The Meaning of Life

[unfair]

The meaning of life is to authentically be yourself.

[Kelly Jones]

What's "yourself"?

[psychoactive]

implying we can be not ourself?

[unfair]

It takes effort to be authentic. The world is always putting pressure on you to compromise yourself. You cannot be authentic without being moral. When you are immoral you look away from yourself.

[Anders Schlander]

Well, in a sense, no matter what, we remain just as we are, so we are still perfectly authentic according to nature in every moment. But i suppose to an individual who wants to be consistent and true in what he says, does, thinks, etc, it would matter?


@ Unfair, do you mean a true 'self' as opposed to an untrue self? and how do you differentiate between such? Many people feel like they are true to themselves.

[unfair]

Isn't the ideal to be consistent in what you say, think, feel, do, etc? For a thinking man, self honesty is essential. If you aren't honest with yourself you cannot think deeply. And if you can't think deeply you can't know things that other people don't know. Deep thinking is a kind of cognizance of your own feelings about things. The world is reflected in you, and to know it you have to know what you feel.

[Glostik91]

For a thinking man, self honesty is essential.

I wholeheartedly agree.

[Dennis Mahar]

Coming at us with the tag 'unfair' and the declaration that people should be moral (authentic) could well indicate you have been deceived by somebody and an ambition of yours has been thwarted.
If that's the case.
Are you being authentic here?

[unfair]

But why would that matter? Unless you don't agree?

[Dennis Mahar]

Authentic means to notice where you are being inauthentic and give it up.
Its not an effort, not an ideal, not a moral code, theres no pressure on it, not a hollywood production.

[unfair]

I disagree, it is not something that's easy. It doesn't mean blurting out whatever might be passing through one's dimly lit consciousness at any particular moment. It does take effort, consideration, thought. Being authentic doesn't mean going around trampling on anything that might be in your way. Authenticity is not an excuse for insensitivity. To be authentic also means to know your own faults.

[Dennis Mahar]

Being authentic doesn't mean going around trampling on anything that might be in your way. Authenticity is not an excuse for insensitivity.

Authentic means noticing where you're being inauthentic.
What else could it mean?

I can't see that there's anything fair or unfair about it or the lack of it that necessitates the introduction of a set of rules to have it be brought under control.

Can you control it?

[unfair]

I think authenticity is also a process of self-discovery, so I think it's more than you seem to suggest.

[Dennis Mahar]

This self you are referring to:
exists only as a thought doesn't it?
is a conceptualised, verbalised, abstract image..
appearing as a thought..

Can you find evidence of it being anywhere other than as a thought?

[Patrick86]

Life is about creating yourself. Someone once said that.

[unfair]

@Dennis: As a thought, as memories, as feelings, as other people's memories and thoughts, yes.

I think life is about creating yourself as well, every moment offers you a choice.

[Dennis Mahar]

@Dennis: As a thought, as memories, as feelings, as other people's memories and thoughts, yes.

I think life is about creating yourself as well, every moment offers you a choice.

Where do these thoughts come from?
Do you invent them?
Do they appear unbidden?
Do they roll by as a stream?
Are they owned exclusively by you?
Are they common to all human beings?

[unfair]

They appear unbidden, and you react.

[Blair]

You react.

What choices did you make bucko? It's an illusion.

[Dennis Mahar]

can you say I'm breathing
can you say I'm beating my heart
can you say I'm hearing
can you say I'm smelling
can you say this is my body

get rid of the pronouns and these things continue to happen!

life is doing it...not you.

how can you say I'm thinking
how can you say I'm choosing

there's a sense of being in the moment where it unfolds naturally and later the I thought rises to claim ownership and doership which automatically pulls one out of the moment..
in the moment, out of the moment aren't separate, just 2 sides of the same coin..

life is doing it..not you.

life and the sense of you aren't separate.

[unfair]

That's fine to theorize about, but no one actually lives like that. Whether it is an 'illusion' or not you still live with a sense of yourself. You still blame yourself for some things and blame others for other things. You are an individual among other individuals, that's the practical way in which people live, anything else is just fanciful thinking.

[Dennis Mahar]

OK,
you take charge of your breathing for a while.
you take over the beating of the heart
you stop yourself from hearing, talking, smelling,feeling
you stop the flow of thought, the flow of emotion

let's see who is fanciful.

a sense of self is a thought...labeling
blaming is a thought...labelling

labels don't do anything except label
they get attached after the fact..they deal with the past, it's already moved on.

[Beingof1]

OK,
you take charge of your breathing for a while.
you take over the beating of the heart
you stop yourself from hearing, talking, smelling,feeling
you stop the flow of thought, the flow of emotion

let's see who is fanciful.

a sense of self is a thought...labeling
blaming is a thought...labelling

labels don't do anything except label
they get attached after the fact..they deal with the past, it's already moved on.

Big smile - thanks.

[Blair]

I think we're just dust in the wind, I really do.

lol.

[cousinbasil]

lol.

How nice that Dan has permitted us to be morons at the times of our own choosing once again.