What's the meaning of life?
Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 3:44 am
I mean really there are lots of answers bt what is the real one? What is the meaning of life?
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What's the meaning of life?
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Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 4:15 am
42
Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 5:48 am
There's a song by Ayreon that goes like this:
"The meaning of life is to give life meaning" (very deep, I know
)
No one can tell you what's the meaning of your life.
"The meaning of life is to give life meaning" (very deep, I know
)No one can tell you what's the meaning of your life.
Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 7:22 am
If'n you ain' the grandaddy of all liars. The little critters of nature they don't know that they're ugly. That's very funny! A fly marrying a bumblebee. I told you I'd shoot! But you didn't believe me. Why didn't you believe me?Fiberfar wrote:No one can tell you what's the meaning of your life.
Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 7:28 am
A translation for us lesser beings, pretty please?Tricky wrote:If'n you ain' the graddaddy of all liars. The little critters of nature they don't know that they're ugly. That's very funny! A fly marrying a bumblebee. I told you I'd shoot! But you didn't believe me. Why didn't you believe me?
Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 7:33 am
As I have said...Fiberfar wrote:A translation for us lesser beings, pretty please?
42
Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 7:43 am
In the event that nobody for some reason saw the other posts, the answer is 42.
Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 7:51 am
No wonder certain people get so many kids if the meaning of life is 42.
Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 8:05 am
Life
the sum of the distinguishing phenomena of organisms, esp. metabolism, growth, reproduction, and adaptation to environment. (according to [url]http://www.dictionary.com)[/url]
But (semi-)seriously, I haven't heard of anyone being able to answer that question in any spoken language, save Tricky just then. How did you figure it out?
the sum of the distinguishing phenomena of organisms, esp. metabolism, growth, reproduction, and adaptation to environment. (according to [url]http://www.dictionary.com)[/url]
But (semi-)seriously, I haven't heard of anyone being able to answer that question in any spoken language, save Tricky just then. How did you figure it out?
Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 8:05 am
Interesting theory, someone should research the connection between knowing who Douglas Adams is and the amount of children they have.Fiberfar wrote:No wonder certain people get so many kids if the meaning of life is 42.
Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 8:17 am
How did I figure it out? Let's just say it has something to do with bad country music. You'd have to be really, really.. REALLY happy and joyful to like it.
Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 8:48 am
Not answering would give us a better idea than saying "42"AvatarOfLight wrote:42
Do any of the "faithless" believe in a meaning to life?
Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 8:53 am
even a pure athiest who believes "well, we live and then we die and that's all there is to it" is giving a general definition to the meaning of life, there is always a meaning, it's how significant that meaning is what counts.BlazingFist wrote:Not answering would give us a better idea than saying "42"
Do any of the "faithless" believe in a meaning to life?
Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 2:32 pm
wide open space - greet the rising sun
in this space mind is always active spinning meaning like waves. of course these are only apparent meanings. Apparitions. It is good to see through them....
in this space mind is always active spinning meaning like waves. of course these are only apparent meanings. Apparitions. It is good to see through them....
Namo Guru Hasa Vajra
Samsara and nirvana are undifferentiable
And even though you realized this
To purify your thoughts of their attributes
You gained Buddhahood in just one life
Mighty hero, Shepa Dorje
At your feet, I bow with great respect. (Homage)
Genuine reality transcends birth and death
False appearances, birth and death are like watermoons
Knowing this will make it easy to
Cut through clinging to birth and death as true
Such an explanation of birth and death--
E ma! What a wonderful miracle! (1)
Since no actor exists, neither does activity
But in terms of appearance, they arise dependently
Just like dream happiness and suffering
And in this way, good and bad deeds result in joy and pain
Such an explanation of cause, result, and karma--
E ma! What a wonderful miracle! (2)
Samsara's suffering has never existed
Its appearance is like agony in a dream
Of the very nature of dependent arising
You can't separate appearance from emptiness
Such an explanation of suffering--
E ma! What a wonderful miracle! (3)
This human body that has faith, diligence, and prajna,
Is so difficult to find, we're told in many ways
But it too is just a watermoon
Dependently arisen, this you should know
This way of thinking about something so hard to get--
E ma! What a wonderful miracle! (4)
All phenomena outside and inside
Decay each moment, they have no power to remain
But this source of sadness, when examined closely
Reveals that impermanence doesn't exist either!
