Ask Lemmy

I live to be in peace, hang out with my cat and have fun. That’s pretty much it. Right now having fun is trying to fix an old radio.

The purpose of life is not served by fretting about what its purpose is.

It’s a bit like sitting on a roller coaster rubbing your chin and wondering how to monetize the experience. Just put your hands up and scream. It’s nice.

Pets, always work

I am not sure to be fair, right now I already have two goals, I want to finish my transition and I want to love and be loved for who I am. Once that is done I suppose I will feel fulfilled for a while, I might make art afterwards or something, I like making games and stuff so I'd likely try to do that I think !

My goal is to be happy and better the lives of as many people as I can!

I'm not sure if believe in a "meaning" to life, but I'm here for a good time. I'm married (2nd time) with 3 kids. I work to support us and pay the bills. But why do I keep living? Why not kill myself in leiu having a cup of coffee? Because death is inevitable and if it's going to happen anyway, I can use the brief time here to experience all that I can.

I figure the Universe is going to go on with or without me and there's not a thing I can do to change anything. But I'm not here to change the Universe, I'm here so it can change me. I'm a bird soaring through an infinite void with a brief passing through a bright window. Why not appreciate the view while it lasts? And if I can, why not try to make anyone's else's brief time out of the void a good time too? Life is absurd, existence is chaos, and it's all just funny as absolute shit.

I think really, there's no reason for anything but ice cream is good, hikes in the woods are rad, hanging out with pets and friends is joy. Why stop doing that just because nothing matters?

I'm no well read philosopher, but the idea that life has a meaning is repulsive to me. It implies that there is a correct state of affairs, and introduces the possibility that you've done something wrong, that you failed to fulfill some purpose. Nuts to that, there are no wrong choices, besides the obvious ones like murder and not brushing your teeth

This is it. You die and you are gone, gone, gone. Make every day count and don’t waste time bargaining with an imaginary god for a preferred place in her cinematic universe.

It’s not grim. It’s extremely freeing. ‘Now’ is all there is.

This is one of my cats, do you think she's looking for meaning?

Life just... is. Don't look for a deeper meaning. Enjoy what you have.

shrug

Foods pretty good, lot of things i haven't tried yet to look forward to. I like hearing/reading/seeing new stories, too.

Ive been lucky to have discovered Stoicism early in life and that what has been driving me for decades now!

To put it shortly Stoicism focuses on self growth with things like identifying natural human virtues (need for knowledge, justice, temperance, courage) and focusing life around improving those. This is expressed through a princicle called dichotomy of control which says that there are things that are out of our control like death that we shouldn't focus on and things that are like natural virtues that are something we can do to improve upon.

It also deconstructed and included all of the cool contemporary ideas like mindfulness and being cosmopolitan two millenia ago so its a really great suite of natural philosophies that survived the test of time.

Stoicism is also low key Idealist as in your natural perception of your own virtues and state is the only real thing that matters which is what makes this ideology so much more freeing. You don't judge yourself against some mystical ideal but to your own perception of purpose and growth.

It's an easy, frictionless and a highly rewarding way to live :)

Honest to god, the most tangible and practical definition that I've gotten to, so far, is that meaning comes about, when you strive to do good. Simple as that. Sure, there are a lot of ways to do 'that' in the world, but it should all work to some degree.

Strive to make the world better and to do good.

About 20 years ago, I was walking through a city centre with a friend, on the way to catch a train. A couple of Mormons tried to stop us, asking, "Have you ever thought about the purpose of life?"

Barely breaking stride, I shouted out, "Hot sweaty man sex!"

I don't consider that to be the purpose of life^1^, but remembering the look on their faces helps keep me grounded whenever I'm inclined to consider questions that cannot be answered.

