What is Life for?
by Psudo
We all have time to spend and activities we spend it on. Some of those activities are fun in themselves, and we do some becomes they have consequences we like. Some rare joys are both fun and beneficial, and some compulsory behaviors are neither. At it's most basic, life is a perpetual choice between what feels good and what has wanted consequences. We choose how to spend our lives without truly knowing the proper balance to strike between momentary hedonism and practical planning. Some of us believe that our lives are a test, where we are rewarded or punished for the mix we live and choose. In that sense, to live is to choose.
Since we witness not only our own lives but also, though less deeply, the lives of those around us, life is also moral philosophy. The way we live is inherently advice to those around us, an argument that making similar choices will probably result in similar outcomes. In that sense, to live is to preach.
We all live in conditions that are less than our fondest desires. We have to make sacrifices and gambles in our attempts to avoid pain and seek pleasure, and we always come up short in some way. Sometimes the consequences are brutal, and other times they are only boring or discouraging or good but not great. We are free to choose, but not ensured positive or predictable outcomes. In that sense, to live is to suffer.
As new moments and new conditions replaces the old ones, we are continually faced with the questions of life. Answering those unanswerable questions is what life is for.
Since we witness not only our own lives but also, though less deeply, the lives of those around us, life is also moral philosophy. The way we live is inherently advice to those around us, an argument that making similar choices will probably result in similar outcomes. In that sense, to live is to preach.
We all live in conditions that are less than our fondest desires. We have to make sacrifices and gambles in our attempts to avoid pain and seek pleasure, and we always come up short in some way. Sometimes the consequences are brutal, and other times they are only boring or discouraging or good but not great. We are free to choose, but not ensured positive or predictable outcomes. In that sense, to live is to suffer.
As new moments and new conditions replaces the old ones, we are continually faced with the questions of life. Answering those unanswerable questions is what life is for.
Tags: Life • Philosophy • Purpose • Blather • Moral • Choice
RE: What is Life for?
by Zipperfish
One of my biggest problems with Christianity in general has always been this idea that our existence here is a test, and we are meant to suffer. My brother is a Jehovah Witness and this is what I tell him. Their outlook just seems so bleak to me I told him if I were to join a church it would be one of the holy roller ones where they're all swaying and singing the whole time.
In Buddhism, suffering or Dukkha refers to "a basic unsatisfactoriness pervading all existence, all forms of life, due to the fact that all forms of life are changing, impermanent and without any inner core or substance." according to wiki. It doesn't necessarily refer to a mental or physical anguish, so much as a state of things being non-ideal. I can see life being about suffering in that sense, I suppose. Suffering being the gap between the perfction you seek and the imperfection that you are.
But form the Chirstian persepectvie, it's always seemed to me there's an underlying sadness to it.
Keep up the blog! Cheers, Adam
In Buddhism, suffering or Dukkha refers to "a basic unsatisfactoriness pervading all existence, all forms of life, due to the fact that all forms of life are changing, impermanent and without any inner core or substance." according to wiki. It doesn't necessarily refer to a mental or physical anguish, so much as a state of things being non-ideal. I can see life being about suffering in that sense, I suppose. Suffering being the gap between the perfction you seek and the imperfection that you are.
But form the Chirstian persepectvie, it's always seemed to me there's an underlying sadness to it.
Keep up the blog! Cheers, Adam
"Love is better than anger, hope is better than fear, optimism is better than despair."
--Jack Layton
--Jack Layton
RE: What is Life for?
by Psudo
That Buddhist idea of "less than ideal" is the sense of suffering I meant. If you keep rolling dice, you're gonna roll some ones. If you eliminate that risk, you're not really living.
2 replies • Page 1 of 1
February 2012
January 2012