What do you think life is?

[TheGoldenMole]

I realized that those of us that don't follow a specific major religion have different perspectives and ideas of what life is. Of course, none of us know the real answer (or do we? ;) ) but it is always good to have thoughts and ideas.
What do you think life is? What do you think our purpose is? Why do you think we are here and why do you think humans dominate? There has to be a reason right? What do you think happens after life? How do you think life will continue?
This question is bigger than what do you think happens when we die, this is about why we die and why we were born in the first place. Why the universe exists and why is it constantly in creation.

[Saloniii]

@TheGoldenMole
I think life is a learning/growing experience and it's purpose is to learn to love and appreciate each other, and all of what "is". I believe that time is merely and illusion- that all points of time are occurring simultaneously, and that we just experience them in succession due to limitations of the physical bodies we inhabit... this is in a way a delusion. I believe in existence outside this reality that we are experiencing with sequential time. I think that what we call our 'consciousness', 'soul' or 'life energy' exists beyond this reality and has/does/will choose to experience life in this way, but what when we depart our corpereal existence, we step beyond this limited view of existing having retained our knowledge of a segregated existence and become fully aware of the inter-connectivity of all matter, energy and life.

there are many reasons why humans became the dominant form of life on Earth, not the least of which is our ability to co-operate with each other. Current scientific thinking on the importance of co-operation.

Your body would probably decay, but regarding consciousness, I feel like this is a topic not thought about properly by secular views. If we are to cease being conscious after we die, then you are suggesting that there is an eternity of nothingness after we die. That means that the probability of being conscious right now would be 1/infinity which would be a 0% chance. Therefore you can make the logical conclusion that consciousness would continue in someway, just not in a way where you are combining a temporary state of consciousness(our conscious life now) with an eternal state, as you’d have a 0% chance of being conscious of the temporary state. Therefore the likely scenario is that consciousness is not created by the brain but merely integrated into it, and it would take on a new host when you die.

Because in our society, “free will” is limited to what you want to do for a living (i.e. for money). Anything you wanna do has to fit the framework of our shit system. The current system was built by rich people who have benefited historically, and still do benefit today, from exploiting the average person’s ability to do things. They withhold necessities that are integral to our survival, and get angry when we don’t wanna play by their game; and get labeled depressed when we bash the system. Our natural state, as animals, is NOT to be bound by careers, or obligation to someone else’s company/power. We are supposed to be free roaming creatures, and yet we have domesticated ourselves. Work and school come with deadlines and with deadlines comes stress. With work, deadlines never end, thus, the stress isn’t designed to end. However, stress isn’t something we should be feeling ALL the time- only when, say… a lion is chasing you. When a person feels stress, their first line of thinking is “Oh shit!! I need to get outta here!” But with work and school- deadlines- your stress will follow you wherever you are, even after you finish the one project that was initially stressing you out; stress will remain constant. Therefore, there is no “getting outta there” when it comes to your job because- opposite to the lion situation- leaving your job might actually result in YOUR inevitable starvation, whereas in the other situation, you get to live and the lion goes hungry. But our society expects everyone to be happy in a basic, run of the mill job- despite the drawbacks of said type of job- just because “at least it’s enough to survive.” But I don’t buy that. Just because I’m alive you want me to be happy? Why? Because ejaculation is a thing? That doesn’t eliminate the fact that I didn't ask to be here. What’s the point of living a life we didn’t ask for if we’re just expected to do busy work for rich people while they live it up on their yachts? But people say “if you work hard enough, you’ll reach their status too!” <- False. I know people with 2+ jobs who work harder than ANY executive has in their entire life and can still barely make enough money to feed their family, let alone become a billionaire. But people feel like their time being wasted by the bourgeiosie is fairly recompensated with money, and the ability to do whatever they want with it (after taxes, and bills), as long as it’s not spent “irresponsibly.” But money gives people dominion and power over others. Money is also a necessity and people need it to survive; and the problem is that other people were given the authority to decide who gets and who doesn’t get money, which ultimately boils down to one human deciding which humans are more worthy of survival; those who play the game of the bourgeoisie vs those who don’t. So why am I not allowed to decide my own fate unless it fits the capitalist framework, and why is some dude who managed to “achieve” authority over me allowed to decide if I’m allowed the money that is necessary to survive? I don’t see how that’s any more “morally acceptable” than suicide.

