will you tell us where you are at this pit stop today…
As for me, I am and my place in the universe are given. Philosophy is dealing with these facts.
Philosophy is our understanding of who we are, where we are, and what we do. It can be a great arbitrator in science vs religion beliefs. Like religion, it fails as dogmatism. Like science, it offers new realizations of our place in the universe.
well dummies what can we say now…I see a lot of meaningless stuff on ilp …it is summer and time for rest and fooling around…what could we possibly bring up of any significance…
well dummies I can bring up something about the heaven/hell thing…what a bunch of crap…how can anyone believe that…
turtle-------i don’t know if the heaven/hell thing is crap…maybe i could believe it, depending what it means…
von —I was talking about promises of eternal reward or punishment…after death
turtle-----us dummies shouldn’t read too literally, sometimes…we might miss the gist of this or that…
i think i’ve lived about 5 different lives already…which would mean i’ve died about 4 times…and the choices in each life affected the one following it, for better or worse…rewards and punishments…
i don’t know about eternity…but i think things could get infinitely better, or infinitely worse…which puts me on the precipice of an eternity…
but yea…i don’t believe you can build a ladder just above the clouds, and find heaven there…floating on a cloud…like in that commercial for cream cheese…
but comeon…us dummies don’t need to amass our energies to refute that piece of silliness, do we…?
you are right …you have helped me over my negative thing…on to the next thing us dummies…von what should we do…
turtle-----i’m not sure…the most important thing is to ask the right questions, because otherwise you won’t get the right answers, even if they are good answers…
i think us dummies need to ask what the right questions to ask are… which is what you’re already doing i think… so you are one step ahead apparently, because you are asking about what we should be asking about…
on a personal note, this dummy would like to know what the meaning of life is… you know, what’s the grand raison d’etre, or the piece de resistance of existahnce, to show of my bilingual abilities…
sometimes i’m not even sure how or where to begin… actually most of the time.
this is why i think having a psychoanalyst or a psychologist is a good thing… though i don’t have one. the mind is a labaryntian thing… like a maze… it would be nice to know someone with a map of sorts…
this is tough work for this dummy… a bit overwhelming… gotta pause.
the right questions…yes…whats it all about…each one of us needs to figure it out for ourselves…
turtle-----i guess so…but i hope it’s more like the three musketeers and there’s some commonalities…you know, all for one and one for all…
so for us dummies: what’s it all about? what’s the purpose? what’s the meaning? …any suggestions/proposals for the committee of us dummies?
Wha…t, what--------------about…the--------------- (interestingly…enough(to me anyway(that’s how I see it(you can’t argue an…opinion))))…,seven—…-bill…ion--------musketeers(mostly—well----mostly…unarmed)
(Mo, Mo.-------------------von Rivers,—tell me, answer this please)…are------they--------------------those seven…billion,musketeers(or, musketless–alike)…all…for…one–and…one----for-------all??–???..??..(??—?(?)(?)(??..??(?(?(?..(…(------(-----------------!)-----)…)))))
The meaning-----???({}{}{}{}{})…well…serioulsy—we must-----------([{}][{}][{}][{}]…it …must …it------------must---------must,certaily(!!!–!!((((((((((!)))))))))))…be-------------(-----------(>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>(((((,>>>>>>>>(…((>>>>>>>>>>>>>>)buried<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<)!!!)()()()()()()())))))))))))---------
somewhere
in the s,y;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;n[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[t{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{a::::::::::::::::::::::x;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;…the-------------------syntax`~@#$%^&*()_±={}:";'<,>.?/|!!!
We could, for the sake of argument, assume there is a meaning, an overall, objective one. Then try to decide what it most likely is, given what ‘we’ know.
Stuart, Moreno, turtle,
My question was about what questions are worth asking. I phrased that as a question about the purpose/meaning of life… and maybe I shouldn’t have. My thinking was that whichever questions are worth asking, surely the question that is the very most worth asking is the one about what questions are worth asking. —That could really be put more clearly… hang on…
The question most worth asking just is: “What questions are most worth asking?” —because without that, you’re liable to ask bad questions. But that meta-loopy-second-order bullcrap confused me. It’s the tiredness.
So here’s the whole point: The Whole Point is that even for a raging stone-faced unflappable and unyielding hardcore uber-nihilist (cough Stuart cough —just kidding)… anyways, even for someone like that, the question most worth asking is just what I said it was above. IOW, that’s a value judgement even they cannot avoid—albeit a purely formal and empty one. It’s a value judgement because its’ about what is worth asking. —And what is most worth asking is the same even for a cold black-hearted cut-throat ultra-nihilist… the same for everyone.
I’m not sure if any of that made sense. My apologies if it didn’t, or if it is just sooo vacuous as to be a waste of your time. My apologies also if it was just a cheap semantic trick for the purposes of biting my thumb at nihilists, which it probably was.
Whichquestionsaremostworthasking,weaskourselves.
Wedon’tknowwhichquestionsaremostworthasking.
But,weknowthequestionworthmostasking:
“Whichquestionsaremostworthasking?”
Wehavethebestquestionfiguredout,butnowastotherest
[imagineseveraldashesdenotingspacing]wedon’tknow.
Now,whichquestionpertainingtothecoloroftheskyismostworthasking?
Theanswerbeing;whatcoloristhesky.
Book,book,dog,dog,cat,cats,fence,fences.
we can try again…how can we possibly know any meaning or purpose to the universe…
what’s it all about—I don’t know…does anyone really know…
What do I really want?
How do I really feel?
Why do I do the things which I do?
Why am I so afraid to reveal myself to others?
Why am I afraid to be human?
What is it that makes me human?
Why am I afraid to embrace the animal within?
What is the animal within?
What does it cause me to do?
Why do i pretend to be something that I am not?
Why do I pretend not to be something which I am?
Why am I so afraid to love myself?
Why am I so afraid to reach out to love others?
What is it within me that wants only to love?
Why do I feel that I do not deserve happiness?
Why do I feel that I only deserve happiness?
Why is it that the universe so profoundly affects me?
Why is it that I once believed in a god?
What is it that compels me to now question the existence of a god?
What is it that keeps me on this sacred quest to know/to find myself?
Was I really meant to Be or was I simply an accident?
These are just some questions off the top of my head which I have asked myself at one time or another, some of which I continue to ask myself. The dragon loves labyrinths.
turtle, Arc,
I think Arc has a very good list of very important questions. The best I’ve seen. And turtle wants to know how we know the answers to any of them. I think this is above my pay-grade, frankly. I am a bit overwhelmed at the whole thing. Give me a moment to cool down, and then I might try taking them on, one at a time…
This thread could turn into an epic longer than the longest book.