Here's a question that's sure to stir up deep conversation that I think only the Belt could talk about maturely on the internet. So here, I ask you this question...hit me with your best 'answers'. I'll contribute when I've found the answer.
Only the sensual (used in both the sexual and non-sexual way) and intellectual stimulation that I receive pursuing various interests and experiences.This includes trying new foods, experiencing new sensations, enjoying the company of my friends, and attempting to learn more about the world and how it works. Also my ability to make other people feel good... for some reason it fulfills me as a person.
That's really all that I have. I don't think there's any greater meaning or purpose for our existence, so I think this is the best we can do.
For me, life is worth living for the future. I wanna see what I can accomplish, I want to have children and to ensure they live a happy life somehow, I want to feel like I've given back to the world, I want to make people happy..
And, like Bruce said, if I just decided to stop living, I know I would upset a lot of people very much. Everyone has their problems, but... if you just give up, what message does that give to everyone else? I'd be too afraid I'd convince other friends to give up as well. There have been times in my life where I seriously wondered why I even bothered to go on, but... knowing how much it would crush my family and friends, I could never convince myself, haha. People mean too much to me
My kids. Great sex. Good food. Conversations with certain awesome people. Driving fast in a convertible. Swimming. Finding and examining a rare living organism, and then letting it go. New books. Getting that drawing to turn out JUST RIGHT. The hope that tomorrow will be better.
It's all a gamble really. But ultimately staying alive is the smart move. The way I look at it, in a relatively short period of time i will either cease to exist, be in Heaven or be in Hell. I think practically speaking, one of those really isn't an option for me, so assuming that this life is all I really have, I simply have to make the best of it. If you are going to be rewarded for all eternity after your life ends, then it's not such a big deal to live through one lifetime of misery. Especially since it really is the smart bet. In the meantime, you can while away the agonizingly long and pointless hours through escapism and stimulation of the body and/or mind. so, I guess my simple answer is alcohol, food, laughter and women....in that order.
Laziness. If both options are equally viable, then you should go with whichever is most convenient at any given moment. In other words, you should sit around playing video games until you die of thirst.
That is less than ideal, I'd surely be too delirious to play video games at some point. When that happens the most convenient for me is whatever way relieves me of my pain to play video games another day more quickly, except I'd be too delirious and/or passed out to get any liquid into my system.
Wow, this is really one of the worst times for me to be responding to this thread, since my opinion would most likely reflect upon the fit of depression I'm currently grappling with. I have good memories to help me, but ultimately, they just prove my depression's point even further.
Let me explain a bit of my predicament. My marine brother is coming home tomorrow, so, ultimately, I had to clean my very dirty room, which got messed up by a rampage of mine where I had to find USB adapters and a yearbook from 2002 (neither of which I found). While cleaning, I stumbled across plenty of old notebooks of mine, containing writing of mine from high school. Not only were they a great reflect of how damn good of a writer I used to be, but they also contained plenty of back and forth notes between me and my friends. Some were funny, others were pathetically sappy. But what stuck to me was the fact that they were written to friends. Nowadays, most of my really good friends seem to never even bother, and I only really hang out with 2 people consistently. I just feel like I'm nothing but an unaccomplished hermit.
Anyways, that being said, life to me or the way I perceive it nowadays is about not taking anything for granted and enjoying the time you have while you have it. Sure, it's a generic answer, and I know the most enjoyable way of life is never the easiest to attain. Then again, as appealing as the modern convention of settling down with a wife and family is, which it is very much, I honestly believe those ideas confine the hopes and dreams if those participating. That's why I can never commit to a loving relationship and I'm always shooting myself down whenever I aspire to anything I might like in the future.
Sorry you had to read this post. I'll go back to keeping quiet.
As many of you know I have no real beliefs for any kind of religion. I'm pretty much all but atheist, though with a desire to be religious if I could actually make myself legitimately believe in any kind of deistic figure. I pretty much believe that we are simply a freak result of the exact right conditions at the exact right time to create life. Considering that every atom in our entire world was most likely used in fusion in the center of a gigantic star billions and billions of years ago, we are just temporarily using the matter in our bodies to fullfill our own desires. In the grand scheme of the universe our lives are not even a blink. Human civilization and everything we've accomplished thusfar is nothing. We're less than a blink, less than a percent of a percent.
As a result, my interpretation of the world has no room for a benevolent creator. I honestly wish it did, because being able to believe in a heaven would be much nicer than believing my emotions, my thoughts, my "soul", will disappear forever once my heart beats its last beat.
