Living

[Felixion]

You are going to die. Be it tommorow when a scaffolding falls from a building and crushes you, eighty years from now due to a urinary tract, or an atomic bomb that will detonate under your kitchen in a week, your life will end. I know you're thinking, "No :wub:, we don't need to be reminded", but I think a lot of people really do. I was watching T.V. this morning truly stunned at how completely absorbed, upset, and angry people can get at such insignificant things. Your life is precious, and your time here is limited, and I think it's really scary that people waste even a minute not happy, or trying to be happy. And now you're probably thinking, "Wow, how naive, not everyone is living it happy circumstances", and that's true. But, that doesn't mean that you can be unhappy.

I have a friend named Vasu. He lives in a small "house" in Hana, Maui. His sister has been in a coma for 6 months, his mom and dad have all but divorced him, his wife left, and he is beyond poor. He has no job, doesn't get to eat out, old torn clothing, part of his roof is draped with tarp to hold back the rain. He is - without question, the happiest man I know. He takes such an amazing enjoyment, and has such incredible appreciation for everything around him. He can sit, cold and wet on the side of the road taken-aback by the beauty of the water trickling down the road.

I know it seems absurd, a word from another man, but I think we could all, myself included, get some perspective on our lives. Start to step back and look at all we have.

So, the "question" or "topic" that i'd like to see develop is your stories. How you take hold of your life, and what are some overlooked beauties in our world, and how do you put yourself in perspective? How do you live?

[nahirean]

I like to take time out at least once a day. Just time to sit outside and let my thoughts go whereever they want. Normally they go to my enviornment and I realize how beautiful nature is.

[Tom Paine]

Materialism, our current religion, has superseded all else; the more we have, the less happy we are, because we are more into it, and because we want more. This is not a universal rule, of course, but a generalisation that I find generally applies.

[Felixion]

I agree with you for the most part, SM, but what I suppose i'm asking is how do we overcome our materialistic temptations, and become more down to earth people? What methods, or practices help us?

[Tom Paine]

Abolition of that which makes seem good, ie money and private ownership of methods of production. Work will make you a save, currently, to the drive for more; but when that drive is in fact a drive to better everyone, working becomes not a product of selfishness, an emotion leading to frustration and personal pain, but altruism, which leads to happiness and personal well-being.

[LegionnaireX]

It is true that wealth will not make you happy. Yes, it may for a short time bring happiness but it isn't fill the empty hole in our hearts. The only thing that can really bring joy is love, peace within yourself, and at least for me, faith.

[Tom Paine]

Wealth is only transient happiness? Is it even that? And does faith bring happiness or the illusion of happiness, and does it matter, or is there a difference?

[Rowan11088]

I think it's an empty happiness to just try to "appreciate" what you have all the time. To some extent, sure, it's good for you to be grateful for what you have compared to the less fortunate, and to enjoy nature. But the drive to do more, to challenge yourself, and overcome obstacles, is ultimately a higher pursuit. As the saying goes, "It is better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied". Even if you're not whimsically happy all the time, the fact that you're striving for something more difficult, and pushing beyond your limits, is inherently valuable whether you succeed or not. Just making money may not be the way to do this, but for some it might be.

[Kanaric]

I for one plan on living forever.

[Jesus The Inane]

I wonder; if we gonna die, then why live? Its like, we are already dead, we are dead people walking. If we gonna live, then why die? Life is such a contradiction. It is so that if we didn't die, we wouldn't live, and if we wouldn't live, we wouldn't die.

It seems to me that life is pointless. So why worry? Why seek happiness, or sadness? Why enjoy the moment when you can just be.

[Rowan11088]

I wonder; if we gonna die, then why live? Its like, we are already dead, we are dead people walking. If we gonna live, then why die? Life is such a contradiction. It is so that if we didn't die, we wouldn't live, and if we wouldn't live, we wouldn't die.

It seems to me that life is pointless. So why worry? Why seek happiness, or sadness? Why enjoy the moment when you can just be.

It's loosely like playing Tetris. You're eventually going to lose, but the fun is in going as far as you can before that. The eventuality of death doesn't mean you can't accomplish anything in this life. You could, by that logic, say that anything that ends is meaningless. Why exercise, since your body will eventually deteriorate anyway? Why learn anything, your brain won't be around forever. Why make friends, they'll eventually die. It's all very silly trying to think that way.