That said, my resolution to the conflict between free will and determinism is to assume assume that 'truth' operates on a principle of equivalence. That's to say, if two models generate the equivalent outcomes, they are equivalently 'true'. The universe we observe could have deterministic rules that give rise to the same observable outcomes as one in which we have absolute free will, in which case the two models are equivalent. It would make no sense to endow one with a greater truth than the other.

That's a slightly difference definition of 'truth' than is commonly accepted, but it works for me.

^1^: It's just a nice bonus.

I think “What is the meaning of (my) life?” is not a question that we should be focusing on. It assumes that there is meaning to life. Neither is saying “Life is meaningless,” as it assumes exactly that. Both approaches presupposes an answer.

I'd rather think about "What can I do today/tomorrow/this week/this year/in this life?" That is a lot more digestible than chasing a meaning, or dismissing what could be meaningful about my actions.

I'm already here, so.... What is it under my control that I can do something about? What can I do about it? Something along those lines.

PS:

The overall tone of my response might be nihilist, or having shades of stoicism, but I am personally biased towards Epicureanism (not the present-day meaning, but the more classical meaning) which gives emphasis to ataraxia, or put very loosely, that state of contentedness. It's not about avoiding pain and preferring (temporary) pleasure, but rather a more stable state absent of pain and having pleasure that is brought about by mindful actions. I am not exactly learned in this so please take my words with a pinch of salt (or several).

Meaning must be generated, not found.

First, great choice in reading (Im a fan of Camus as well).

As for the meaning of life thing...

Thats the neat part. You don't.

Thats why in absurdist fiction like Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy the answer to life, the universe and everything is 42. Its not supposed to make sense and the universe is under no obligation to do so for you (the books even postulate that the universe does not want anyone to know so if someone figures it out it winks out of existance and replaced itself with something weirder, some scientists think this has happened before).

That goes back to Camus point about the remedies for the bleakness of early-mid 20th century philosophy. He proposed three options, Nhilism, a leap of faith (looking at you Kierkegaard), or absurdism, the last being what the doctor perscribes, but also requires the most effort because you have to find your question to the ultimate answer your self... Or not, who cares. Lets go spend some time by a lake that thinks its a gin & tonic.

I want to see my planted apple tree bear fruit for the first time (it's looking good this year so far!), and then I want to try splicing in a branch of my neighbours cherry tree, and then I want to keep building gradually to have a mutant tree with all kinds of fruit throughout the season. I'll be the creator of my own Tree of Life.

Small goals, small joys, small triumphs - it's what'll make my life grand, I believe.

I'm going to throw a trigger warning on this next part just in case:

Logically I am a determinist and a nihilist. It's the only thing that makes sense to me.

But I can't live life like that. Life is lived through feelings and it feels like I have free will. So I feel meaning by contributing positively and that my choices in life matter.

So, I contribute, try to do good, be helpful and nice to people, and also fulfill some hedonistic desires such as good food, lovemaking, shows, etc.

Two phrases I like for this:

There isn’t the meaning of life, there is your meaning of life. This realistic approach recognizes our constantly shifting values and how radically different it can be per person.

And of course Herbert’s

The mystery of life isn't a problem to be solved, but a reality to experience

There are three ways to look at the meaning of life.

The realistic: the is no meaning of life, no grand idea behind it.

The biological: the meaning of life is to procreate.

The philosophical: The meaning of life is to make the world better than when you arrived.

Since the first two are boring to talk about, I'll skip right to the third, making the world better than it was when you arrived.

In my case, I am an IT guy, I solve other people's problems and enable them to do their job, making their day slightly better.

I am also a hobby photographer, who share photos for free on the internet, people seem to like them so I have made their day slightly better as well.

Perhaps I can make your day slightly better by linking my Pixelfed: https://metapixl.com/Stoy

You could say, in a way, that I live to convey what to live for.

Perhaps I've done a little too much LSD (probably not), but I have a certain innate understanding of recovering from rock bottom. I want to help people help themselves, as psychedelics have done for me. I hope the insight I have about myself can translate to others' struggles. Any number of things could end up helping or hurting someone, and I'm doing my best to provide resources to people on learning how to do more than simply tolerate life. Psychonautics were what helped me, but what would help my friends, or people I don't know at all?

