• Philosophy and Spirituality
    Welcome Guest
    Posting Rules Bluelight Rules
    Threads of Note Socialize
  • P&S Moderators: Xorkoth | Madness

I think there is meaning to Life

There are two different kinds of meaning in life that I can see. The first is that life and/or the universe life thrives in (all or in part) was set in motion by some kind of sentient force or entity for some desired end. The second is that I (and you, in a similar fashion) am currently living life through the eyes I am by the will of some sentient entity that may or may not be 'of this universe' as we know it, but at the very least interfaces with it, in order to accomplish some goal.

I think these are worth distinguishing because you can have one without the other. Life itself and the universe it thrives in could have come about entirely randomly and blindly, but I could still be living life now as MyDoorsAreOpen, because some other sort of sentient entity is wearing 'me' as a sock puppet. Or vice versa -- life and/or its universe could have been created for a specific purpose, and at the same time it could still be quite accidental that I am who I am right now.

I hold out hope that there is some sort of inherent purpose or grand design behind 'it all', as I know it, in either or both of the ways I described above, though I have no idea what it is. I really see no good reason not to hold out this hope.
 
I find that the search for meaning in life, and particularly of describing such meaning (or lack thereof) in words, appears to be construed as a problem primarily only by westerners. It appears to me that the Dharmic, Chinese and Islamic paradigms (as very general classification of "oriental", or non-western, cultural divisions) seem to not have as much a problem with inherent-meaninglessness, "emptiness/void" (Sunyata), or Fana' (annihilation). They tend not to see "nothing" as a linguistic blackhole that needs to be surmounted somehow - rather, it seems that at least some schools within each of these paradigms find inherent meaninglessness "nothing" to be infinitely-liberating from the constraints of finite "thing(s)."

IMO, perhaps the problem is not force-finding meaning in life by hook or by crook, but rather to come to terms with the fact that inherent-meaningless can be a beautiful source of infinite inspiration, rather than a source of dread...
 
Jamshyd said:
I find that the search for meaning in life, and particularly of describing such meaning (or lack thereof) in words, appears to be construed as a problem primarily only by westerners. It appears to me that the Dharmic, Chinese and Islamic paradigms (as very general classification of "oriental", or non-western, cultural divisions) seem to not have as much a problem with inherent-meaninglessness, "emptiness/void" (Sunyata), or Fana' (annihilation). They tend not to see "nothing" as a linguistic blackhole that needs to be surmounted somehow - rather, it seems that at least some schools within each of these paradigms find inherent meaninglessness "nothing" to be infinitely-liberating from the constraints of finite "thing(s)."

IMO, perhaps the problem is not force-finding meaning in life by hook or by crook, but rather to come to terms with the fact that inherent-meaningless can be a beautiful source of infinite inspiration, rather than a source of dread...
Click to expand...

Yes, I agree with this, I strongly believe that living a simple life is the most spiritually liberating, but it can get quite difficult trying to live this lifestyle especially in a modernized and materialized world (in which, sadly but unsurprisingly, the US epitomize)
 
Mystical suppositions

AfterGlow said:
I like to think about it this way. Everything is exactly the way it is supposed to be and everything happens exactly as it is supposed to happen.

That doesn't mean it is planned or predetermined. It just means that the universe follows the laws of physics. There is cause and effect.

My decisions directly affect my circumstances. And of course there are lots of events outside of my control that have an affect on me. But I can make decisions based on the circumstances of the moment.

I don't feel like a helpless victim and I acknowledge that there are a great many things I have no control over. So I focus on that which I can control.

In the end, everything happens the way it was supposed to happen. It's not because of some supernatural force guiding us towards some end purpose. It's just the natural passing of events. :)
Click to expand...

"Everything is supposed to be and everything hasppens as its supposed to happen"

What does this mean? what I mean is what does 'supposed to' denote. There must be some plan against which we could measure whether an occurrence 'a' corresponds to the planned 'a', whether indeed it was supposed to happen, and not 'b' (some other occurence). Your argument is certainy not strong enough to counter an argument that some supernatual force is guiding us towards some telos. Indeed the Plan upon which your 'suppositions' rely may just be that.

Saying things happen because they are supposed to happen sounds dubiously mystical to me.:)
 
1ll0gic said:
Yes, I agree with this, I strongly believe that living a simple life is the most spiritually liberating, but it can get quite difficult trying to live this lifestyle especially in a modernized and materialized world (in which, sadly but unsurprisingly, the US epitomize)
Click to expand...



Wherein the difficulty. Sell all you own, buy some books and a round the world airfare and off you go. It's not difficult, its simply an important choice, that all.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top