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submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

I'm not depressed (at the moment, well maybe a little), just feeling philosophical.

Edit: the idea of this came to me because I was pondering why people fight so hard to beat diseases and live a few more years. What are they planning to do? Why exert effort just to be here longer when you don't have a reason?

Just why?

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[-] thedeadwalking4242@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

Yes! Do what you enjoy as long as it’s not harming others. Whatever that is

[-] NostraDavid@programming.dev 2 points 1 week ago

I would argue we have a whole list of purposes:

  • procreate
  • copulate
  • mate
  • engage in sexual reproduction
  • propagate the species
  • reproduce
  • conceive life
  • bring forth offspring
  • weave new generations
  • kindle the spark of life
  • sow the seeds of tomorrow
  • whip up some womb-biscuits
  • bake a bun in the baby oven
  • start a stork-summoning ritual
  • do the chromosome cha-cha
  • know each other in the biblical sense
  • lie together
  • hook up
  • get it on
  • do the deed
  • bump uglies
  • initiate a genetic merge request
  • fork the DNA repo
  • compile the next generation
  • instantiate another human

I think you got the gist.

And in the meantime also entertain ourselves, of course.

[-] lunasandwich@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

As an ace, I'd have to disagree.

[-] Onyxonblack@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 week ago

Negative utilitarianism posits that reducing suffering is the ultimate moral imperative.

[-] procapra@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 week ago

You have total free will. You can choose to follow or break the laws, you can go do drugs or be a hobo somewhere if that's the life you want to live.

Life is just your will to do something. And if you lose the freedom and will to do anything, you're, in my mind, already dead.

[-] Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 week ago

Maybe the point is to find your own meaning of life.
Like my reason to continue may be different than yours (once found)

[-] Tehhund@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

Lots of good answers here. You might want to read up on Existentialism, a line of philosophy grappling with exactly this problem. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existentialism

[-] vga@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I'm partial to the idea that we're part of a larger organism. So essentially similar to cell parts but on a different scale. There's something above that, but we are as likely to figure it out as cells are able to figure us out.

What to do with that? I have no idea. In lieu of objective facts, I guess it's useful to pick the good instructions from religions -- usually the ones that they all share are the ones that are worth adhering to. Do to others etc etc.

[-] Cethin@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 week ago

There's no meaning to life, because that implies intent for it existing. It just does. However, I think it does give us an imperative to try to do good with the life we have. We're one of the few things in the universe that can experience pain and joy, and we should be trying to minimize the former and maximize the latter for the other beings capable of them.

Nothing happens if you do or don't, but it does make everything better for everyone if you do, which includes yourself for the purely self motivated out there. Life isn't a zero-sum game, so we should try to make it as nice as possible.

[-] chunch@feddit.org 1 points 1 week ago

We are many, but we are one life. We are part of an organism that started with one cell. There is no need for meaning until we treat the world accordingly.

[-] Doom@ttrpg.network 1 points 1 week ago

I think the meaning of life is experience. I have a personal belief that is hard to explain because it's obviously going to sound a little wacko but I think since all matter is energy and it seems like there's really only energy I'm convinced everything and everyone is the same thing and I think that thing, lets call it the universe, is just also trying to understand what's going on just like us. So everything from the sun to butterflies to black holes are either some kind of organ or vessel or after effect of the universe trying to understand itself/what is going on but not in a conscious way exactly.

I think we share a universal consciousness and being alive is just peering through a very limited perspective.

But also we're chemically designed to try and not die. Rage against the dying of the light and all.

[-] chunes@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

Open individualism is extremely similar to what you've described. I have a hunch that something like this is the case, though I'd stop short of calling it a belief.

There's some good discussion on /r/OpenIndividualism.

[-] Mobiuthuselah@mander.xyz 1 points 1 week ago

To me, the point of life is to give and receive love. There are many types of love and many ways to show it, and through working towards/with that, it gives my life meaning.

[-] olivier@lemmy.fait.ch 1 points 1 week ago

live a few more years

And see more of your children, maybe even your grand-children. Sounds like a fair deal to me.

[-] UncleGrandPa@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

There is no objective meaning to life. Any meaning imposed by yourself or others is arbitrary and completely subjective.