This way of meditating on impermanence--
E ma! What a wonderful miracle! (5)
Your friends depend on your enemies
And your enemies depend on your friends
All friends and enemies exist dependently
Just like the ones that you meet in dreams
This way of understanding friends and enemies--
E ma! What a wonderful miracle! (6)
Without joy, pain is impossible
Without pain, joy is impossible
They are the very essence of dependent existence
They are without the slightest substance
This way of understanding joy and pain--
E ma! What a wonderful miracle! (7)
When there is clean it is because of unclean
And unclean itself depends on clean
They are of the nature of equality
As they are when they appear in dreams
This way of eliminating thoughts of clean and filth
E ma! What a wonderful miracle! (8)
Gain and pleasure, praise and sweet sounds--these four
They rely on their opposites for their very existence
Watermoons and dreams, they have no substance
The eight worldly dharmas are such wonderful miracles! (9)
Being learned depends on being stupid
And being stupid depends on being learned
Both are just dreams and watermoons
Scholar and fool not different--what a wonderful miracle! (10)
From the unborn mind, beyond conceptuality
Appearances self-arise, and by themselves are free
Just like waves dissolving into the ocean vast
The basic way of being--what a wonderful miracle! (11)
No one to progress, no path to progress upon
No progressing whatsoever going on
But the way of progressing that we see
From cause and condition, arises dependently
Like the moon dancing on the waves
This way of traversing the path--what a wonderful miracle! (12)
Nothing to realize, no one to realize it
No realization can be seen, not even a little bit
But our words can describe so carefully
The way of realization that occurs dependently
It is like seeing the moon in a dream
This way of realizing the fruition--what a wonderful miracle!(13)
Since fundamentally, there are no conceptual elaborations,
The basic state transcends all reference points and assertions
Yet from this expanse that concepts cannot experience
Conceptuality arises in great abundance!
This way of explaining genuine reality--
E ma! What a wonderful miracle! (14)
The completely false appearances that you see
Transcend both true and false in reality
But to stop you from thinking that they are true
You are taught that they are false
To halt this clinging to falsity, it is not explained that they have any reality
Liberation from true and false--E ma! What a wonderful miracle! (15)
Genuine reality's dharmakaya
Cannot be experienced by conceptual mind
But there is the way the sambhogakaya
Appears to the noble bodhisattvas
And to the various beings, the nirmanakaya
Appears in a watermoon's style
This way of explaining the three kayas--
E ma! What a wonderful miracle! (16)
We have so many thoughts that we are suffering
But this suffering is just like a dream!
And if you can recognize these thoughts' true nature
Suffering will be self-liberated as soon as it appears!
The ice so easily melting into water
Transformation explained like that--what a wonderful miracle! (17)
Though the wisdoms five and the kayas three
Are all explained individually
Like a sound's impermanence and composite nature
Kayas and wisdoms are really undifferentiable
This explanation of ultimate union--
E ma! What a wonderful miracle! (18)
Through great compassion, the Buddha's activity
Accomplishes the benefit of sentient beings
But the benefitted ones really don't exist at all
Completely falsely, benefit performed is as in a dream
This explanation of Buddha activity--
E ma! What a wonderful miracle! (19)
Pure and impure are just imaginary,
They do not exist in the expanse of equality
Equality's expanse encompasses absolutely everything
And nothing can ever move from it at all
This explanation of equality--
E ma! What a wonderful miracle! (20)
Why are these all so incredibly miraculous?
Genuine reality, true being, free of conceptuality
Appearances transcending truth and falsity
E ma! All phenomena are wonderful miracles!
When you grasp all of this
You realize Mahayana's profound meaning
When you grasp all of this
You are a worthy vessel for the Great Secret
When you grasp all of this
You help everyone in a natural way
So may all you fortunate ones
Realize this meaning well!
So was the casual talk of Dechen Rangdröl in the Garden of Translation, near the Great Stupa of Boudhanath, Nepal, on December 17 and 18, 1997. Translated by Ari Goldfied. Translation revised February 25, 1998.
Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 2:46 pm
Do the Russians love their children too?BlazingFist wrote:Do any of the "faithless" believe in a meaning to life?
Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 4:15 pm
You win @ lifeTricky wrote:Do the Russians love their children too?
I consider myself and atheist and very much believe there is a meaning if you want there to be one.
Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 7:17 pm
The Meaning of Life...from [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47P59ha9k9s&feature=related"]cradle[/url] to [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoBTsMJ4jNk"]grave[/url]... (slight language warning )
)Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 12:36 am
I founbd out the answer your all wrong! It's 23 not 42 everything revolves around that number look it up! It's amazing
Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 2:15 am
To eat, to have sex, and then to die.
As it has ever been.
As it has ever been.
Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 6:40 am
I don't think the question itself really means anything. At best, it's vague and fuzzy. At worst, it's simply not defined. Either way, it's a meaningless question.
I think you could find a few satisfactory answers if you asked more specific questions. But the questions you ask have a lot to do with you personally, so I don't know if we would be on the same wavelength.
I will say this, though: our outlook, perceptions, beliefs, and convictions are greatly affected by the chemical states of our brains. This makes objectivity difficult, if not impossible. In the end, we believe whatever "feels right" to us, and that sort of thing is subject to change. If you've ever taken drugs or received a big dose of hormones, you might understand what I mean. I'm not saying that it makes all truth inaccessible to us; but it does make it difficult for us to know whether our own beliefs are based on proof and logic or based on our feelings ("confirmed" only after the fact by evidence we selectively choose to accept).
I believe that much depends on whether we are acting rationally and making choices rather than simply "drifting" through life. If your life is "just a bunch of stuff that happened", how can it be meaningful? On the other hand, if you set goals, make choices, and act according to conscious intentions, I think it's much easier to ascribe some sort of meaning to your life.
For example, suppose you were born because your mother unexpectedly got pregnant without meaning to (or perhaps in a situation in which she was actually trying to avoid getting pregnant). That makes your entire existence "accidental", or perhaps a "biological inevitability". Leaving aside the question of whether a greater being such as God "willed" it to happen, you cannot point to a decision made by your mother and say, "I was brought into this world for a purpose."
On the other hand, let's suppose that your mother's pregnancy was planned and intentional. At the very least, there is one reason why you were born: your mother wanted you to be born. That really does mean something. It creates a responsibility on her part, and it means that at least at the beginning of your life, your purpose was to fulfill your mother's desire to have a child. Again, that really does mean something.
There are other ways to look at it, but at least that's a start.
I think you could find a few satisfactory answers if you asked more specific questions. But the questions you ask have a lot to do with you personally, so I don't know if we would be on the same wavelength.
I will say this, though: our outlook, perceptions, beliefs, and convictions are greatly affected by the chemical states of our brains. This makes objectivity difficult, if not impossible. In the end, we believe whatever "feels right" to us, and that sort of thing is subject to change. If you've ever taken drugs or received a big dose of hormones, you might understand what I mean. I'm not saying that it makes all truth inaccessible to us; but it does make it difficult for us to know whether our own beliefs are based on proof and logic or based on our feelings ("confirmed" only after the fact by evidence we selectively choose to accept).
I believe that much depends on whether we are acting rationally and making choices rather than simply "drifting" through life. If your life is "just a bunch of stuff that happened", how can it be meaningful? On the other hand, if you set goals, make choices, and act according to conscious intentions, I think it's much easier to ascribe some sort of meaning to your life.
For example, suppose you were born because your mother unexpectedly got pregnant without meaning to (or perhaps in a situation in which she was actually trying to avoid getting pregnant). That makes your entire existence "accidental", or perhaps a "biological inevitability". Leaving aside the question of whether a greater being such as God "willed" it to happen, you cannot point to a decision made by your mother and say, "I was brought into this world for a purpose."
On the other hand, let's suppose that your mother's pregnancy was planned and intentional. At the very least, there is one reason why you were born: your mother wanted you to be born. That really does mean something. It creates a responsibility on her part, and it means that at least at the beginning of your life, your purpose was to fulfill your mother's desire to have a child. Again, that really does mean something.
There are other ways to look at it, but at least that's a start.