Are you LIVING or merely Existing?

Question

danksp... i was not talking about E.T.

Living and mere existence are two separate things. Living is consciously deciding to live a life that is proper of man with his given capabilities and acting upon his values. while mere existence is just that...you exist because you were brought into this world. you had no choice in it. so you merely exist and keep death at bay but death is your motive for living.

Answer 1

in CHINA people are struggling for existing,it is difficulty to be alive as a farmer here,when you are able to be alive,then you can be living!the people who ask the meaning of the life may be painful,because there is no aims in life.I think one should grasp the moment !that's the most important thing!
is there anybody agree with me?

Answer 2

If you look at the night sky, with all those stars, and constellations, with millions more you can't even see, and you can still tell me we are the only intelligent life form in the universe, well... that is beyond stupidity...
So the question is How did we get here? What if we are just some tiny science experiment from a college student alien two or three galaxies away that is studying the making of life and human organisms.
Or maybe, an alien race was going extinct, so they infected a bunch of apes millions of years ago with a humanoid DNA to make an alternate race.
You can not know if you are living or existing until you know who you are, and how you got here.
I am LIVING, because I am thinking

Answer 3

Let me suggest to you that your question involves an error.

You are making an error called 'reification' - you are reifying a metaphor.

What this means, in your case, is that you are taking the metaphor "someone who doesn't do X is not alive but merely existing" and treating it literally instead of as it was originally intended to be taken (as a metaphor conveying a moral lesson).

While we are alive we are all living. You may have a philosophical stance on what living life should involve - and there's nothing wrong with expressing that stance - but it's a mistake to express your stance as if it is a literal truth about all our lives.

The people you see as 'merely existing' may not see themselves that way at all. They may be doing the best they can under circumstances of which you are unaware. No doubt there is room for improvement in all our lives, but keep in mind that a lesson about what counts as 'living' is a moral stance, not a literal truth.

I refer you to pretty boy's answer.

Answer 4

Hmmm...This question really made me sit quietly for a few moments and ponder my current life...I would have to say that I am living my life, because I am consciously making choices which will affect my future. I am also making these choices based on my own inner voice. In the past I lived my life according to what other people thought was best for me, and bitterness and regret began to build up. Then in 2002 to be exact, I handed in my resignation without notice, for a very well-paid, secure job, and decided against other people's advice, to change the course of my life. Up to that point I was existing, letting the waves of other people's ideas drift me to and fro, and I felt I was beginning to drown.

Your inner voice will become stronger with age and maturity. This is the cool part about getting older.

Answer 5

Merely existing for the next hour, then I'm off work and might be able to get some real living in.

Answer 6

Merely existing some days and others im really genuinely living

Answer 7

I have been in existence for just over 19 years and every now and then I live a little.

Answer 8

I am merely existing because I have a hard time looking at myself in the mirror. I go to church and pray a lot and then I won't cry about the way I look.

Answer 9

Right now, Im merely existing, though that is about to change pretty soon...I have decided that life is too short to do that...

Answer 10

I am trying to live but feel like I only exist. Don't find much meaning in what I do.