I had to submit a paper for a course I'm taking, entitled "The Meaning of Life"

This is the first asignment I've done in about 20 years, so I'm a bit rusty. Obviously there are no right or wrong answers (not that we can prove anyway)

Some of this stuff is really "out there" so don't y'all be calling me a hippy or something lol.

Here it is:

Habibi




The Meaning of Life

Do you ever gaze at the stars and wonder why you exist?
I often wonder what purpose my life holds, and the search for the answer is what we call life.
The feeling of not knowing causes me a constant sense of restlessness.

As the noted philosopher Descartes once said “I think, therefore I am”
In retrospect, no truer words were ever spoken.

I am capable of thought, so therefore I know I exist, this is all I know, and everything else leaves me in constant bewilderment.

What is the meaning of my life? Is a meaning necessary, or can we just live and die, and perhaps there never was a meaning in the first place?

Some people say only God knows our meaning and this is quite possible.
Do I believe in God, per se? Well, my reasoning and common sense leads me to believe in a Supreme Being because frankly, any other possibility only leaves a void in my head.

Before there was anything, there was nothing, this is a fair assumption based on the science we know today. Nothing means nothing, only darkness.
It’s difficult to fathom that somehow, something was created from nothing, and this is the reason why I’m more prone to believe in the existence of a Supreme Being.

If you sit back and think about it for a moment, you come to realize there are but only 2 possibilities:

1) God exists
2) God doesn’t exist

Regardless of which of the 2 possibilities are true, it leaves me awestruck, because both scenarios are simply incredible.

I would like to believe our life does in fact have meaning. All of us are on this trip together, we live, share time and space, grow to love one another, and come a definite date, all of us will meet death, and the world will be filled with a new group of inhabitants.

As human beings are selfish in nature, many of us would like to leave some legacy behind, something the future earth dwellers can remember us by.
This is not a bad thing, on the contrary, but sadly, most of us won’t leave a mark, and our lives after a certain amount of time has passed, won’t even be remembered.
It will be as if we never existed in the first place. But remember, all of us will have helped influenced those who did leave a mark, so I suppose we can still be part of it.

What is the meaning of life?
I think that answer is different for everyone, it really depends on who you are, how you were brought up, and the type of life you lived so far..

Whatever the answers to life’s mysteries are, I am thankful to have lived and experienced all that I have. I feel privileged to know all the people who I love and care about, and if I die tomorrow, I shall have no regrets.

Memento More – (Latin) : “Remember, you too shall die”

I try to live my life by a few basic rules:
- Do the right thing
- Don’t screw anyone over
- Treat people as you yourself would like to be treated
- Be honest to yourself and those around you.
- Help someone in need when you can (the feeling is priceless)
- Stand up for your convictions and stay true to your principles.

I don’t live by the above rules because I want to impress others, or for personal gain, I do it because deep in my conscience, I believe it is the right thing to do.
After all, our conscience is what makes us human.

If I were some super genius, then I would invent a cure for Aids or Diabetes, but since I’m not, all I can do is be kind to my fellow man, and try to make the world a better place in the only way I know how.

-Memento Mori

 

Moti,

You raise some very valid points. God is either all powerful and can do anything or he/she is nothing.

Many people claim to believe in God. How many trust in God?

I recently came across a book called Sermon on the Mount by Emmet Fox. That gets pretty deep so I only nibble at reading it, but it may be worth a look if you need more material.

 

Moti, LOL

Thanks, I'll see if I can pick that title up.
Habibi

 

The meaning of life?

My answer is none.

Based on the point of God/No God we come at two answers.

If there is an omnipotent God, we are part of a bigger plan that our small, feeble brains (in comparasin to the omnipotent creator) could never comprehend (allowing countless Jerry Falwells, Oral Roberts', Pat Robertsons etc to make an affluent living decifering it)

OR

There is no God, Darwin was right and there is no meaning. Life just happens and our brains being more developed than most animals will strive to find meaning and create mythos to explain it and justify it.


But this is way too deep on a Monday AM.

 

Very interesting thread and thought provoking...

 

hmmmm.
I have always told people "Seeing as how most people that claim to be christains aren't, if they really were they wouldn't have to tell you. You have to look at it like this: God or no God isn't it fantastic that we are all here? and wouldn't it be great if we all were a little more considerate of others? I mean the world really doesn't revolve around one individual, does it?"
If we didn't need anybody, we would be the only one here. Therefore if we need other people, then it is safe to assume others need us for something.
and on that note,
Right now I just need Bill Gates to fix my other PC that took a **** when I upgraded from XP home to XP pro.
and how about I need some roofers to get out to my house so I can have my proverbial roof over my head once again.
Oh, but now I am being selffish.
I am not always selfish. Saturday when the Tree guy was cutting down the charred remnants of my once lovely trees, I saw my son riding his bike past the tree guys helper who was trying to push the empty trailer into a better posistion. I yelled at my son to put the bike down and give him a hand. He couldn't hear me over the chainsaw, and rode over to me instead. I told him "Didn't you see that guy was having trouble? Why didn't you put the bike down for a minute and help him?" By now the guy was backing up the truck to hook it up so he could push it. My son told me because the guy was going to be cutting down a tree that was in his way, he had to get all his (BMX) bike riding in now, and besides they were getting paid. I told him it wouldn't have killed him, and that to time he took to come over to see what I wanted, was longer that it would have taken to help.

Today, I was making my deliveries, and saw the bread truck guy trying to get a pallate of bread into two double doors with one of them trying to close on him as he did so. My stop was in his parking lot, so I got out and said need some help? He put his hand up like a stop sign and said "No, I got it" even though he clearly didn't. Obviously he was afraid of me. Like what would I do besides hold the door, rob him of his precious bread? Yeah, I am a Rye junkie buddy. I just did my job and left.

What's with people now a days? Did they forget who/what they are or why they are here?

 

Time pop in Monty Pythons Meaning of Life

 

Dang, if you only knew just how often I do this. Nice writing, and please, please, if you ever find the meaning for existance I'm dieing to know. No pun intended...

 

EDIT: ooppss wrong thread

 

I believe the meaning of life is to make God happy, and to show we appreciate Him for Life, b/c we would not be here without Him.

 

The way to "keep God happy" is to obey his commandments to the fullest, and to Glorify God and to Enjoy him forever.

 

Well, I agree with the last several posts...To know God is to love God. Once you love God you can trust God. Kinda takes the pressure off of everyday turmoil when you know there is a life after death and this fact makes it easy to do the right things everyday...jb

 

Remember the old "Trust and Obey"!

And another addition, Chirstians aren't perfect and we don't think we are, but non christians ARE going to hell and there ain't no doubt about it. Chirstians on the other hand are going straight up to sit by Gods throne. (or stand if you prefer standing.)

And if you yourself are breaking any of the ten commandments, well then you better just get your self right down on your knees and repent and NEVER do it again!

(Sorry if I got carried away

 

non christians ARE going to hell and there ain't no doubt about it.

Hey, I guess I'll see some of you guys down there, if you get there before me, keep the home fire burning!

* bloomquist, can you quote from the bible where it actually says that? I've always had an interest in all world religeons, and some of this stuff is interesting.

Thanks
Habibi

 

There are many places that talk about entering heaven. Here is one instance:

Matthew 10:32,33

"Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in Heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in Heaven."