As a Christian, I am told that the meaning of life is God.. to praise, worship, and uplift him, but isn't that a little conceited? I'm also told that God made us for company.. but sn't that selfish? is god really that vain?
or is it love? is that the meaning?
Today my brother quoted something to me "I think therefore I am" but really? is that all.. the meaning is to think? isn't that a waste of life? I can think for days on end and it seems as though not even an hour has passed, and sometimes one hour of thoughts take decades to precess... what is it?
Does life even have a meaning?
I'm so confused
2007-05-23 16:16:30 · 23 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
What is life without a purpose? how can it not have one? is that really LIVING if you have no purpose?
and who IS GOD anyways?
2007-05-23 16:37:20 · update #1
42
2007-05-23 16:19:33 · answer #1 · answered by methamphetamine_symposium 3 · 1⤊ 3⤋
The purpose of life is making choices -- to believe in God or not, to have a family or not, to do anything a career, study, education. The definite purpose of life is making CHOICES that are correct for you, your beliefs and a goal you see you want to obtain.
Each choice you make leads to an action, each action carries you further into your life. So choose wisely, make decisions that are RIGHT for you and how YOU feel.
I Iive therefore I am -- makes a statement of the here and now. But what happens after the here and now? I believe as a Christian and having accepted Jesus into my heart, that each choice brings me joy and happiness -- each day brings me the beauty around.
Life is daily living, from birth to death - the dash between on the tombstone. Life is being, enjoying, feeling, loving, hating. Life is emotional, depressing, joyous.
Life with God and Jesus in your life is the most rewarding type of living. Even with sadness, death, pain, illness, injury, having faith makes the journey from birth to death a joyous event.
Life without God and Jesus, to me, would be extremely strange, hard, with no where to turn except to myself, and since I don't have all the answers, I would be in trouble.
Life is happy, hard sometimes at the same time. Life is sharing and taking, giving and receiving. Life encompasses every aspect of what surrounds each person on this earth, and how the interaction happens.
Life is worth living fully, taking risks, and having faith.
2007-05-23 16:29:52 · answer #2 · answered by Kris 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That's a really good question - a fundamental one that thinkers around the world have been mulling for ages.
If you can find the answer on Yahoo!, please let me know!
Your brother's quote from Descartes, does not indicate that thinking is the reason for living, merely that is an indication of being alive.
Many philosophers have pondered the idea that as humans we have no proof absolute of existing, of really being here. Maybe you saw the movie "Matrix". It touched on that idea. The plugged-in, battery humans perceived themselves as living life, but it was merely their perception. Descartes was dealing with the same matter: how do we know we are really here, and not merely a product of our imaginations? His solution was that the ability to think independently was evidence of being an independent being - of existing in his own right.
That is a different subject to the one you asked about, but in the "Matrix" case you could say that the meaning of battery life was to provide the energy to sustain the matrix. In Christian life, the meaning is to feed the church. If you believe what the church tells you all the time, you are going to find it very difficult to come to any rational understanding of life, or to find your own meaning in life. Other religions, and other philosophers all have their different answers. Sometimes they come in the form of more questions, which point you in the direction to find your own answers.
If you want to know the meaning of life,
I would suggest that you read the sacred texts of all the world religions, that you live your life in the way that seems right to you (this will change as your understanding of the world changes), that you practice meditation, love and keeping in good health.
If you apply yourself you may find the answer that you are looking for, if it's not the right answer, maybe it is still a good answer for you.
2007-05-23 16:42:37 · answer #3 · answered by kurobushi 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I get that feeling a lot, that God is kind of conceited, then feel bad for it afterwards because we're not supposed to doubt him. I guess life is all a matter of instinct, like beavers building dams or butterflies migrating. Even though, I don't think humans were built with much instinct to do anything but reproduce... I guess. I hear in church all the time that God has this big plan for us, and all we need to do is take the next step. We're just supposed to listen to him. I find that kind of hard, though. I've never ever had any sort of mutual interaction with him.
2007-05-23 16:27:34 · answer #4 · answered by Rachael C. 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think life has meaning, especially to those you care about and those who care about you. I feel that's why so many strive to make a "mark" of sorts.
I think the problems with life and death stem from lack of control and tangibility factors. Yeah, yeah - we have choices and sometimes we make really dumb ones, but what am I going to be remembered for when I'm gone?
