Live to Die

[Myth]

[size=1]Im wondering if Im alone in thinking this. What is the
point of living if your just going to die? People say "Live your life
to the fullest," why bother? You wont remember it when your dead.
One thing has struck me, every breath you take is killing you.
You need air to live, but by every breath your slowly dieing.
Im not asking this to be "Morbid" I just want to know if anyone
else has ever wondered. [b]"Whats the point?"[/b][/size]

[Shinmaru]

Honestly, I could really care less about what the "point" of life is. I just go through living and try to enjoy it. I don't waste my time thinking about "I'm just going to die and nothing will be worth it" or "what's the point of living if I won't remember any of it when I die?" None of that matters to me.

I guess my life doesn't really have a point...but since when did everything have to have a point in the first place?

[Myth]

[size=1]
Thats not what I was trying to say.. And Im not saying "Ohh
life is horrible I want to die. Waa Waa." Its just that when I get
to thinking about it, its creepy. Just wanted to know if anyone
else thought about it..[/size]

[Ani_Freak]

[color=darkblue]I for one, don't think much on that subject. But whenever this comes to mind, it makes me wonder very much. I guess that we will never know the point of life until we die, assuming we get to go "some place" else. But it makes me wonder, will everything I did or didn't do worth something? Are we here learn so our soul can take a step further and be complete?

I know this may seem very relion based, but I'm not thinking on religion. I just wonder what will happen next. Is a little sad and at the same time ironic to think that once we die, everything else ends.[/color]

[Queen Asuka]

[color=hotpink][size=1]No, I don't really think that because I know exactly what I'm alive and what I'm supposed to be doing. Of course we are all going to eventually die, but do you honestly think that death is the end all of everything? Well, perhaps you think that way if you are anti-religious, but I feel much differently than that.[/color][/size]

[Shinken]

I know what I'm about to say may sound cliched, but it's my honest opinion.

If we lived forever, then what would be the point of existence? I think that we have a limit on our time so that we try harder to make a purpose. Whenever you're taking a test, there's a time limit. And the closer you get to that limit, the harder you work to get where you want to be: at the end of the test. If we lived forever, we'd put everything off because we'd have all the time in the world. We'd get nothing done, have no true ambitions.

I also believe that we define our own purpose. Even though I do believe in a God, it makes no sense to me that God would give us free will if we could only go where he wanted us to, and nowhere else. We make our own choices, we have our own ambitions. It ties into my previous statement. We're given a limited time so we can decide who we want to be, and then we try as hard as we can to be ourselves until the end. What happens at the end isn't for me or anyone else to say. All I know is the here and now, and I'm not going to put that off until later, because tomorrow never really comes. All we have is today.

(This is extremely ironic, because just a few moments ago I was sitting in front of my computer wondering exactly the same thing... Then I give myself an answer. Heh. :wow: )

[Doukeshi]

Yeah well, there's no point to your meaningless life or my pathetic existence. You're going to die eventually so let's just do it now and save time. Who's with me!

[Drix D'Zanth]

Technically, you don't die with every breath, it just delays the inevitable death. You are hardly alone in thinking about the purpose of vivae in mortality. I'm sure most people come to this pilisophical juncture at some point in a time. I could only refer this to my current thesis that everyone must have some ordinate philosophy in which they can decide their purpose. No one is left without a purpose.

Scientifically, the only reason any of us are around is to create babies, kill, and die. Each of these elements continues mulitple cycles of our biological world.

However, man has realized itself far beyond the constraints of the natural world. By any non-linear definition, we are totally unnatural, a plague. Don't let anyone confuse you, we were a plague in any epoch of existence by scientific definition. Native americans had a malignant influence, and rupture on their environment much like us. We just outnumber them. Humanity itself would, in almost any case, destroy the world because of our nature for self preservation. Why is that any less justifiable than any creature killing for its species? Because we are endowed with self-awarness.

So naturalism cannot truely explain a proper reason for living, as we technically should not be living. Scientifically, we are wrong.

That means we must resort to our own minds and beliefs. Every person will reach that point in time where he/she must asess his own self-worth. We provide so much value on certain things, including our own lives. Some people value the sensations and experience living grants us. Subsidizing off sensations such as those will keep one alive, at least until times turn ill.

