"You Only Live Once" Saying promotes Hedonism/ Destructive Behavior

We have all heard the saying. "Oh honey, quit being so reserved, You Only Live Once darling, you should have danced with him!" Next thing you know, this hypothetical girl has a grimy stranger feeling all up on her body, because her friends talked her into it. 

If we internalize this saying as a personal philosophy, we're more likely to engage in risky, reckless, lawless behavior, because there is this false sense of urgency now created into your being. 

(rant begins)

Firstly, I think its important to make a distinction between "Gods" will (I generally dislike the word God; the all, the one, the source would be a better term,) and free will. We all have a purpose to fulfill here in this lifetime and that is our true reason for being here; this is Gods will in our life. It could be to help the poor, to inspire others by way of being an artist, or to spread the message about the unity of God himself. It is our purpose in life to discover what this will is, and then live accordingly. We sacrifice our free will when we do this; no longer can we do whatever the heck we want. We also have free will; we can do whatever the heck we want, but have to pay whatever consequence our actions incur; that's the only catch. This is what "reap what ye shall sow" in the bible gets at. Jesus had the free will to do whatever he wanted to, but he took the high road and followed his true will and taught the oneness of God. Every day you have a choice to live a life that brings you closer to the source, or that of unity consciousness  (good), or one of debauchery that brings you separate from the source, or that of separation consciousness (evil). In my opinion, by throwing around the saying "You Only Live Once", it is a selling point for free will, as it creates this philosophy that life is about accruing as many pleasures and experiences as you can, which is not the purpose of life. Your true life purpose then gets thrown out the window.

Secondly, I tend to have a Buddhist/Hindu/Sikh philosophy on the whole reincarnation/ past lives thing. In fact, I consider myself psychic and often have dreams about my many different past lives. I personally believe we have all lived countless amounts of lives, in every existence ever imaginable, from a dog consciousness to even Christ like consciousness (for some). Now, I obviously can't "prove" that we have all lived an infinite amount of lives, but what if our science is still at a very primitive stage, and one day science it self will actually prove that our soul never truly dies, but just assumes different forms and different lives (based on our karmic undergoing's). People are so quick to discredit a concept that can't be "proven", yet fail to realize how relatively primitive our sciences and technologies are (we still use fossil fuels, for example).

So, if we literally live an infinite amount of lives, as these eastern philosophies suggest, than "You Only Live Once" is just a flat out false statement of the true nature of reality. 

So please stop using this phrase as it promotes regrettable, pleasure filled, and often reckless behavior that deviates us from our true life purpose. 

Just my thoughts, feel free to debate me.

a reply to: sekerofknowlege

YOLO was a huge thing for a couple of years among the younger generation (seems to be more so with Generation Z or whatever you would call them), and it still is. The mentality behind "YOLO" also remains, strong as ever. It's really just sad.

originally posted by: sekerofknowlege

We have all heard the saying. "Oh honey, quit being so reserved, You Only Live Once darling, you should have danced with him!" Next thing you know, this hypothetical girl has a grimy stranger feeling all up on her body, because her friends talked her into it. 

If we internalize this saying as a personal philosophy, we're more likely to engage in risky, reckless, lawless behavior, because there is this false sense of urgency now created into your being. 

(rant begins)

Firstly, I think its important to make a distinction between "Gods" will (I generally dislike the word God; the all, the one, the source would be a better term,) and free will. We all have a purpose to fulfill here in this lifetime and that is our true reason for being here; this is Gods will in our life. It could be to help the poor, to inspire others by way of being an artist, or to spread the message about the unity of God himself. It is our purpose in life to discover what this will is, and then live accordingly. We sacrifice our free will when we do this; no longer can we do whatever the heck we want. We also have free will; we can do whatever the heck we want, but have to pay whatever consequence our actions incur; that's the only catch. This is what "reap what ye shall sow" in the bible gets at. Jesus had the free will to do whatever he wanted to, but he took the high road and followed his true will and taught the oneness of God. Every day you have a choice to live a life that brings you closer to the source, or that of unity consciousness  (good), or one of debauchery that brings you separate from the source, or that of separation consciousness (evil). In my opinion, by throwing around the saying "You Only Live Once", it is a selling point for free will, as it creates this philosophy that life is about accruing as many pleasures and experiences as you can, which is not the purpose of life. Your true life purpose then gets thrown out the window.

