The fullfillment of the purpose of one's nature in accord with virtue is the meaning of life.
2007-09-16 04:25:59
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answer #1
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answered by Timaeus 6
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My life is a constant work in progress. I try to find that line of balance and happiness. I do live a life of work, family, friends, and community service. Most of my life has been dedicated to raising two healthy, mentally and physically balanced people who will be a credit to the world instead of a problem. Since they have left and now are out on their own I have pursued my passions, reading , writing, art and music.
Oh and yes I do practice my beliefs. I don't think there is any great mystery to living well and pursuing your individual meaning of life. It is different for everyone. For me, happy, simple and balanced is good. To treat everyone and their ideas with respect and try to harm no one with my own agenda.
2007-09-16 11:29:14
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answer #2
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answered by ladyhawk8141 5
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Asianbarbie... I think the first thing you MIGHT find is that most of the people on the "philosophy" page don't consider themselves to be "religious."
As for meaning of life, for me it's just taking time to remind myself to live in the moment, to be aware of each moment as it surrounds me. It's a great feeling, and rejuvenating, so I sit for a while on the porch aware of moments, each of them in their fullness, until I'm ready to get back to work or play.
2007-09-16 11:37:06
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answer #3
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answered by LK 7
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How is a religious person supposed to answer that question, when God is a major part of his/her life?
2007-09-16 15:40:18
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answer #4
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answered by superlativemoon 3
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To try and balance my life the best I can. Family, work, fun, health, etc....
2007-09-16 11:40:18
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answer #5
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answered by Adam 7
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The philosophical question "What is the meaning of life?" means different things to different people. The vagueness of the query is inherent in the word "meaning", which opens the question to many interpretations, such as: "What is the origin of life?", "What is the nature of life (and of the universe in which we live)?", "What is the significance of life?", "What is valuable in life?", and "What is the purpose of, or in, (one's) life?". These questions have resulted in a wide range of competing answers and arguments, from scientific theories, to philosophical, theological, and spiritual explanations.
These questions are separate from the scientific issue of the boundary between things with life and inanimate objects.
Popular beliefs
"What is the meaning of life?" is a question many people ask themselves at some point during their lives, most in the context "What is the purpose of life?" Here are some of the many potential answers to this perplexing question. The responses are shown to overlap in many ways but may be grouped into the following categories:
Survival and temporal success
...to live every day like it is your last and to do your best at everything that comes before you
...to be always satisfied
...to live, go to school, work, and die
...to participate in natural human evolution, or to contribute to the gene pool of the human race
...to advance technological evolution, or to actively develop the future of intelligent life
...to compete or co-operate with others
...to destroy others who harm you, or to practice nonviolence and nonresistance
...to gain and exercise power
...to leave a legacy, such as a work of art or a book
...to eat
...to prepare for death
...to spend life in the pursuit of happiness, maybe not to obtain it, but to pursue it relentlessly.
...to produce offspring through sexual reproduction (alike to participating in evolution)
...to protect and preserve one's kin, clan, or tribe (akin to participating in evolution)
...to seek freedom, either physically, mentally or financially
...to observe the ultimate fate of humanity to the furthest possible extent
...to seek happiness and flourish, experience pleasure or celebrate
...to survive, including the pursuit of immortality through scientific means
...to attempt to have many sexual conquests (as in Arthur Schopenhauer's will to procreate)
...to find and take over all free space in this "game" called life
...to seek and find beauty
...to kill or be killed
...No point. Since having a point is a condition of living human consciousness. Animals do not need a point to live or exist. It is more of an affliction of consciousness that there are such things as points, a negative side to evolutionary development for lack of better words.
