meaning of life

this is a serious post w/ no pics.. sorry kids.

anywho... recent events have yielded me the oppurtunity (sp?) to re-evaluate where life is goin.

i never thought of my life as revolving around a purpose until it was threatened, so now im trying to figure out if i am to keep it or not.

i suppose it could just be insecurity or weakness that one needs purpose in their life to be fulfilled, but despite what camus says, enduring the absurdity of life does not make me feel dignified, and if it did, attaining a sense of dignity would be that purpose.

so, to get to the point.. i thought about 5 hours straight about purpose in life, if there is to be, and this is what i remember... none of them seem really appealling.

pursuit of knowledge: this is what all the existentialists said was everyone's purpose and is what frustrates us because we cannot know everything... but in my case, these days, i tend to forget stuff at about the same rate i'm learning, so it all seems in vain

pussy: seems like this is what a lot of guys are after... doesn't seem to lead to anything that lasts, and if your goal in life is just to busty a nut, i don't even see why one would work for a partner (unless, perhaps, to make up for other insecurities)

love: seems like this is what everyone is told they should strive for, but i don't see how you can really strive for love, except, perhaps, putting yourself in areas full of girls that you'd be compatible with... but that just seems to make the purpose being in/finding those places, and then socializing, it can't really be sought after. moreover, to paraphrase camus again, how is one to know what love is, and if it actually even exists without prior experience with it? if i had that experience, i would no long need to seek out love. the only sense of love i've ever known is for family and friends, and i assume my mate is not supposed to invoke the same feelings.

drugs: never really been into em, but it seems to at least make people feel happy, and if they can feel happy until their premature death, why not?

graffiti: figure i should throw this on, given the context. the main problems with it are the legal implications (how easy it can be taken away, leaving you with nothing), and the utter silliness of thinking you can write on everything. also, after visiting nyc, i see what happens when graffiti succeeds and beats the buff: it kills itself; it just piles on top of itself, and, instead of being a representation of an individual, it all becomes just a blur in the background to the general public.

family: you can do what you can to help them out, but there comes a point where you're harming their future.

friends: you can't really strive to be a good friend because if you buy stuff for everyone and just offer an ear to listen and some cliched advice, you're just being a pushover. to paraphrase aristotle, being a good friend is just helping them improve themself because you see something of yourself in them... to be a good friend, all you can do is behave how you always do, and your friendships will filter into an equilibrium. another approach to this could be making more friends, but i think you get to a point where you only have so much to offer, and it can be difficult to spread it out amongst too many people.

self improvement: this is somewhat a grab bag of the pursuit of knowledge, health, relationships, etc... seems too ambiguous to really set a concrete plan after (asiide form working out and reading), the many problems i see here is the approach that all the people you meet, you have to evaluate how they can benefit you (or help you benefit yourself), and the improvement standards are largely based on others opinions (you're more improved for reading a book than thinking for the same amount of time)

helping the unfortunate: once again fairly broad.. the main prob to me is that it seems as though it's easy to go through the motions... and while it may be good that you are helping people, if it's all w/ a painted smile, it nullifies the act in an egocentric sense (which is the entire reason for purpose and fulfillment in the first place). also, i've done plenty of volunteer work in my day, and the acts themselves never made me feel good, i was ussually pretty bored (though this may be because of the type of work i was doing; but menial volunteer jobs still need to be done, no?)

vocational: this seems to be what is largely condoned by my family, and is second to love in societal standards. basically: find something you love to do, and find a way to get paid for it... even though you'd be doing it despite the pay. this assumes that it is easy to find something you love to do (which, to me anyway, would then become your purpose for living, no?). also, it always seemed to turn me off having your life that involved in your work because: -depending on the job, it might easily be taken, and -im not sure i want to be that one dimensional of a person that work takes up my entire life

communication: this category catches all the art/music crap... it may be cool to find out the most efficient and accurate means of communicating something, but the catch seems that if you spend all your energy learning to communicate more effectively, you aren't going to have much to communicate except means of communicating effectively (sorta like an art teacher, i guess)

the past: this seems to be kind of what im leaning toward. it is, in a sense like plato's paradox of inquiry: if you don't know what you're looking for, how do you find it? for if you knew whaqt you wanted, you wouldn't need to ask.. or something like that, anyway... basically, it's keeping one foot doing what has historically given you fulfillment in the past, but exploring with the other for something more fulfilling. the problem with this is dependent on one's past; if their past is drugs, it may hinder exploration, or if it's something that's been taken away from them, they may not be able to dabble in it.

i don't know.. these are what i've come up with lately... other perspecitves/directions worth checking out are appreciated... i'd also like to hear from the older guys on what's kept them going.

sorry for being so long-winded

"to a little kid lookin up to me.. life ain't nothin but bitches and money"

well

im not exactly that old, but i've been through my fair share of shit already in life. the meaning of life is totally different for everyone i suppose with little linking traits between the different meanings. for some the meaning of life might be something as simple as dying, for it sthe only thing for sure in life. but does life really need a meaning? if you think about it there is no need for a point in life. thats atleast the way i see it. you do what you gotta do to keep on keepin' on.

theres so many little things in life that keep me going

graffiti

riding

jokes

friends

family

it can be a number of things man.

just gotta grab the sunny days when they come your way.

