The reason for living?

[Oxide]

This question had been dawning me for the last couple months. I get caught up in the petty bullshiit and, when stepping back and looking at the big picture, I ask myself "What for?"

Why did I go out and try to get girls tonight? Why did I flirt, dance, touched their freshly shaven legs and vaginas that were barely covered by a common towel.

Why did I ask my friend how he would go about making 10,000$ if he had to do it right now. Why did we start dreaming about nice cars, nice condos...

Why am I going to school, why do I want to have a good job, why do I want to buy nice things and impress girls with shiny stuff?


Take the most powerful person in the world. I will use Bush as an example here. If Bush was to die today, in a hundered years, nobody would care. Nobody is really going to care after you and I die either. This Earth had been around for millions of years, and nobody can affect it so much that.... that it would matter for something.

Blow up London... set NYC on fire... nuke Vegas... who cares? We are miniscule creatures that are so busy in our daily lives that we do not know what it is we are actually living for.

Look up at the sky, see the stars... what is the reason? What is out there? WHY ARE WE ALIVE? Why has this process of having kids and passing on genes lasted so long.. what are we going towards?

What is a person making 40k and living in the suburbs doing... why is he going to work every day? Why does he keep trying to make more money and get more things or get more... happiness?

It is the moments that we feel good in that make this life? My time spent with my dog, friends, some girls, parents... but all of those do not answer the question.



Some people rely on religion... I am an atheist and for me this stuff is very very depressing. My mother believes you are reincarnated in the next life to make up for the mistakes you made in this one. I believe you rot in the ground... but the question is out there.. and it plagues me deep inside - What is all this for?

 

[Mandiblard]

What keeps me going is that I support the advancement of the human race and what kind of world my kids and grandkids will be living in, making that the best world I possibly can for them. Why? So that I know they can be happy like I am, and that happyness wont die when I die. What is happy? It can be anything from laughing at a joke to sex. If you question these moments, then you're not living life.

 

[wolf116]

no one will care if Bush dies today

 

[PleasureKing]

i dont know if i should be telling you this, but the point of life is very simple. its so simple, its in the sentence. the point of life is to live! that is the reason. to live, and evolve. it is in ones nature to progress. maybe we are programmed as animals to be like this because there is something waiting for us after death? ever think about that?

 

[wolf116]

have you ever considered that there is no reason for life. That it is just a big coinsidence.

Something falls from the 5th dimention and bang. energy starts joining together. after billions of years the right combination came up and now we have the first cell to start evolving. to me humans are no more special than that first cell that split in half to make another.We are a decendent of this first organisum to reproduce, that is y it is our goal to reproduce. Except that we have evolved with a brain. This way we have more chance to reproduce and after that we can look after our young or the world which our species live.

Just do whatever it really dosen't matter. if you like being happy. go do that. Money and women are good for survival and reproducing, go get them if you want.

soon it will all be gone. the world will colapse under gravity.

But where did all the rules come from? Like that two masses are drawn together. a -tve and a +tve charge are drawn together, nothing can exceede the speed of light(y is it not half the speed of light).

I bet u there is some god like nerd that made all them rules up on his supper computer and we are just in his simulation so that he has some friends to play with. We just don't know what he wrote in his compuetet about what happins when we die. maybe he rot in the grond, maybe we go to the 5th dimention.

Thats what I used to think about anyway. Now I know there is nothing I can do about it. And I will never know 4 sure. So I just live and maybe I'll reproduce.

ps. hope you can read it. I have shocking english skills. Dyslexic you see.

 

[Falcon]

There is one thing I learned from this website that dramatically changed my life, and that is keep the focus on yourself. That sentence is so important to everything. You have to be genuine with yourself.

Why did I go out and try to get girls tonight? Why did I flirt, dance, touched their freshly shaven legs and vaginas that were barely covered by a common towel.

Why did I ask my friend how he would go about making 10,000$ if he had to do it right now. Why did we start dreaming about nice cars, nice condos...

Why am I going to school, why do I want to have a good job, why do I want to buy nice things and impress girls with shiny stuff?

The answer to most of these questions is because you chose to.

Take the most powerful person in the world. I will use Bush as an example here. If Bush was to die today, in a hundered years, nobody would care. Nobody is really going to care after you and I die either. This Earth had been around for millions of years, and nobody can affect it so much that.... that it would matter for something.

Blow up London... set NYC on fire... nuke Vegas... who cares? We are miniscule creatures that are so busy in our daily lives that we do not know what it is we are actually living for.

This is where setting the focus on yourself is so important. Why do you care so much if people will remember you if you die? Why are you letting other people defining the 'value' of your life. I say do whatever you want, who cares if people remember it, or if it will have some huge effect on the world. The value of life is defined by if you are doing what you want to do. Don't you realize it? The only thing you really have in life is yourself. You are the only constant in your life. That is why you must do things that you want to do. People who are doing what other people or society told them to do are the ones that have a low quality life.

Look up at the sky, see the stars... what is the reason? What is out there? WHY ARE WE ALIVE? Why has this process of having kids and passing on genes lasted so long.. what are we going towards?

