The world is hypocritical - Why do humans live?
I'm not sure if this should belong here or some philosophy forum or something, but I've posted a thread similar to this on a 'teenager's' forum, and I wanted to compare the responses to a more 'adult' forum (like this one!).
I can't see why humans live. Don't get me wrong, I'm not planning to suicide or anything, because I don't see any point in suicide! But I just don't see any point in humans 'living'? There's no hard, logical reason to this. It seems stupid to 'live'?There's paradox everywhere; especially in the realm of ideas/morals - ie, religion, beliefs, ideals. There's illusion everywhere. I'm starting to doubt human existence! (Wonder if that's all the brain or something...)
Anyways, don't want to go off-track; but was just interested in your responses to this question...:laughing:
Why do humans live? If it's for something, what is it?
I can't see why humans live. Don't get me wrong, I'm not planning to suicide or anything, because I don't see any point in suicide! But I just don't see any point in humans 'living'? There's no hard, logical reason to this. It seems stupid to 'live'?There's paradox everywhere; especially in the realm of ideas/morals - ie, religion, beliefs, ideals. There's illusion everywhere. I'm starting to doubt human existence! (Wonder if that's all the brain or something...)
Anyways, don't want to go off-track; but was just interested in your responses to this question...:laughing:
Why do humans live? If it's for something, what is it?
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People have tried to answer that question many times before...
I can't really say what humans are here for, really. I just think that people have to find their own meanings for their lives...
I can't really say what humans are here for, really. I just think that people have to find their own meanings for their lives...
(What's your one? :crazy
Are you saying living would only be okay if everything made absolute sense?
My question is this: why does this question matter?
People are here regardless of whether there is a 'reason' or not. I'm confidant at this moment, however, that the 'facts of life' (i.e., hypocrisy) may be with us forever.
People are here regardless of whether there is a 'reason' or not. I'm confidant at this moment, however, that the 'facts of life' (i.e., hypocrisy) may be with us forever.
Having fun, learning, being happy...Yeah, I'm pretty simple LOL
(What's your one? :crazy
You are pretty close to answering that question for yourself. And there are no words that can be used that will answer that question because you will have to see it for yourself. Look beyond the paradox and illusion. There is something greater that most people never see. You are very close to seeing it. Keep going with your questions and you will see it.
This has bothered me all through adolescence. But life doesn't care about that. Life is merciless, if you don't like it, it makes you kill yourself. You'll never hear from people who despised life so much that they killed themselves because life took care of them.
I wouldn't look at life as merciless or just. It's neither because it's not intelligent. You and the people in your life are, though. You can define yourself and make life what you want to.
It wasn't meant to be taken literally.
What did you mean by it then? I still think that applies.
lol that's not being simple at all. Being joyous, happy, knowing those are the hardest things to achieve in life and being in those states doesn't happen often.:crazy: It's also a rather positive goal imo. :happy:
Everyone has a different answer to that question. I found purpose in exploring and creating. Exploring myself and my reality as well as create myself and the world over and over again. Life is full of illusions but nothing is a illusion really, everything matters if not to the universe then it matters to who you are and who you'll become. You see the illusion and the hypocricy in the world you live in. That is great! Maybe your purpose is to go further than what mundane misconceptions can offer. :wink: Only you can know. As blue butterfly said you'll find the answer if you keep asking. I can simply offer some encouragement to keep doing what you're doing but you'll be the one to walk the path at the end of the day.
Everyone has a different answer to that question. I found purpose in exploring and creating. Exploring myself and my reality as well as create myself and the world over and over again. Life is full of illusions but nothing is a illusion really, everything matters if not to the universe then it matters to who you are and who you'll become. You see the illusion and the hypocricy in the world you live in. That is great! Maybe your purpose is to go further than what mundane misconceptions can offer. :wink: Only you can know. As blue butterfly said you'll find the answer if you keep asking. I can simply offer some encouragement to keep doing what you're doing but you'll be the one to walk the path at the end of the day.
