What is the point of life?

Healthy skepticism of ALL worldviews is good. Skeptical of non-belief like found in Atheism? Post your challenging questions. Responses are encouraged.
Audie
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Re: What is the point of life?

Post by Audie »

Nessa wrote:
IceMobster wrote:
Audie wrote:Why enjoy summer if you know winter is coming?
I am not sure I fully understood what you wanted to say with this. Mind explaining it?
You can can enjoy summer knowing winter is coming as you can enjoy life knowing death is coming.

But the enjoyment would ultimately be meaningless.
And you know, good grief, a person could spoil enjoyment of a sunset or a good dinner by thinking, oh, it is ultimately meaningless. That is seriously dumb, tho, and as noted earlier, self indulgent.
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Nessa
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Re: What is the point of life?

Post by Nessa »

Audie wrote:
Nessa wrote:
IceMobster wrote:
Audie wrote:Why enjoy summer if you know winter is coming?
I am not sure I fully understood what you wanted to say with this. Mind explaining it?
You can can enjoy summer knowing winter is coming as you can enjoy life knowing death is coming.

But the enjoyment would ultimately be meaningless.
And you know, good grief, a person could spoil enjoyment of a sunset or a good dinner by thinking, oh, it is ultimately meaningless. That is seriously dumb, tho, and as noted earlier, self indulgent.
What makes something have meaning? Why should there be even such a concept?
Audie
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Re: What is the point of life?

Post by Audie »

Nessa wrote:
Audie wrote:
Nessa wrote:
IceMobster wrote:
Audie wrote:Why enjoy summer if you know winter is coming?
I am not sure I fully understood what you wanted to say with this. Mind explaining it?
You can can enjoy summer knowing winter is coming as you can enjoy life knowing death is coming.

But the enjoyment would ultimately be meaningless.
And you know, good grief, a person could spoil enjoyment of a sunset or a good dinner by thinking, oh, it is ultimately meaningless. That is seriously dumb, tho, and as noted earlier, self indulgent.
What makes something have meaning? Why should there be even such a concept?
I dont know that it is a case of "should", is it?

I think things generally have the meaning we attach to them, for whatever reason.

The ultimate meaning stuff seems a bit like Platonic ideal.
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Nessa
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Re: What is the point of life?

Post by Nessa »

Audie wrote:
Nessa wrote:
Audie wrote:
Nessa wrote:
IceMobster wrote: I am not sure I fully understood what you wanted to say with this. Mind explaining it?
You can can enjoy summer knowing winter is coming as you can enjoy life knowing death is coming.

But the enjoyment would ultimately be meaningless.
And you know, good grief, a person could spoil enjoyment of a sunset or a good dinner by thinking, oh, it is ultimately meaningless. That is seriously dumb, tho, and as noted earlier, self indulgent.
What makes something have meaning? Why should there be even such a concept?
I dont know that it is a case of "should", is it?

I think things generally have the meaning we attach to them, for whatever reason.

The ultimate meaning stuff seems a bit like Platonic ideal.
Do you see meaning as a concept humans have created for themselves to express something?
Audie
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Re: What is the point of life?

Post by Audie »

Nessa wrote:
Audie wrote:
Nessa wrote:
Audie wrote:
Nessa wrote: You can can enjoy summer knowing winter is coming as you can enjoy life knowing death is coming.

But the enjoyment would ultimately be meaningless.
And you know, good grief, a person could spoil enjoyment of a sunset or a good dinner by thinking, oh, it is ultimately meaningless. That is seriously dumb, tho, and as noted earlier, self indulgent.
What makes something have meaning? Why should there be even such a concept?
I dont know that it is a case of "should", is it?

I think things generally have the meaning we attach to them, for whatever reason.

The ultimate meaning stuff seems a bit like Platonic ideal.
Do you see meaning as a concept humans have created for themselves to express something?
Animals seem to find a lot of meaning in what they do, we dont see them indulging in existential despair.

As Kafka's philosopher dog put it, "When you meat in your jaws, all problems are solved for the time being".
PaulSacramento
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Re: What is the point of life?

Post by PaulSacramento »

I don't think that animals "understand" "meaning" like we do.
Meaning:
intended to communicate something that is not directly expressed.

Animals, even those with the highest degree of reasoning, can't express or understand abstract though beyond the instinctive.