Secondly, I tend to have a Buddhist/Hindu/Sikh philosophy on the whole reincarnation/ past lives thing. In fact, I consider myself psychic and often have dreams about my many different past lives. I personally believe we have all lived countless amounts of lives, in every existence ever imaginable, from a dog consciousness to even Christ like consciousness (for some). Now, I obviously can't "prove" that we have all lived an infinite amount of lives, but what if our science is still at a very primitive stage, and one day science it self will actually prove that our soul never truly dies, but just assumes different forms and different lives (based on our karmic undergoing's). People are so quick to discredit a concept that can't be "proven", yet fail to realize how relatively primitive our sciences and technologies are (we still use fossil fuels, for example).

So, if we literally live an infinite amount of lives, as these eastern philosophies suggest, than "You Only Live Once" is just a flat out false statement of the true nature of reality. 

So please stop using this phrase as it promotes regrettable, pleasure filled, and often reckless behavior that deviates us from our true life purpose. 

Just my thoughts, feel free to debate me.

Maybe but it's also motivated me to do things that I was scared to do that were beneficial to my life. Even if reincarnation is true, we still only live our current life once. I don't think it's about doing risky hedonistic things I think it's more about doing things you'd otherwise be too afraid to do. Most of the time I've found my fear was pointless and held me back from life.

a reply to: sekerofknowlege

let's change it to 'you only die once' (YODO)

You may be right. However I embraced the "you only live once", philosophy about 40 years ago. Near the end of my Grandfathers life, he told me his greatest regret was the things he didn't do. I took that to heart. I am slowing down a little now that I have pasted 60. But I have live more fully and seen more sights, than most people can ever dream about, and I've loved one woman. If I died tomorrow, I've lived a happy life for I have friends everywhere.

a reply to: sekerofknowlege

What is perceived as "destructive" behavior for some, is simply living for others. Not all pleasure filled behavior is regrettable or reckless. Just ask my boyfriend. I believe life's true purpose is that it is to be enjoyed any way you can as long as you're not hurting others.

Usually people are held back simply from fear. So live they way that makes you feel good and comfortable, but try and let others live the way they wish, even if it's self destructive.

originally posted by: sekerofknowlege

We have all heard the saying. "Oh honey, quit being so reserved, You Only Live Once darling, you should have danced with him!" Next thing you know, this hypothetical girl has a grimy stranger feeling all up on her body, because her friends talked her into it. 

If we internalize this saying as a personal philosophy, we're more likely to engage in risky, reckless, lawless behavior, because there is this false sense of urgency now created into your being. 

(rant begins)

Firstly, I think its important to make a distinction between "Gods" will (I generally dislike the word God; the all, the one, the source would be a better term,) and free will. We all have a purpose to fulfill here in this lifetime and that is our true reason for being here; this is Gods will in our life. It could be to help the poor, to inspire others by way of being an artist, or to spread the message about the unity of God himself. It is our purpose in life to discover what this will is, and then live accordingly. We sacrifice our free will when we do this; no longer can we do whatever the heck we want. We also have free will; we can do whatever the heck we want, but have to pay whatever consequence our actions incur; that's the only catch. This is what "reap what ye shall sow" in the bible gets at. Jesus had the free will to do whatever he wanted to, but he took the high road and followed his true will and taught the oneness of God. Every day you have a choice to live a life that brings you closer to the source, or that of unity consciousness  (good), or one of debauchery that brings you separate from the source, or that of separation consciousness (evil). In my opinion, by throwing around the saying "You Only Live Once", it is a selling point for free will, as it creates this philosophy that life is about accruing as many pleasures and experiences as you can, which is not the purpose of life. Your true life purpose then gets thrown out the window.

Secondly, I tend to have a Buddhist/Hindu/Sikh philosophy on the whole reincarnation/ past lives thing. In fact, I consider myself psychic and often have dreams about my many different past lives. I personally believe we have all lived countless amounts of lives, in every existence ever imaginable, from a dog consciousness to even Christ like consciousness (for some). Now, I obviously can't "prove" that we have all lived an infinite amount of lives, but what if our science is still at a very primitive stage, and one day science it self will actually prove that our soul never truly dies, but just assumes different forms and different lives (based on our karmic undergoing's). People are so quick to discredit a concept that can't be "proven", yet fail to realize how relatively primitive our sciences and technologies are (we still use fossil fuels, for example).

