Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
they believe that life is meaningless and they reject all religions? So what's their motivation to get up in the morning and actually do anything? They accomplish so many profound things, where do they get their motivation if everything is meaningless?
Help me reconcile the idea that you can achieve very challenging things yet life is meaningless.
they believe that life is meaningless and they reject all religions? So what's their motivation to get up in the morning and actually do anything? They accomplish so many profound things, where do they get their motivation if everything is meaningless?
Help me reconcile the idea that you can achieve very challenging things yet life is meaningless.
I can explain it to you but I can't understand it for you, so I don't know if your reconciliation will happen.
Life is meaningless in the sense that there is no higher meaning, no higher narrative, except what an individual recognizes. No preset meaning. Only life. Life happens. Life lives. It's only purpose is "to life". And it does. It overflows, everywhere, life. The meaning is in the moment. The meaning is life itself.
As to why someone would derive personal meaning in an inherently meaningless existence, there is still the impulse towards what is pleasing (or at least better), which depends on the individual, but most importantly, there is always the beautiful tension of creation, which must be satisfied. Every artist or musician or any creative knows this tension, but it's in all of life. However, in humans, the creation can become conscious, that is the real prize.
The tension of creation IMO is best seen in the creativity that can flow from someone in solitary confinement on death row, someone fully paralyzed, someone with no education or social status or financial means who still expresses themselves creatively. I find those stories infinitely more fascinating than yet another billionaire trying to get into outer space. Your milage may vary in what you find profound. However, I appreciate and respect the creative impulse in all humans.
Living a concious life, it is everything. And a conscious life can include religion and God/gods, or not.* It can include science, or not. It can include love and sex, or not. It can include independence, tolerance, hatred, or not. The most outwardly-meaningless existence, if a conscious mind is experiencing it, no matter what the circumstances may be, it's all gold. Interestingly, the higher the consciousness, the less profound and self-important the person often appears!
*One thing that happens when people start becoming conscious is they start questioning the existence of God. This is absolutely unavoidable. The sweater and the thread thing. How the query is answered and manifested in a person's life is as varied as humans themselves.
I remember when I was learning spanish, how suddenly the world opened up, the obscure became clarity, I now had words to communicate where before there were none. Mathematicians speak the universal language, and their work is always a communication with anyone anywhere who speaks that same language. But the real joy is that moment of enlightenment, when one is suddenly aware of what was there all along but hidden in plain sight. For Mathematicians that enlightenment potential is always there for the seeking, their language is endless, they can always refine and say something with more clarity and eloquence. What a beautiful skill to have!
they believe that life is meaningless and they reject all religions? So what's their motivation to get up in the morning and actually do anything? They accomplish so many profound things, where do they get their motivation if everything is meaningless?
Help me reconcile the idea that you can achieve very challenging things yet life is meaningless.
I am a religious guy, not a nihilist, so I'm guessing, but if there is no afterlife in your belief system, then carpe diem! Work hard, play hard, and die hard¡
they believe that life is meaningless and they reject all religions? So what's their motivation to get up in the morning and actually do anything? They accomplish so many profound things, where do they get their motivation if everything is meaningless?
Help me reconcile the idea that you can achieve very challenging things yet life is meaningless.
Wow that’s a huge assumption about a large group of people. By what logic did you come up with your statement?
they believe that life is meaningless and they reject all religions? So what's their motivation to get up in the morning and actually do anything? They accomplish so many profound things, where do they get their motivation if everything is meaningless?
Help me reconcile the idea that you can achieve very challenging things yet life is meaningless.
I just watched this and I thought it was very apropos to this thread!
they believe that life is meaningless and they reject all religions? So what's their motivation to get up in the morning and actually do anything? They accomplish so many profound things, where do they get their motivation if everything is meaningless?
Help me reconcile the idea that you can achieve very challenging things yet life is meaningless.
Well I'm equally baffled by how people can derive meaning from religion. I always found it an empty experience, although others seem to derive emotional sustenance from it. I don't begrudge them that, of course. Personally I'm motivated by other factors, such as the survival and betterment of mankind, an enjoyment of creativity, the pleasure derived from learning something new, the emotional fulfillment provided by the arts, the simple satisfaction of the company of friends and family, and a general joie de vivre, whatever that is. If there is a God, my sense of her goal is just to know and understand existence, in all its multifaceted dimensions.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I have a question....
