To be or not to be?

Answer 1

Indeed. From H. G. Wells' film, "Things to Come":

[Cabal and Passworthy are observing the launch of a moon rocket through a reflecting telescope.]
Cabal watches the mirror intently, then cries to Passworthy:
"There they go! That faint gleam of light."
"I feel that what we've done is monstrous."
"What we've done is magnificent."
"Will they come back?"
"Yes. And go again and again, until a landing is made and the moon is conquered. This is only a beginning."
"If they don't come back--my son and your daughter--what of that, Cabal?"
"Then, presently, others will go."
"Oh, God, is there never to be an age of happiness? Is there never to be any rest?"
"Rest enough for the individual man--too much, and too soon, and we call it Death. But for Man no rest and no ending. He must go on, conquest beyond conquest. First this little planet with its winds and ways, and then all the laws of mind and matter that restrain him. Then the planets about him, and at last out across immensity to the stars. And when he has conquered all the deeps of space and all the mysteries of time, still he will be beginning."
"But...we're such little creatures. Poor humanity's so fragile, so weak. Little...little animals."
"Little animals. If we're no more than animals we must snatch each little scrap of happiness and live and suffer and pass, mattering no more than all the other animals do or have done."
Cabal points to the image of space in the mirror. "It is this--or that: all the universe or nothingness. Which shall it be, Passworthy? Which shall it be?"

Answer 2

80% of humanity, the religious folks, don't need to ask the meaning of life, the church tells them....the supernatural explanation. But the rest of us can't swallow religious dogma, because there's no evidence. Nobody can prove that there life after death, that people are tortured or rewarded after life or that there's invisible spirits running around.

I've come to two conclusions recently:

1. Life has no meaning
2. Life has a million meanings.

First, there's a certainty that death and annihilation awaits not only you, but the Earth in general. It's an astonomical certainty that our sun will supernova and leave the earth a burnt crisp, not to mention all the other extinction level events around the corner.

Second, the million things that give us meaning are the pleasurable experiences we can conjure up during the short period we are here on the earth, in the form of the relationships we have with our kids and other people, and the 'housekeeping' types of purposes. What i mean by that are the curing disease, ending hunger, improving literacy, reducing crime, preventing war, helping other kinds of things.

So the bottom line is, we only have a temporary meaning to life, to reduce pain and increase pleasure, other than that everything is lost to oblivion.


To be or not to be? "To be" is temporary and "not to be" is inevitable.....

Answer 3

Both, I'm afraid. That's a very broad question. The response to your question would depend upon the answerer's perspective. :)

Answer 4

one has to find the self . be come his Being , there is no choice of Not To Be.. if one fails To Be.. he will feel misery of life and sucide will haunt .. this is one way tunnel.. God has created for humans and they have To Be..

Answer 5

only one of those choices actually puts you in a position to ask the question. i'll stick with that one, for as long as i can.

Answer 6

What
is the question

Answer 7

I know, the big question of life.

Answer 8

That is the question!

Well, yours, of course.

Answer 9

In human terms, "...the question 'to be or not to be' is the question 'to think or not to think.'" [Ayn Rand]

Answer 10

Is only up to me.