At the same time though, it is exactly what motivates me to do what I do. I see myself only has having a short amount of time on this planet, far too little to understand and experience everything it has to offer me. I've seen many innocent lives that have ended far too soon, and it's really shaken me and motivated me to make use of what time I have now. Sitting around and doing nothing means that I am wasting what little time I have left.
My greatest fear is lying in my deathbed full of regret about things let slip by, chances never taken, or dreams never fulfilled. So I work to make sure that never happensa, and I get out there and do shit that people talk about doing but never get around to. I went abroad and studied in Japan while in school. When I graduated I packed up and moved to China (despite my frequent complaints about trivial shit I still do like it here). Understanding new opinions and ways of thinking as dictated by history and culture is like crack to me. I love it, and so that's what I do.
Doing what you want to do and collecting experiences and stories to carry with you your whole life. That makes life worth living to me.
I agree with a lot of what you said, but I gotta say, different people live for completely different reasons. Some people live for their families, some for money, some for their religion... the list could go on forever. You just gotta find the thing that makes you most happy, and try to improve on it so that you ensure you'll stay happy. I think people often forget that they should try to live life to gain happiness.
Now, if you happen to gain happiness from hurting others, thats a different story... you should really go see a shrink about that to try to get that fixed, cuz everyone else's happiness should be just as important as your happiness.
...*cough* Read Atlas Shrugged Read Atlas Shrugged its by Ayn Rand it will change your life *cough*
Huh, what? I don't know what you're talking about.
EDIT: Ryan posted right before me, this was mostly responding to Scott's post....
I kind of feel the same Ryan, at least about not spending very much time on Earth in this life. I honestly don't even like thinking about what comes after death, because it just makes me feel uncomfortable and insecure and sad. But, while I'm here.. I think it's important ((for me, in MY opinion)) that I have children and to give them the best life I can offer them while I'm still around... I think if I raise successful children, I'll have thought that I played my part in the big scheme of things. I brought forth more productive members of society, I'll have given back to society somehow.
I hope it all pans out that way anyway, haha. Life throws curveballs. You can only hope for the best and just deal with problems as they come up!
I think people spend too much time looking at the details. Life is not limited to the human experience. And even within the human experience there are so many variables, you live ina city with lots of social interaction or you can live on a mountain top pondering all the stuff we talk about online. I can't help but feel that none of it matters. I just look at the big picture. I see that there is very likely no rhyje or reason to anything in the universe. I understand that it is entirely possible time is a one-way street and the universe will only exist once. There may not be any life after a certain point in time. but I also see settling of all energy into a completely uniform ..................I can't even finish this. Sorry if I sound like an asshole now, but this question is just so cliched now. Is there really anyone here who hasn't already come to terms with the fact that there may not be a God and we may only exist until tomorrow, or that all of our hopes and dreams are indeed limited by chance and some times we just have bad luck? I mean, really, who needs to ask this? Didn't we all ask this question of ourselves in like, 2nd grade and just realize it's unanswerable, so just don't worry about it?
I agree with 90% of what Ryan said, except I have a radically different conclusion (or at least I do right now, I waffle on this alot after failure after soul crushing failure). If nothing matters, if we're just that milisecond gone in a blink, then why care about what petty things you may or may not accomplish? These regrets are the creation of a mind that is still self-centeredly assuming that whatever it does is a huge fucking deal. If you get to travel across the planet and do crazy awesome shit, good for you! If you don't, who cares!
What I think I'm going to do is detach myself from these temporal desires. I can't regret anything if I don't want anything. Who needs a reason why life may or may not be worth living? It's great to have aspirations, but don't go flagellating yourself if something doesn't work out or there isn't enough time. It doesn't matter! Fuck it!
And no, quite frankly, my husband is NOT currently a good reason to be alive. The hope that he'll get better is on my list, though, under the "tomorrow" category. Sigh.
Comments
That's really all that I have. I don't think there's any greater meaning or purpose for our existence, so I think this is the best we can do.
And, like Bruce said, if I just decided to stop living, I know I would upset a lot of people very much. Everyone has their problems, but... if you just give up, what message does that give to everyone else? I'd be too afraid I'd convince other friends to give up as well. There have been times in my life where I seriously wondered why I even bothered to go on, but... knowing how much it would crush my family and friends, I could never convince myself, haha. People mean too much to me
Those really are nice boobs!!
-- Hunter S. Thompson
ETA: Also a good "I told you so". Sweet satisfaction.