Wisdom and knowledge
...to master and know everything
...to be without questions, or to keep asking questions
...to expand one's perception of the world
...to explore, to expand beyond our frontiers
...to learn from one's own and others' mistakes
...to seek truth, knowledge, understanding, or wisdom
...to understand and be mindful of creation or the cosmos
...to lead the world towards a desired situation
...to satisfy the natural curiosity felt by humans about life
Ethical
...to express compassion
...to follow the "Golden Rule"
...to give and receive love
...to work for justice and freedom
...to live in peace with yourself and each other, and in harmony with our natural environment
...to protect humanity, or more generally the environment
...to serve others, or do good deeds
Religious and spiritual
...to find perfect love and a complete expression of one's humanness in a relationship with God
...to achieve a supernatural connection within the natural context
...to achieve enlightenment and inner peace
...to become like God, or divine
...to glorify God
...to experience personal justice (i.e. to be rewarded for goodness)
...to experience existence from an infinite number of perspectives in order to expand the consciousness of all there is (i.e. to seek objectivity)
...to be a filter of creation between heaven and hell
...to produce useful structure in the universe over and above consumption (see net creativity)
...to reach Heaven in the afterlife
...to seek and acquire virtue, to live a virtuous life
...to turn fear into joy at a constant rate achieving on literal and metaphorical levels: immortality, enlightenment, and atonement
...to understand and follow the "Word of God"
...to discover who you are
...to resolve all problems that one faces, or to ignore them and attempt to fully continue life without them, or to detach oneself from all problems faced
Philosophical
...to give life meaning
...to participate in the chain of events which has led from the creation of the universe until its possible end (either freely chosen or determined, this is a subject widely debated amongst philosophers)
...to know the meaning of life
...to achieve self-actualisation
...all possible meanings have some validity
...life in itself has no meaning, for its purpose is an opportunity to create that meaning, therefore:
...to die
...to simply live until one dies (there is no universal or celestial purpose)
...nature taking its course (the wheel of time keeps on turning)
...whatever you see you see, as in "projection makes perception"
...there is no purpose or meaning whatsoever
...life may actually not exist, or may be illusory )
...to contemplate "the meaning of the end of life"
Other
...to contribute to collective meaning ("we" or "us") without having individual meaning ("I" or "me")
...to find a purpose, a "reason" for living that hopefully raises the quality of one's experience of life, or even life in general
...to participate in the inevitable increase in entropy of the universe
...to make conformists' lives miserable
...to make life as difficult as possible for others (i.e. to compete)
2007-09-17 07:02:29
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answer #6
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answered by Jayaraman 7
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To strive for something better by asking and answering this question:
Can people make their dreams/visions a reality?!!
For the most part, I would have to say YES!!
After all, several inventions and ideas were dreamed up and made into reality by many imaginative/innovative people (Quite a few who saw life differently then others, who continued onward no matter HOW many times their attempts failed, no matter HOW many times other people mocked them and tried to put them down-THANKFULLY they continued onward and emerged triumphant through it all so that quite a few people now have many marvels and wonders to behold, thanks to them). WONDERS that would have been far beyond peoples expectation even a couple hundred years ago, and if they were to look at all the marvels of our world today, most if not all from that era would be left with feelings of total AWE, WONDER, and even HORROR (Which I TRULY believe will not be the case a couple hundred years or so from now, since EVEN through it all, I believe enough people will STAND UP for themselves. Like those many people who THROUGHOUT history have CHANGED the face of the world in which we now live-who I admire to NO END, since they STOOD UP for what they believed in and TRULY made a difference to do their SHEER PASSION and DETERMINATION. I am INCREDIBLY confidant that even though there are SEVERAL horrific things going on in our era, that with SHEER PASSION and DETERMINATION we WILL make it through this so that ALL future generations will live in a TRULY united world where differences are ACCEPTED and even EMBRACED, so that NO ONE will EVER have to live in fear, no one will EVER have to live with DISEASE, HUNGER and so on, with ALL the horrors of the past being NOTHING but distant memories. A WORLD that would leave the people of today in TOTAL AWE, WONDER, and TRULY bring tears of joy to our eyes).
People THROUGHOUT HISTORY have made MARVELOUS ACHIEVEMENTS that have TRULY changed the world that we live in. I will list but a few of the UNBELIEVABLE amount of wonders that have come from the INGENIOUS imaginations/thoughts, etc of some of these people that have made their ways into our lives; The wheel, Telephone, Light bulb, Television, Computers/Internet, Video games (YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!), many amazingly delicious, mouth watering foods/beverages (Bet I'm making you ALL quite hungry right about now!!), etc that have changed OUR lives!!
Not to mention beautiful/innovative speeches, poems/poetry, books/novels, music, art and so on that have YET AGAIN been created by several people who have ACTED upon their DREAMS and VISIONS and came through it ALL with VIBRANT colours and have TRULY opened the HEARTS and MINDS of COUNTLESS people throughout HISTORY, the present, and yes the future as well (Embrace PEACE, LOVE, and UNDERSTANDING for a BETTER TOMORROW!!).
