(Original post by DonJuan)
If there is no afterlife, then there is nothing. Being dead/the nothingness of non-existence/whatever will never become a reality to you as you are not there to be able to perceive it. Thus, as far as you are concerned you will never actually be dead. So 'after you die' isn't even a concept worth contemplating. It simply won't 'happen' to you. It won't be possible for your actions whilst alive to be considered irrelevant, irrelevancy is not a concept that exists in a state of nothingness.
(Original post by beingbannedsucks)
I don't think so. How often do you stop and think to yourself "my purpose in life is to be happy"? I wouldn't think that very often.
I don't necessarily mean consciously, people wouldn't remind themselves everyday - right, remember, you're on a quest for happiness! I just think that deep down, everyone is ultimately looking for what will make them happy. Whether that be by falling in love, having a family, chasing your dream career, travelling, etc.
That might be the "ultimate" purpose of life, and then there may be others. E.g. to help other people, to make a difference, etc etc. I don't know, this is just my opinion
(Original post by Clickety)
Reincarnation could exist because as some of us are uncertain of the future of the universe, which means there are essentially infinite possibilities for the future, then there is a strong chance that at some point we will 'wake up' or be 'reborn' if our brain was somehow reproduced in <> billion years, whether or not we have any memories of the past is also down to chance.
Also when saying there is 'no point' to doing certain things, you could also say there is 'no point' in 'not' doing certain things. There is no choice between living and doing pointless actions, or death, the fact that you are alive now and were born, coupled with the fact that death is inevitable for everyone means that there is no need to choose, its been chosen for us already. Some things make you feel good, some things make you feel bad, sometimes if you do something that makes you feel good, it makes you feel bad as a consequence, so you avoid those things. That's life.
The fact that life is finite doesn't detract any meaning from it - if anything it gives it more meaning because it imposes scarcity. Each day is more valuable if you only have 10,000 compared with an infinite number. It's also the case that having an eternal life doesn't imbue it with any meaning either - just consider the case of Sisyphus, who was condemned by Zeus(?) to push a boulder up a hill only to watch it roll down again over and over forever.
If there is a value in life, it is because it is finite, because that makes each moment count. Once a moment is spent, it is spent forever, so be careful how you spend it. Time is, after all, the only thing we do have to spend.
(Original post by EnigmaticSpirit)
This may be slightly off-topic, but what is the purpose of concealing one's sex on a public forum, only to declare that sex regardless?
I don't see the point in displaying my gender - it's quite funny that people automatically assume I am male; I have no problem in declaring my sex, just feel at ease not displaying it, if that makes any sense at all.
Welcome to Nihilism, people are gonna hate you and supposedly pity you because truly they believe that to believe that nothing is objective and that the world is defined by the individual is some kind of heresy that would apparently doom yourself to a life of apparent pointlessness.
In fact life is pointless, because meaning gives way to meaning and so on, and it is almost always what one does not have that one sees as what is wanted (ethics - an ill man wants health, a poor man wants riches), but ultimately reasoning brings you to a dead end where logic proves itself autonomous, thus defining it's importance and also rejecting the notion that importance is anything but value given by the individual.
But because life is ultimately 'pointless' in the sense it achieves nothing but giving way to more pointlessness, you have much more freedom than people seem to notice. You have the power to give your life the meaning you wish it to have, to fulfill life for yourself and enjoy it.
Life could therefore be considered as full of meaning, if only the meaning is to find your own happiness and make your own preceding choices.
(Original post by MereBeing)
My question is why we feel the need to do all this if every breath we take leads to our death, as we have nothing to gain at the end of it all.
Don't you get it?
Look, listen and ask yourself the question below:
Do you know of anything else besides existence (i.e. what you are in now)?
If your answer is no (which I expect it to be, of course!), then such questions are futile. You have found yourself in existence with only limited answers (provided for by science) and no defined purpose (except for an archaic and outdated 'to pass on your genes and survive' purpose). Therefore, I can't see what the problem is. Do anything you want, but be careful to abide by state laws. However, others have gone through this stage and instead decided to live according to created precepts or followed the way of the society in which they find themselves in (e.g working toward a career, a family, holidays, a spouse, a house, car, money etc). Others (such as I) have ascended further and look to the stars and work towards securing funds, status and self-establishment in preparation for the future (technological advancement, space exploration).