The meaning or point of existence or life

I certainly don't have the answer , but I'm sure like many of you I like to speculate on the subject. I would rather that the speculations stay away from religion and more around scientific facts or scientifically accepted facts that we know.

This is my first thread that I started here so I'm not sure if this is the right forum?

I think in finding the answer to the meaning of life maybe we need to find the common denominators between all life forms and list the scientific facts that can relate to living and death. If it exists in all life forms then it has to be of some importance in the overall picture.

Definition of life: At minimum it must have a brain. No souls required.

1. One thing that you ,I, and animals have in common is our OWN personal experiences. Might be a reason for that?

2. Energy can't be destroyed nor created. Scientific fact at least in the physics classes I have taken.

3. All life forms are/or have a form of energy. We humans and animals burn calories while other living organisms such as plants consume energy as well but they don't have brains.

More speculative than fact:
4. By design I assume that we are not made aware of what our existence is before birth or after death .So there is got to be a reason for this? Please no reincarnation arguments since we can't prove that and that could be a whole different thread by itself.

So couple of things to speculate on based on the facts and assumptions I listed above:
The world is full of energy that is basically transformed from one form to another.

So it might be possible that when we die we transfer our individual knowledge (perhaps as energy) to the universal energy pool ? Its late so this is as far as I will get till I get another chance.

But note this is just speculation and certainly not meant to be taken as definitive proof of anything, but I'm curious as to what you expand on or dismiss or come up with on your own as the possibilities could be endless.

reply to post by interupt42


Dear interupt42,

Now I am a Christian; but, I question if you are attempting to play with atheists? If you are not then I will give my non-religious answer; but, if you are playing with them then you are doing wrong. The truth sets people free not tricks.

Here goes with my non-religious answer. You are a sentient being, a self-aware being, you can choose for your life to be about something or not, what do you wish it to be about? The choices are simple and you determine them, it can about you or about all sentient beings. Pick and you have answered your own question. Now, if you dig deeper you have another choice to make, are you the only sentient being or are there others? If there are other sentient beings, does that impact your decision as to what choice you would make on what your life would mean? I do hope you are following this, just answer the questions one by one. Finally, if you are a sentient being and there are other sentient beings and energy can neither be created or destroyed, where did you all come from if not from a greater sentience? Peace.

If the meaning of life was as apparent as it should be to those who would seek it, the truth anonymous speaks is that everything is for lulz. There is nothing greater than lulz. There will be more lulz to be had, had you seen it coming, that Anonymous only does it for the lulz.

You might think I am merely whacko, but the truth remains, those behind the mask have spoken. Anonymous, while not god, is one of the most powerful forces for truth we have ever seen. So it might be worth more than a hand-waving snidely-remarking dismissal of their idea.

Lulz, they are good and we want more. What other reason do we need?

I think we will never know for sure... So, make the chemicals in your brain flow in a way that makes you feel good, without impinging on any others ability to do the same. Not trying to be cliche, but, this is really what it comes down to... That said, I really do enjoy pondering the subject, and other non-tangibles, as well. Cheers

We are all made up of energy. Our consciousness is what makes us unique, but the question is do we need our brain in order to have consciousness? I'm currently taking a class that touches briefly on this subject and from what I've learner is that our consciousness does live on. The energy u speak of contains information of everything and the akasha is what many refer to as the information field. I wish I could be more help. You might want to try to check out hologram universe, some theories explain where the universe came from and so forth.

Quoting my ATS signature...

signature:
"What is the meaning of life? Simply to exist! It is only in the capacity in which you choose to exist that defines the true meaning" - Me

Leaves room for all the "endless possibilities"

reply to post by interupt42


Perhaps we exist to observe and make wave forms collapse into the universe we see. Some pretty strange things happen at the quantum level when we observe. An example being the double slit experiment.

I doubt you will find a physicist who would be happy with the notion that conscious observervation has something to do with reality though? What came first? The universe or the observer? Why did atoms come together to make life in the first place? Maybe because an observer is required for all this?

If a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it does it make a sound?

reply to post by interupt42


Meaning is a generalize idea as to what something is based on its definitions. Since we cannot know every possible definition, no single meaning is the "truth", and you are free to make your own meaning. Like So..

A definition of life:
A process or byproduct of nature is to break things down to its simplest form and life resists that process by intaking molecules.

Which gives us this meaning:
Life is the resistance of simplification in order to sustain ones own existence.


Purpose means made in order to achieve something.
An accident is something made without purpose. So...

There can be no point or purpose without a creator - a god. If life has a purpose then God holds the answer to that purpose.

I personally think the purpose is entertainment for God.

If you want an answer void of God, you can ask your parents if you were made on purpose and if so what that purpose is.

reply to post by interupt42


Your theory at the end about being absorbed into the energy blob or whatever sounds like a religion to me, it sounds like what Jehova's Witnesses believe happens when they die, I disagree.

I personally have seen a lot of evidence proving real-time communication between humans and dead-humans aka ghosts. I have seen zero evidence of the 'area absorbing a traumatic event' bs.

If you want a scientific answer, the answer would be there is no point or meaning. The flaw in chaos theory is it is only half of the picture, I believe there is a law that is the exact opposite of it, I do believe evidence can be seen to prove both a law of the universe based on chaos and a law in the universe based on order simultaneously exist, the complexity and simplicity is overlooked, but it is there.

Yo fam, were so far away from our own true nature its no wonder why we cant see the meaning of life.

reply to post by interupt42


This is what most of us atheists will say since it's the most logical answer to such a question - since there's no god then we're free to do what ever we want and so the meaning of life is what you make it, you make your own meaning.

Another answer is that the meaning of life/biology is to reproduce in order to keep life going - in which is its basic function.

Now my personal opinion is that if it's found that life is so widespread that it could be called an infestation throughout the universe, then life is not so special and so you have to look beyond life to ask the question and instead ask what is the meaning of the universe, if life isn't it.

So what is the meaning of the universe? Assuming that there just as many universes out there as there are stars, then the universe isn't special either. And so meaning becomes meaningless, there is no why, there just is.

To the religion comments: I have no idea which if any religion is right or wrong, but that is for another thread. Hence, I prefer that it is not a topic of discussion for this thread. I'm not trying to proof or disprove any religious believe nor do I have hidden agenda with this thread. Just speculative fun.

Also note that I'm not trying to find out who our creator is in this thread.

In regards to the answer: I don't know the answer nor do I expect to find the answer. However, I like to speculate with the endless possibilities using accepted scientific facts that we have today.

To make it easy to follow please state what scientific fact or observation you feel that might be of importance when it comes to our life or our purpose.If you can or choose to then feel free to speculate using logic by applying your facts or scientific observation.

Originally posted by AQuestion
reply to post by interupt42

 

You are a sentient being, a self-aware being, you can choose for your life to be about something or not, what do you wish it to be about? The choices are simple and you determine them, it can about you or about all sentient beings.

Ok, self-awareness that's a good observation. Is there any case that self-awareness doesn't exist when an entity has a brain and is alive? I will add that to the list of observations and a star for you.

Originally posted by AQuestion
Finally, if you are a sentient being and there are other sentient beings and energy can neither be created or destroyed, where did you all come from if not from a greater sentience? Peace.

One step at a time , so I prefer to not speculate on this thread about our creator or how existence came to be created.

edit on 1-2-2012 by interupt42 because: (no reason given)