Unless you are into science (hey maybe it's one of your passions), you should not be asking this question. It is like the mind trying to transcend life itself. You are not larger than life.

What is a person making 40k and living in the suburbs doing... why is he going to work every day? Why does he keep trying to make more money and get more things or get more... happiness?

It should be none of your concern and has no bearing on your life. Remember, keep the focus on yourself.

It is the moments that we feel good in that make this life? My time spent with my dog, friends, some girls, parents... but all of those do not answer the question.

The question is if you are doing what you want to be doing. Which leads to the real question. Are you doing what you want in life right now? I feel maybe you don't know what you want, hence why you really ask these questions.

Some people rely on religion... I am an atheist and for me this stuff is very very depressing. My mother believes you are reincarnated in the next life to make up for the mistakes you made in this one. I believe you rot in the ground... but the question is out there.. and it plagues me deep inside - What is all this for?

It is simply for yourself. To tell you the truth, I think there is only one thing you seek, and that is yourself. Remember when you were a kid? You had all of these dreams of what you wanted to do when you grew up. Or what places you wanted to see. What happened? You were being yourself then, but at some point you lost it. Did you let other people kill your dreams? I believe the struggle you are really having is that you are trying to find yourself, which is what life is ultimately- yourself. Just keep the focus on yourself and you'll be fine.

 

[spider_007]

why am i alive???

because it's better then the alternitive.

 

[insanity]

your obviously not living your life on the edge. ever get chased down the street by a bunch of your enemies who are trying to kick the crap out of you. if you escape, it is quite the rush. ever flip your car off the road and while she was in mid flip you thought you were dead but you escaped to see another day. life is full of possibilities.

when you first wake up you have control to do whatever the hell you want. if your married you could go out and have an affair and life the life of the adulter. if your low and desperate for cash, you could rob a store and live the life of crime. if your good looking you could get a modelling contract and live the life as a sexy beast/playboy. most people are depressed because they are on the rails of life and think they can't get off.

i woke up with a smile on my face today because my woman gave my one hell of a hummer before i had time to open my eyes. next i'm going to fire up xbox live and play some gears of war. than tonite i'm going to grab some beer and head out and party with my woman then come home and ride all night.

tommorrow....who knows what kind of adaventure lies around the corner.
i'm athiest too and i love life.

 

[Oxide]

I see what you guys are saying... but nobody really touched the point:

Who cares that we are evolving, that you want your kids to have a good life? Your kids will die as will their kids and the kids after. Your xbox will be replaced by something better, your girl by a better girl. EVERYONE reading this will be dead within 100 years. Everyone. Doesn't this make you wonder why you live?

Look at it this way - imagine life as a huge simulation game. You are the gamemaster, and you look at all these people driving cars/going to work/relaxing.. but what is the goal of the game? To overpopulate the planet and see what happens when we go to space?

People say be yourself. People say go change the world. But what is world? Is there a reason for anything to exist? What is the point, if everything has a time schedule... what is the next step?

 

[Vulpine]

My reason for living is to make as many different people as possible smell my farts and never determine exactly who "dealt it."

 

[Docs]

Everything exists to interact with everything else. For better, or worse, benefit or destruction, it doesn't matter. That is why we're alive. To interact with other living creatures. RULES are developed to PROMOTE GOOD INTERACTION, interaction condusive to relationships, laws, good will, and the knowledge that indeed one's conscience has been trained to also promote good interaction. That gives birth to society, and the world you live in today, created by the promotion of good interaction.

The only reason we promote good interaction instead of bad interaction is because we used to be part of bad interaction, fending for ourselves or in small wolf packs. Where did that get us? A never-ending cycle of destruction, and NON-ADVANCEMENT.

If the world wasn't controlled, we would never advance to roads, cars, computers, nightclubs, steel, processed chittos and the like, because we would be constantly trying to destory each other. Right?

So, again, we are here to interact, but we live in a society where good interaction with others is well liked, and bad interaction leads to confinement with other bad interacting people, or places where bad interaction has yet to be controlled (or deserted islands, places in the middle of nowhere, etc).

 

[Taviii]

Dinamo Bucuresti

 

[Falcon]

I see what you guys are saying... but nobody really touched the point:

Who cares that we are evolving, that you want your kids to have a good life? Your kids will die as will their kids and the kids after. Your xbox will be replaced by something better, your girl by a better girl. EVERYONE reading this will be dead within 100 years. Everyone. Doesn't this make you wonder why you live?

Look at it this way - imagine life as a huge simulation game. You are the gamemaster, and you look at all these people driving cars/going to work/relaxing.. but what is the goal of the game? To overpopulate the planet and see what happens when we go to space?

People say be yourself. People say go change the world. But what is world? Is there a reason for anything to exist? What is the point, if everything has a time schedule... what is the next step?

