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Looks like you may have found something that works for you, congrats.
Curly would be happy for you.
Feldon said:A fellow "Hitchhiker" I see! (Loved the books. The movie, sadly, was a tremendous disappointment.)
Of course, the larger questions is, is the Meaning of Life just a personal thing? Or is there an underlining, universal answer that unifies all of us?
I'd like it to coincide with what what the Meaning of Life really is!
(I think it might've been his "pirate" twin brother, alas, alas! City Slickers II..... not quite as good! LOL)
Of course, the larger questions is, is the Meaning of Life just a personal thing? Or is there an underlining, universal answer that unifies all of us?
In a way, I guess the "Meaning of Life" according to our Founding Fathers was that all men are endowed by their Creator with the right to life, liberty & the pursuit of happiness? Maybe there can be a political answer too?
To play. Kids know.
Yes they do. If you think about it, play is pure absorption in meaning, so much so that you don't even have time to think about what's meaningful. Somewhere along the lines us adults lose it on the way, given our obsession with things that have happened and we can't change, and anxiety about things in the future we can't determine.
So there's something inherently present-centered (or present-with-a-foot-toward-the-next-immediate-moment) about meaning, and something unselfconscious.
The meaning to life, though, is a nonsense question. That's like asking what's healthy for every single person, regardless of allergies or genetic differences.
Let's say there isn't an underlying one, or that the underlying is really horrible (it could happen), and you had to make your own for there to be one at all - any ideas?
Yes they do. If you think about it, play is pure absorption in meaning, so much so that you don't even have time to think about what's meaningful. Somewhere along the lines us adults lose it on the way, given our obsession with things that have happened and we can't change, and anxiety about things in the future we can't determine.
So there's something inherently present-centered (or present-with-a-foot-toward-the-next-immediate-moment) about meaning, and something unselfconscious.
The meaning to life, though, is a nonsense question. That's like asking what's healthy for every single person, regardless of allergies or genetic differences.
Mr. Israel, what is the meaning of life?
Think of this earth as an unfinished puzzle, a home in disrepair. Think of your neighbor as a pathway though a forest, with walls of thorns blocking safe passage. Think of your babies as prayer books, with the pages still unfinished. Israel spoke coolly and deliberately, his eyes frozen in place. But his smile warmed the hearts of his congregants, alleviating their misgivings. What motivates woman to make whole a childless family? What drives man to cast order in chaos? The answer is the exact same impulse that led Christ Jesus to render more holy the commandments of Moses. Deeply imbedded within the minds of man, woman and God are pious inclinations to replace nothingness with beauty, to take empty canvases and create great works of art. I know why I breathed the universe into form. I know why I hung stars, moons, comets and rainbows in the sky. You know why, too, even if youve failed to examine the reason, for the image of God rests with all my children. The earth, your neighborsall the beasts of land and seaawait completion. Remember, you hold dominion over it all, but the gift of dominion is not without responsibility. Render more holy my creations, for this is the meaning of life. Do this not for my sake, for a human being can do nothing for God; God has no needs. God is the eagle that never lands. Somber vows, mindless oaths of devotion, the proscription of a singular faithI ask for none of this. For your own happiness, in this world and the next, render more holy the creations of Godjust as God rendered more holy His mud and clay when He first formed man. With you as my building-blocks, Eden can exist again. Israel finished his sermon with a humble gaze skyward, as if giving thanks to his Heavenly Father. Many of the mud-monkeys aped Israel, praying to God as well.
Gethsemane respectfully paused for several seconds, not wanting to interrupt the great creature. Mr. Joe, now it is your turn for rebuttal, he finally said. You may begin.
Why were you created? Because God loves you. Joe dug his hands inside his pockets and slouched his shoulders, more prone to stare down than up. Creation, life, the Holy Bible: Understand the magnitude of these gifts; do not squander them. Love is an emotion that cannot exist in isolation. Its a relationship shared. And in the creation of man, God let this relationship blooma spectacle more spectacular than the separation of light from dark. A loving God breathed life into mud and clay, granting mere dirtthe bloodworms leftoversthe opportunity to reciprocate His love, eventually even joining the Eternal Maker in Heaven. And the Lord so loved man that He twice sent His only begotten son to walk amongst the mud and clay creations, living amidst their impurities, imperfections and evils. The son of God, flawless in every way, was saddened by the greed and arrogance of these filthy, foul mud-monkeys, for the Almighty is not an eagle who never lands, but a Shepherd whose emotions correlate directly to His flock. Sadness, anger, joy, jealousy, outrageeven the hardening of my heart are all byproducts of this love and an absence of indifference. The absolute antithesis of indifference! Jesus Christ wept, for the mud and clay creations killed other mud and clay creations, forsaking their God, devoting their existence to the accumulation of ash, soot and dirt. Words cannot describe the heartache I felt as these tiny, ungrateful creatures renounced my love, rejected God and murdered their savior. After all this timeafter all youve doneafter reading my words for thousands of years and now hearing my voice, at long last, dont you understand the price of your sins?!
