minute, is a good thing. the only way the species will even survive is through a concerted effort. the best we can do is lead by example and hope others notice.

i was lucky to fall into my current work in providing specialist industrial relations support in my union. often people come to me in distress and leave calm. i'm currently looking to expand this contribution and am looking at either air traffic control or ambulance services for a more ongoing career move. there are such options if you are geniunely keen.

 

[Ksa]

Money and health basically. Meditation is not for the suffering type. If you suffer you cannot really enjoy the beauty of the world around you and if you don't have any money you cannot provide a physical support to meditation and you fall into the suffering category.

 

[Tromps]

God pumps my heart

 

[Maya]

Family and friends mainly but there's so many things like:

Foood, places to visit, vacation and events.

I think I'm just easy to please so I can find anything fun or any small thing that can make life worth living.

 

[What 23]

Money and health basically. Meditation is not for the suffering type. If you suffer you cannot really enjoy the beauty of the world around you and if you don't have any money you cannot provide a physical support to meditation and you fall into the suffering category.

I disagree. Suffering has propelled some, including myself at times, into meditation.

 

[EliCash]

good point. you can't fix everything, and you can't keep everyone happy. i think any positive contribution, no matter how minute, is a good thing. the only way the species will even survive is through a concerted effort. the best we can do is lead by example and hope others notice.

i was lucky to fall into my current work in providing specialist industrial relations support in my union. often people come to me in distress and leave calm. i'm currently looking to expand this contribution and am looking at either air traffic control or ambulance services for a more ongoing career move. there are such options if you are geniunely keen.

That's pretty awesome, I'm currently torn between the do something that helps people for a living route and the do something for a living and then help people route.

Money and health basically. Meditation is not for the suffering type. If you suffer you cannot really enjoy the beauty of the world around you and if you don't have any money you cannot provide a physical support to meditation and you fall into the suffering category.

Phsyical support to meditation? What do you mean by that? Because I have a shitty back and one of the things that's helped it the most is meditation.

God pumps my heart

Elusion! Elusion!!! lol, just kiddin

 

[velmwend]

My family. My family keep me from getting into mischief. If I didn't have my family, I would lose control - because losing control excites me ... like a drug.