The big question...not the one your girlfriends are trying to trick you into asking...the OTHER big question. What is the answer? Surely, it isn't 42? In any case, we don't really know anyway, because we haven't even really figured out the question that goes along with the answer. What is the question? I know Aussieaboriginals(?) should appreciate that because s\he knows that in order to walk, man must first crawl in all things...shortcuts are usually a waste of time unless a linear path is involved. We all want to know the answer to a question we're not quite sure about. All questions are different. Usually the questions stem individualistically from one's own unique lifestyle and train of thought and can be answered in the same manner. Artists feel the meaning of their life is art; religious folk believe it is God. Or Allah. Or the Virgin Mary, and so on. But that couldn't be the RIGHT question because the answer we're all looking for has to be...relative, I guess. We all want the answer that we can share with everyone everywhere and it still have its meaning soulwrenchingly intact. Like some believe the answer to the unknown question about life and everything it touches is love. Love is suppose to be an all-encompassing thing. Most believe it is everywhere, in everything. So it should make sense that it's the answer, right? But what about those that don't know the meaning of the word? Those that know it only as a myth they hear about in another land? Surely we can't expect all those battered women, children, and occasionally men to believe the elusive thing they've been after is so lamely nonexistant. Perhaps, the question we're all trying to ask is something ingrained in us all from the the beginning, whether creation or evolution played the key roll. All questions must be related in some way or another just as all people are and ultimately everything on the planet. Wouldn't it be possible that the questions we ask now are just unharmonized chords that can be played in sync one day to reveal the prized knowledge? Whatever the case, maybe the fact that there is no specific question to ask is a testament unto itself...there is no answer...
"shortcuts are usually a waste of time unless a linear path is involved. " I guess a linear path must not be involved.
questions Willakitty, I'm not sure where you are coming from with your essay on questions, but I have to say that I believe that some questions are meaningless, and some questions have no answer, and some questions have no answer right now.
so, so, so true You're absolutely right, jadex (what is the origin of your name?)...In answer to your implied question, the whole idea is, "What is the answer to the question, 'What is the meaning of life' ". I wrote it after remembering some of those Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books. Ever read one? If you have then you recall that a monster computer was built by a race of superintelligent beings (who later manifested themselves in our dimension as mice during a business meeting with Slartebartlefast(?) inside the base planet where other planets were manufactured before some big intergalactic economic depression) to answer that question (above). As it turns out the computer computes for several long years and spits out...42. The officials in charge of the whole thing were horrified by the sum of all that waiting. The computer was certain that 42 was in deed the answer. In reply to their questioning, it was revealed that another super computer would have to be built to determine the exact question for such a mysteriously specific answer...The new computer turned out to be the earth (which was destroyed by some mistake for the construction of a new intergalactic bypass) and Arthur Dent was the only human left alive... THE POINT IS I was going around in philisophical circles to attempt to get you all to ponder your own personal questions and relate them to others to find some sort of similarites. Then you could all compile your own observations and maybe come up with some kind of question that is more direct and less complex and vague. Just a nothing to talk about so that much more can be said. Any ideas now?
Meaning of life It so happens that I can offer a few ideas now, Willakitty. I wasn't aware that your question was, "What is the meaning of life?" The question can be answered on several different levels of abstraction. First, I can not imagine that a symbol has any meaning outside of a human brain. (Or to broaden the discussion and include the resident extraterrestrial aliens in my reading audience, "outside of an intelligent organism's thinking apparatus.") Briefly, a symbol is something that stands for something else; words are symbols; the word is not the thing it stands for. Symbols have the meaning that we give to them through custom and usage; they have no meaning in and of themselves. On one level, the word "life" has as many meanings as there are intelligent organisms to view this microscopic dance of electrons and particles that goes on around us. But, if you want to look at all these myriad myriad "lives" (small case), from a very broad perspective and use one symbol to stand for the whole thing, for example, the word, "LIFE". and then find, or try to find some meaning in it, remember that meaning is something that goes on inside your head. To borrow an analogy from another thread, when we look at a tomato and perceive it as "red", we know that the "red" really isn't in the tomato, that the red light actually reflects off the tomato and into our eyes, and then travels by signal through our nervous system into our brain, and then by some electromechanicical-colloidal process we experience the 'perception of red'. In that sense, the "red" is in us, not the tomato. And just as the "perceptjion of red" takes place inside our brains, so the "perception of meaning" takes place inside our brains. To restate this in simpler terms, your life has whatever meaning you give to it. And LIFE has whatever meaning you see in it. I hope this offers some food for thought. ("jadex" is just a contraction of parts of my two first names.)
now THAT'S something You've got me there, jadex. A word is just a symbol to represent the inner workings of our minds. So basically, the meaning of "life" can in fact be found in the dictionary or in yourself...I just can't help feeling that there's something more than that, y'know? A hidden secret that will be revealed at the right moment and all that jazz...What is the meaning of life to you? Hey, check out http://illout.com. It's a cool place to chill out and talk about somethings less...formal. I warn you, it's somewhat chaotic. The name of the forum usually has nothing to do with its contents...
I've seen a buch of old threads popping up lately. This was the oldest I could easily find. No idea what this guy is talking about, however. It hurts me to try to read stuff like this for some reason. I got the feeling that jadex and willakitty might be the same person, however. Never can tell, though. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Geeshus Ham, you got a seven year thread itch! U R right though, they were defintely onto something; exactly what, I don't know.Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