Frustration and sorrow blistered Joes eyes in ways Margaret never bared witness in all their travels. But not all sinnedand for their sake the earth continued, he whispered. Many of these worthless clumps of mud and clay understood the awesome power of Gods love and loved God backwith all their hearts, all their souls and all their might. Even as countless hardships befell the mud and clay creations, their faith never wavered, for they realized that cities, countries, mountains, Demons and Dragonseven the earth itselfis temporary, lacking divine consequence. Instead, they chose to love their God, following the path of His only son. Understand, this and this alone is the meaning of life. Everything else is but a burning ship at sea: It shall not endure. And neither shall those who spurn their God. You too will burn.
I see your points. Certainly when I watch my dog playing I think it has its priorities right! Living in the moment and just full of the joy of being healthy and alive. However I was looking at this question from a different perspective. I was interperting "meaning" to mean Purpose in this context. Basically do we have a purpose at all and if so what is it. Maybe this is what the OP meant. (Oh, I see that it was, we posted at the same time.)
On your last point, you are absolutely correct. I have always thought this often asked question is about as meaningless as can be and is not different than asking, what is the best color?
As a Christian, the Meaning of Life and Purpose to Life are sort of intertwined: To love & follow the footsteps of Christ, and to love & help my fellow man.
But I have an advantage (if you want to call it that, I'm not trying to say it in a mean way or anything) of being part of a theology that is very concerned with the question of morality, purpose and meaning, and this theology has shaped my views.
But without that.... I'm sure your conclusions, and reasons for your conclusions, would be different, perhaps....?
Kind of a cool excerpt of the 2 "Gods" debating the Meaning of Life from The Second Coming: A Love Story.....
credit: Meaning of Life - The Second Coming
Yes, I agree with most of what you said about religion and Christianity. People DO abuse it, and people DO use it to justify abusing others. (I guess it's also true that we humans have a pretty bad track record at abusing just about EVERYTHING that's good.... love, the earth, animals, food, water, our brothers & sisters....) So just the fact that some people abuse Christianity, I think, says more about people & less about Christianity.Second bit sounds great, good on ya. First bit could be fine too - a good idea is a good idea (regardless of who has it).
I happen to think christianity has some good ideas about how to live and some bad ones, and I'm not bound to accept them all and call them all good if I don't agree with them. And the good ideas aren't automatically good because of their source - they'd be good regardless of who had them.
The disadvantage of religion is that they all claim to be perfect already so you aren't permitted to argue any of their points.
I found Mr. Israel to be uplifting and inspiring and Mr. Joe to be insulting and degrading. Each one could benefit from recognizing a fraction of the other's points, Joe more so than I's.
Which one did you like more?
Yes they do. If you think about it, play is pure absorption in meaning, so much so that you don't even have time to think about what's meaningful. Somewhere along the lines us adults lose it on the way, given our obsession with things that have happened and we can't change, and anxiety about things in the future we can't determine.
So there's something inherently present-centered (or present-with-a-foot-toward-the-next-immediate-moment) about meaning, and something unselfconscious.
The meaning to life, though, is a nonsense question. That's like asking what's healthy for every single person, regardless of allergies or genetic differences.
Yes, I agree with most of what you said about religion and Christianity. People DO abuse it, and people DO use it to justify abusing others. (I guess it's also true that we humans have a pretty bad track record at abusing just about EVERYTHING that's good.... love, the earth, animals, food, water, our brothers & sisters....) So just the fact that some people abuse Christianity, I think, says more about people & less about Christianity.
As for the book..... LOL, I'm rereading it for a third time now. It's become one of my 3 fav books in the whole world, but there are SO MANY ideas that each time you read it through, you catch new things, so I'm still thinking it over. Joe & Israel both claim to be the Second Coming, and they also both claim that the other one is secretly Satan. In that excerpt, I found Israel more uplifting, but I'm biased because I know they both said a lot more than that....
That's also one of the complaints the people in the book make about Joe, that he's not as uplifting or "caring" as Israel is. Joe responds by saying that he's a savior, not a marketer, and the job of a teacher isn't to make his pupils learn, but to present information within an environment where pupils can learn if they choose.... Free Will and all.....
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