Homo sapiens : The meaning-seeking and meaning-creating animal
Here are some quotes I came across recently:
„To know an answer to the question, ‘What is the meaning of human life?’ means to be religious“. - Albert Einstein
„The idea of life having a purpose stands and falls with the religious system.“ - Sigmund Freud
„ To believe in God means to understand the question about the meaning of life. To believe in God means to see that the facts of the world are not the end of the matter. To believe in God means to see that life has a meaning“. - Ludwig Wittgenstein
There is some truth in it, but I do not think that it takes religion to have a meaningful life. Religion is for those who feel the need to link their lives to some absolute order that provides them with absolute meaning.
Most atheists have a meaningful life, but they find their meaning in things like their family and friends, their job (if they like it!), their hobbies. The downside of these less-than-absolute meanings is that they are vulnerable to the vicissitudes of life; they tend to disappear: the family can break apart, I can get get laid off from my beloved job, my friends can die, my hobbies loose their flavor, some dark clouds appear in my life, ... and the meaning is gone.
That is the advantage of those who still can believe in some transcendental, absolute order, because the meaning this order bestows on their life can be obscured for some time, but it cannot disappear for good.
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6 comments
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.None of those things give meaning to my life...they might add or enrich my life and at different points given me some goals and purpose, and my life is better for having friends, family, a job, etc. but for me to be happy and wonder why I am here, they mean nothing.
I have lost and gained and yet I still exist...the meaning in my life comes from knowing that I alone control how I think, feel, and react to the world. I can't control anything else except myself. I have the choice and those choices are what makes each day special and unique to me.
thinktwice
Level 8
May 8, 2019
1
I've been sold on the Morty perspective since before the show existed. Understanding and excepting this is one of the most liberating things that anyone can experience, but it comes with the responsibility to build meaning for ones own self, and the overwhelming majority of people aren't ready to accept that responsibility.
Happy_Killbot
Level 7
May 8, 2019
1
I disagree. It's not just things and people that give me meaning. I have meaning to myself too. If I lose everything but my life, I will have meaning as long as I have thought. If I lose my ability to think - death, dementia, etc - I may still have meaning to others. Only when they die will I actually lose my meaning.
MojoDave
Level 9
May 8, 2019
1
Whether or not there is absolute meaning to life is a very real question with a real answer. The fact that some people are comforted by believing in absolute meaning does not in any way diminish or falsify that meaning.
We usually think of ourselves as human bodies. From that perspective, if that’s all we are, then there isn’t much meaning or purpose—only the fleeting pleasures of day to day existence, countered by the day to day displeasures.
If you don’t want to consider the staggering implications of ultimate reality and deep conscious awareness, you can at least acknowledge that your body is a part of the long chain of all organisms—that life is a PROCESS. I don’t see how anyone can maintain that the process of life is meaningless. That process is larger than our own bodily selves. We are in no position to measure its value and proclaim that value to be zero.
Or look at the quantum fields said to be the basis of physical reality. Does anyone really have the standing to look at those and say, “Oh, quantum fields have no value or purpose. Those things just sort of fell into existence by accident and are meaningless”?
IMO existence is not only meaningful, its value and meaning are overwhelming beyond words. To know that gives me comfort and strength, but that is beside the point.
WilliamFleming
Level 8
May 8, 2019
1
I definitely look at both life and quantum mechanics and see them as thoroughly meaningless, and have a lot of difficulty understanding what is even meant by meaning, because it subverts causality ironically because of quantum dynamics.
-In order for there to be absolute purpose in existence, there must be some ultimate end state that can not be avoided
-some events as defined by quantum dynamics are inherently random and unpredictable
-random events can cause macroscopic changes that alter the absolute state of the world
-therefore there can not be an absolute purpose in existence
@Happy_Killbot In a sense I agree. The very concepts of meaning and value are just human- based ideas of little significance on a cosmic scale. Normally we think of something as valuable if it gives us pleasure and helps us survive or live securely and well. Extending value to reality as a whole is a risky thing.
From my human perspective however, existence has infinite value absolutely. So far as what the purpose is, that is a mystery. Maybe no purpose is required.
Our very definition of existence is a murky thing, taken for granted but by no means understood. It’s hard to have a meaningful conversation about the purpose of existence if we don’t know what existence is.
It boils down to awareness. Reality is that of which I am consciously aware. It’s all about me. 
@WilliamFleming Being aware of ones self is the lowest level of conscious awareness, it is the default by which most of us and animals live our lives. Above that there is interpersonal awareness, which allows you to see things from another person's perspective, and not just understand their arguments but how they are drawing them. On this level it is impossible to be angry at or hate someone, there is no difference between yourself and them. There are other levels above that, but its no use thinking about them if you have never experienced any reality except the one centered around yourself.
“There are other levels above that, but its no use thinking about them if you have never experienced any reality except the one centered around yourself.”
So have you experienced those higher levels of reality? Please elaborate.
@WilliamFleming It's not a higher level of reality in any pragmatic sense, it's still internal. It's just where you lose the ability to differentiate between ones one self and the rest of reality, and for a moment you can consider things beyond the limitations imposed by your own senses, you stop caring about your own needs and desires and only consider existence from a perspective outside of ones self, but only for a few fleeting moments.
to give a meaning to your life is different from life itself have a meaning.
The first you decide based on your experiences and ideas, the other is something imposed by something that you do not have control (god, universe, energy, vibrations, ideology etc)
Pedrohbds
Level 7
May 8, 2019
4
yes I agree with you. I have come to the conclusion that life makes sense when you are happy and you bring happiness to others.
I understand that most people try to put into words the nebulous concept of “the meaning of life” and can’t quite do it. It was expressed thus by these undoubtedly great minds of the past, perhaps as a way of explaining that the unknowability of it is the reality, and it’s only those who have a belief in god who can profess to actually know “the meaning of life”, because without that belief there is in fact no such thing as a universal “meaning of life”. There is a word, acatalepsy, which was used by the ancient Sceptics to describe this unknowability or the doctrine that all human knowledge amounts only to probability and never to certainty, and the real or apparent impossibility of arriving at certain knowledge or full comprehension. My own conclusion is that we, and we alone, as individuals, are the only ones who can say what our lives mean to us. We give our own lives whatever meaning we decide. This can be influenced by many factors of course, including things outside of our own control, but we can still control our reactions to those influences, our actions and interactions with other human beings and the natural world are vital in shaping and giving meaning to our lives.
Marionville
Level 10
May 8, 2019
4
very well put.
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