[Wolfie_11]

@Saloniii
Pretty Good Ranting Theory.
But......
You said that free will is not a giving and that there are rich people who exploit the “average ones” by withholding necessary resources. Now, there are two ways to go about this:

1. You’re a part of the herd, and thus choose to be enslaved.
2. You can be free spirit, survive on bare minimals, roam the world, working wherever and when you like, struggle but be happy.

Now lets see what you chose! You chose the first option. Why?
Because you’ve been well-trained not educated by this so-called ‘shit’ system to believe that Money is happiness and that can only be earned by studying well and then working hard thereby putting yourself under a constant stress.
Stress is a truth of the modern life. Dread it, Run from it... It’ll arrive all the same. Now you’ve been cordial and co-operative enough to have a few friends and loved ones in your journey thus far, so what stops you from going on an eternal struggling journey bereft of any restrictions and all you’ll find is freedom and true happiness, because that is what you seek. Now, lets be honest... There can be no true ‘freedom’ as there are borders all around the world... so lets just say it as Maximum Freedom Possible (MFP).

Also, you think that the chances of us being conscious is 1/ infinity if it ceases to exist after we die. Now, since you said that... Lets examine the consequences of such assumption. All the learnings that are acquired by our ‘conscious’ will be transferred to a new host after we die which means that the new host should ideally not start the life from scratch but should have some knowledge about the world, unless you’re suggesting that the conscious of the deceased becomes the sub-conscious of the new host. In that case, they would ideally have to live the life all over again with intuitions about how to live it better or worse. It will render that purpose of such ‘transfer’ as waste and unimportant, considering that the new host too will die someday with substantial amount of knowledge that’ll become someone else’s subconscious and the cycle will go on. That would be some waste of all the knowledge acquired and that should ideally mean that for every death, there should be equal amount of birth or vice-versa which looking at the World Population, isn’t true.

[john78]

The matrix has you!!

[Zack Williamson]

@TheGoldenMole Life is the art of drawing without an eraser

[TheGoldenMole]

@Saloniii I like your ideas but I don't think stress is caused by our system. In fact, we are probably less stressed now in this system than we would be in the wild. The lion you mentioned wouldn't just leave and be gone, because the lion will go hungry for the night and come back in the morning to feed its empty stomach. Therefor the run of survival is an every day struggle and every day stress, similar to our every day jobs and every day education.
Also, I do think yes, just because you're alive you should be happy. One being that you got to live this long and not everyone has, you are given the gift of life another day, that is a lot and if you don't realize that every morning when you wake up alive then maybe you will realize it one day on your death bed when your days are getting shorter and your life is running out like an hour glass. Second one being that life is great. Yes, our system is fucked up and can use work but the only reason we even know that is because we were forced into school and learned bull shit things that helped create geniuses. Those geniuses invented lights, and the technology you're using to read this. Our system sucks but without all the education we wouldn't have discovered ways to improve our life, yes, improve it. If we didn't get the education and knowledge we have now then we probably wouldn't have the smarts to create the food and medicines that have helped us live this long. Without them the average life expectancy might as well be 30 years old, which for us is young, but it is a well lived life time in a world without medicine and tools. Third one is again, life is great. Clearly though you know that or else you really would have committed suicide by now.

[TheGoldenMole]

@DamnCuteGuy ….this doesn't exactly answer my questing but thanks for the poetry 😂

[TheGoldenMole]

@john78 Help!!

[Saloniii]

@TheGoldenMole Everyone is with different mind set so .....
idc i just think abt myself :joy:

[Zack Williamson]

@TheGoldenMole said in What do you think life is?:

well I was on mobile so I just replied with a quote,nvm.

Fyi, I don't believe in god so I am a Materialistic agnostic Atheist.