Originally posted by Vanity

instead of being a representation of an individual, it all becomes just a blur in the background to the general public.

This is what I see in graff around my area.. it's all looks the same to me.. no originality.

lack of originality isn't what i meant.... i just mean that there's some sort of mark everywhere, so it all just snuffs itstelf out because people learn to ignore it.. like advertising

ah, I see

As soon as i get my "40 year career", im going to plug myself.

That was a really nice read.

Many times have I sat, and tried to figure out the meaning of life, with no luck. Life, to me, cannot be defined, only certain aspects of life itself.

Vanity...I don't know if you've checked out !@#$%'s Saturn's return thread...but if you haven't...you should. There are a bunch of us in the same place.

I have recently changed my life around 180 degrees. I have cut ou tall the negatives from my life and surrounded myself with positives. I have never had more fun and felt better about myself. I pretty much do as I please to the point where im not harming any one. If I had to make a category for myself it would be self fulfilment. I try to learn things that interest me, eat what tastes good, get a reasonable amount of sleep and work doing something i enjoy even if there is not a whole lot of money coming in right now. Life is great and i try to share that with everyone that i come into contact with.

Thats my life.

werd.

my life has meaning...

but does my life have a purpose?

i wonder if i'll ever have children.

:lol:

graff, cannibus, sleep

Originally posted by CILONE/SK

Children change your life alot. Mine isn't even here and it is already changing my life. Your purpose will change too, because after they are born, you will be responsible for someone else.

i know.

lots and lots of people i know have newborns.

so, you're gonna be a dad?

that's nice.

good luck, you are right on all points.

i seriously doubt i am ever having children.

so complicated.:o

great thread vanity... i really liked the friends paragraph and the search for knowledge, and the thing you said about the nyc graffiti becoming a blur. anyways...

I think about this shit a lot as well, even more after reading this book SIDDHARTHA (by Hermann Hesse) I highly recommend it to you, its only 152 pages, and only $6 bucks or so total at barnes and nobles. Really changed my views and opened up my eyes on some things... (it's about a young buddha monk who leaves his family to find his way in life aka self discovery.)

But about my views on purpose of life: I can't decide about god, so I don't know if everyone has a set purpose in life or not, I think you can do whatever you put your mind to though, so that kind of rules out the whole "set path in life" theory for me.

I haven't figured out my purpose in life, but i think one part of it is, making people laugh. There's nothing better for me in the world than making people laugh, or making them feel better, or just improving their day based on something I said to them, whether it's funny, stupid, smart or whatever, if i helped them out in some way, that makes me happy.

That being said, for me, i think the most important thing to get out of life is EXPERIENCE. The fact that you can say you tried this or that, or been here or there, tasted this or tasted that, is one of the best things you can get out of life. Not only is it an experience, but it's now knowledge for you, that someone else might not have or understand yet, because they haven't experienced it yet. (it touched on this in that book i told you about, the main character says he doesnt believe in the teachings of others, because to truly understand things, you have to experience them yourself, you can teach knowledge to a certain extent, but not wisdom). So anyways, that's one of the main things I'm looking to get out of life, experiences, and then the other one would be to hopefully meet a woman I'd like to marry, have kids, and then raise them as best as I can.

As far as wealth is concerned I want to be well off, because I dont care what anyone says, money is important. I could do so much more of the things i want to do, and make some of the ideas I want to make... if i had the money to try them out.

can't think of much else to say for now... i'll be back later if i do.

you live--------------------- you die.

and everything else in between. there cant be a real meaning to life, you just do with it what u will.

Why Ask Why?

42.

Originally posted by TuffKid

Why Ask Why?

Why not?

yes... 42 indeed.

asides from that, I think that the only way to really 'win' at this game of life is to discover joy. Joy can come from any of the things you listed, but it's beyond that. Do what makes you happy and also be able to find happiness in whatever you might have to do, even if it means being easily distracted.

I think an important thing is to set both long and short term goals.

I have a 'relative' short term goal of getting my blackbelt.

Who knows where my focus will move after 3ish years of training.

Maybe at that point the journey becomes more inportant than the destination.

i've come to the conclusion that i'm just finding the most entertaining way to kill time until i die.

i'm content with that.

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Originally posted by test pattern

i've come to the conclusion that i'm just finding the most entertaining way to kill time until i die.

 

i'm content with that.

boom

This is really a deep post here Vanity. I too have thought about this quite a whole lot. I've actually stopped thinking about this kind of stuff though sadly enough. I think essentially my fate has been decided for me. "It is a hand of 6 jokers cards." Haha... Nah really I think I've become the ultimate reactionary! I never really felt like I was in control of my life, a master of my own destiny if you will, so I've been consumed by rising to the challenge. Everything that plagues myself and this world, I see it as a challenge to be conquered, and I will fight until my last dying breath.