Why Exist At All?

[ashybang]

chill out and lighten up mate, its nothing personal. unless of course you happen to be the real barry manilow in which case im utterly sorry for taking the piss out of your conk. sorry.

back off man - barry's front door is prolly getting pig size 10s bouncing off it now

no real names (bette midler is STILL fkng with his head)

what goes on tour STAYS on tour yeah?

B)

shit, i hope i've not gotten baz busted by accident but if i have he can at least keep writing the songs that make the whole world sing..... from his cell.

Hey now Mr Rolf Harris, you`ve got your didgeridoo and your two little boys,

and Barry`s making the whole world sing.

Each to their own i reckon !

[kilgore trout]

purpose does not neccessarily enter into buddhism, it does not say the purpose of existance is to achieve enlightenment, but that there is a way that us humans can free themselves from suffering, its not our purpose to do this, its just that life is nicer if we do.

things change (if they didnt we wouldnt be here), we become attatched to things(friends, nice food, our selves etc), dues to change those things go and we suffer.

if people didnt die, there would be no room for new people, we share the universe, we eat animals, they eat us(diseases eat us too), we suffer when we get eaten, especially when its slow...the universe is not made just for us, we share it with all the other things, its for them too.

anyhows, just what this little me here thinks, if it rains, it may not suit me, but it may suit something else, if i die, it may not suit me, but it will suit the things that eat me

so why suffering? well because its really just change with our perspective added, and change is neccessary for everything that happens.

[JimmyBlazingBass]

The Meaning of Life, is a Life With Meaning.

says me monk book

I agree.

I think we exist because of some cosmic explosion - all that comes into being just came into being by some freak of nature. It wasn't created - it just happened.

Our world spawned the first creatures and from then on came the process of evolution, and finally here our species came.

As our species evolved and our brains developed - we discovered our psyches, our consciousness.

We then observe the world around us and after a while start to wonder how we came into being, and then why we came into being.

It is then that an idea of "God" is created - through mutual discussion, and because we see ourselves as the most intelligent and accomplishes species on the planet around us, God assumes human form (how egotistical).

And why do people need to create this image of a divine power??Because a) there are so many things in this world that man cannot explain(natural phenomena etc), not even with his complex and magnificent brain, and this pissed us off!

Ana B) because everyone needs to believe that there could be more to life than just living - there has to be more than the trials and tribulations we go through day after day, otherwise life would be just too depressing - there has to be something else, and this is how the concept of "a meaning of life" is born, and it is pondered upon by the greatest thinkers of every land.

After a while, this striving for a meaning of life becomes a universal obsession, and people become depressed because noone knows the meaning of life - this is where our consciousness holds us back. We are mammals, but ones that have a higher intelligence (& consciousness & self awareness) than any other species on this planet, & we are plagued by psychological issues etc - we have lost the powers of relying on instinct. We have lost our primal edge by relying solely on our minds.

My point is this, unless we stop thinking so hard about what could be out there etc, we are going to be forever miserable striving for something that is unobtainable.

We will never know for sure what the meaning of life is (assuming there is one that is), so why not assume there isn't one, and think to ourselves - "life is what we make of it". It doesn't have to have a meaning, but if we so wish, we can give it meaning through what we do with our lives. It will be meaningful for us- doesn't mean that this meaning is applicable to someone else, as we are all unique.

If anyone agrees with me & actually understands what I'm talking about I welcome you to PM me, if you totally disagree with me then also please discuss. BUT under no circumstances just fob me off with a one liner like "that's rubbish".

I've also been reading into buddhism and although it's been a while- I remember suffering is there from when we are born to the day we die.

Isn't nirvana a state of mind when we no longer have suffering?

I now get why Buddha suggest getting rid of all worldy possessions - to show us that if we can let these things go, we can let go of everything in this life - hard as it might be.

I'm actually not stoned for once while writing this- so it should make more sense than if I tried to write it stoned haha.

Peace

[formabud]

Why not create a Universe of eternal bliss?

because there is no pleasure without pain, how could it be called 'bliss', if there is nothing (for want of a better word) bad to compair it too, a perfect life would be a plain, repetitive boring one IMHO.

i think we need misery and pain to help us grow, learn and appreciate.

just my 2p's worth

forma.

[gen131]

the fart that stinketh not, is not the true fart. old farts always stink, can it be otherwise.

this is the sound of one cheek farting.

life is one big fart; so suck it up.

at the end of string theory is gods dingleberries.

gen

and there was no more pain. j word.

Edited March 1, 2008 by gen131

[BrokenMan]

Denny Crane

[Rastajedi]

The aim of meditation is to learn to ignore the chattering machine - I don't think it can be switched off, quite - and enjoy one's sensory data without judgement, or even analysis.

Just read through this thread again, try taking a large dose of magic mushrooms ninorc once or twice i actually did this when i was a teenager

believe me it really is another dimension where space, time, perception disappear, then coming down as the sun rises while in open countryside was an unforgettable experience....