Oxide,

I don't think anyone can touch the point on this question. It is outside the bounds of the mind. You are trying to know everything about the universe. Infinite knowledge. Unless you are a scientist, there is no point in asking this question. It is like you are seeking to be immortal. Believe me, if you spend all your time searching for an answer, you'll end up being lonely and with no answers. Instead, I am trying to steer you in the right direction. When I think about the past, all the bloody wars, plagues, depression, I get a sense that people really valued their lives. They knew they had a limited amount of time and tried to live their lives the best they could. What more could you ask for? Chances are, you do not live in the same dangers as some people do in this world. Realize that they would give anything to have your life, so they could be given a chance to live their dreams and to pursue what they want to do. You on the other hand, have opportunity on your side. But what do you decide to do with it? Waste it away by arguing that life is pointless. It just isn't worth it.

 

[ChrizZ]

The reason for living?

There is no real answer to that. Mankind always wants to progress and "get smarter", but for what reason? In what way is creating new weapons, making better computers, making better planes, etc. helping us? We always tend to think everything has to have a purpose, but that´s wrong. We are looking for answers, but we´re not asking the right questions. To my mind the reason for living doesn´t matter. The only thing that matters is to find out what you want in life and try your best to achieve it. If you do that, you´ll find out the reason why you are living.

 

[Oxide]

Who says that excelling in school and your job to get wealthy and famous is not wasting your life?

Who says that sitting on the beach and doing supermodels all day is not wasting your life?

It is not about living your life to the full potential. It isn't about helping others, it isn't about making this world better or worse.

It is like we come for our turn in the rollercoaster ride. We strap ourselves in and ride for 70 years or so. Then we get off, and those after us get in and keep riding. But nobody tells us why we are doing it, and why that rollercoaster even exists.


To solve the question we can try going from the opposite way by answering this question:

What does count as an accomplishment good enough to matter?

Creating a major imporvement for the masses to keep the numbers up - profilactics, cure for aids and cancers. Developing unlimited food and energy supplies.

But all that pales to the accomplishment of exploring deep space and finding what else is out there

But even then... with the land filled with healthy people, without any disease, poverty or despair, with peacful aliens living among us... what is the purpose? What are we (as a species) live for?

The ability to ask that question alone is what separates us from animals.

 

[Vulpine]

The ability to ask that question alone is what separates us from animals.

I forgot to mention that I make animals smell my farts too, but they are half the points because they don't care who dealt it.

The ability to ask "who farted?" separates us from animals, see?

 

[Docs]

Man...I have these mental images that I put a lot of effort into a post, and it gets ignored. God damn. -_-

 

[ChrizZ]

There is no answer to that.

It´s the same as asking if the glass of water is half full or half empty.

 

[6-heads lewis]

why am i alive???

because it's better then the alternitive.

How do you know?

If death is simply a loss of consciousness, then it is easily the best choice. It humors me when someone says 'dont die with regret'. Dont worry I wont, its not possible.

You can say 'well you wont be able to experience pleasure', but if you have no understanding of pleasure, it doesnt matter.

Pain is a more damaging emotion than pleasure is uplifting. 1 bad situation in an otherwise neutral or pleasant day is what you will likely focus on. When you feel your toe pinching in your shoe, you dont say 'man im so glad 99.9% of my body is healthy'. You become traumitized by the one time you were robbed in the subway and label it dangerous, even though you rode it every day for the past 10 years without any problems.

Given the option, a high number of people would choose to be in the state before birth - nothingness - over there current existence. And why not? You dont experience the pleasure of sex or love, but you also dont have to deal with the 90% of the time that youre failing in your search for sex and love. And there are lots of ugly and lonely people out there who wear smiling masks but are miserable. In all likelihood you will join the ranks.

Even if you are blessed, you do not understand the pain of those who arent, and therefore do not appreciate your blessing. This is why many rich and attractive people are unhappy - while they dont deal with the loneliess and poverty of the mutant army, they simply exchange basic problems for advanced problems. Now they deal with work stress, relationship strife, family dysfunction, etc. Being 'grateful' is rare, since it requires being on both sides of the fence.

I suspect what holds most people back from suicide is psychotic self-delusion (psychology texts will tell you that 'normal' people are irrational and overestimate their future prospects and ability to create that future), or for the smarter ones of the group, not wanting to hurt those around us.

If I was convinced death simply meant nothingness, I would take it in a heartbeat were it not for my family. I highly doubt I am alone in this stance.

The best solution ive found is this: keep busy. Im from Serbia, where people are actually far more content than they are here. Why? they dont have time to wallow in their patheticness. They dont know where there next meal is coming from ,they work 12hrs/day in terrible jobs, and fear their neighbours are going to rob their house tonight. And they each have 5 kids to feed (for some reason, poor people reproduce more than rich people). Surviving the day is a victory in itself.

 

[Vulpine]

Man...I have these mental images that I put a lot of effort into a post, and it gets ignored. God damn. -_-

I understood your post, but I don't like the idea that I'll get stuck on an island smelling other people's farts and not be able to determine who's the one cutting the cheese.

Besides, my farts smell good and I'm doing everyone a favor by sharing the love.