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The older I get the more I feel that the point of living is experience, not meaning. The stories we make up inside our fish bowls most likely have very little

by codr7 5y ago

The older I get the more I feel that the point of living is experience, not meaning. The stories we make up inside our fish bowls most likely have very little to do with reality.

finfinfin 5y ago
In a way I see experiences as a distraction, escapism, something that helps to postpone the search for meaning.
- aloner 5y ago
  You could also make an argument that search for meaning is an escapism from experiencing life.
  - 101011 5y ago
    It's almost like there's no clear answer here.
    - leoxv 5y ago
      “The purpose of life is not to be [superficially] happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” - R.W. Emerson “Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.” – Helen Keller “Through love alone can man find the kingdom of heaven for which he has sought since his beginnings. Only through living love as a principle can he find the happiness, peace and prosperity which lie in his heart as the greatest of his desires.” - Walter Russell
lm28469 5y ago
> The older I get the more I feel that the point of living is experience On the flip side I think the very modern take on "life = experience" can be badly interpreted. The trend is more about consuming experiences and destinations rather the living experiences, you could describe them as commercialized experiences (Disneyland, holiday resorts in very touristic countries, &c.)
- TeMPOraL 5y ago
  Yup, exactly. My current take is that "pursue experiences instead of things" is primarily a meme that's being spread by countless businesses that want recurring revenue. Experiences are fleeting, so you have to keep buying them all over again - where a well-chosen thing is something you buy once, and it keeps yielding value (including, possibly, experiences) for a long time.
  - codr7 5y ago
    The money machine will embrace and corrupt whatever works. Not looking for meaning doesn't mean spending the rest of your life at Disney Land. Life is fleeting, love is fleeting, everything that means something is fleeting; framing and clinging destroys its essence.
123pie123 5y ago
>The older I get the more I feel that the point of living is experience, not meaning. the older I get the more I see the point of living as basically the same as everything in nature - propagate your genes as much possible and give them the best chance of them propagating their genes. Everything else is try and and fun and help humankind

by codr7 5y ago

The older I get the more I feel that the point of living is experience, not meaning. The stories we make up inside our fish bowls most likely have very little to do with reality.

finfinfin 5y ago

In a way I see experiences as a distraction, escapism, something that helps to postpone the search for meaning.

aloner 5y ago
You could also make an argument that search for meaning is an escapism from experiencing life.
- 101011 5y ago
  It's almost like there's no clear answer here.
  - leoxv 5y ago
    “The purpose of life is not to be [superficially] happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” - R.W. Emerson “Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.” – Helen Keller “Through love alone can man find the kingdom of heaven for which he has sought since his beginnings. Only through living love as a principle can he find the happiness, peace and prosperity which lie in his heart as the greatest of his desires.” - Walter Russell

lm28469 5y ago

> The older I get the more I feel that the point of living is experience On the flip side I think the very modern take on "life = experience" can be badly interpreted. The trend is more about consuming experiences and destinations rather the living experiences, you could describe them as commercialized experiences (Disneyland, holiday resorts in very touristic countries, &c.)

TeMPOraL 5y ago
Yup, exactly. My current take is that "pursue experiences instead of things" is primarily a meme that's being spread by countless businesses that want recurring revenue. Experiences are fleeting, so you have to keep buying them all over again - where a well-chosen thing is something you buy once, and it keeps yielding value (including, possibly, experiences) for a long time.
- codr7 5y ago
  The money machine will embrace and corrupt whatever works. Not looking for meaning doesn't mean spending the rest of your life at Disney Land. Life is fleeting, love is fleeting, everything that means something is fleeting; framing and clinging destroys its essence.

123pie123 5y ago

>The older I get the more I feel that the point of living is experience, not meaning. the older I get the more I see the point of living as basically the same as everything in nature - propagate your genes as much possible and give them the best chance of them propagating their genes. Everything else is try and and fun and help humankind