What is the Point of Life

There is NO point to life. Just LIVE and follow this prayer I say every day: "God grant me the SERENITY to accept what I cannot change, the courage to change what I can, and the WISDOM to know the difference."

In the end, the worst outcome is our own death but even that ends all pain and suffering.
 

From a biological standpoint, we are here to propagate the species. We're not that different from lemmings or salmon in that regard.

A lot of the things we do (write novels, play guitar, amass wealth) we do to attract a suitable mate. Not that different from a peacock strutting around and showing off its gorgeous plumage. Biology is destiny.
 
Mitch86 said:
There is NO point to life. Just LIVE and follow this prayer I say every day: "God grant me the SERENITY to accept what I cannot change, the courage to change what I can, and the WISDOM to know the difference."

In the end, the worst outcome is our own death but even that ends all pain and suffering.
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The problem with that is, it's hard to accept that there is so much evil in the world that cannot be changed. If one believes that man is basically good, then when he commits acts of evil, he's going against his own nature, and with a little prodding, he'll change his ways.

Of course, there always have been and are always going to be sociopaths and narcissists who can't be changed, even with threats of prison or execution. By their nature, moral values aren't going to prevent them from doing evil unless they have something to gain from refraining from that type of behavior.

Is man basically evil?

When the world is swirling down the toilet and people are trying to stop the flow with a giant turd, what do you do? Offer the use of a plunger?​

It seems to me that people can be divided roughly into thirds... one third evil, one third good, and one third that just follows blindly and will jump on whatever bandwagon happens to be passing through town. The problem with that is, the blind followers determine mankind's trajectory by supporting which ever side has the most appealing personality or easiest "solutions." They can enable evil or good.

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing," which is routinely attributed to Edmund Burke, but it was actually uttered by John Stuart Mill, who said, “Let not any one pacify his conscience by the delusion that he can do no harm if he takes no part, and forms no opinion. Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing. He is not a good man who, without a protest, allows wrong to be committed in his name, and with the means which he helps to supply, because he will not trouble himself to use his mind on the subject.”

Perhaps a more accurate statement could be that for evil to triumph, the only thing necessary is for blind followers to choose the side of evil. The side of evil often offers simple solutions to complex problems, which is one of the reasons they gain a following.
 
Murrmurr said:
I disagree with the first sentence. What we can gain in life is limited only by our motivation to obtain it, and what we have to lose is life itself.

What's the point of Life? A person's life is pointless if s/he has no responsibility. I'm talking about the long list of responsibilities that being a member of a society thrusts upon us, such as keeping your car insured, as well as the responsibilities that we chose to take on, such as raising a family. Both types of responsibility are rife with challenges and stress, but the ones we choose to take on are usually more personally meaningful and satisfying.

People who go through life without any responsibility whatsoever are not only living pointless lives, I think, at the end of the day, they are probably far less satisfied with life than people who willingly accept some responsibility, even if it's only responsibility for themselves.
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When I think of "responsibility, I think of how we respond to life's vagaries both good and not so good. The high road to some is to be as responsible as possible and they often feel failure because they fall short of their own standards. This is not a healthy plan for me. I do the best I can with what society expects of me, and make choices as to how responsible I treat the situation. There is no golden rule that fits all circumstances, so spontaneity is required. When I say no gain or loss, all I am saying is be careful of unrealistic expectations of ourselves and others. Try to not be guided by rules, but by understanding. For instance, your nephew? hand painting your car is a bit irresponsible to many people I would bet. :)
 
charry said:
All questions need answering !!....some 7yr olds have more sense than some 50 yr olds 😂
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I agree with you Charry - all questions need answering. It is amazing the understanding and intellect a 7 year old possesses these days. My children and I answer all questions posed by their children ( our grand children).
 
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Mitch86 said:
There is NO point to life. Just LIVE and follow this prayer I say every day: "God grant me the SERENITY to accept what I cannot change, the courage to change what I can, and the WISDOM to know the difference."

In the end, the worst outcome is our own death but even that ends all pain and suffering.
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Great prayer.
 
Mitch86 said:
It seems we all get born, we grow to adults, we get old and suffer a lot with all kinds of illnesses. Then we die and totally disappear. Is there any meaning to it all?
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Mitch, I use to think the exact same way until I started working on my internal self. My thought was, I did not ask to be here. However, I know there is a reason I am here. I am learning to go with the flow. I am here so I might as well make the best of it and I am doing just that - with bumpy roads and all. 🤓
 
Mitch86 said:
It seems we all get born, we grow to adults, we get old and suffer a lot with all kinds of illnesses. Then we die and totally disappear. Is there any meaning to it all?
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There's another recent thread touching on this subject called "Food for Thought", though it didn't generate as much interest as yours, (I dug out some comments on the meaning of life there, taken from another website and they talked about the limitations of such an enquiry). :)
 
Murrmurr said:
No, most don't. Most birds and mammals provide some training for a while, but only people have the responsibility to provide a home, complete care, love, and guidance. We're responsible for doing more than send our offspring out to graze somewhere.
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I wouldn't be too antagonistic about recognising the remarkable care many animals provide to their offspring, because it doesn't detract at all from recognising the care required by human children, (who have a slower speed of development to maturity and this has evolutionary factors behind it). :unsure:
 
Paco Dennis said:
When I think of "responsibility, I think of how we respond to life's vagaries both good and not so good. The high road to some is to be as responsible as possible and they often feel failure because they fall short of their own standards. This is not a healthy plan for me. I do the best I can with what society expects of me, and make choices as to how responsible I treat the situation. There is no golden rule that fits all circumstances, so spontaneity is required. When I say no gain or loss, all I am saying is be careful of unrealistic expectations of ourselves and others. Try to not be guided by rules, but by understanding. For instance, your nephew? hand painting your car is a bit irresponsible to many people I would bet. :)
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I didn't mean to imply life should be all responsibility and no fun (or freedom of expression).
I take full responsibility for Paxton's paint job :)
(he's my former foster son, btw. not related otherwise.)
 
I know. You are a great guy, with a lot of challenges, who is very sensitive and loving. :) I was just balancing motivation with responsibility. They seem quite a bit different in many regards. We can be highly motivated to do some pretty terrible stuff that isn't responsible in the least...that is everybody but me. :)
 
Here something out of right field that came to mind last night. This has nothing to do with politics, but it's an interesting idea to consider. Didn't G.H.W. Bush say something like "There are a thousand points of life." :)
 
Murrmurr said:
No, most don't. Most birds and mammals provide some training for a while, but only people have the responsibility to provide a home, complete care, love, and guidance. We're responsible for doing more than send our offspring out to graze somewhere.
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Disagree, animals provide for their young until they can survive on their own, just like humans. It just takes humans a lot longer to become self sufficient. And some never do, ala the 30 year old still living in mom's basement
 
grahamg said:
I wouldn't be too antagonistic about recognising the remarkable care many animals provide to their offspring, because it doesn't detract at all from recognising the care required by human children, (who have a slower speed of development to maturity and this has evolutionary factors behind it). :unsure:
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Exactly
 
Ants do the best. The Queen supervises all the care of her brood and all ants are cared for by others until they die. Humans will never be able to match ants in care for their brood.
 

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