Let me explain a bit of my predicament. My marine brother is coming home tomorrow, so, ultimately, I had to clean my very dirty room, which got messed up by a rampage of mine where I had to find USB adapters and a yearbook from 2002 (neither of which I found). While cleaning, I stumbled across plenty of old notebooks of mine, containing writing of mine from high school. Not only were they a great reflect of how damn good of a writer I used to be, but they also contained plenty of back and forth notes between me and my friends. Some were funny, others were pathetically sappy. But what stuck to me was the fact that they were written to friends. Nowadays, most of my really good friends seem to never even bother, and I only really hang out with 2 people consistently. I just feel like I'm nothing but an unaccomplished hermit.
Anyways, that being said, life to me or the way I perceive it nowadays is about not taking anything for granted and enjoying the time you have while you have it. Sure, it's a generic answer, and I know the most enjoyable way of life is never the easiest to attain. Then again, as appealing as the modern convention of settling down with a wife and family is, which it is very much, I honestly believe those ideas confine the hopes and dreams if those participating. That's why I can never commit to a loving relationship and I'm always shooting myself down whenever I aspire to anything I might like in the future.
Sorry you had to read this post. I'll go back to keeping quiet.
As many of you know I have no real beliefs for any kind of religion. I'm pretty much all but atheist, though with a desire to be religious if I could actually make myself legitimately believe in any kind of deistic figure. I pretty much believe that we are simply a freak result of the exact right conditions at the exact right time to create life. Considering that every atom in our entire world was most likely used in fusion in the center of a gigantic star billions and billions of years ago, we are just temporarily using the matter in our bodies to fullfill our own desires. In the grand scheme of the universe our lives are not even a blink. Human civilization and everything we've accomplished thusfar is nothing. We're less than a blink, less than a percent of a percent.
As a result, my interpretation of the world has no room for a benevolent creator. I honestly wish it did, because being able to believe in a heaven would be much nicer than believing my emotions, my thoughts, my "soul", will disappear forever once my heart beats its last beat.
At the same time though, it is exactly what motivates me to do what I do. I see myself only has having a short amount of time on this planet, far too little to understand and experience everything it has to offer me. I've seen many innocent lives that have ended far too soon, and it's really shaken me and motivated me to make use of what time I have now. Sitting around and doing nothing means that I am wasting what little time I have left.
My greatest fear is lying in my deathbed full of regret about things let slip by, chances never taken, or dreams never fulfilled. So I work to make sure that never happensa, and I get out there and do shit that people talk about doing but never get around to. I went abroad and studied in Japan while in school. When I graduated I packed up and moved to China (despite my frequent complaints about trivial shit I still do like it here). Understanding new opinions and ways of thinking as dictated by history and culture is like crack to me. I love it, and so that's what I do.
Doing what you want to do and collecting experiences and stories to carry with you your whole life. That makes life worth living to me.
I agree with a lot of what you said, but I gotta say, different people live for completely different reasons. Some people live for their families, some for money, some for their religion... the list could go on forever. You just gotta find the thing that makes you most happy, and try to improve on it so that you ensure you'll stay happy. I think people often forget that they should try to live life to gain happiness.
Now, if you happen to gain happiness from hurting others, thats a different story... you should really go see a shrink about that to try to get that fixed, cuz everyone else's happiness should be just as important as your happiness.
...*cough* Read Atlas Shrugged Read Atlas Shrugged its by Ayn Rand it will change your life *cough*
Huh, what? I don't know what you're talking about.
EDIT: Ryan posted right before me, this was mostly responding to Scott's post....
I kind of feel the same Ryan, at least about not spending very much time on Earth in this life. I honestly don't even like thinking about what comes after death, because it just makes me feel uncomfortable and insecure and sad. But, while I'm here.. I think it's important ((for me, in MY opinion)) that I have children and to give them the best life I can offer them while I'm still around... I think if I raise successful children, I'll have thought that I played my part in the big scheme of things. I brought forth more productive members of society, I'll have given back to society somehow.
I hope it all pans out that way anyway, haha. Life throws curveballs. You can only hope for the best and just deal with problems as they come up!
What I think I'm going to do is detach myself from these temporal desires. I can't regret anything if I don't want anything. Who needs a reason why life may or may not be worth living? It's great to have aspirations, but don't go flagellating yourself if something doesn't work out or there isn't enough time. It doesn't matter! Fuck it!
And no, quite frankly, my husband is NOT currently a good reason to be alive. The hope that he'll get better is on my list, though, under the "tomorrow" category. Sigh.