So i've been in the midst of an existential crisis for the last year or so trying to find out how I can live out the remainder of my life for as long as that may be. Essentially i've been looking for a meaning to life and ,well, I may have found it (or them as you'll see if you continue to read) in everyday life and in the pages of philosophy texts. This post isn't for everyone but I wanted to share this and see if I could get some feedback. BTW i'm doing a lot better after writing this so if you are going through the same problem I was maybe do some research on philosophy and see if it can help and no I dont think im right or that I have the answers you seek I just enjoy doing this kind of writing :).
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Or, as Monty Python put it:
"Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations."
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As a old dude who has made it past 60, I can tell you the meaning or purpose I've found is to find the things and people who make you happy and cherish those things, life is way too short to put up with a lot of bull shit be that in a job, relationship, or just life in general, if you have a job that you hate work towards the day you can move on to something you will enjoy, same in a relationship, I watched the guy across the street for years yell and scream at his baby momma, cops have been there more times than I can count and I just keep asking myself Why would you endure such a relationship....sex can't be that good!
The problem with being young is that even though you might think you know things, you don't, and as with the old adage "With Age Comes Wisdom" is true, unfortunately by the time most of us get to the point we do know what will or does make us happy we are old and have made a lot of mistakes (I'm on my third marriage) but when we do find the things that make us happy we do know or recognize it, it might not register until it's gone but we do understand what we lost.
Being happy or content is just about all anyone can ask for, there can be more depending on the persons personality and their wants, desires, but the basic thing is we all want to be happy, find those things and your half-way there, find someone who you can share those things with that truly has the same passion as you do and you are set for life.
Best advice I can give any of you folks is to listen to your gut/head/heart do what it tells you not what someone else tells you is the right thing for you to do...and be happy!
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We are evolved creatures. One purpose breed and keep the baby alive till they can breed.
After that its all the time to launch rockets and build PC's
A spider has the purpose make more spiders
Goat has the purpose make more goats.
Last time I looked there where more and more humans than ever. You get to pick how you spend your free time.
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I am just a teeny bit younger than you sir and I like one of the core tenants of Buddhism. I am sure I am butchering this.
"Nobody ever promised you that life was going to be a rose garden. Ninety percent of life is going to be hard work. So if you are having a good day, if the sun is shining, if your kids are smiling, if you can actually smell the roses... Celebrate! "
"The good days don't happen everyday, so make it your priority to be happy when they do and don't waste a good day when you realize that you are having one."
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Exactly.......it's a very hard concept for some people to grasp, i see people every day that are just pissed off with the world, some of these people not only have everything most people think will make them happy (ie money, and lots of personal possessions) but are just flat miserable, my wife sez that you have to be happy with yourself to ever have a chance at being happy, lot of different things make people happy but if your don't have that basis of being happy with yourself personally you'll never attain true happiness in your life.
The biggest thing most people don't get is that things or having things doesn't make you happy, yeah momentarily they do but it soon wears off, money can't make you happy either but it does open a lot of options to finding happiness! lol
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as a person who struggled with suicidal thoughts all my teenage life, i get it
i got over that with a simple statement someone made to me that death was just a one way door (a thought and feeling i written on myself in the form of a tattoo)
my college philosophy class in existentialism really brought forward for me a meaning in life
existence is absurd, and with out meaning, which means, its up to us to give it meaning, and that's a liberating mindset.
so high 5 op
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As I get older, I find myself contemplating the same things.
For me, I ask myself what have I done to make a difference? What have I done to improve my life, and that of others?
For me, it means learning new things, meeting new people, seeing the world, and sharing those experiences with others.
Not saying that my philosophy is right or wrong, but it is mine.
So, I guess it boils down to the generic statement, life is what you make of it.
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You truly are wise sir, thanks for the reply
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So true.......
You could also say that you get back what you put into it, lots of people don't have the willpower to progress, they feel trapped, granted there are people who are victims of their own situation and can't see any other road or path to take, I really don't believe in fate, karma, but I do believe you have to have faith, for some that's as simple as in faith in themselves, others that's faith in the government, and still more it's faith in a higher power, faith comes from putting your trust in something be it yourself or others....but it all goes back to you, yourself and being happy, content, and wanting to progress in anyway you can.
Be it a career, a mate, fame, or fortune you have to set a goal and work to reach that goal, then set another one....and on and on, it's why people say life is a struggle, but in a lot of cases they have unattainable goals (in one step) or they have unreasonable expectations, lack of patients, or the lack of desire to actually work towards that goal....it's too hard.
It really is what you make it.
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The only reason, not meaning, we live is simply to keep the human race propagating.
Everything else is tricks of the mind and biology to make this happen.
You are correct but I was after a meaning(s) to life rather than the reason. Humans have so much potential besides creating other humans, we've been to the moon after all!
This compelled me to respond.
The time in which nice stories are told and people happily repeat them have been gone for a long time, but when it come to some things people can let go. Just think about how every technology evolves, spreads, becomes cheaper and available to the masses. What do astronauts nowadays say? they can't even reach the van allen belt, let alone cross it. Yet there is a fairy tale that man not only crossed it with 50 year old technology and reach the moon, but they landed!! what a story.
The irony here is that any one who doesn't go along with this modern day fairy tale is considered to be crazy. If people can't distinguished fact from fantasy, what hope is there to know the meaning of life?