[Aaron88]

It's loosely like playing Tetris. You're eventually going to lose, but the fun is in going as far as you can before that.

That's the best analogy on life I have ever heard :laughing: , not being sarcastic.

[Kanaric]

Their is this one hilarious death theory i heard of involving alternate realities. Basically whenever you die you do not realize your dead, instead you continue your life as if you havn't died in another universe. This continues and you end up living forever. Thought that was funny, though I dont know how it would excuse old age. Especially in ancient times, unless Zeus makes you immortal.

Maybe death is something that if you believe you can't/wont die you actually wont. Their is a lot of hilarious ideas out there.

[LegionnaireX]

I have often pondered "alternate realities", not that they exist or don't exist, but it is interesting to think how your life would be like if you had done one major thing different years ago.

[Fenris]

"I wonder; if we gonna die, then why live?"

Because we can enjoy the time the is given to us. Why waste it it it's limited?

[Tom Paine]

I have often pondered "alternate realities", not that they exist or don't exist, but it is interesting to think how your life would be like if you had done one major thing different years ago.

The thing is, you can't know; for example, a marriage proposal, you tend to look at it through rose-tinted specs. However the partner might have been unfaithful, or the house you lived in could have burned down, et cetera.

[LegionnaireX]

The thing is, you can't know; for example, a marriage proposal, you tend to look at it through rose-tinted specs. However the partner might have been unfaithful, or the house you lived in could have burned down, et cetera.

Somehow I don't think we are talking about the same things. I'm talking as in, if I hadn't moved to Ohio when I was three from North Carolina. As in, if I hadn't met some of my best friends when I did. How would that change my life, or personality. Chances are I'd be a very different person because your experiences, peers, and surrounding is what shapes you as a person, not the other way around.

[Tom Paine]

Somehow I don't think we are talking about the same things. I'm talking as in, if I hadn't moved to Ohio when I was three from North Carolina. As in, if I hadn't met some of my best friends when I did. How would that change my life, or personality. Chances are I'd be a very different person because your experiences, peers, and surrounding is what shapes you as a person, not the other way around.

I think we are. The "what if"s of life are impossible to decode, because you think of the idealised version: you might have had a better life, or it might have been much worse. Any choice leads to other choices, not back to itself.

[Jesus The Inane]

It's loosely like playing Tetris. You're eventually going to lose, but the fun is in going as far as you can before that. The eventuality of death doesn't mean you can't accomplish anything in this life. You could, by that logic, say that anything that ends is meaningless. Why exercise, since your body will eventually deteriorate anyway? Why learn anything, your brain won't be around forever. Why make friends, they'll eventually die. It's all very silly trying to think that way.

I wouldn't know, I don't know what kind of game is Tetris. But yeah, if something is destined to end, then does it not mean that it really didn't matter? Like a pencil, once its fully use, its destroyed, and it really didn't matter wether it existed or not. I wouldn't say that saying that everything is meaningless is silly, but rather the truth. Does it mean I should kill myself now? Nah, whats the point?

Its like you are born into this moment, you know? Like you suddenly wake up and see all this stuff, its like "what?" That theres this women who they say is my mom, and that I am suppose to love her? That there is this society and that there is history, but where did they came from? I mean, seriously. And then you see time, and you are given this role, and you are suppose to play it out?

I mean, its meaningless, but surely there is nothing else to do but to play the role you got.

Because we can enjoy the time the is given to us. Why waste it it it's limited?

But why enjoy it? And, how can one enjoy something, when you know its so pointless and limited.

[Kscott]

Gah, money can bring happiness. People are always saying it doesnt, but I have to disagree.

For example, good food, medicine, and education all take money. Sure you dont NEED money to be happy, but as long as you use your money wisely it can be very enjoyable. I for one love travelling. This takes money. Wealth is a good thing to have as long as it doesnt become your master...

"But why enjoy it? And, how can one enjoy something, when you know its so pointless and limited."

Pointless? Life only has the meaning that you give it. I value my life highly, thus as a converse I love life. And it being limited only makes things so much sweeter.

Think of it this way, a grain of sand can make a ripple in the ocean...