Why Is It That You Live For?


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I read somewhere that "we are born to be happy and we live to make others happy" which is a nice sentiment
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EDIT: as I was bad and did a one liner I'll correct my mistake by expanding on this post
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I believe that that above thought is one that whilst I may not believe it per se I tend to find myself living.ie. Whilst I dont conciously follow it I personally find that when I am making others happy it renews my sense of purpose in life.
Life may or may not have any particular meaning or purpose but if that's the case we should all find our own reason I believe. For me on the whole I'm still searching for a definitive reason for my life but I know that the comments I have made previously on this thread have been and are true for me to varying degrees at different points in time.
We change as individuals all the time and sometimes our reasons for living change too in the end it is upto ourselves to decide whether we accomplished what we set out to do.
Does that make sense?
 
We live because we were born but no one asked for to be born but as a result we end up in a world with a mind set on surviving, for a starter. As we grow we face the harsh reality and the lack of will to work mindlessly going back and forth from job to home trying to get something to eat we begin to think if it's all really worth it and as a result of hard thinking we see no other reason to live than to have something to live "for", if this thing was to disappear how could we bear to continue to create our future? We would want to die if we found out that we lived for nothing but would we be able to commit suicide with all the religion sprutting at us via the media that there might just be a chance that there is something more to this world, or knowing that all the time our parents spent parenting us and loving us were for nothing in the harsh struggle of decisions we decide somewhere that we should probably not commit suicide, we therefor put up goals in life as "I want to be a great guitarrist" and the like but therefor we are weak.

Questions without an answer is the truth

A short version of a thought
 
Please be aware that the thoughtful section is not a place for idle chit chat. All points need to be supported. That doesn't mean they have to be supported by scientific facts you just need to explain the reasoning behind your opinions. As such, one-liners are generally frowned upon less you are clarifying on an earlier point. And I have seen none of that. Please keep the thoughtful section thoughtful and try and support your opinions! Any more posts of a similar nature will be deleted as they will be considered spam. Please read the rules before posting.

EDIT - Great work expanding your posts!
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That's much better! I thank you al for taking the time to edit your posts, good job!
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i don't know....

what certain about life is its uncertainties and death that await us all in the end, and
they say death is what make us want our lives to be meaningful.

but for me, i don't think i have something to live for, but I'm alive, right here, right now
soo..... i,ll try not to think about it and just live my life to the fullest, and maybe someday I'll find it!
if death doesnt pick me before then, however.
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i had posted in this thread before and i'd previously said something along the lines of "we live for other's expectations on us" but i think now that is no longer true for me - i live for the future and what it will hold for me. I am optimistic that life would get better and better and that is what i live for.

Everyone has different reasons for living, but the bottom line is, for whatever reason, we're alive and we can choose to make the best of it by doing everything we can that we think will fullfil our lives or simply mope in cirumstances that life gives to us. This is particularly hard hitting for me cuz i have someone i know who isnt doing anything but simply accepting. There are somethings we cannot avoid or change in life (taxes and death) but there are other things we can do, and it is the choices in our lives that makes living worthwhile.

A sad life would be to live in regret. When we live in regret we dont see the present or future because we're always in the past.
 
What is the Chief end of Man?

A. The Chief end of Man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.

In the book of James it says faith without works is dead, so works without faith are pretty good, and faith and works are great.

So, "To live for someone else, let this moment count for everything." OP of Disillusion--Fate/Stay Night fansub, it's different in the official Geneon translation.

What is the greatest commandment.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind, and Love your Neighbor as yourself.
to which the question was asked who is my neighbor? Answer, everyone.

I know it's hard to treat everyone with the respect we ourselves wish to earn from everyone else, heck, I have failed to do this many times, but I think to love your neighbor as yourself is a goal for life.

Just because I can't do something now, doesn't mean I should stop trying, otherwise I will never grow to my greatest potential.
 
I feel as if I'm here to talk to people. Like, have deep and detailed conversations with those of us that seek knowledge.

Kinda like a prophet in modern times, or something like that.

Mostly I just want to get out there and see the world.
 
Augh! This thread asks such a great question! Most people, at least that I've met, really don't give it much though. (and who can blame them, it can get pretty dang depressing to dwell on it). Really though, it's one of the most important, if not, the most important question anyone can answer for themselves.

Back when I was a strict-and-devout Christian dude, the answer really wasn't all that interesting. "I live to do what God tells me to do! And beyond this life, well, I'm not allowed to know about that". But having left the religious scene, the question became a much more interesting one.

If you take a non-theistic, or even deistic ( Meaning, you believe that some form of greater intelligence "got things started", but doesn't play an active role in our lives ) view of the world, then you have to admit to yourself that ultimately, there really is no innate meaning to life. Life happens, and we just happened to have the lousy luck of realizing it. Well, that's one way of looking at it. The way I see it, the idea that there is no intrinsic meaning to life is the ultimate form of freedom; it means at the very core of our being, we have no commitments, no responsibilities, and nothing to take for granted.