Everyone's purpose is different (yeah, I know - YAWN answer), but I do feel that there is a random pattern when it comes to existence. I mean, why wasn't I born 100 years ago? Why now?
I think the issue with Philosophy is that there are more rhetorical questions than firm answers, and most want the black and white, seeing is believing stuff.
Life does have meaning; yours!
(How Nickelodeon was that last sentence?)
None of what I said truly answers your question - or does it?
2007-05-23 16:41:43 · answer #5 · answered by Done 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
"I think therefore I am" is not the meaning of life, it's a crappy way for Desscartes to start an argument for the existence of the self.
There is no meaning of life. Life is here to recycle the free energy at the surface of the earth
If you look at the history of the earth and the fact that we had at least 5 major die-offs, one of which destroyed 90% of all life on earth. If the asteroid hadn't hit 65 million years ago (causing the 5th die-off) humans would not be here.
How can anyone look at that and think that life has some meaning or purpose? The universe simply doesn't care if all life on the planet were to be wiped out tomorrow.
Think of what life was like for humans for the period from 40,000 years ago to 5,000 years ago. Then think of what it was like from 5,000 -200 years ago. Humans lived for an average of 30 years. 30 YEARS!! Only in the past 200 years has it consistently been raised in 1st world countries to over 70 years. We are simply not designed for this modern life. We are designed to fight for survival for a short period and then die.
2007-05-23 16:21:26 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Okay, I'll start with your questions about God. Vanity is not a concept that can apply to God. Vanity is entirely human, and God is hardly human. The fact is, God can't think that anyone is better than him, because God is all. I know that's sort of far out, but just accept that human terms cannot be applied to God.
As for "I think, therefore I am," that quote has nothing to do with any meaning of life. It's simply saying that the defining characteristic of human life is the ability to think. If you cannot think, you are not alive.
Now that those issues have been addressed, I'll give you my own opinion. Personally, I think that life's meaning is not for us to know. We CAN'T know it. Because of this, it's far more important to spend time searching for your own personal meaning rather than one meaning that addresses all people. Perhaps that meaning of life is to discover your meaning. If you understand your meaning, your life is just about as full as it can be. After all, doesn't anxiety stem from the unknown?
2007-05-23 16:32:24 · answer #7 · answered by bezi_cat 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's easy to get confused about this topic because we learn so many different things that seem to apply. Service to God, raising a family, happiness, peace of mind, helping our fellow man....Personally I think the meaning of life is whatever gives you meaning in a deep and personal sense. If that's all the above then great and if it's something different then that's great too. I don't think it's a question that has right and wrong answers. That's my two cents anyways.
2007-05-23 16:27:16 · answer #8 · answered by theanswerman 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Many people can say that life is a struggle;for me, I would say that life is a struggle, but there ways of handling these situations and these situations will work in your favour, and at the end of the day you would have the situation and you will enjoy your life and also God will be glorified at the end.
Because God is always looking over us making sure that nothing goes wrong with us. All we just have to do is have faith in him and everything in life will go smoothly or peachy.
2007-05-31 04:23:33 · answer #9 · answered by temitopeowosela 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You are not far from the truth. Jesus understood. His life was a life of defining truth, practicing love and finding beauty in the cross.
Life does have meaning. Every prayer counts. Everything you do counts. Every word you utter matters. Even every thought that enters your minds leaves an eternal mark. Your soul is the product of everything you do, say and think.
Therefore the meaning of life is found in the care and nurturing of your soul. Do not blemish your soul with things that are negative. Rather, seek truth, practice love and relish everything in this world that is beautiful. In doing so you shall find an enlightenment that comes from God.
2007-05-29 12:56:58 · answer #10 · answered by Dr. D 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The meaning of life is different for everyone. It seems like it stinks that there's no one answer for everyone, but think about how boring it would be if everyone knew everything about themselves and why they were here. I don't know if you watch it, but that's why Heroes is such an awesome show, lol, they all have a vague inkling of what they are meant to do, to save the world, but each of them play a different part, have different goals ahead of them.
In my opinion, the vague inkling of everyone SHOULD be to love and that everyone is just given different ways to show and do that. As a Christian myself, I know that God is love. So it only makes sense that if i want to fulfill my meaning in life, I've got to have God, Love, with me. I don't know exactly what I'm here for, but I know that if I have Love in me, and I share my love with others, life will be worth living.
I hope this has helped!
Kellie
2007-05-23 16:34:05 · answer #11 · answered by kellie 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