So, if we literally live an infinite amount of lives, as these eastern philosophies suggest, than "You Only Live Once" is just a flat out false statement of the true nature of reality. 

So please stop using this phrase as it promotes regrettable, pleasure filled, and often reckless behavior that deviates us from our true life purpose. 

Just my thoughts, feel free to debate me.

what youre arguing has nothing to do with the saying, "you only live once". Youre example is someone else, trying to persuade someone to do something with the phrase "YOLO". That person could just as easily had said "you go to hell anyways when you die" or "dont you want to go to heaven". It is someone else trying to control you, Just listen to youre own free will, and do whatever you want. Most of us have empathy, and tries to do stuff that benefits others.

You are now trying to persuade us not to use that sentence, cause you think it is bad. How are you different that the person in youre example, doing the same with the sentence "YOLO" ??

originally posted by: sekerofknowlege

We have all heard the saying. "Oh honey, quit being so reserved, You Only Live Once darling, you should have danced with him!" Next thing you know, this hypothetical girl has a grimy stranger feeling all up on her body, because her friends talked her into it. 

what a weird example.

i could just as easily interpret 'you only live once' to mean that it's important to do something purposeful and fulfilling and good for others, instead of arguing, as you do, that they are mutually exclusive concepts.

i've read that when the end of life comes, people more often regret what they didn't find the courage or will to do, instead of what they did. food for thought.

a reply to: sekerofknowlege

So you believe in reincarnation - that would imply through free will you choose to reincarnate to come back and learn different lessons - if you do take risks due to "only living once" then it is what it is - as you chose to come to this particular moment/life choice.

our true life purpose.

Everyone has to find this out for themselves. There is no true or false "life purpose".

There is life purpose or seeking purpose.
Just my thoughts.

YOLO can be a path leading to self-destructive behavior. True enough.

But it's also an attitude that can lead to a better life. YOLO is what's getting me, at 54, to pull up every root I've got to move to Tennessee--as soon as we sell this house. It remains to be seen if it's a good thing, or not... .

It's not all one thing. YOLO can be anything, and everything.

a reply to: sekerofknowlege.
The saying increases attachment to the temporary observable...
If you only live once is the thinking and Cogito ergo sum carriers some truth, what have those possibly done to themselves who think this way? You completely deny your eternal souls...

a reply to: sekerofknowlege

So please stop using this phrase as it promotes regrettable, pleasure filled, and often reckless behavior that deviates us from our true life purpose.

My purpose in life is to live a pleasure filled, reckless, hedonistic lifestyle. My regrets would be that missed out on something.

It's better to regret things you have done than things you haven't done.
I have been technically dead at least once but I still got jump-started back into this strange realm.

since we have no proof that "you only live once" isn`t a bit foolish to do things based only on the words " you only live once"?
it`s just as foolish as doing things based on the idea or words " don`t worry you`ll be reincarnated"

"go ahead and drive 100MPH when you`re drunk, don`t worry if you die you`ll be reincarnated"
go ahead and have sex with a lot of sleazy women, don`t worry if you get aids, or hepatitis, or some other deadly STD, you`ll be reincarnated"

in fact saying "you only live once" should be even more of a reason not to do stupid crap that you might regret or might kill you.

a reply to: Nickn3

reminds me of a famous quote " regret for things we did can be tempered by time,but regret for things we didn`t do is inconsolable"

I never really understood that though because lets say you had sex with someone that gave you a deadly STD, would you regret that had sex with them or would you regret that you didn`t keep it in your pants and not have sex with them.

a reply to: sekerofknowlege


Some years ago, my then 23 y/o son was making some poor choices in his life and was discussing his lifestyle in general with me. I let him know they were bad choices and his reply was exactly that: "Yolo, You only live once." He wasn't regretful in the least and felt like he would continue on a very unwise path.

I explained that indeed, you only live once so why not make it the best experience possible instead of screwing it up constantly along the way and paying a lifetime of sorrow and regret.

He finally came around after a few more years of doing it his way and started acting more responsibly and making positive choices in his life.

a reply to: sekerofknowlege

Clearly you've picked up the meaning of "You Only Live Once" wrong, as others have pointed out, it's a mantra repeated to encourage people to do that which they're scared of so they don't leave this mortal coil with regrets, not a moral loophole.