If ANYONE, and I mean ANYONE has ANY visions/ideas that can help bring forth a BETTER LIFE (PEACE, LOVE, and UNDERSTANDING) for themselves, and others, then WORK TOWARD THESE VISIONS/IDEAS AND SO ON NO MATTER WHAT OTHERS TELL YOU AND NO MATTER HOW HARD THEY TRY TO PUT YOU DOWN!!!!!!! VISIONS and IDEAS are what have bought SO MUCH UNDERSTANDING, AND WONDERS INTO OUR LIVES that our dreams MUST BE ACTED UPON, so I urge ALL OF YOU to reach for the stars and beyond, SUPPORTING OTHERS and HELPING those with BRILLIANT, IMAGINATIVE IDEAS (Even if they may seem odd) so that we can ALL move forward and create a world of TRUE AWE AND WONDER FOR MANKIND, the CREATURES, PLANTS AND PLANET ITS-SELF (I have SEVERAL helpful tips that are LITERALLY just a click away which will be GREAT for our planet!! Just click on the "SOLUTIONS FOR OUR PLANET/ ENVIRONMENT" heading in my blogs list and there will be links with several tips, many of which, saving money and the environment "Others that are more costly will also save money in the long run-with all of this leading to a healthier planet for us all). I urge ALL of you who are wanting a better life, STAND UP FOR WHAT YOU BELIEVE IN!!!!!!!, DEFEND AND COMFORT THOSE WHO ARE BEING ABUSED, MISUNDERSTOOD, AND MISTREATED. After all, there are FAR MORE KIND HEATER PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD then there are cruel ones, so for those of you with KINDNESS, GET TOGETHER AS A GROUP WHEN YOU SEE OTHERS WHO NEED A HELPING HAND, OR JUST SIMPLY NEED SOMEONE TO TALK TO, AND COMFORT THEM AND PROTECT THE INNOCENT FROM THOSE FEW THAT TRY TO PUT THEM DOWN!!!!!!! TOGETHER WE ARE STRONG, and TOGETHER we will make an AMAZING FUTURE with SEVERAL POSITIVE CHANGES creating a NEVER ENDING SUPPLY of LOVE, PEACE AND UNDERSTANDING FOR US ALL!! LET us strive to make these changes so that they can take effect even in OUR lifetimes. KEEP UP THE FAITH, and NEVER, I mean NEVER GIVE UP ON YOUR DREAMS, TURN TO OTHERS FOR COMFORT AND FOR SUPPORT ("ALL FOR ONE, and ONE FOR ALL" as the Musketeers would say!!), and we WILL EMERGE THROUGH THIS LIFE, TRIUMPHANT, making future generations look upon this era with PRIDE and NEVER ENDING GRATITUDE (For what we WILL accomplish!!). Let us ALL set a SOLID foundation so that ALL future generations may build upon it!!
I believe that in the distant future (Around a thousand years or so from now-Perhaps even sooner then that) this will all lead to a world that is SOOOO WONDERFUL and AWE INSPIRING that it will TRULY be BEYOND, ANY OF OUR GREATEST IMAGINATIONS, VISIONS and HOPES!!
So I can say FULL HEARTILY that YES I believe that for those who believe in THEIR DREAMS, AS WELL AS BELIEVING IN THE DREAMS OF OTHERS, AND ACTING UPON THEM, that THEY along with embracing PEACE, LOVE, and UNDERSTANDING, that they and us will be the MAIN driving force for an ever so WONDERFUL future.
SO MARCH FORWARD, be sure to SPREAD the word to as many people as possible, and CONTINUE TO REACH FOR THE STARS AND BEYOND so that we may ALL live in a world of NEVER ENDING BEAUTY, WONDER AND MARVELS!!
I have lots of info that I think you will find quite helpful and enlightening:
http://ecowellness.multiply.com/ for excellent inspirational info within my blog to help not only our world and its creatures, but to also open peoples hearts and minds to many amazing wonders that life has to offer. I also have lots of info in my blog to help fuel peoples imaginations to many possibilities that can be found only in the minds eye.
Along with lots of environmental info, amazing environmental pictures and videos (These videos show the beauty of this world and what life can be like if people take the time to appreciate life’s true beauty).
Let us all strive for a greener/brighter future by helping to create a solid foundation for future generations to build upon, so we can hand them a beautiful world, filled with never ending awe and wonders!!
Where peoples differences and uniqueness are accepted, where we all live as one, helping one another so that we can all play our own mysteriously beautiful melodies in the never ending, awe inspiring, song of life :-)
I truly have faith in humanity and believe that someday our lives and the world in which we live will truly be transformed for the better.
2007-09-16 16:48:45
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answer #7
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answered by Qweemawva Anzorla Qwartoon (Male) 3
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