The OP ask a really deep question. And no one can answer that question for every person because the answer will be different for each person. But interestedly I have known some old people that never knew the answer to that question. I also have met some young people that did know the answer. I learned that answer myself in the last few years but my answer will not work for everyone. Each person has a purpose and is special in their own special way.
Messy stream of consciousness:
I have given a great deal of thought to this subject. Most "explanations" people dole out revolve around things that promote more existence: like reproduction and longevity. I rarely find answers to anything that don't ultimately reduce to something related to existing more.
But why reproduce? Why exist at all?
It's not just with human beings. Why does life, in general, seek to continue existing? Why do non-sentient things like protozoa seem to be so hell-bent on continued existence? It's not like these simple organisms have any conscious deicision to continue existing, or even "feel good" in a primitive way that would further any impulse to exist.
Currently, I'm thinking a resolution to this lies with bridiging the gap between physics and biology. It is easy for people to see inanimate objects as having no "why" to their existence, but it's not so easy to do this with life. People don't ask "why" when dealing with scientific questions in the same sense that they do when thinking about life. I am thinking it might be easier to understand life's functions as emergent from physics and a very anomalous environment on earth.
Of course, even this is sketchy, since it requires a whole bunch of axioms and presuppositions about physics and biology, along with the assumption of abiogenesis, and I don't consider anything to be 100% certain.
I have given a great deal of thought to this subject. Most "explanations" people dole out revolve around things that promote more existence: like reproduction and longevity. I rarely find answers to anything that don't ultimately reduce to something related to existing more.
But why reproduce? Why exist at all?
It's not just with human beings. Why does life, in general, seek to continue existing? Why do non-sentient things like protozoa seem to be so hell-bent on continued existence? It's not like these simple organisms have any conscious deicision to continue existing, or even "feel good" in a primitive way that would further any impulse to exist.
Currently, I'm thinking a resolution to this lies with bridiging the gap between physics and biology. It is easy for people to see inanimate objects as having no "why" to their existence, but it's not so easy to do this with life. People don't ask "why" when dealing with scientific questions in the same sense that they do when thinking about life. I am thinking it might be easier to understand life's functions as emergent from physics and a very anomalous environment on earth.
Of course, even this is sketchy, since it requires a whole bunch of axioms and presuppositions about physics and biology, along with the assumption of abiogenesis, and I don't consider anything to be 100% certain.
there is no one reason
To make more humans....
Okay, I'll bite. I'm a fan of self-made meaning.
I live because I enjoy it, the rich tapestry of experience. Perhaps something like a soul files those moments away and when I review them in the Akashic library, juxtaposed with the other lifetimes occurring simultaneously, I'll finally understand why I missed the bus that one day, a neighbor I was helping stole more than I had in my checking account (I understand that one already; I was teaching myself about the downside of being a martyr :tongue, my father died unexpectedly in his sleep when I was just old enough to understand it (won't be able to make satisfactory sense of this for the remainder of my days here, I would imagine), and I developed a taste for Thai food.
I do not believe something outside of myself would set up "tests" that I must "pass," or that life's harshness is about learning a lesson or punishment for previous choices. (Sometimes the mind decides to go spiritual to understand and cope with life's harshness, and that's fine, but I don't believe there is any ill intent or hostility from something larger than myself at play there.) Nor do I believe I have a purpose aside from what lights me up. I don't think it is given to me, I think I discover it over and over again.
I'm here to make my own music, to connect, to flow in the highs and lows of the day and night, to make peace, to sometimes make war if the cause is worth it to me, to laugh and cry and screw and sing and accept all the joy and peace and understanding I gather along the way while recognizing then eventually releasing the stuff that weighs me down when it's served its purpose in my life.
Oh, and I think many of us are here to awaken to the illusion of our separateness. To move into greater levels of wholeness and integration. I'm a fan of transpersonalism.
Okay, I'll bite. I'm a fan of self-made meaning.
