Do you think that a finite life is meaningless?

[TransientEternal]

Is there any reason to work hard when we'll get the same thing as not working hard/doing the bare minimum?

Elaborate your thought process if you want I'd like to hear people's opinions and why they think that way.

 

[woofwag]

It's only meaningless if you believe that life having "meaning" is important for you to continue to exist.

 

[KarmaKat]

the rundown is that most people find meaning in the journey and not the destination – we'll all die, but not all of us would have had enjoyed our time getting there.

 

[TransientEternal]

I believe that law of conservation + consciousness is created from matter = death means no perception of time = undefined amount of time passes and matter eventually creates a form that can create new blank consciousness = repeat forever.

Never improving, never decaying, always repeating the same joys and sorrows.

 

[RazzleDazzle]

I don't understand the question. All life is finite, by definition (it has boundaries and an end.) Living creatures are born and die, there is no option of infinity.

You might enjoy The Myth Of Sisyphus by Albert Camus. Which is kind of a discussion of the attempt to find meaning in life in the face of endless struggle.

 

[TransientEternal]

I don't understand the question. All life is finite, by definition (it has boundaries and an end.) Living creatures are born and die, there is no option of infinity.

You might enjoy The Myth Of Sisyphus by Albert Camus. Which is kind of a discussion of the attempt to find meaning in life in the face of endless struggle.

This poll is to ask if you had the option would you choose eternity? I can't find any type of meaning besides temporary distractions. Working hard is not the difficult part. I can spend many hours focusing on a single task if I think it's worth it, but when it has no permanence it just becomes meaningless suffering. Essentially, I don't have a willpower issue I have a hope issue.

(Either eternal life or eternal death I don't mind its just the cycle of life and death that bothers me)

 

[tuckfinnitus]

Essentially yes, but as I keep hearing, we're supposed to find meaning in something.

 

[FoolClimax]

I believe that law of conservation + consciousness is created from matter = death means no perception of time = undefined amount of time passes and matter eventually creates a form that can create new blank consciousness = repeat forever.

Never improving, never decaying, always repeating the same joys and sorrows.

New black consciousness is being created all the time while you are asleep or put under general anesthesia or suffer brain damage. But that doesn't make your consciousness jump to that new blank space. Everything that makes me is the sum total of all the memories my vessel has accumulated so far. For this thing to continue existing even after death a vessel needs to exist with the exact set of memories it had the moment it died.

 

[RazzleDazzle]

This poll is to ask if you had the option would you choose eternity? I can't find any type of meaning besides temporary distractions. Working hard is not the difficult part. I can spend many hours focusing on a single task if I think it's worth it, but when it has no permanence it just becomes meaningless suffering. Essentially, I don't have a willpower issue I have a hope issue.

(Either eternal life or eternal death I don't mind its just the cycle of life and death that bothers me)

https://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/sisyphus/summary/

You should really check out The Myth Of Sisyphus by Camus. It is a very short book by one of the major 20th century philosophers discussing this very question.

For myself, I thought I found meaning in showing up for others. Sisyphus, in Greek myth, is perpetually rolling a boulder up the side of a mountain, only to have it fall as he approaches the top. This was his plight for eternity.

From my perspective, the meaning came from rolling up the hill in tandem with others who were also set at similar tasks, and in community supporting each other. The meaning to life was given through context.

I'm just too broken now for that to be the case any longer. Everyone has a breaking point, I have just been through too much, for too long, with too little help or support. I am too alone, which is partially the results of my own choices.

I will say that as far as your philosophical question goes, "Is there meaning in the finite?" I think that there can only be meaning in the finite. It is only in the finite that we can make meaningful choices. It is only in the finite that, by choosing one thing, I don't choose all of the alternatives. If what I am able to do is unlimited my choices are meaningless. My choices give my life value.

I mean, hypothetically speaking. I'm working from a context of trauma where my choices also have no meaning because so many of my choices have been taken away. But there is still meaning when I choose to show up for someone else.

 

[TransientEternal]

New black consciousness is being created all the time while you are asleep or put under general anesthesia or suffer brain damage. But that doesn't make your consciousness jump to that new blank space. Everything that makes me is the sum total of all the memories my vessel has accumulated so far. For this thing to continue existing even after death a vessel needs to exist with the exact set of memories it had the moment it died.

But a conscious experience is still created. A living being can only know life. I know I am my memories and I don't care if I suffer from ego death and my self dies, but I don't want everything to be the same I want to inherit something so it could have had some meaning.

I will say that as far as your philosophical question goes, "Is there meaning in the finite?" I think that there can only be meaning in the finite. It is only in the finite that we can make meaningful choices. It is only in the finite that, by choosing one thing, I don't choose all of the alternatives. If what I am able to do is unlimited my choices are meaningless. My choices give my life value.

Everything you will ever do you will forget in death and it will be forgotten by time. All choices you have made will return to 0. Only through eternity will choices have any meaning. Unlimited choices aren't meaningless because you will be able to see all the different possibilities. I want to see all of it I don't want to forget.

I'll try to read The Myth Of Sisyphus by Camus and see what it says.

 

[iwanttodie019]

Yes

Read this

and

Read this

the rundown is that most people find meaning in the journey and not the destination – we'll all die, but not all of us would have had enjoyed our time getting there.

the journey is irrelevant if the destination is void

 

[Lost Magic]

They say that you give your own meaning to life. Well, if that's the case I say my meaning to life is that it is all utterly meaningless. Not only is it meaningless but it is absurd!

 

[balladeer]

Yes

Read this

and

Read this

the journey is irrelevant if the destination is void

I saw this reply that intrigued me:

"OP got it completely backwards. Death is the only thing that implies meaning. The finiteness of our lives means you better figure out what you're gonna do with this open-ended but limited time. If we didn't die, it would be a meaningless existence. All of this of course presupposes that the word "meaning" is itself a rather meaningless referent."

To me, death is the ultimate mercy. I cannot imagine us having to endure this existence as immortal beings, to continue on and on without escape would be far more excruciating.

 

[TransientEternal]

I saw this reply that intrigued me:

"OP got it completely backwards. Death is the only thing that implies meaning. The finiteness of our lives means you better figure out what you're gonna do with this open-ended but limited time. If we didn't die, it would be a meaningless existence. All of this of course presupposes that the word "meaning" is itself a rather meaningless referent."

To me, death is the ultimate mercy. I cannot imagine us having to endure this existence as immortal beings, to continue on and on without escape would be far more excruciating.

Death is the end of the self, not of conscious experience (if you believe this:)

I believe that law of conservation + consciousness is created from matter = death means no perception of time = undefined amount of time passes and matter eventually creates a form that can create new blank consciousness = repeat forever.

Never improving, never decaying, always repeating the same joys and sorrows.

I just think that eternal life (or eternal death) is better than a cycle of life -> ignorance -> knowledge -> death -> repeat

 

[iwanttodie019]

no

I saw this reply that intrigued me:

"OP got it completely backwards. Death is the only thing that implies meaning. The finiteness of our lives means you better figure out what you're gonna do with this open-ended but limited time. If we didn't die, it would be a meaningless existence. All of this of course presupposes that the word "meaning" is itself a rather meaningless referent."

To me, death is the ultimate mercy. I cannot imagine us having to endure this existence as immortal beings, to continue on and on without escape would be far more excruciating.

,death makes this whole life experience completely useless.Do not have kids.Even if you can gurantee them a happy life,it would still be pointless