Besides, I'd say we're more likely to go off whack if reincarnation was a proven fact, instead of YOLO we'd have YoGA Life (You Get Another Life) and people would do all kinds of crazy $hit with no regard for safety because they know they'll come back again....

a reply to: sekerofknowlege

I've always said YOLO people will retire with nothing.

a reply to: sekerofknowlege

Now, hold on a second.

First of all, the problem with sayings like this, is that they have duality to them, in that the results of following them ad infinitum, without the application of intellect to guide decision making are almost certainly going to be negative. But this particular saying came from a period where, for generations upon countless generations, people had been NOT doing things, doing ANY things, that were not pre-arranged, safe, and where all activity aside from that was considered eccentric at best, and down right obscene at worst.

This stayed, twee, compressed, repressive existence and its eventual collapse, right around the end of the 1800s, progressing toward today, was NOT healthy. You could say that the entire time since that point, the human race, or at least segments of it, have been about the process of taking the chains from around their necks, link by link.

Now, its worth saying that not EVERYTHING about the period that we seek to leave behind, was negative. Self discipline, strength, determination and perseverance for example, are all decent traits, and ones which many at the time, believed their way of life to engender in themselves (although this was demonstrably not actually the case, as proven by countless examples of clearly repressed individuals believing themselves to be free, when they were anything but). Carrying those traits forward, in the absence of repressive laws, repressive social constructs and backward thinking is necessary if what comes next is to have any value, because without these necessary traits, people tend toward powerlessness and hopelessness, which is bad for the individual.

But the other thing is this, and understand when I say what I am about to say, that I believe in Jesus Christ...:

If your argument contains or revolves around God or Christ, or even references any even partially religious concepts, then it falls apart. Why? Because the developed world is run in secular fashion, as it damned well ought to be. Soceital norms are, quite rightly, no longer dictated by religious groups, of any denomination, in the developed world. If you want to make an argument of relevance, you cannot reference these things within it. You can if you are trying to appeal to those who have a faith, but the argument is not only meaningless, but counterproductive if you are trying to actually affect any change in the broader sense, because nations and national consciousnesses in the developed world, where the behaviour you are concerned about occurs most, are SECULAR not faith reliant.

The original use of the phrase "you only live once", was meant to suggest to the reader that, since that singular turn of the crank has value, one ought to preciously guard oneself against things like cholera, dysentery, and similar, potentially lethal conditions. But it is natural that its meaning evolved along with the culture which originated it, and that culture moved toward freer, less compressed ideas about itself as time wore on, from the brassiere burning of the sixties, to other forms of revolutionary activity, for example, the US civil rights movement. Its presence in those periods was used rather to suggest that since your life is singular and precious, you should spend it doing something you believe in, rather than capitulating to circumstances with which you disagree, which is a perfectly legitimate suggestion, albeit markedly different in direction than its original usage.

Its common usage nowadays is, as FamCore points out, among those of younger generations, more fatalistic and permissive in its meaning, which is not healthy, but it is not the ONLY common usage. When a person considers whether to attend a protest march, despite the fact that it might become ugly for some reason (as these things can do from time to time), one could say "well, you only live once", with the implication being that if you are going to die, one might as well die doing what one believes in. When a person considers whether to take on an expedition to the North pole, or a trip up Everest, one may use the phrase also, because turning down once in a life time opportunities is a waste of that singular, and precious time one is allotted by ones birth, a thing for which one will kick oneself later, without doubt.

It CAN be misused, but so can pretty much every phrase you can think of. Lord alone knows there are enough religious texts whose meaning has been usurped for political expediency, as have books of philosophy, and as have scientific theories, and a whole host of other concepts and phrases over the years.

Its the misuse which is the problem, not the use of the phrase.

Language is like any human tool. Applied as intended, its place in human experience can be demonstrably positive, have consequences which turn terminal hopelessness into determination and fortitude. But misused, it can be positively dangerous. It is not the tool which is dangerous, but the misuse of it. The same applies to guns, knives, axes, riveters, nail guns, screws, atomic physics and a whole host of other things.

In summary, the phrase "You only live once" ought suffer no drop in use, simply because some people misuse it. That would be as daft as ceasing to teach Einstein's equations, because theres a chance someone might be tempted to build nuclear weapons using them!