I live because I enjoy it, the rich tapestry of experience. Perhaps something like a soul files those moments away and when I review them in the Akashic library, juxtaposed with the other lifetimes occurring simultaneously, I'll finally understand why I missed the bus that one day, a neighbor I was helping stole more than I had in my checking account (I understand that one already; I was teaching myself about the downside of being a martyr :tongue
, my father died unexpectedly in his sleep when I was just old enough to understand it (won't be able to make satisfactory sense of this for the remainder of my days here, I would imagine), and I developed a taste for Thai food.I do not believe something outside of myself would set up "tests" that I must "pass," or that life's harshness is about learning a lesson or punishment for previous choices. (Sometimes the mind decides to go spiritual to understand and cope with life's harshness, and that's fine, but I don't believe there is any ill intent or hostility from something larger than myself at play there.) Nor do I believe I have a purpose aside from what lights me up. I don't think it is given to me, I think I discover it over and over again.
I'm here to make my own music, to connect, to flow in the highs and lows of the day and night, to make peace, to sometimes make war if the cause is worth it to me, to laugh and cry and screw and sing and accept all the joy and peace and understanding I gather along the way while recognizing then eventually releasing the stuff that weighs me down when it's served its purpose in my life.
Oh, and I think many of us are here to awaken to the illusion of our separateness. To move into greater levels of wholeness and integration. I'm a fan of transpersonalism.
My immediate thought also turns to life in totality, not just human life. I find evolutionary explanations unsatisfactory as well. Spouting, "we live to reproduce" is just referring to one element of "what" it means to be a living thing and briefly pertains to questions of "how", without necessarily addressing "why".
I think there are also many questions that need to be answered before "why". Namely, "what is life" and "how does life come to be?". Both these questions have been addressed, but not sufficiently, and many notions and paradigms of "what life is and how it has come to be" are changing. Before we tackle the question of "why exist at all?" I think the question of "how do we exist at all?" needs to be established fully. Which is where physics and all streams of science come in. I agree that a multidisciplinary approach is absolutely necessary because questions of "why" and "how" need to be looked at and considered from multiple angles at the same time.
To the question in the Op: I really don't know.
I think there are also many questions that need to be answered before "why". Namely, "what is life" and "how does life come to be?". Both these questions have been addressed, but not sufficiently, and many notions and paradigms of "what life is and how it has come to be" are changing. Before we tackle the question of "why exist at all?" I think the question of "how do we exist at all?" needs to be established fully. Which is where physics and all streams of science come in. I agree that a multidisciplinary approach is absolutely necessary because questions of "why" and "how" need to be looked at and considered from multiple angles at the same time.
To the question in the Op: I really don't know.
We've determined intuitively that consciousness is intrinsically superior to non-consciousness.
Because existing is in and of itself a reason to live. Granted that existing and living are not necessarily the same thing (for everyone), I think in relation to this question, they are. However, living is not a reason to exist.
Humans live because dying hasn't proven to be anything enjoyable as far as we know. Of course there are speculations and whatnot (religion but that's another topic...) but living just seems like instinct. No one feels as if they should die and most are not drawn to it (there are exceptions of course) but for a living thing to purposely choose death sounds like a big "fuck you" to the universe.
Chances are this doesn't answer it at all whatsoever. But, oh well
Humans live because dying hasn't proven to be anything enjoyable as far as we know. Of course there are speculations and whatnot (religion but that's another topic...) but living just seems like instinct. No one feels as if they should die and most are not drawn to it (there are exceptions of course) but for a living thing to purposely choose death sounds like a big "fuck you" to the universe.
Chances are this doesn't answer it at all whatsoever. But, oh well
I once read a quote that said something along the lines of "we are dead much longer than we are alive".
When you put it in that context... it's kind of shocking to consider how short conscious aliveness (in the state you currently are in) is. And even while you're alive, you might have a stroke or develop schizophrenia and be fundamntally cognitively impaired. Amazing that any of us live and flourish really. And especially the short time in which we have to experience it- we might experience 100 years of life for billions of years of non life.
What the fuck.
When you put it in that context... it's kind of shocking to consider how short conscious aliveness (in the state you currently are in) is. And even while you're alive, you might have a stroke or develop schizophrenia and be fundamntally cognitively impaired. Amazing that any of us live and flourish really. And especially the short time in which we have to experience it- we might experience 100 years of life for billions of years of non life.
What the fuck.
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