The meaning of life.

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For the religious:the world was created by your god or gods,correct? Tou follow said religion to go to a better place after death,while sinners ho to some kind of hell.but why? Why did your god create all in the first place? To be worshipped? The he is a narcissist,and there is no greater meaning to life. For fun? Then there is no meaning to existence. Please ponder this question.
To nihlists:you are correct in that life has no meaning BY ITSELF. But it does have meaning to each individual.you nihlists are sad little fellows.

To ALL:life is simply what meaning you apply to it. For me, it is to discover the secrets of the universe through math. What do you think of this post?

I think your post is fine.

Life is what you make of it.

I have other means of trying to discover the ultimate meaning of life other than math.

But if math does it for you, then I support you.

I think that the OP was insulting to refer to nihilists as "sad little fellows." Personally I'm neither sad nor little. Everyone is entitled to their own beliefs, even when they differ from your own. In my opinion we are like every other organism on this planet, we live and then we die, that's all there is to it.

I wouldn't call nihilists "poor little fellows," either. Didn't read that part. I was in a bit of a rush.

+1

Why do parents have children? To share love with someone who comes from them, and to "complete" the love they have with their spouse. (This is idealistic, I know, but that's what I can use for an example.)

This is why I believe God created. I don't call parents narcissistic, and neither do I consider God narcissistic for creating. It's not *just* to be worshiped. It's about a relationship with His creation.

Nah I wouldn't call them that, but I could make the claim that they're hypocrites. A belief in nothing is still a belief after all.

That is simply semantics...
And doesn't take into consideration proper/inherent/implied context...
In order to be a true nihilist, are you saying you have to be a vegetable?

Well it is a paradox, which makes it an impossibility. You can't believe in nothing if you have a belief system-- especially one that's systemic, categorized and named. A nihilist can't say "I'm a nihilist, I believe in nothing" without that contradiction therefore I claim it's hypocritical in nature.

I know what you mean, and in the context you are using it is valid...
However...
If we include a limiting contextual parameter, things are more "workable"...

For example:
"Most commonly, nihilism is presented in the form of existential nihilism, which argues that life is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nihilism
Within these parameters, the statement that nihilists believe in nothing makes sense...

I use a similar logic when I "argue" with a theist regarding freedom of choice/will...
I tell them there is no such thing as free will...
They argue...
I ask them if they had voluntarily chosen to be born...
Some would/have say/said "yes"...lol

The problem here is context...
My "free will" reference/context included the implied qualifier "absolute"...
Their implied qualifier would probably be "on this earth"...

The problem with many, if not most, casual "conversations" is that context is not clearly defined...

What we've got here is failure to communicate...


I guess you could say I am an existential nihilist who believes in nothing...
I would be very, very surprised to discover I was also a technical hypocrite (in this context, at least)...

I think one should be very careful with borderline false dichotomies with regards to nihilism and religiosity.




I cannot believe that, on a site like this, I am the first to make this joke, but here goes: a great man already did. Turns out it's 42.

Having an opinion or belief (subjective) excludes the ability to determine objective meaning. If one cannot determine objective value, purpose, or intrinsic value, that in itself does not invalidate the existence of such principles, merely that the operator cannot determine them.

I'm not attacking you btw, I find you interesting and enjoy our discussions, I just find Nihilism to be counter-productive to my own philosophy. I'm heavily grounded in systemics, which in many ways is the search for objective value-- those of us interested in finding objective truth through systemics may be deluded, but at least we're not a paradox. Take that!

Yeah, 42 could easily ram 38.8 down pi's throat, so it's definitely where it's at. Ok enough NTish behavior.

I totally agree with you. Works for me anyways.

I'm in full agreement...
I believe in "Objectivity" and have done so for decades, even before I could properly verbalise the concept...

"Objectivity is a central philosophical concept, related to reality and truth, which has been variously defined by sources. Generally, objectivity means the state or quality of being true even outside of a subject's individual biases, interpretations, feelings, and imaginings."...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objectivi ... losophy%29

Richard Dawkins said it well:
"There are no versions of the truth..."
"Truth" with a capital "T"...



The irony is, my search for "truth" lead me to incorporate existential nihilism as a subset into my philosophical network...
I don't follow any philosophical discipline "religiously"...
Not suggesting you do...
I embrace concepts which resonate within my established belief system...
And will modify it if necessary...

In the true aspie tradition:
"Give me a better argument and I will listen..."
It is a WIP...

You probably have come across the parable about the three blind men and the elephant:

"The story of the blind men and an elephant originated in the Indian subcontinent from where it has widely diffused. It has been used to illustrate a range of truths and fallacies; broadly, the parable implies that one's subjective experience can be true, but that such experience is inherently limited by its failure to account for other truths or a totality of truth."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_men_and_an_elephant

I don't know what nihlists means. Anyway, I followed a religion my entire life until several years ago when I decided to leave Catholicism. I now just try to have a personal relationship with the Big G. I don't see God as a narcissist, but I do believe that the One who created me should be praised as He thought I was important enough to be created in the first place. I think about the meaning of life and death all the time. Sometimes I think that where we're at now - earth - is actually hell (especially with all the suffering) and our reward for surviving this place is Heaven. There has to be something better than this on the other side. I think that when we have good feelings it means that we are on the right track to doing what we came here for - like when you help people you get a good feeling, when I pray I get a good feeling. And I believe bad feelings like emptiness and sadness are telling us we are on the wrong path. Just a few thoughts I had for today.