I think we are asking a question with an answer. What is the meaning to life if life is the meaning unto its own? How exactly could we concievably work up to a climax, a point in which we've suceeded or failed at life; or in Shinken's words, "finished the test."?

To be honest, I don't think such a thing could exist, but in two aspects. I don't belive life is a test for the current position of mortal existence, but a test for some after-life is perfectly concievable. Man can have his name written in history, but do the ends of your name being remembered justify the means of living? That would mean billions of people aren't justifibly alive, or dead.

Two things are created and carried beyond your own death. One is literal, one is quite unexplainable. First are relationships. As pseudo-sentient creatures, humans have developed the most complex communication of anything in presently known existence. We can describe, communicate, empathize, understand to a degree of relative efficiency. This empathic bond between all humans, whether it be friendship, hatred, love, adoring, care, concern, acquaintence... it encompasses most emotions. These bonds remain during and after life, even through the fading. I still love my grandfather, even though he is dead... he's left that impact on my life. So, is life about impacting one another?

Realistically, it could be.

---------Warning: Religion-----------
Secondly, the next point I'm about to adress deals specifically with my Religion. The sheer faith required to have such a belief in god is staggering, and constantly besieged by self, and ulterior doubt. I believe people have been created for the specific purpose to live as free-chosing beings. We are not complete without God. I find my purpose through a relationship with him. As I come to know God more, I understand the plans for my life, and I will live those to my ability.

[outlawstar69]

As a Muslim, I believe that life is a test. You make a set of decisions, and how you do in life determines your place in the afterlife. Now, as to why we are taking this test, or what we are supposed to do with ourselves while living, that's up in the air for anyone to determine for themselves.

In religious terms, if you pass the test you go to heaven, if not, you go to hell. What qualifications or actions are neccessary for either to happen can be disputed by different people, so I'm not going to discuss that in here.

If you choose not to believe this, I'm not trying to press my opinion, this is what I believe. Read it as you will.

[Vicky]

[SIZE=1][B]I wouldn't and couldn't careless, everything you do will always be a memory sooner or later. The happiest moment ever will just be a memory in a few seconds gone. Same with everything you do, sooner or later you'll just be dead, geeh... doesn't time pass so quickly?

I rarely think about it, I just do things for the memory, but when I die I believe that I go to a better place, making more and more memories to remember... making life and the afterlife amazingly coonfusing and easy to forget. I don't know why I should just stop forgetting now, the likely-ness is I won't remember this post in a few years... maybe in a few years I'll be dead, but to be honest I couldn't care about my life, it's just my life, there's nothing important about me.[/SIZE][/B]

[Semjaza]

If you feel this way, you might as well kill yourself right now. If you don't want to kill yourself, then there obviously is some reason for you to live. Why else would you bother?

The idea of dying ever since you were born is a rather moronic one that I think is only used well in songs and poetry ("The minute that it's born, it begins to die; I'd love to just give in, I'd love to live this lie" -- for example). It's not something that can be taken literally and applied to life. Dying things don't grow or develop, unlike you or anyone else here.

I have a skewed opinion on death. It bothers some people, mostly those close to me. The idea is simply when I die, I die. When I'm gone, I'm gone. I spend no time thinking about it. I spend no time worrying over it or the aftermath or where I'll go or anything in that vein. It's inevitable and I figure when I die, my time has simply come. Nothing can be done about it, so why worry? I have no real regrets. However, that doesn't mean I'm even remotely suicidal.

To me, my life is simply a means to an end. There are things I'd like to accomplish, things I'd like to feel, things I'd like to see. If you have nothing in your life that you feel like that about even remotely, you're already dead anyway.

[JC Goodwin]

Screw that i dont know why you all so suicidly but im gonna life my life cause i got so many things to do like
1. Win the wwe championship
2. Have my first kid
3. Meet slayer.
If you feel so down you might as well just kill your self right know. I mean you could look around the world and see how terrible it is or see how good it is.

