Having A Purpose In Life

[Ant]

A higher purpose... what, like using a ladder so you can rearrange your top bookshelf by colour rather than alphabetically?

[????]

Didn't some literary wit sum it up nicely with..."we're all put on this Earth to f*ck around a bit"?

[VeryBerryCherry]

Tony.London Suburbs Wrote:

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> Do we try and justify our existance and reason for

> living by making ourselves believe we have a

> higher purpose in life other than to have fun?

>

> If we don't have a purpose then do you find it

> hard to justify why we are alive .

>

> So do you believe that you have a purpose in life?

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I think it's a trade-off.

If you believe that we are the only mammals/living thing with conscious thought, then that comes at a price. We have the amazing ability of consciousness but comes with that is the knowledge that what ever you do/say in life ultimately comes to nought. Well not nothing, but the mere continuation of the species like any other living thing.

I'm not saying that's any easy thought to swallow, i'll be honest, it scares the f&*k out of me. But in the same Atheist vein, I'd rather know exactly what I've got and make the absolute most of that while I have got it.

[Jimbob]

i have a purpose but if truth be told i prefer sharks.

[Tony.London Suburbs]

Jimbob Wrote:

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> i have a purpose but if truth be told i prefer

> sharks.

You may have a Whale of a time with them but thats not the porpoise of this thread, as you well know...

[Jimbob]

i was only codding.

[Tony.London Suburbs]

Only Blubber, thus far, on this thread.

Surely someone has a higher purpose?

I'll discuss this further when I return from watching Tony Curtis and Kirk Douglas in The Vikings in bed....

[Brendan]

I have tackled this question as I do most of life?s pressing issues. I looked it up on wikipedia. And apparently:

?The Meaning of Life is a 1983 musical comedy film by the Monty Python comedy team. Unlike the two previous films they had made, which had more or less each told single, coherent stories, The Meaning of Life returns to the sketch comedy format of the troupe's original television series, loosely structured as a series of comic skits about the various stages of life. It was the last major Monty Python production.?

So there you have it.

[PeckhamRose]

Indeed, and while you're at it....

"Always look on the bright side of life...."

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Oh Brendan, I have missed you. Welcome back.

[charliecharlie]

This is what the new boy on the block says...

"we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task."

Jan 20th 2009 = Obama inauguration speech

[ThinLizzy]

As my Uncle once wrote:

'You watch the fellow who drives ahead

And the fellow who drives behind

But the fellow you should watch

On any road, you will find

Is the fellow behind the fellow ahead

And ahead of the fellow behind'

And as Francis Bacon said:

'We're born, we exist for a moment, we do what we can with our lives, and then we die'

Finally, I live my life at the moment by this quote from Harold Pinter:

'An awareness of life's horrors and society's imprisoning tendencies countered by the absolute determination not to surrender to them'

xx

[macroban]

"Life is just to die" - Lou Reed

[SteveT]

I have no higher purpose in life than to copulate, and be the best shag on the block.

When I can no longer do that,

I shall have less reason to stay.

[Tony.London Suburbs]

ThinLizzy Wrote:

And as Francis Bacon said:

'We're born, we exist for a moment, we do what we can with our lives, and then we die'

Bit of a rash statement.

Why did Bacon say that?

[Brendan]

ThinLizzy Wrote:

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> And as Francis Bacon said:

> 'We're born, we exist for a moment, we do what we

> can with our lives, and then we die'

Some would say that he also said this, ?Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more; it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.?

Which expresses similar sentiment.

Although it was probably Shakespeare.

[Tony.London Suburbs]

Bacon?

Shakespeare?

Does it really matter?..Its all Much Ado About Nuffink as far as I'm concerned....

[Brendan]

And so our lives and questions solved we leave this thread to bumble on

?til existential crises vex and wisdom?s once more called upon

But now to work the calling curse

Be sure we shall return anon

[Tony.London Suburbs]

You should be on the bleedin' Radio wiv stuff like that Brendan!

[brash]

hey lizzy!

I like your style!

" Finally, I live my life at the moment by this quote from Harold Pinter:

'An awareness of life's horrors and society's imprisoning tendencies countered by the absolute determination not to surrender to them'

xx"

Regards

Frank

[charliecharlie]

I'll have "well, at least she tried" engraved on my tombstone

(except I am not going to have a tombstone...)

oh dear, try again Charlie(!)

http://www.niu.edu/pubaffairs/nnow/summer02/images/tombstone.jpg

[VeryBerryCherry]

My mantras of the moment:

Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you're a good person, is like expecting the bull not to attack you because you're a vegetarian.

and

Everything learned in life can be summed up in three words: it goes on.".