Some western and eastern philosophers believe that the highest goal of human life is heaven which is a state of unalloyed bliss that can be attained hereafter by performing here any holy book (e.g.Bible) rites.
But I reject this view I because it is based on the unproved existence of a life after death.
Heaven is a myth and cannot be the goal of life- 'Heaven' and 'Hell' are the inventions of the priests whose professional interest lies in coaxing, threatening and making people perform the rituals. Enlightened men will always refuse to be duped by them.
Liberation as freedom from all pain, is an impossible ideal- Many other philosophers regard liberation as the highest goal of human life. Liberation, again, is conceived as the total destruction of all sufferings. Some think that it can be attained only after death, when the soul is free from the body ; and others believe that it can be attained even in this life. But I hold that none of these views stands to reason. If liberation is freedom of the soul from its bondage to physical existence, it is absurd because there is no soul. But if liberation means the attainment of a state free from all pain, in this very life, it is also an impossible ideal. Existence in this body is bound up with pleasure as well as pain. We can only try to minimise pain and enjoy as much pleasure as we can. Liberation in the sense of complete cessation of sufferings can only mean death.
Pleasure though mixed with pain, is the only possible good- Those who try to attain in life a state free from pleasures and pains by rigorously suppressing the natural appetites, thinking that all pleasures arising out of their gratification are mixed with pain, act like naturally opposed to the performance of religious ceremonies with the object of either attaining heaven or avoiding hell or propitiating departed souls. For no wise man would ' reject the kernel because of its husk,' nor ' give up eating fish because there ,are bones,' nor ' cease to grow crops because there are animals to destroy them,' nor' stop cooking his food
because beggars might ask for a share.' If we remember that our existence is confined to the existence of the body and tomorrow this life, we must regard the pleasures arising in the body as the only good things we can obtain. We should not throw away the of opportunities of enjoying this life, in the futile hope of enjoyment hereafter. ' Rather a pigeon today than a peacock tomorrow .' ' A sure shell (courie) is better than a doubtful golden coin.'
Pleasure is the ideal of life- 'Who is that fool who would entrust the money in hand the custody of others ? ' The goal of human life is, therefore, to attain the maximum amount of pleasure in this life, avoiding pain as far as possible. A good life is a life of maximum enjoyment. A good action is one which leads to a balance of pleasure and a bad action is one which brings about more pain than pleasure. This ethical theory may be called, therefore, hedonism or the theory that pleasure is the highest goal.
wealth is good only as a means to enjoyment- Liberation in the sense of destruction of all sufferings can be obtained only by death and no wise man would willingly work for that end. Virtue and vice are distinctions made by the scriptures, whose authority cannot be rationally accepted. Therefore neither liberation nor virtue should be our end. Wealth and enjoyment are the only rational ends that a wise man can toil to achieve. But enjoyment is the ultimate end; wealth is not an end in itself, it is good only as a means to enjoyment.
holy rites are all useless- Having rejected the authority of the scriptures, the notions of virtue and vice and belief in life after death, we are naturally opposed to the performance of religious ceremonies with the object of either attaining heaven or avoiding hell or propitiating
departed souls. They raise cheap laughter at the customary rites. If the food offered during funeral ceremony for the departed soul can appease his hunger, what is the use of a traveller and taking food
with him ! Why should not his people make some offerings in his name at home to satisfy his hunger ? (this one is against Indian vedic rites)
Similarly, food offered on the ground-floor should satisfy a person living upstairs. If the priests really believe, as they say, that animals killed at a sacrifice are sure to reach heaven, why do they not rather sacrifice their old parents instead of animals and make heaven sure for them?
the world is made of matter- Scientists have found we have 14 billion year ago matter. The matter is found everywhere -planets, galaxies, animals, out in space etc. First law of energy states nobody can create or destroy energy/matter. Physical laws are governing this nature. Bigbang created positive energy, it created negative energy simultaneously. Our space is vast source of negative energy. Today negative energy is there. It is impossible for God to break some physical laws.

[A Former User]

Consciousness is playing a game of experiencing every possibility including impossibility, by consciousness I don't mean sensory information but rather what remains when you inhibit all your senses and see through your perceptions. The game basically consists of convincing itself that it is a singular perspective that was born and will die, and once that comes to pass the game has reached it's conclusion or rarely when one of the singular perspectives realizes it was never born or will really die which also concludes the game