3 ms·

I'd ask "Why do you need meaning?". Why not just accept that life is meaningless, and any meaning you bring to it is ultimately of your own construction. Seems

I'd ask "Why do you need meaning?". Why not just accept that life is meaningless, and any meaning you bring to it is ultimately of your own construction. Seems a lot simpler than continually searching for meaning or purpose, doomed never to find it because it simply does not exist. All evidence seems to indicate that we're complex meat robots, whose existence is basically inevitable given the right initial conditions. What meaning?

mattgreenrocks 4y ago
> Why do you need meaning? Why do we respond to meaning? Why do we seek it out? The difficulty in the search may be part of the answer: we need mountains to climb, both outside and inside ourselves. Meaning is oxygen, and I'll continue optimizing for it.
somenameforme 4y ago
If you put a hamster in a cage with a wheel it will, more or less merrily, continue to run along that wheel until it eventually becomes physically unable to and, in the longrun, passes. It's the blessing, and the curse of humanity, to stop and actually consider at some point, why am I doing this? And these questions aren't just an abstract search for meaning. Getting back to Aurelius, he and his son were given comparable power and wealth to do with as they personally saw fit. And they chose radically different paths. The path one chooses, in most of all things, is going to be a product of your own personal ethos, which in turn is going to be a product of how you view the world. And thinking about such things can not only provide greater contentedness, but also help direct you in unclear waters. Why do you do what you do, and is it in line with what or whom you want to be?
- thegrimmest 4y ago
  Right, but how do you know that your stopping and considering isn't just spinning a larger wheel? What are you accomplishing?

3 ms·

I'd ask "Why do you need meaning?". Why not just accept that life is meaningless, and any meaning you bring to it is ultimately of your own construction. Seems

by thegrimmest 4y ago

mattgreenrocks 4y ago
> Why do you need meaning? Why do we respond to meaning? Why do we seek it out? The difficulty in the search may be part of the answer: we need mountains to climb, both outside and inside ourselves. Meaning is oxygen, and I'll continue optimizing for it.
somenameforme 4y ago
If you put a hamster in a cage with a wheel it will, more or less merrily, continue to run along that wheel until it eventually becomes physically unable to and, in the longrun, passes. It's the blessing, and the curse of humanity, to stop and actually consider at some point, why am I doing this? And these questions aren't just an abstract search for meaning. Getting back to Aurelius, he and his son were given comparable power and wealth to do with as they personally saw fit. And they chose radically different paths. The path one chooses, in most of all things, is going to be a product of your own personal ethos, which in turn is going to be a product of how you view the world. And thinking about such things can not only provide greater contentedness, but also help direct you in unclear waters. Why do you do what you do, and is it in line with what or whom you want to be?
- thegrimmest 4y ago
  Right, but how do you know that your stopping and considering isn't just spinning a larger wheel? What are you accomplishing?