Simple Question, hard answer,,,,,,,,,,,,

what gives a life meaning? Then, having meaning, what is that life worth?

Alberta Boy wrote:

what gives a life meaning? Then, having meaning, what is that life worth?

I used to think it was having money...then when I made my first million and could do whatever I wanted to...

I got bored

So I started to think it was sharing my money with other people .... but could find only a few that seemed
to know what to do with the money in a way that I approved of ...

so it just didn't seem worth it


I used to look for real love ...but it was too hard to get someone to worship me all the time and it really hurt ....

and even with all my money, the Doctors could not repair my broken heart

Lol is this a troll? I guess I'll take the bait... excellent questions... not that I can even answer your questions to my own satisfaction... These are tough questions that go beyond the human experience. We can provide ourselves with all different sorts of answers, but what meaning or worth do our human answers hold for other life forms, like insects and flowers? Very little I would think... perhaps each of us can only provide our own answers... whatever answers I find satisfactory might not be satisfactory to you or to another. I've heard it said before that humans are the only animals that can foresee their own deaths, so perhaps that gives life a special kind of meaning for us, but other living organisms also struggle to live, and will make big sacrifices to keep their lives going, so perhaps the unique concept of death we perceive in ourselves is little more than an intellectual's conceit... ?

Other people's lives give my life meaning, yet contrarily the deaths of other animals and plants provide me with the food I need so that I can live on... for us, it seems, that Life, like Money, is worth about as much or as little as we think it's worth...

Perhaps all Life is One, and we are all like cells in one big gigantic multicellular organism called Earth... but even this concept still only begs the question of extraterrestial life... is the Universe itself a living multicellular organism as well? And what if there are other Universes, are we all part of that organism as well? Just more questions...

In Venus on the Half Shell Kilgore Trout seeks God, to ask Him that which he considers to be the Universal Question: "Why are we all created only to suffer and die..."

And God answers, "Why not?"

I get my instructions straight from the source, they are clear and to the point - I question nothing.
I do exactly as I am told and all who disagree or try to tempt me asway will suffer the likes of their own deeds,
and that makes it all worthwhile.

java wrote:

Lol is this a troll?

Nah, more like an Ogre - think of me as Shrek without the tube-like ears.

I don't know the answer either. But I have been thinking about this issue from two sides. The first has to do with what I believe to be one of the problems that we have in Canada is immigration. Many of the people that come to Canada initially from any given nation are very glad to be here, embrace their new country, and are a very positive boon to our society. In their home land, life is usually so cheap as to be meaningless. At some point after that first wave of desperate and happy-to-be-here people, there comes the wave of people that infact cheapened the existance of life in their homeland. And they come here and form gangs and take actions that show how little regard they have for others and their lives. The last few years have seen the large city streets become a (relative) shooting gallery. To these people all life is cheap.

Yet, on a personal level, what gives life worth and value? I can point to the things I do, and believe that I think give my life value, but does that mean that others who do not do those things don't have value?

I do not have vast riches, but I give of myself as liberally as I can. There are people that love me, and depend on me, but there are also those that seemingly despise me. I have known heartache, and left broken hearts behind me. Laughed, loved, shared, cried, sexed, drank, comforted and cajoled.

Perhaps the value in a life is in living it

Hi there !!

I was trolling a bit the 1st time....

I am in finals week...*sigh*...
but I could certainly use another round of attempting to reconcile this
as lately I feel a little more apathetic now & then

I really like what java and you have written so far... especially your last sentence

it reminded me of my fav religion (?) Toltec.... don Juan Matus is claimed to say
"use death as an advisor"

so sometimes I put that concept with what alot of people on their deathbed say...
things about doing all the things you want to do, don't put them off, do them, try them
or you may find yourself mulling over some regrets


that's all for now

back to studies

Alberta Boy wrote:

what gives a life meaning? Then, having meaning, what is that life worth?

good friends you can count on. not sure what it's worth but money can't buy it

i am going to say that death gives life its meaning. but it is by being unafraid of death that we truly live. every day should be a 'good day to die'..... you should be at peace with your self and with the universe around you.it is the emptiness of the bell that creates its sound. how do you make the muddy water clear? let it be still and it will all become clear.

All lives have meaning and worth but many lives are squandered by people who dont place much value on their life. I try to live mine (as much as possible) so that I will have as few regrets as possible at the end as my life is slipping away.

At the end I dont want to have to think things like "damn, I wish I had___________" or "damn I wish I had treated_________better"'.

I'm kind of live and let live. I don't really get too concerned about what others are doing or worry about what others think about what I am doing. life goes on and we just need to go along with it. If everyone just took good care of their little corner of the world it would be a great place.

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" Existence is random, has no pattern save what we imagine after staring at it too long ..... "

Alan Moore, Watchmen