[Vicky]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Semjaza Azazel [/i]
[B]If you feel this way, you might as well kill yourself right now. If you don't want to kill yourself, then there obviously is some reason for you to live. Why else would you bother?
[/B][/QUOTE]

[SIZE=1][B]Killing myself would just hurt others, but dieing old or something wouldn't, but the thought of someones daughter, or family member killing themselves makes people sick, so I'd rather wait until someone kills me. I'm just not bothered anymore...[/SIZE][/B]

[Semjaza]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by vicky [/i]
[B][SIZE=1][B]Killing myself would just hurt others, but dieing old or something wouldn't, but the thought of someones daughter, or family member killing themselves makes people sick, so I'd rather wait until someone kills me. I'm just not bothered anymore...[/SIZE][/B] [/B][/QUOTE]

I'm sorry, I wasn't referring to your post, Vicky. I was referring to the original poster and her idea of "why bother if you're just going to die anyway" heh.

Maybe I should start quoting people to avoid these misunderstandings lol. Unless you already knew this, in which case, I apologize again.

[Darkest Moment]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Myth [/i]
[B][size=1]People say "Live your life
to the fullest," why bother? You wont remember it when your dead.[/b][/size][/QUOTE]

[size=1]Maybe not, but when your dieing you can know that you did live your life to the fullest. You couldnt regret that your life was boring and you wish you could start over, or at least thats what Im thinking. It's all about your out-look on life.[/size]

[Vicky]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Semjaza Azazel [/i]
[B]I'm sorry, I wasn't referring to your post, Vicky. I was referring to the original poster and her idea of "why bother if you're just going to die anyway" heh.

Maybe I should start quoting people to avoid these misunderstandings lol. Unless you already knew this, in which case, I apologize again. [/B][/QUOTE]

[SIZE=1][B]Ohh... right...

"Live your life to the fullest." That means do what you like, and all the dead moments you'll forget, if you die and forget it like a few people say. So.. when you die and forget everything, it means you don't have to remember the bad stuff... hey... wonder what is feels like to never exsist...[/SIZE][/B]

[XeEmO]

What's living life to the fullest? The only reason we do anything is because we're human. The way I see it, we could be built to think and do just about anything for any reason. A great life for a human might be hell for an alien.

What I'm getting at is you only care about certain things because you're human. The only time you will ever care about anything is when you're alive. You wont care about anything when you're dead, because you can't. Why worry about something in which you wont care about after it comes?

[Bio]

[font=tahoma][size=1]My best suggestion is to not think about it. If you get wiped from existance after death, then that is [i]exactly why[/i] everything matters. Make the most of yourself, and make life what you want it to be.

If you won't live to see tomorrow, live today so you can say you've lived. Don't stay curled up indoors all day, and make yourself happy. Otherwise, you can say you're happy if you never reach your goals, but that hunger will always be there. You absolutely [b]must[/b] do what you want and need to do in order to be both satisfied and happy.

Although most of that would apply to one who doesn't believe in a God.

(yea, religion stuff now)

In Drix D'Zanth's post, he described what I was going to say. With better vocabulary, of course. Anyway, I still think that even if you believe in a God, you should still try to impact humanity as you wish. Wether it be through a moral message, or through economical advances, do your part.[/font][/size]

[Guest ScirosDarkblade]

I think a lot of the pessimism regarding "the point of living" stems from non-religious people not being able to come up with a purpose for living by themselves. Religious people, because they don't see death as a finality, can see an ultimate goal for the whole of their life [on Earth]. The rest have to come up with one. Because they see death as finality, they see any consequences of their actions as being much more limited. When they try to find a "point" to living, they have to ask themselves what could weigh the value of this "point," and at best they come up with "society." And those who don't feel that they can meaningfully impact society are left believing that there IS NO POINT to their living. It's a rational attitude, but it is not a healthy one, and not the only possible one, even with death considered the END. Because it is not impossible to GIVE yourself a purpose, whatever it may be. And if you place value on fulfilling that purpose, then suddenly life has some sort of meaning.

For example, I am not a religious person, and I do see death as a finality, and I am not confident that my life will impact any society in the long run (or even the short run, for that matter). But that doesn't mean I can't say "I live to do *this*." In part I see my life as an opportunity to better the life of others, including my family and my friends. Is that meaningful to them? Of course, because they believe their lives have meaning as well, whatever it may be.
As for myself, I am happy simply appreciating life, for whatever it is. And I live to see more of the world so that I may know and appreciate all that IT is. I don't know if that makes much sense to you all, but it does to me.

