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ivesj
Fiend
6 Posts |
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PaulB
Overfiend
50 Posts |
 Posted - 11/05/2005 : 16:22:44
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Doubt you were expecting a straight answer from me, so I'll start off by both dodging the question and posing some more questions- sorry, but you're all probably used to it by now!
ps- start your word count.........NOW!
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We’re making a few assumptions with this statement, perhaps we first need to ask "can life have a 'meaning'"?
If yes, is this a single, arbitrary meaning, or are there different meanings which could be emplaced upon a life? Can different lives have different purposes or meanings?
Perhaps what we really need to ask is “what is the meaning which I personally would choose- body,mind and soul, for my life to have...and how can I shape my life towards embodying/meeting this?”
Free will may give us grander options than we might consider on a day-to-day basis...
Thoughts?
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Paul, the confuser/confused…
p.s i know i havent answered the question...i'll save my straight(ish) answer for later
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al_b
Stone broke...
21 Posts |
Posted - 11/05/2005 : 16:47:03
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not just a life - can any action have a meaning at all? perhaps they simply result from the current state of creation - which leads on to questions of whether free will actually exists or not. there is a zen koan for this one, something like:
"what was the meaning of the boddhi-dharma coming from the east?
the apple tree in the back garden."
i take this to suggest that no actions have a 'meaning' at all, and therefore, any two actions can be equated together (since 0=0). thus it could be suggested (as i am doing) that life has no intrinsic meaning. yet this is a logical conclusion based on buddhist insights (and my own ideas), something we are frequently warned against pursuing ("those who speak do not know, those who know do not speak", etc).
and another ambiguity which needs resolving before continuing (and before you can start my word count  ), is: to which life are we referring? if we take reincarnation as a fact, then are we only referring to the current incarnation, or to the whole continuity of lives and experiences?
either way, i'd rather prefer to answer the question "what has life taught you?" instead of "what is the meaning of life?".
and my answer for this has something to do with (start word count):
if we can only really appreciate light when in darkness,
and can only really appreciate no pain while experiencing pain,
this implies we can only really appreciate life in death.
and the idea of coming to terms with death in order to find life has been expounded by various tradions.
very taoistically,
al |
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Dave P
Newbie
7 Posts |
Posted - 12/05/2005 : 20:53:41
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Pinched this from (http://yudkowsky.net/tmol-faq/tmol-faq.html#orient_why) but it still sounds good to me!
Altruism. We, ourselves, don't know what's right. Or, even if you do, you can't achieve it - at all, or as completely as you'd like. An enhanced intelligence, however, has a better chance of figuring out what's right, and a better chance of achieving it. By getting up in the morning, and either supporting general civilization, or working directly towards technological intelligence enhancement, you are indirectly doing what's right, acting in a supporting role. You're making the choices that lead to a better Universe, and that's all that can ever be asked of anyone. If you don't get up in the morning, the Universe will be the worse for it.
You may also want to look at http://users.aristotle.net/~diogenes/meaning1.htm which provides some answers depending on why you want to know the meaning of life!
D
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"Serenity is not freedom from the storm but peace amid it" - Davenport |
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Dave P
Newbie
7 Posts |
Posted - 12/05/2005 : 20:56:41
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p.s. if my previous post is correct then that means we'll all know the meaning of life a lot quicker if stupid people stop breeding.
So if you are reading this and have an IQ lower than 60 then please either a) report to my house for sterilisation and distruction, or b) bite your computer's power cable now!
Your co-operation in this matter is appreciated.
D
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"Serenity is not freedom from the storm but peace amid it" - Davenport |
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ivesj
Fiend
6 Posts |
Posted - 16/05/2005 : 15:30:35
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I just tried biting my computer power cable, and my computer told me I'm just not important enough to warrent the diversion of its power source.
Surely altruism could only be a way of giving a life meaning, rather than being the meaning itself?
I figure that there is no meaning insofar as meaning means 'purpose' or 'reason'.
So, our lives are meaningless insofar as our lives have no purpose, and there is no reason for our being here (of course I could be wrong about this).
It that case, we can give our own lives meaning by attaching to it a pupose and a reason for its continuation.
In a sense, then, life is what you make of it.
PS. Dave has a point about the stupid people.
"Do you have the patience to wait till your mud settles and the water is clear?
Can you remain unmoving till the right action arises by itself?"
Lao Tzu (Dao De Ching)
Jon Ives
ivesjz@adf.bham.ac.uk
0121 414 7849
http://www.pcpoh.bham.ac.uk/primarycare/cbme/ |
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RichL
Old Hand
15 Posts |
Posted - 28/11/2005 : 19:51:06
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I like Dave's idea but have you ever noticed how stupid people are too dumb to die they just hurt themselves and sue.
The meaning of life is... continued self replication. No, this is not just the dictionary version. Life is to keep going the only end to this is death. The difficult bit is scale compare the "Life" of an amoeba to that of our plane... get bigger then spread or die. Life is simple close up or far away. It is only us meat bags that make it complicated!
You want a tricky one… what is the meaning of DEATH?
"the pointy end goes in the other guy" |
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Meaning
Posted - 11/05/2005 : 02:41:59