Give the highest order of primate a stick and they will reason and rational many things to do with it, but none will ever contemplate writing a sonata or even producing fire.
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Storyteller
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Re: What is the point of life?

Post by Storyteller »

Which is another reason that suggests there is a God. For me, anyway.
Faith is a knowledge within the heart, beyond the reach of proof - Kahlil Gibran
IceMobster
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Re: What is the point of life?

Post by IceMobster »

Audie wrote:
Nessa wrote:
IceMobster wrote:
Audie wrote:Why enjoy summer if you know winter is coming?
I am not sure I fully understood what you wanted to say with this. Mind explaining it?
You can can enjoy summer knowing winter is coming as you can enjoy life knowing death is coming.

But the enjoyment would ultimately be meaningless.
And you know, good grief, a person could spoil enjoyment of a sunset or a good dinner by thinking, oh, it is ultimately meaningless. That is seriously dumb, tho, and as noted earlier, self indulgent.
Seems like every questioning of your belief (rather non-belief) results in you calling the person self indulgent. :mrgreen:

How is it meaningless if you know that life is both about the journey and the destination? You would live the moment, but knowing that there is something afterwards.
If it is only about either of those, it gets "ultimately meaningless".
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGOXMf6yDCU

Fecisti nos ad te, Domine, et inquietum est cor nostrum donec requiescat in te!
Audie
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Re: What is the point of life?

Post by Audie »

IceMobster wrote:
Audie wrote:
Nessa wrote:
IceMobster wrote:
Audie wrote:Why enjoy summer if you know winter is coming?
I am not sure I fully understood what you wanted to say with this. Mind explaining it?
You can can enjoy summer knowing winter is coming as you can enjoy life knowing death is coming.

But the enjoyment would ultimately be meaningless.
And you know, good grief, a person could spoil enjoyment of a sunset or a good dinner by thinking, oh, it is ultimately meaningless. That is seriously dumb, tho, and as noted earlier, self indulgent.
Seems like every questioning of your belief (rather non-belief) results in you calling the person self indulgent
The only person to whom I have made that remark is you, and it certainly has nothing to do with "every questioning of my belief (rather non-belief)"
How is it meaningless if you know that life is both about the journey and the destination? You would live the moment, but knowing that there is something afterwards.
If it is only about either of those, it gets "ultimately meaningless"
I have no idea what you are talking about, sorry. Maybe your idea about what "meaning" is is so different from mine. Perhaps you feel it is something about
god?
IceMobster
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Re: What is the point of life?

Post by IceMobster »

Audie wrote:
IceMobster wrote:
Audie wrote:
Nessa wrote:
IceMobster wrote: I am not sure I fully understood what you wanted to say with this. Mind explaining it?
You can can enjoy summer knowing winter is coming as you can enjoy life knowing death is coming.

But the enjoyment would ultimately be meaningless.
And you know, good grief, a person could spoil enjoyment of a sunset or a good dinner by thinking, oh, it is ultimately meaningless. That is seriously dumb, tho, and as noted earlier, self indulgent.
Seems like every questioning of your belief (rather non-belief) results in you calling the person self indulgent
The only person to whom I have made that remark is you, and it certainly has nothing to do with "every questioning of my belief (rather non-belief)"
How is it meaningless if you know that life is both about the journey and the destination? You would live the moment, but knowing that there is something afterwards.
If it is only about either of those, it gets "ultimately meaningless"
I have no idea what you are talking about, sorry. Maybe your idea about what "meaning" is is so different from mine. Perhaps you feel it is something about
god?
It is incorrect that I was the only one:
Audie wrote:
Nessa wrote:
IceMobster wrote:
Audie wrote:Why enjoy summer if you know winter is coming?
I am not sure I fully understood what you wanted to say with this. Mind explaining it?
You can can enjoy summer knowing winter is coming as you can enjoy life knowing death is coming.

But the enjoyment would ultimately be meaningless.
And you know, good grief, a person could spoil enjoyment of a sunset or a good dinner by thinking, oh, it is ultimately meaningless. That is seriously dumb, tho, and as noted earlier, self indulgent.
Anyway, you said that my questions make no sense. Why don't you answer them, then?
Last edited by IceMobster on Mon Jan 25, 2016 6:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGOXMf6yDCU

Fecisti nos ad te, Domine, et inquietum est cor nostrum donec requiescat in te!
Audie
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Re: What is the point of life?