As a human you are trapped on earth and nothing you do will affect the Universe in any way. Nothing the entire human race has done or will do will affect the Universe in any way. .... Ever

[-] rayquetzalcoatl@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I don't believe life has a meaning. I don't believe that anybody has a reason to be here, in any kind of grand scheme of things.

However, if somebody finds something that they enjoy, they might find they want more of that feeling, and choose to stick around to get it.

Most living things want to continue living. Whether that's because death is scary and potentially unpleasant in a few different ways, or because they've become attached to something in the world.

That's why I think some people fight diseases to live a few more years. They might not be planning on anything specific, other than just not dying.

Edit: the idea of this came to me because I was pondering why people fight so hard to beat diseases and live a few more years. What are they planning to do? Why exert effort just to be here longer when you don't have a reason?

Sometimes one just wanna go out on their own terms, and finish all their goals, and disease is just something that's in the way.

A few more years is precious to those, I suppose.

[-] GlacialTurtle@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 week ago
[-] Naich@lemmings.world 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

You are the best suited vessel for transferring your DNA to the next generation. That is the meaning of life in the most specific sense. More generally, humans have evolved to help others achieve this goal, in the form of generosity and autism. At the purest biological level, the meaning of life is to have children and to help others of your species survive to have children.

This does not prohibit you from finding your own personal meaning of course, and I wish you the best of luck in doing so.

[-] cy_narrator@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 week ago

You wont last forever but your actions will

[-] aeternum@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 week ago

My view is that there is no point, so you make your own point or purpose. I don't believe there's an inherent purpose. I think we're all just here, and that's it.

[-] folaht@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Purpose? Point? You make it sound like it's something inherently positive. Can you give me an example where it could be inherently positive? Because the purposes I can think of are all negative to me since I have goals of my own and any purpose in life would stand in the way of that. I don't want to be like a spoon (so humans can eat more easily) or a cat (To be human pets), so I'm really glad to have no point or purpose in life, as that means I am the master of my own destiny.

I have goals in life I want to achieve. That's why I want to live longer. And if people can help me achieve my goals, that's all the better.

If you want to find purpose in life, then I'm sure you can find another person in life that can give you one.

[-] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 1 points 1 week ago

I work to make things less shitty for the people I care about and keep myself alive and comfortable. That's about it. I'm not interested in having children because I have no confidence that the world will improve for the next generations.

[-] arsCynic@beehaw.org 1 points 1 week ago

“Ambition is overrated. Whether a janitor or surgeon, being virtuous is what matters [1]. Avoid contempt and envy because we each have our part to play [2], powerless to choose our upbringing. Often there's more than meets the eye so hold off on passing judgement. Everything is borrowed [3], so avoid craving credit too. The meaning of life is sharing (and) laughter [4], helping each other through peaks and throughs. Bref, GLHF.

  1. Dr. Michael Sugrue: Marcus Aurelius' Meditations: The Stoic Ideal.
  2. Nicky Case: Fireflies.
  3. The Streets: Everything Is Borrowed.
  4. YouTube: The Meaning of Life.”

[Quoting my own website arscyni.cc because POSSE: "Publish (on your) Own Site, Syndicate Elsewhere."]

[-] Crabhands@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 week ago

I'm not spiritual, but I believe the universe as we know it was created by higher beings on a dimensional plane we can't comprehend. They created us as a resource. Perhaps for simulations, or science, or entertainment. I believe we are the worker ants for these beings and our collective meaning is to produce intelligence. Maybe we are an AI hive mind? Or fuck it maybe were just here to watch ufc and drink beer.

[-] Cethin@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 week ago

I don't understand how you're both not spiritual and believe this. However, if you're right then those people are assholes and so I want to align myself opposite to their goals.

[-] fluxion@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

To explore this existence.

[-] ordinarylove@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 week ago

you are the worst splinter cell agent i have ever seen OP

[-] Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 week ago

There is no point, no purpose, self replicating cells appeared and evolution led to where we are now.

Life is/can be very enjoyable, but hedonism in itself is vacuous and ultimately unfulfilling. Make sure your existence is a net positive for the world and at least you'll not only be glad you lived, you'll also be glad YOU lived. Mmmhh. I guess in the end I can't say anything more useful than the Solomonic principle: "fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man". 🤷

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this post was submitted on 13 Jul 2025
116 points (93.3% liked)

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