Life, the universe, existence and the meaning of it all

I would say the jury is still out.

http://boingboing.net/2009/10/29/the-story-behind-the.html

Some do, others do not.

It would most certianly appear so.

 

Well Rudenoodle. I have to say this is one of the few times I've seen you on a forum when you haven't been at least antagonistic if not completely combative. I also think that animals know more about the universe and when they're going to die than we do. For example when the big Tsunami hit a few years ago there were no animals in the wreckage. I read just before there were elephant tours where the elephants went out of control heading for the high ground before the Tsunami hit.

There is also a tribe called the Mokin (I hope I spelled that right) who are kind of like Sea Gypsies. They literally grow up on the water and swim before they can walk. They have learned to slow down their heart rate and hold their breath underwater for up to 5 minutes. They paid attention to the animals and before the Tsunami hit went out to sea until it was over.

I think that this is a part of the problem with modern society is that for the most part we've lost the ability to really pay attention to nature and respond. Then again Urbanisation we live in has all but driven out the nature to watch.

Peace Out,
Rev J

 

that's amazing.^

 

Back in the early sixties, there was somebody who said: "don't ask what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." Those were truly words of wisdom that I believe may have started the hippie movement. It's too bad that most people didn't get it.

PAX

 

REVERAND JC:

It's an unfortunate thing, as our society has evolved, all we have ever tried to do is control nature. We are truly arrogant bastards. If we could ever learn to live with nature, it would be a far better place and it would be a place that I would want to live in. I'm sorry for being so negative: but I just call things the way I see them.

PAX

 

No one knows any more than you do. Even the wise can only speculate.

 

Pax-Man:
No worries. I used to tell people when I was in my 20's I was going to sit on a cliff and meditate while the world fucked itself up and when it was over I would come down and dance among the ruins. Some people said that that was arrogant. I think that humanity on this planet has turned into 10lbs of shit in a 5lb bag. Honestly the Earth could use to lose about 2 BIllion of us.

I again fall back on George Carlin: "Ask one of those people in Pompeii frozen in ash, 'Do you feel like a threat to the environment today?' Or ask one of those poor bastards trapped under earthquake rubble in Chile (paraphrasing for current events) 'Do you feel like a threat to the environment today?' Because if we were such a huge problem the Earth could shake us off like a bad case of fleas."

There's nothing like a natural disaster to show humans how arrogant we are.

Peace Out,
Rev J

 

That's not negativity, brother, that's reality!

 

i second this.

 

I don't know how many people here remember the band Devo. But they were essentially a performance art group. Devo was short for Deevolution. Their concept was that as humans started to rely on technology that the human race would devolve. I havent seen it yet but before they ever put out an album they made a low budget film called "The Truth About Deevolution." To me truly subversive art doesn't call attention to the fact that it is subversive.

Peace Out,
Rev J

 

This is all a very interesting read.

Sorry I have been away for so long and not made any comment.


I believe that we simply have evolved to have consciousness and thus obviously question our existence.

I think religion is a paradigm of humanity, something we all need really. I myself am not religious. Unfortunately can't be, I just don't believe it any of it. I think having an answer is probably religion's big attraction. I think we should all however except we cannot know, and may never know.

 

There is no purpose to or reason for life. We are all just here because we are.

 

Here's something I wrote recently.

What is the meaning of life?

Meaning is something that exists within life, not external to it. If there were a meaning of life there would have to be something external to it e.g: life is God's experiment etc. But meanings are contained within life, they are created by the human mind (Nihilism) and it's attempt to mold the world in its own image. If there were no humans to create meanings and values then there would no meanings and values, just animals eating each other on a small planet. "Man is the measure of all things" - Protagoras. We invent meaning, and it's sad that we seem to demand meaning from the cosmos that is external to ourselves and dismiss it as cruel when there appears to be none. There is no final proof, no writing on the wall and no ultimate father figure to tell us what is absolutely real and confirm all our doubts and suspicions. Existence just is.


What is the purpose of life?

This is similar to the "meaning" problem. A purpose can be determined only by somethings relation to something else e.g: the purpose of a gun is to shoot people/things. If there was a purpose of life, then there would need to be something relative to life in order for it to have a "purpose". I've heard people muse "the purpose of life is to reproduce". This is not entirely true, because this is actually a function of biological life rather than an actual purpose - an end result. Whether evolution will ultimately end in something (most logically the manifestation of a superintelligence) remains to be seen and I cannot ultimately predict where natural selection is going; though I can say that due to the limited ammount of matter in the local universe, natural selection is the only viable way of ensuring that things exist - otherwise everything would stay the same and nothing could change. If nothing could change, then nothing could exist, as existence requires change to manifest, otherwise it would simply be nothing. As a result, change is neccessary, and because of the cause and effect nature of our universe, along with the fact that things lean towards the weakest point of resistance, natural selection is the only real way for biological life to exist. Life is the purpose of life.


Hope that helps.

 

and there is no Meaning of life. You give your life meaning, if you choose. Once I began to look at pictures taken by Hubble, I realized just how insignificant we really are. Maybe that makes me a nihilist, maybe that makes me cranky bastard, whatever. It does make me value the here and now, because that is all we have. It makes me love my family with all I have, every moment of my life. It helped me turn away from the myth of the sky god, and the bogus heavenly reward. It helped me realize that the size of my house, car, bank account and dick don't mean a thing. (Okay, maybe the size of my dick matters...) It helps me see through the artificial edifice of modern life, built by those who benefit most to the detriment of those that don't.

We are a cosmic anomaly. Probably not the only one, but that matters little. All that matters is love. Just love.

 

Very wise