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whitewolf

asleep under the juniper bush
Registered Senior Member
What is the meaning/purpose of life?
Be prepared to answer further questions about whatever you write.

(Non-Atheists should not post in this thread!)
 
Actually, I'm not sure I'm qualified to post here, since I'm more of a spiritual agnostic than an Atheist. But I don't believe in "god" per se.

I think that we experience life through our senses and perceptions thereof, and in that, we expand our understanding of ourselves and our world. My answer may be more simple than most people are prepared to accept.
 
Originally posted by whitewolf
What is the meaning/purpose of life?
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Define what you mean by life? Do you mean all biological life in general, a species, an individual, or specifically a human individual? If you mean the latter, it is my opinion that the meaning of a person's life is self-defined. It's one of the glories of being human that we get to choose our values and our goals.

~Raithere
 
Define what you mean by life? Do you mean all biological life in general, a species, an individual, or specifically a human individual?
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Um, you may talk about the life of all biological life, life of a species, life of individual human, anything you think is relevant. To you, personally, what is the purpose of your life? Why do we live?
 
Whitewolf,

There is no meaning or purpose to life.

But what I do with my life is entirely my choice.
 
whitewolf: are you experiencing a time of spiritual re/searching? You mentioned on another thread that you'd gone to church for the first time. Just curious.

How'd that church thing work out, by the way?
 
Yes, Im re/searching. It's not a latest thing in my life, Ive been doing this for ages. No thing that Ive come across made all pieces of my life fall into place, so I have not found what Ive been looking for.
So I went to church, and I spoke to a priest, and what he told me about atheists and meaning of their lives I shall not retell here. But the reason why I started this thread is that I want to see if he knew what he was saying.
 
Priests, in my reasonably broad experience, are people, typically men. They don't usually have that much of a better grip on the "meaning" of anything than the rest of us, just a doctrine to follow.
 
Well, I'll restate that it is my opinion that the meaning of a person's life is self-defined. It's one of the glories of being human that we get to choose our values and our goals. Our values are initially established during our upbringing, not purely by what we are taught or told but more importantly by what we see in other peoples behavior, largely that of our family and peers. As we reach maturity we become increasingly capable of analyzing these values, selecting and altering them to fit our personalities. This is most evident in our teenage years as we strive towards independence and begin to identify with our peer groups more strongly than our families.

Speaking personally my values and purpose are many and varied. If I had to define it succinctly I would say that my life's purpose is to experience, appreciate, enjoy, and understand life, other people, and the wonder of the Universe, and to help others to do the same.

~Raithere
 
Originally posted by Cris
There is no meaning or purpose to life.

But what I do with my life is entirely my choice.
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Cris, then wouldnt your meaning, internalized to you, be to do what you choose in life? Isn't that your internalized purpose?

I think a better question for atheists, is "What keeps you alive?"
 
Originally posted by whitewolf
What is the meaning/purpose of life?
Click to expand...
When did you stop preying on children [i.e., one baseless, leading question deserves another].
Originally posted by whitewolf
Be prepared to answer further questions about whatever you write.
Click to expand...
Yes sir, boss man.
 
Originally posted by Fafnir665
Cris, then wouldnt your meaning, internalized to you, be to do what you choose in life? Isn't that your internalized purpose?

I think a better question for atheists, is "What keeps you alive?"
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The chemical reactions that occur inside me, as well as eating and breathing etc, to facilitate those chemical reactions.

Generally I would say that life kind of just is. You cant assign a purpose to it, although looking at it in a biological fashion we, as living things, also want to stay alive and propagate more living things.
And I dont think meaning and purpose are necessarily similar, although they may be linked.
(I'm an agnostic BTW)
 
Originally posted by whitewolf
and I spoke to a priest, and what he told me about atheists and meaning of their lives I shall not retell here
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And a priest is qualified to tell you that for what reason?
Anyway, you can't just leave that out there, what did he say?
BTW its probably best that you tell me, I'm kind of dangerous, thnx.
 
Well, he didn't say anything nice, obviously. Which is the reason I choose to keep it secret.

Anyways, answer my question.
 
What did he basically say? jesus:mad: I can't stand this sort of thing! argh!!
Isn't anyone else DYING to know?

ok ok...
You should have heard what my science teacher said about christians, oh it was nasty, can't repeat it here:cool: unless of course we made some kind of agreement, perhaps an exchange of some sort...
 
Jesus? You are no Atheist!
I don't really care what your science teacher said, I had my own teachers who blabbed on all kinds of subjects :p
I am dying to know what is the purpose of your life, though.
 
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