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Ask HN: What's the Point of Life?

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121–130 of 173 posts

Re: Ask HN: What's the Point of Life?

#121

There is no point. It's up to you to decide what it is that matters to you but if you're looking for some universal direction then that will just lead to frustration. If you're lucky and you have the resources then you're in a position to choose which I understand can feel overwhelming. I would just encourage you to consider the possibility that you've been given a gift and you should cherish it.

Thank you. The problem – or at least, my problem – is that "There isn't any point" leads to a feeling of "This is pointless." Wandering around life feeling "This is pointless" when you do anything seems... suboptimal. But it's true, right? If there's no point, then the conclusion is "This is pointless" for every experience. And it ends up feeling so hollow sometimes. Relaxing and enjoying it is of course the antidote…

Just because life is pointless, it doesn't mean you can't do things for a purpose.

Think questions like: "Why bother developing a skill if I'm not going to use it professionally?"

Well, learning this can just make you happy, and that's enough of a purpose if you want it to be. You don't have to make money out of it, it doesn't need to take you anywhere in your career, if you feel good doing something as hobby, why would that be bad?

"Ah, but there are people consider that procrastination"

Do you care what others think? How much to be in the way of you enjoying yourself?

Of course you need to make the decision if something is worth your time and is making you truly happy or just helping you escape reality.

Addictive things can give you short burst of happiness, but fill the rest of your life with misery. But anything can be an addiction. Just because it is to another person, it doesn't mean it is to you and vice-versa.

Re: Ask HN: What's the Point of Life?

#122
"Time brings all things to pass

There are no second chances

There's only this moment, and the next

Where everything you want will collide

With everything standing in your way

Purpose and meaning are not to be found in the laws of nature

It is our job to create them"

Lyrics by Delta Heavy - Empire

Re: Ask HN: What's the Point of Life?

#124

As I have grown older and some of my vim and vigor have waned, the momentum that has hustled me past obstacles and over life's hurdles has similarly decreased, and I find myself wondering the same. The objects I have collected have lost their pallor, experiences for which I have paid through the nose left me hollow, the connections I once thought complex are shallow. Through more than one circumstance of birth I have…

I really appreciated this, thanks. Here's a nod back.

Re: Ask HN: What's the Point of Life?

#128
post #99

God said: "...men are, that they might have joy." ( https://abn.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/2-... verse 25, "men/man" meaning people, of course, as below.) And He also said: "For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." ( https://abn.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/pgp/mos... verse 39.) Consider that: God's purpose is for our eternal be…

Meh. Invisible man in the sky not doing it for me. Too much pain and suffering on this planet. I used to believe in God. Until I learned about the Holocaust. One death camp survivor wrote: "If there's a God he owes me an apology.

> Invisible man in the sky not doing it for me.

Reasonable. Because such an understand of (the Christian) God is indeed simplistic. But most folks don't have the time or energy to get into theology and the notion of (e.g.) Aquinas of God being "ipsum esse subsistens": "the shear act of 'to be' itself."

* https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781351477703

> I used to believe in God. Until I learned about the Holocaust. One death camp survivor wrote: "If there's a God he owes me an apology.

The faith of plenty of folks in the concentration camps didn't seem to be phased much by what they endured:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilian_Kolbe

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priest_Barracks_of_Dachau_Conc...

Suffering is not new, especially for Christians: the first three centuries weren't very pleasant. By tradition the Pope often wears red shoes to remember the martyrs.

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papal_shoes

As Tertullian wrote "the blood of the Christians is the seed of a new life":

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apologeticus

This predates things in the Christian tradition with the Book of Job; Bp. Barron has a few good videos on suffering:

> In the Bible no one seems to think that God's existence, indeed the existence of a loving God, is somehow incompatible with suffering.

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfK5xYK0EzQ

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07AWWJiyAU8

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9WNWplC_zI

Re: Ask HN: What's the Point of Life?

#129
See what is your nature, then do what fulfils your nature.

Alive and intelligent? Then find solutions in the solutions space. More than alive and intelligent? Then get from there the directions for the solutions to find.

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