First will come my psychonautic journal on harm reduction in substance use (my main hobby in life), but then a book about the hardships and joys of life in a more broad sense.

The world hurts right now. It needs all the help it can get, so I do what I can. When a friend hurts, I listen, and I do my best to make them smile.

Truly, simply being a human is good enough for me.

It's a great relief to come to the realization that there is no grand inherent meaning to life, and no need for one. No constant worrying about what the meaning is and how much time you have left to "figure it out", no need to feel like there's some big thing you have to accomplish, no pressure to be someone important or make an impact on the world. No need to find the correct religion or moral code. It's simple: we're all (humans and animals) just trying to live our lives in peace and find happiness, so as for goals: Live and let live. Try to not hurt each other, and better yet, help each other--helping^1^ someone isn't always easy but it's a good feeling. It creates a feeling of meaning/purpose better than most anything else I can think of.

1: besides doing some task for someone, it could also be as simple as a smile, a kind word, or just listening/being there.

Isn't the idea of a meaning of life irrelevant if you believe that the universe is deterministic?

I have a lot of books left to read.

By multiplying 21 by 2

You climb the tallest mountain you can find, and you ask the old man sitting there.

I did this kind of self-exploration at one point. I used to find all my meaning through work, which I later realized was leaving me feeling unfulfilled. So I lowered my professional ambitions in favor of focusing on the relationships I had with close friends and family.

Then I changed genders. And then those relationships got completely fucked up. And now I feel like I have nothing left to live for.

So I guess if you're looking for meaning, my advice would be to pick something that doesn't depend on other people.

I live to be a good person. Figuring out what that means is a lot of reading, reasoning, and experimentation. I'm not sure you even need to justify wanting to be a good person, but maybe it is good to do good.

Im not sure. I stay for my family and husband and my animals.

But I wouldn't mind dying. Eternal rest from all the grind. Even if there is nothing after death. It would be nice to just sleep forever.

I have so many goals man. I wanna travel the world, meat new people, stay in one of those hostels or that website where you can work to stay. I wanna scuba dive, rock climb, surf, run marathons, hikes and all sorts of stuff before I get too old to do anything fun.

It's about connection. You can feel it when it's there with your loved ones, in art, in nature, anywhere you can find it. You can't think it into being. You can only open yourself up to it when it's there.

There isn't any... you must provide the meaning to your life on your own

There is none. You get used to it.

It's shits and giggles all the way down, my friend!

What do you keep living for?

I want to see what happens in the future.

Is there a specific person, goal, or idea that you work for?

My primary goal is to retire and not have to work anymore.

Is there no meaning to life in your opinion?

There is no external meaning. People can provide their own meaning.

I'm religious so that's pretty much figured out for me lol

Zoom in. I don't care much for the troubles in the world. I vote, but that's that. I care for my family and friends and for my personal development. In that order. Lately it's been mostly the latter. That is all right for a while, but eventually I'll have to put things back in the right order.

I have discovered that the meaning of life (for me) is to just exist. Whatever I do in life, I was meant to and builds on why I am here.

Have experiences and respect other life. That's really it.

The Earth created lifeforms that can understand the universe. Even if there are other conditions out there that can create life like that, it's not common. There is unfathomable empty space between planets and their moons. To say nothing of between planets or stars or galaxies.

Good news! You're one of these rare combinations of matter that can understand the universe. In a real way, we are the universe trying to understand itself. Scientists explore it in a deep way, and should be respected for that, but you don't need a PhD to participate. A single celled organism who figured out better ways to swim in its little pool helped the universe understand itself. The first human to taste a strawberry helped the universe understand itself. Have experiences.

There's a lot of other life also participating in this, and they should be respected, too.