Laurentius

GRAVITY AND THE MEANING OF LIFE

For those who think I've sounded pathetic enough already, I am going to give a hint at what I'm getting at.

I have been in love with Bill Watterson's "Calvin and Hobbes" comic strips since the day I first saw them. Here's one of my favorites:


(slide one)
Calvin is making a huge snowball, apparently for a snowman. There is a visibly grave-looking full snowman at his back. Hobbes is standing between the two, black muffler round his neck, rubbing his chin while staring at the snowman: "This snowman doesn't look very happy," he says. "He isn't," Calvin replies flatly, and turns around.

(slide two)
Calvin takes one minute's break to explain Hobbes the snowman's problem. The boy is wearing black gloves (suggesting the muffler around Hobbes's neck is supposed to be around his, not the tiger's) and a red cap. His face looks more pinkish than usual, and his cheeks are red from the cold. He is leaning one arm against his as-large-as-he-is snowball and gesturing with the other: "He knows it's just a matter of time before he melts. The sun ignores his entreaties. He feels his existence is neaningless"

(slide three)
"Is it?" Hobbes asks turning around from the snowman, which we no longer see, and watching Calvin, who has got back to work (i.e. rolling his huge snowball). "No," Calvin answers, "He's about to buy a big screen TV."



[ February 24, 2002: Message edited by: Laurentius ]</p>

1sec

I liked Beavis and Butthead better:
"Life sucks"
"And then what?"
"And then you die."
"Ho ho he he..."
<img src="graemlins/boohoo.gif" border="0" alt="[Boo Hoo]" />

Laurentius

I wonder whether it does not seem quite obvious now that people in a secularized society tend to lose any kind of faith once they have lost their faith in god (or God).



[ February 20, 2002: Message edited by: Laurentius ]</p>

1sec

1. To what extent should the discovery of the alleged anti-gravitational force affect our philosophy?

Well, the universe is becoming larger than large, and emptier than now.

I guess philosophies and religions that counted on the aliens will have to change their priorities.

2. What is the rapport between one’s philosophical beliefs and the meaning of one’s live?

Your life has a meaning as long as what you put faith pans out.

3. Why is it necessary that one’s life should bear a meaning in order for one to be able to “tick”?

Value. That's the answer, pal. If you don't give a dam on your life, why live it?

A3

Just another view on some interesting questions

1. To what extent should the discovery of the alleged anti-gravitational force affect our philosophy?

We’d all be up in the air. Isn’t this what flying is all about?
But serious, the more we find we can do the more we would be walking next to our shoes (or whatever we tend to wear). This trend has started in the middle ages. From cars to cloning, we can do it all. We are so sophisticated we don’t tolerate God any more. Just like we’ve come so far away from nature that we need a course to survive in it.

2. What is the rapport between one’s philosophical beliefs and the meaning of one’s live?

In the traditional Christian philosophy (based on literal interpretation), interference between the two is run by our intelligence. Many things don’t make sense (read: don’t relate to life). It would seem to me that the closer one gets to the truth, the closer our life can become one with our philosophical believes.

3. Why is it necessary that one’s life should bear a meaning in order for one to be able to ‘tick’?

Every manager knows that if you let the workers know what they are supposed to be doing and why, they become happier and thus better workers. With robots this makes no difference.
I believe that the meaning of this life is determined by our believes about what we are supposed to be doing and why. In other words, the meaning of this life is determined by our believes of the next. If we believe there is no next, then all we have to do is keep up with the Jones.
Regards
A3

Laurentius

A3, you sound quite optimistic:

From the same Discovery channel and other sources I have learned how Darwinism has been recently modified with some kind of theory of catastrophes, which points out that natural disasters played a tremendously role in the evolution. Such disasters account for the disappearance and appearance of lots of species. It seems to me now that mankind is doomed to experience the same rise and fall that the dinosaurs did. I really used to hope that we - as a species - have a chance to escape such fate.

Let us say then that my belief is that Man can overcome any obstacles, while the information I keep receiving points at his ephemeral condition. Right now I find little chance of reconciliation of these two divergent positions.

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Dear A3, do you really mean it?

Do you really mean that if I don't believe in afterlife there is something fundamental that I'm missing?

A3

Yes, because it seems to me that everyone is motivated by their expectations. It is so much easier to give in to an impulse we know is wrong when we think "this is all there is". If we don't know that is what shapes us, what makes us who we are. It soon becomes I can do anything I want as long as I can get away with it. One has to be very! strong to toe the line and not give in to temptations. It is also so much easier to do something as to concenting adults because who are we bothering with it. The more you know about the afterlife (which is in us right now) the better you can shape yourselves spiritually for it. Here we are what we eat, there we are what we do (in freedom). Just as our body prepares itself for this world in the whomb, our mind is in, you might say, a spiritual womb now preparing for the next world.
That over the millions of years people have believed in some kind of after life is one indication there is more. The Near Death Experience of millions of people now, is another indication. We will never have physical prove because nothing of the spiritual level will ever be seen on a screen or in a glass tube. Have you ever watched the TV show Crossing Over by John Edward? If we want to there are always signs to believe in but never proof.
A3

PsycheDelia

A3:

What makes an impulse right or wrong? I mean, by what standards do we judge? Belief in an afterlife implies religious belief and therefore a person's concept of good and bad will automatically be in accordance with good and bad as defined by the religion, or system of belief. why not accept that a person can create a personal code of good and bad, based on a healthy respect for life (human and otherwise) and have the conviction to live by that code without the expectation of a reward or a punishment that might or might not come in the future? There is something to be said for the person who can go to sleep every night knowing that he spent that day doing what is right, for himself and for others, and not just hoping that he was good enough that day to be judged positively. A person with a strong internalised code of good or bad is as unlikely to give in to that impulse than the person who believes that 'this is not all that there is'.

And as for the TV show Crossing Over with John Edward, I don't see how that can in any way be seen as proof of an afterlife. The few times I've watched that show the only thing that amazes me is the way people fall for his lucky guesses!

Laurentius

AVE
This sounds like a sound foundation of the religious belief in afterlife:
However, hadn't educators better teach people how to be strong (okay, very strong!) rather than preaching a doctrine that makes people "tick" at the cost of planting an illusion in them?
AVE