Discussion Give us your best definition of life...

[Forever Sleep]

Mine is:

A process of doing unpleasant things to ensure that even more unpleasant things don't happen.

I know that's a terribly cynical take on it but, just how many things that we have to do to avoid illness and destitution and prosecution are all that nice? Washing and cleaning our teeth every day, cleaning everything else, working, paying taxes. I guess eating is nice if you enjoy it but, not everyone does. Maybe you enjoy sports and exercise or certain hobbies, or maybe you detest them all but just try desperately hard not to get too bored and stagnant. Urghhhhhh! I'm so sick of all this shit!

What's your definition of life?

 

[FuneralCry]

I see having the ability to exist as such an harmful imposition as it was so cruelly forced on us, in fact I see existence as prison like due to how we cannot just choose to easily free ourselves from it. I find it hellish how humans wish to do all they can to make suicide inaccessible even know we never even consented to this existence and aren't obligated to continue.

 

[Aim]

Love meaningful job, family. Laughter. Traveling. All the things I used to do before illness.

 

[Little_Suzy]

I ate Mexican food yesterday and am now eating grapes in bed; so delicious!

I'm also playing games on SaSu while waiting for therapy to start in 20 minutes.

Life is just full of randomness!

 

[winamp]

a game of Yahtzee

or a book from the Choose Your Own Adventure genre

or Blackjack

or a magnifying glass

 

[rozeske]

@Darkover put it best

"Life is a gamble at terrible odds—if it was a bet, you wouldn't take it"

 

[hikikomorizombie]

a neverending tug of war. except life's side has like 5 world class athletes, & my side's just me + my hands are tied.

 

[Hollowman]

A pointless mission to nowhere.

 

[Kit1]

Life feels like a maze that needs to be navigated to ensure that we keep our loved ones and ourselves safe from being abused and just surviving. But one day, it will all end anyway - life is just a drama with no purposeful meaning.

 

[DeadHead]

Suffering pit of hell for the demiurge to extract our loosh.

 

[BrainShower]

A rat maze set by demented scientists, as soon as you reach the cheese a hole opens up under you and you have to run an even harder maze

 

[carac]

Life is hell

 

[ThymeToLeave]

The thing you endure in between bouts of escapism.

 

[leavingthesoultrap]

Life is suffering then getting a bit of relief and then suffering more. On repeat

 

[4g1vvvven]

Hobbes says it's nasty, brutish, and short

Feels pretty long to me though, it is longer now.
Life expectancies are longer and I expect we've also gotten measurably better at insulating ourselves from the nastiness and brutality too.

Damned if I know what it is, probably one for the biologists
Maybe...

Life: A compulsory, thankfully temporary experience, beginning with the bloody expulsion from a vagina into a world that promises to compound against you

 

[ijustwishtodie]

I don't know, life is different for everybody. Also, are we just talking about human lives or non human lives too? I guess from how you talk about cleaning our teeth and paying taxes, I'll guess that you're referring to human lives. The experiences people have in life is subjective for everybody. However, I do think that life has a few things in which everybody has been through. That thing being...

...suffering. Everybody suffers. Like your first sentence says, life is "a process of doing unpleasant things to ensure that even more unpleasant things don't happen" and everybody has to go through that. Though, I personally feel like it isn't necessarily more unpleasant things that people avoid but rather the magnitude of the unpleasant things that can happen. Such as how work, while very unpleasant for a lot of people, is less unpleasant in magnitude compared to homelessness. The type of suffering to alleviate future suffering of a greater magnitude or suffering which is overall beneficial is called instrumental suffering

That said, whilst everybody is forced to go through instrumental suffering in their life, not everybody suffers equally. Some people suffer more than others and their suffering isn't instrumental suffering but rather just unnecessary, cruel suffering. Also, people have different tolerances to suffering than others and that's okay... but it does display differences in life and I wish that people who don't want to tolerate suffering don't have to

The only thing that every life shares in common is hardship and suffering and inevitable death, that's all

 

[KrowaKovsky]

Months of time wasting briefly interrupted by weeks of extreme paranoia

 

[Homo erectus]

Life is a bundle of perception, which happens to be often unpleasant.

 

[narval]

Shit happens.

 

[DarkRange55]

Rather complex philosophical and scientific question. My understanding is, boiled down: a complex system capable of change.

 

[sserafim]

A struggle
A pointless game

 

[DarkRange55]

A struggle
A pointless game

On a primal level life probably is nothing more than a struggle for survival…
Anatomical modern humans seek out meaning (even where there is none, at least objectively where there is none). But I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing

 

[sserafim]

On a primal level life probably is nothing more than a struggle for survival…
Anatomical modern humans seek out meaning (even where there is none, at least objectively where there is none). But I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing

Life is still a struggle for survival in this day and age though. Everyday, everyone is struggling to survive, people have to work for a living just to be able to pay the costs of existence. Food, water and shelter, which should be human rights, cost money. Everything on this planet costs money

 

[DarkRange55]

Life is still a struggle for survival in this day and age though. Everyday, everyone is struggling to survive, people have to work for a living just to be able to pay the costs of existence. Food, water and shelter, which should be human rights, cost money. Everything on this planet costs money

You could become a yogi or a monk or something similar in India. Or a trust fund kid.
All species have to contribute and seek food, shelter and safety.
On a higher level, humans have been able to find more meaning and pleasure in life than this alone…

 

[sserafim]

You could become a yogi or a monk or something similar in India. Or a trust fund kid.
All species have to contribute and seek food, shelter and safety.
On a higher level, humans have been able to find more meaning and pleasure in life than this alone…

What's the point of the struggle though? It seems pointless to me, it seems like more trouble than what it's worth

 

[DarkRange55]

What's the point of the struggle though? It seems pointless to me, it seems like more trouble than what it's worth

Pleasure, love, happiness, enjoyment, fulfillment, ect.
it seems like more trouble than what it's worth
Perhaps for some.

 

[sserafim]

Pleasure, love, happiness, enjoyment, fulfillment, ect.
it seems like more trouble than what it's worth
Perhaps for some.

I guess so. Personally the struggle isn't meaningful, enjoyable or fulfilling for me, but if it is for other people, then good for them, I guess. To me, life feels like a uphill battle with no incentive or reward in sight, the "prize" of the game is death. That's what lies at the end of the game for everyone, like they say, all roads lead to Rome, in the game of life, all roads lead to death

 

[DarkRange55]

I guess so. Personally the struggle isn't meaningful, enjoyable or fulfilling to me, but if it is for other people, then good for them, I guess

I would add awe, self-discovery and the quest for knowledge to the list.
But watch this video, I think you'll appreciate it.
Two of my favorite comedians!

 

[sserafim]

I would add awe, self-discovery and the quest for knowledge to the list.
But watch this video, I think you'll appreciate it.
Two of my favorite comedians!

Now that would be meaningful and fulfilling for me, I want to engage on a journey of self-discovery and go on a quest for knowledge. What do you mean by "awe"? Like being in awe about the world?

 

[scottyy]

I would define life as indifferent. I could be wrong though. But our life found a way despite our thinking differently. If we want to stay in bed but the stomach is growling and aching, thats life being indifferent to what we think we want.
Then sometimes life can lead to great things, great feelings. Bad things often need to happen first, but we can heal and learn from them, which can lead to a huge sense of fulfillment and confidence and love and respect for oneself and consequently towards the world.

I think life is sometimes nourished by suffering, so maybe it's not indifferent but misunderstood and is seeking out some ruggedness in order to gain some traction. But it needs us to get in gear and start moving forward.