Given these constraints (or lack thereof), many people say that the meaning in their lives is to experience happiness, to help others achieve happiness, to be liked... things like that. Sure, there's no intrinsic value to any of those things, but it sure makes living a helluva lot more tolerable, which raises an interesting point, because there are really 2 things that determine what makes someone happy (and I use these terms broadly), their biological and their cultural needs. Neither of these things has anything to do with the universe, nor pertains to any greater truth, if any such thing really exists.

Therefore, my reason for being really comes down to two things. Firstly, the more I learn about the world around me through science, art, and hardcore deliberation, the more I appreciate the mysteries in the universe. It's absolutely amazing how far we as a species has come in learning about it, and yet how ridiculously little we actually understand. That's why (taking a queue from Einstein), it is truly worthwhile to learn and experience things that simply make you stand in awe. Its those experiences that put us that much closer to realizing the weave that holds our world together. And secondly, I've found, given life's intrinsic uncertainties, it's absolutely vital to admit to, and even embrace these uncertainties, and the best way of doing that is to share your uncertainties with others, and to share theirs as well. If there is truly on thing that binds us with our fellow man, even to the whole of creation, is is this unbearable state of not knowing. To share this is to truly become one with our world, and becomes the only way to fill that void of uncertainty. ( Well, the only way to fill it without making up some fairytale to get us through the day. )


And for those of you who think that the best answers to this question are also the shortest ones, my answer can be condensed into 1 word, "LOVE!"
 
I have to agree with you there Eggy-san. We have larnt so much about our universe that it makes some of us feel proud, then we realise that we don't actually know much and what we do know we don;t fully understand. A philospher once said that the sentence "The universe is" is completely meaningless as it's just an exercise in grammar
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I still maintain that these days that life probably doesn;t have any intrinsic meaning so it is probably a good idea for me to find my own meaning and I live in the hope of finding out what that meaning is, really if anybody knows could you tell me?
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Mind you there may come a time when once I find out what the meaning of my life is I'll also discover it doesn;t matter anymore
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However, as is written by some very ancient and intelligent guys "The fool who knows he is a fool is further on the road to enlightenment than many of the wisest men"
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Does the meaning of life really matter? It's not like it's going to change anything. Sure it can give the cattle something to chew on during their miserable life, but if it is connected to the existence of a superior power, the only thing able to give meaning, then it's impossible to even try and get there.

I don't want to believe that we all suffer for nothing but wallowing is meaning is only a anti-depressive for desperation.

It's obvious that we can all choose to believe in something just to give us a push than facing reality.
 
First of all, I am an atheist. I do not believe that a God sent us here, and therefore I don't think there is any predesigned meaning to life itself. To overly simplify the matter, I'd say that "life just happened". A seemingly infinite row of seemingly impossibly unrealistic events lead to the seemingly even more unrealistic occurrence of life.

Even so, it does not bother me that life has no purpose. I am probably stealing some of Richard Dawkins' words when I say that I am rather relieved that I don't have anything to live up to. That means I can do whatever I want with my life.

And that's when it boils down to the personal plane. To me, the thread's title also seems directed towards the personal. Answers like "love", "family" and other core values seem plausible. The one answer that is most dominating in my head right now, must be "because I have no reason not to". I enjoy life, and even if it has its sorrows, it seems worth it. After all, nothing is more scary than nothing.

All that said, however, I don't really think about it a lot. I believe that as long as you don't feel like you need an answer, you're fine. I don't need an answer right now, maybe I never will. That is why my answer isn't finite, and I am rather open-minded on what new answers future will bring.
 
Of course I have things I live for.
But it is also only natural for me to give up on some of those things.

But it is obvious that there is no general goal everyone has.
It is more that funny, when people ask me why I waste my time, but how should they know, I waste my time?
It is their view. If they would be me they would feel that way, but they are not I, I am I. And I don't think I waste my time, so do I waste it? No.

And as I am not the least bit religious, I have fun doing the things I want to do.
 
I am alive beacause at somepoint My parents decied it's there turn to keep our race going, I am the product of a sperm and egg meting, deviding, and creating me. I am here to do as fallows: Forward the human race, Spread my seed, add diversity to our population. As to continute to breed.
 
Rather thinking about the reason for my existence I prefer to focus on my purpose, goals and whatever I want to do during my existence. At the moment to me that is becoming someone who can protect and provide for my family including my parents, along with becoming a presence who can fill the void of my passed brothers.
 
In the ultimate scheme of things there is no true meaning to life. We spend our entire lives caught up in frivolity, motivated by the emotional significance we attach to events. Eventually we will all die, and most likely become nothing. But to answer the question, I believe we all live to obtain power, in one form or another.
 
QUOTE (REYOMA @ Jan 15 2007, 07:04 AM) I actually can't say cuase i really don't know.This is making me think hard and i'm not that brainy do not like stressing my head so currently i have no idea but when i do i'll post hear.
I agree totally I dont know why im here or what I live for all I know is what I wanna do and how im going to achieve it during my time on earth.
 
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