The Quest For Meaning

Ren

Ren

Seeker at heart
MBTI
INFJ
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"I can't go on, I'll go on" (Samuel Beckett, The Unnameable)

The mere fact of living is a complicated and fascinating affair. Hobbes famously called life "nasty, brutish and short". Even the more optimistic among us agree that life is rarely easy. And yet most of us "go on" and stick to life until the end, like Beckett's character in The Unnameable. We go through innumerable pains of various magnitudes to just go on living.

Why? It's paradoxical, in a way, that humans should be constituted in such a way as to be able to look for answers that they then can't find.... or can they?

How do we find, in life, the meaning that helps us get up everyday in the morning? What is that meaning, at the most fundamental level? Is it simply the sheer fear of death, a purely Darwinian affair, or is it something else? Maybe meaning isn't necessary to life?

Why do you "go on"?
 
Wyote said:
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Jesting, I see. So this is the technique you've found to cope with the utter meaninglessness of existence! I understand — in this vast merciless world of ours, any strategy for survival is worth exploring. :sunglasses:

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The meaning of life is to be found for each individual by themselves, because each and every one is fueled by different things.

We live life because it is an unbelievable coincidence that we even exist. Call it a miracle or a cosmic joke, but that is the way it is, so that's what we do.
 
Ginny said:
The meaning of life is to be found for each individual by themselves, because each and every one is fueled by different things.

We live life because it is an unbelievable coincidence that we even exist. Call it a miracle or a cosmic joke, but that is the way it is, so that's what we do.
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I like this idea that there is a link between the contingency of existence and the fact of "living life". I would very much agree with it. But based on what you wrote I'm not sure what causal mechanism you see between the two. How do you think our awareness of the coincidence of life impacts our living?
 
Ren said:
How do you think our awareness of the coincidence of life impacts our living?
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Not at all. Or at least hardly.

Even the people who believe in some creator see themselves as a miracle, only the perspective is different. While they see themselves as the sole focus of the universe, those who realise their insignificance in the vastness of the cosmos see it as a priviledge to live at all, and either lose faith in living (or get mad) or make the most with what they were given, because they are a part of something big (that need be explored), no matter how small a part they are in the context of it all.
 
Ren said:
Why do you "go on"?
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To answer a bit more seriously though- my primary reasoning of moving in a forward direction is to help humanity, all be it in an individualistic way.
I have both a deep desire to help my neighbor as well as humans as a whole. I want our species to survive, and thrive.
Whatever I can do to continue things, makes me feel as though my existence has significance. I think people strive for significance, in a seemingly insignificant existence.
Makes the whole thing feel like a cruel joke sometimes, but to me I am doing something. Most people are doing something. Otherwise we wouldn't have gotten to where we are now.
 
Ginny said:
And I'd be fine with anything fulfilling (as opposed to exhausting).
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I think fulfillment has to be given to yourself from yourself, and not taken or found from somewhere outside. It's a bit of mind trickery, but also a matter of grabbing life by the balls.
 
Wyote said:
I think fulfillment has to be given to yourself from yourself, and not taken or found from somewhere outside. It's a bit of mind trickery, but also a matter of grabbing life by the balls.
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Okay, as generally as I put it, you're right. But I meant it as in 'to do' - for a job. On a grander scale.
 
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