Post by Audie »

IceMobster wrote:
Audie wrote:
IceMobster wrote:
Audie wrote:
Nessa wrote: You can can enjoy summer knowing winter is coming as you can enjoy life knowing death is coming.

But the enjoyment would ultimately be meaningless.
And you know, good grief, a person could spoil enjoyment of a sunset or a good dinner by thinking, oh, it is ultimately meaningless. That is seriously dumb, tho, and as noted earlier, self indulgent.
Seems like every questioning of your belief (rather non-belief) results in you calling the person self indulgent
The only person to whom I have made that remark is you, and it certainly has nothing to do with "every questioning of my belief (rather non-belief)"
How is it meaningless if you know that life is both about the journey and the destination? You would live the moment, but knowing that there is something afterwards.
If it is only about either of those, it gets "ultimately meaningless"
I have no idea what you are talking about, sorry. Maybe your idea about what "meaning" is is so different from mine. Perhaps you feel it is something about
god?
It is incorrect that I was the only one:
Audie wrote:
Nessa wrote:
IceMobster wrote:
Audie wrote:Why enjoy summer if you know winter is coming?
I am not sure I fully understood what you wanted to say with this. Mind explaining it?
You can can enjoy summer knowing winter is coming as you can enjoy life knowing death is coming.

But the enjoyment would ultimately be meaningless.
And you know, good grief, a person could spoil enjoyment of a sunset or a good dinner by thinking, oh, it is ultimately meaningless. That is seriously dumb, tho, and as noted earlier, self indulgent.
Is it possible that I am provided with a reason my post was manipulated with?

Anyway, you said that my questions make no sense. Why don't you answer them, then?
If you feel "manipulated" unjudtly, take it to the mods.

A question that makes no sense cannot be answered.
Conversation with you is not going to be pleasant, or successful.
I suggest you drop it now.
IceMobster
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Re: What is the point of life?

Post by IceMobster »

Audie wrote: A question that makes no sense cannot be answered.
Conversation with you is not going to be pleasant, or successful.
I suggest you drop it now.
Indeed, I will drop it. I need a person which I can talk to, which means both answering each others' questions and not having one side ignoring the questions and spewing insults such as self-indulgent, ignorant, close-minded, intellectually dishonest,...
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGOXMf6yDCU

Fecisti nos ad te, Domine, et inquietum est cor nostrum donec requiescat in te!
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Nessa
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Re: What is the point of life?

Post by Nessa »

IceMobster wrote:
Audie wrote:
Nessa wrote:
IceMobster wrote:
Audie wrote:Why enjoy summer if you know winter is coming?
I am not sure I fully understood what you wanted to say with this. Mind explaining it?
You can can enjoy summer knowing winter is coming as you can enjoy life knowing death is coming.

But the enjoyment would ultimately be meaningless.
And you know, good grief, a person could spoil enjoyment of a sunset or a good dinner by thinking, oh, it is ultimately meaningless. That is seriously dumb, tho, and as noted earlier, self indulgent.
Seems like every questioning of your belief (rather non-belief) results in you calling the person self indulgent. :mrgreen:

How is it meaningless if you know that life is both about the journey and the destination? You would live the moment, but knowing that there is something afterwards.
If it is only about either of those, it gets "ultimately meaningless".
I.didnt quite follow your reponse but thought it was just me?
Would you mind expanding on it?
swordfish7
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Re: What is the point of life?

Post by swordfish7 »

Without God there is no meaning to life - just endless platitudes leading you nowhere. Atheists are notorious at claiming there is no truth, then pontificating sanctimoniously about meaning to life and what is not meaningful. Evolutionary morality believes in the strongest of the fittest, not human rights. :esmile: Can there ever be meaning with atheism! I think not!
Kenny
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Re: What is the point of life?

Post by Kenny »

swordfish7 wrote:Without God there is no meaning to life - just endless platitudes leading you nowhere.
If you believe that, I feel sorry for you.
swordfish7 wrote: Atheists are notorious at claiming there is no truth, then pontificating sanctimoniously about meaning to life and what is not meaningful.
Context my friend; context.
swordfish7 wrote: Evolutionary morality believes in the strongest of the fittest, not human rights.
Because of the evolution of morality, human life is more valued today than in any time in history.
swordfish7 wrote: Can there ever be meaning with atheism! I think not!
You might wanna think again on that one my friend!

Ken
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"What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence".
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