When it comes out in the wash were nothing more than what we cant explain that learns like a binary switch in the cog of time..

Rj

[Guest aNgLo_GrOwEr]

After today i don't want to exist

[Mr. Sesmesesles]

I wanted to keep on existing... until I read this thread.

What a miserable, navel-gazing bunch of...

Edited March 2, 2008 by Mr. Sesmesesles

[d_L_t]

After today i don't want to exist

Tomorrow maybe better

[Culchi]

Cheer up Brian, you know what they say...

[Mr. Sesmesesles]

Thanks nettle

[Guest djdavid4u]

I was reading from a book called the spirits book by allen kardec in 1850's something that

we exsist, we exsist to be purfified by corpral llife triles what we pick,

the spirits quoat that earth is is vary far from being a pure world, and this world is a very matrialistic world, and that jupitor is the most to purest to life closest to us and mars being the most inpure

they say for god never made anything in vain, that inluceds other plants what has life, and space is not empty aswael, it is full of a universal fluid that connects everything together

there are bad spirts and good sprits, some know them as jinns, mojo's, in bangaladesh they called ferocknes, the spirts around us infulnces us and enjoys if we fail your trile

all will be purified in the end to perfection, some more advance then others, god made all simple and ignorant

reincarnation is apparently true and that our bodys are like a item of clothing to the sprit, our soles

with out a sole the body will still live if it departs from it

there a lot of stuff in this book what opens up alot of doors, I personally belive all the book to be true, some mite think im crazy to belive but I do 100%

we are all brothers and sisters as god is our father, we will all be oneday together in perfect and pure uncondisinal love and pure 100% trust, man imagin liveing together so perfectly togerher like that, I think the most inportent thing about somebody is that you can trust them like that, 100% undoubtibily pure trust and love

soz I think ive posted on this book before

Edited March 2, 2008 by djdavid4u

[Blayz'd]

I have one of two theories.

1. This existance is a prison of sorts. We've all been bad souls and we've been sent here to either learn our lesson or as a punishment. Hence the reason why the good die young. That happens because they either did their time or learned their lesson.

2. This existance is a test, or a series of tests. To advance you along to another level of knowing. Until in the end you are able to handle, understand, respect and use.... the real truth.

We have no idea of reality. At this point we couldn't even imagine it, which may well be the reason we have no idea of it. We know what we can see at the moment. We are materialistic. I think I believe my second theory the most. Everything that happens in this world is an experience. It all teaches something. Many many people don't or won't learn the lessons. As I believe it they will be forced to retrace their footsteps through time until they get it right and become more than they currently are.

Basically, we exist to live and learn.

If your talking about destiny, your destiny while here is whatever you choose it to be.

Edited March 6, 2008 by Blayz'd

[cf]

Okay, so here's a thing that has vexed me for a long time now. I'm a Buddhist by inclination, and I've always believed there is some kind of intelligence behind the universe, whether it's God or whatever I know not, but it just seems to make sense to me that life, the Universe and Everything is not just down to some random accident. Now I know it could be a random accident, but lets just leave that aside for now and start a whole new thread on it if necessary.

So, assuming there is an intelligence behind it all, the question that vexes me the most is, why the suffering? If the Universe is the creation of something both aware and intelligent, then why the fuck would you, given that there is a choice, create the kind of suffering that the average human being experiences? Why not create a Universe of eternal bliss?

The only reason I can ever come up with is this:

If the Universe is infinite, i.e has no end (the beginning is probably worth a thread of it's own too) then I guess that you would want to experience everything, i.e human life, life as a ten dimensional being in the fofuiduasdo Universe, life as a slug on Jupiter, whatever. Infinity means we will never, ever, run out of things to be and experience. So this life, and all it's attendant suffering and indeed good points, are only the blink of an eye in cosmic terms.

For me this explanation is about the only one that makes sense of all the shit I have experienced in this life. It's the only thing that can justify putting up with all the shite I have lived through so far. I'm therefore intrigued to hear other people's thoughts on it? Care to contribute?

baba either me or you need to go back to buddhist school

i though that the whole essence of buddhism is that there was no acknowledged higher authority than us, perhaps i'm not paying any attention to the various spin off dogmatic mind control type belief systems that derive from buddhism, but the original teachings (right mindfullness,right actions etc ) are a way to reach buddhahood , a state attainable by every person.

why the suffering? thats not really the question is it ? more time how to relive ourselves of the burden of suffering and free ourselves from the shackles of craving and aversion.

buddhism is all the more relevant today as we seem to be on the brink of devouring our own planet with our current system, a system based on greed , competition and hoarding.

if we can transcend this mind set that has been our evolutionary directive and has ensured our survival and development for many years but is now looking like its to be our downfall then we will survive and thrive as a species.

buddhism directly addresses these problems as far as i can see