Quote:
Originally Posted by NowHere
If death is not suffering then what is mourning's purpose?
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Every living thing dies. Of course mourning comes with it, but it isn't suffering. One may suffer before dying, one may not, but in the end everything dies. And there isn't anything you can do about it.
Mourning, on the other hand, is manipulatable. Mourning, in death, is just one's reaction to the loss of someone dear to them. It is natural (usually), but you can either go on living your life like there's no meaning after that person dies; or you can move on knowing that you don't get any benefit from mourning, and like Aelya said, try to make
your world a better place.
In Chiodos's always oh-so-eloquent words, life is a perception of your own reality. I know you can't make you life oh-so-dandy even if you're in a hell hole, but you can at least convince yourself that there's a way out of the hole, and it's a way worth fighting for. Just one situation, but the metaphor is transferrable. Think of the fishbowl effect. Goldfish usually have a distorted view of reality due to the shape of their fishbowl. We all see life through a lens. Change the shape of your lens and you change your paradigm. Simple.
With regard to the original post, I think to find one's purpose, one must know his/her place in the world. At at least have an idea about it. Know your identity, and don't try and warp it to other's likings because of pressure. Be strong. Personally, I'm no where near that stage. Even so, I think I can answer parts of your question.
To be honest, this is a very difficult question, and many people will respond differently. You shouldn't bash people for their opinions, or go on to interrogate them on their opinions (I noticed you did that) in hope of them coming to a realization, your realization. In addition, it's a very touchy topic, because quite often it may lead to one's religious view. I urge everyone to show some respect in this thread. And I'm pointing at you NowHere. You've been disrespecting so many people's opinions.
And as a result, I'll try to keep religion out of my reasoning.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NowHere
What is your view on life?
What is our purpose here? Pleasure?
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I do not think that we've been given life to have fun-and-games and do whatever we want. Life is too valuable for that. And quite often—and what we witness today is proof of it—it leads to us creating a despaired future. The human 'I want so I'll take that regardless of the consequences' disposition has caused many of the environmental, social, and global issues that are predominant in today's world. I could go one for pages about what they are, but that wouldn't get us anywhere now would it? So let's move on.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NowHere
To make the world a better place?
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I think every human being has an obligation, in whatever way he/she can, to
attempt to make the world a better place. Success or failure is insignificant so long as the necessary effort is put in. Actions are by intentions, and everyone will get what he/she intended. Again, it comes back down to paradigms. What's the shape of your lens? Obviously you can't change the world. But if you convince at least one other person that there is a reason to put in the effort, slowly thing will change. Even if it isn't the environment that changes—if it's only human mentality that changes—that's change enough for me.
Now that doesn't mean, in the area of environmental issues, that everyone has to jump onto the 'go green' bandwagon. Let's be realistic. That's a marketing strategy. If every family in North America went green (in terms of cars, recycling, etc) we won't be able to make that significant a difference. It's the factories and industries that are releasing 99% (made up stat, not true) of emissions. You have to change the big guys to really make a visible difference. But, we can start small can't we?
Quote:
Originally Posted by NowHere
Is it right to bring kids into this dying and cold world?
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It's not up to you to decide if we should discontinue the multiplication of the human race. That's speciocide. Yes, it may be selfish to bring them into a world that's going pretty bad pretty fast. But it's even more selfish to rob them of a future. A future that could involve change. You may think hope is slim, but it's still reason enough. You can't just decide that we've made the world a terrible place so we should stop reproducing. We've already taken over 40 species from the face of the Earth due to our 'I want so I'll take regardless of the consequences' mentality. Don't add another to the list.
We're the only species that can make a difference. Positive or negative, we're the only one's with the power. And after what we've done, we owe the planet that. We owe everything on the planet that. We can't just make a mess and drop everything and run, and expect the planet to slowly rejuvenate itself. It's possible, and it very well may happen (and may be the best means of getting that to happen), but it's not up to us to come to that ultimatum.
So until then fellow MI's, let's have sex!