[Artemis]

I understand what you meant by this thread. From what I can see, you're not really considering suicide or anything, you were just thinking philosophically. Don't think that it makes you weird to think about things like that. Another big one you've probably thought about is: "Why is there anything rather than nothing?" In other words, why do I exist rather than not exist? As an avid lover of philosophy (which is redundant since "philosophy" mean "love of wisdom"), I think it's actually kinda fun to just think about weird stuff like that. But it helps when you have guidance and come up with at least some of the answers. As a Catholic, I can fall back on Thomas Aquinas (who based a lot of his thought on Aristotle). Like Muslims, we consider earthly life a test in a way. When I die, unless I have an unconfessed mortal sin on my soul, I'll likely go to Purgatory, a place where souls are purged before entering Heaven. (Very few people go directly to Heaven, although some do.) Instead of "living life to the fullest", I try to be moral and virtuous. It's a full life, but it isn't always the most enjoyable. If I didn't believe in an afterlife, carpe diem (sieze the day) would likely be my motto.
~art~

[Swordsaint]

Yeah I've thought about that a lot. Especially lately. Life I feel, Is a test, a way of discovering who you are, before you pass on to the next world (heaven, or whatever it may be called.) and what you can be.

People say live your life to the fullest so that when it's time for you to leave this world, you can say: "I have no regrets."

To be honest I'm not entirely sure what the point is, but that's not the point. You need to find your own truth, what helps you to see the world.

[ChibiHorsewoman]

[color=violet]Well, for the time being, my life involves living so that I can finish having this baby I just found out I'm having:whoops:

As for the whole to live is to die idea, well, I don't think I'm actually going to die in a since. Okay, yes, I'm going to grow old (goddess and god willing) breath my last and so on and so forth, but then I'll come back again.

I'm not crazy and I'm not going to come back as the same person, but I believe in reincarnation, so I feel that I'll just have another life slightly different from the one I have now. Who knows, maybe I'll come back as a guy. :laugh: [/color]

[Guest ScirosDarkblade]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by ChibiHorsewoman [/i]
[B][color=violet]Well, for the time being, my life involves living so that I can finish having this baby I just found out I'm having:whoops: [/color] [/B][/QUOTE]

Congrats!

[The_Ghost]

Hmm...Interesting thread.

Me, I want to die. In fact I can't wait! Before you scream "suicidal" and put me in a straight jacket, hear me out.

First off, I am an avid Christian. I believe that I am not perfect, no one is perfect, which in turn means that this world isn't perfect. Yes, this world sucks. It's a miserable mosh pit of sin. That's why people become suicidal-this life sucks.

Point number two: I believe that I am going to go to heaven. Without getting too religious (or preachy, for that matter) I believe that I am saved through grace by faith in Jesus Christ.

Conclusion: If this world sucks, why would you want to stay here? Especially if you believe the place your gonna go is a million times better.

For the non-religious: Sorry for the rant. Heck, for all I know, when we die, we just disappear. "Ashes to ashes and dust to dust," so on and so forth...But in my opinion, it's better to spend your life believing something, being a better person, and feeling like you've accomplished something, then die and say "Yea, I guess it was ok, wasn't it?"

[Japan]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Myth [/i]
[B][size=1]Im wondering if Im alone in thinking this. What is the
point of living if your just going to die? People say "Live your life
to the fullest," why bother? You wont remember it when your dead.
One thing has struck me, every breath you take is killing you.
You need air to live, but by every breath your slowly dieing.
Im not asking this to be "Morbid" I just want to know if anyone
else has ever wondered. [b]"Whats the point?"[/b][/size] [/B][/QUOTE]

Well, I tend to believe, in a religious point of view, that we were placed on this earth for a purpose. Have you ever done anything in your life that helped other people in a good way or another? I believe that us Christians were put on this earth to grow in our relationship with God. We were also here to help bring others to believe in Jesus.

I would rather live an exciting life than a boring one, wouldn't you? Living life to the fullest gives you a chance to live an exciting life.

I also believe that there is a heaven and a hell. After you die and leave this world, you don't really die. Your body stops living and deteriorates, yes, but I believe that your soul lasts forever. Depending in whether you believe that Jesus died and rose again depends where you end up. Only God knows where you will end up after you die.