(September 24, 2016 at 3:06 pm)Aroura Wrote: Psychologists say you have to decide to be happy first, not keep looking for something over the horizon.

I'm happy. I have food and shelter, clothes and many luxuries like tv, video games, etc. I read books and sew shenanigans I can. I'm often disturbed by what feel like random thoughts on the futility and meaninglessness of it all, but I do my best to ignore them. Even if true, then thoughts on meaninglessness are meaningless. I'm here, I'm capable of enjoyment, and giving enjoyment to others, so wtf, just do that!

You can swim in the ocean's turbulent waters as well as fly a plane above them. You don't have to settle for either, no matter the weather. You can also go on land when you tire of the adventure.

Did I do well, Ark?

(September 24, 2016 at 3:24 pm)Arkilogue Wrote:

(September 24, 2016 at 3:07 pm)InquiringMind Wrote: I was trying to explore whether or not meaning was ultimately what I'm looking for.  I was seeing whether having the maximum possible meaning in my life is what I really want.

And whether you approach it as a quantity of experiences or quality of overall experience and function.

What is the most meaningful function/experience of a lump of coal? To be burned/transformed to release energy? Or energy to be used on it to compress it's loose carbon into crystal diamond?

I think what me and the OP are looking for is the second option, if I'm understanding your analogy in a way you would agree with.

InquiringMind, please, please don't let anyone here change you. And stick around. Some of us, well, I, appreciate you.

Meaning is all relative anyway. I'm sure a starving kid from Africa whose parents were murdered by child soldiers would find plenty of it if they could suddenly have your life.

Sink your teeth into that next time you're wishing you were immortal.

(September 24, 2016 at 2:55 pm)Arkilogue Wrote:

(September 24, 2016 at 2:06 pm)Jörmungandr Wrote: The thirst, once quenched, will only wait a little while before it is thirsty again.

So keep digging your internal well of meaning until you hit the water table or a spring.

I hit a geothermal pocket and I'm still waiting for the waters to cool to be of much use to anyone else.

Well, you've certainly hit a wellspring of some sort.

Quote:Now, Abraham and Kierkegaard were both in exceptional situations; most of us are not called upon to make such drastic sacrifices. But even the most ordinary people are required from time to time to make decisions crucial for their own lives, and in such crises they know something of the “suspension of the ethical” of which Kierkegaard writes. For the choice in such human situations is almost never between a good and an evil, where both are plainly marked as such and the choice therefore made in all the certitude of reason; rather it is between rival goods, where one is bound to do some evil either way, and where the ultimate outcome and even—or most of all—our own motives are unclear to us. The terror of confronting oneself in such a situation is so great that most people panic and try to take cover under any universal rule that will apply, if only it will save them from the task of choosing themselves. Unfortunately, in a good many cases there is no such universal rule or recipe available, and the individual can do nothing but muddle through on his own and decide for himself. Life seems to have intended it this way, for no moral blueprint has ever been drawn up that covers all the situations for us beforehand so that we can be absolutely certain under which rule the situation comes. Such is the concreteness of existence that a situation may come under several rules at once, forcing us to choose outside any rule, and from inside ourselves.

Barrett, William. Irrational Man: A Study in Existential Philosophy (pp. 167-168). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

(September 24, 2016 at 3:39 pm)Excited Penguin Wrote:

(September 24, 2016 at 3:06 pm)Aroura Wrote: Psychologists say you have to decide to be happy first, not keep looking for something over the horizon.

I'm happy. I have food and shelter, clothes and many luxuries like tv, video games, etc. I read books and sew shenanigans I can. I'm often disturbed by what feel like random thoughts on the futility and meaninglessness of it all, but I do my best to ignore them. Even if true, then thoughts on meaninglessness are meaningless. I'm here, I'm capable of enjoyment, and giving enjoyment to others, so wtf, just do that!

You can swim in the ocean's turbulent waters as well as fly a plane above them. You don't have to settle for either, no matter the weather. You can also go on land when you tire of the adventure.

Did I do well, Ark?

You're speaking to my heart!

One can only think about meaning so much....ultimately it must be felt and this is a courageous reaching through darkness. Not a leap of faith, but a step by step walk of purpose.

(September 24, 2016 at 2:03 pm)Aroura Wrote: live it?

^^^^

This.

(September 24, 2016 at 3:47 pm)Excited Penguin Wrote:

(September 24, 2016 at 3:24 pm)Arkilogue Wrote: And whether you approach it as a quantity of experiences or quality of overall experience and function.

What is the most meaningful function/experience of a lump of coal? To be burned/transformed to release energy? Or energy to be used on it to compress it's loose carbon into crystal diamond?

I think what me and the OP are looking for is the second option, if I'm understanding your analogy in a way you would agree with.

Think we're feeling in the same direction

In my analogy the "burning" would translate to a hedonistic type life seeking high quantity of "extreme" type experiences. This would include adrenaline junkies and horders of money. The danger comes from it's innate temporarily and unquenchable nature.

The second option is energy put into the system in the form of self discipline either self imposed or by an authority figure. The atomic lattice of a diamond is highly regular and uniform, it's own internal structure does not impede the flow of light. This amounts to an integrity that allows clear perception of what passes through oneself...the light is clear perception. A lump of coal is perception obstructing.