Questionnaire about life (for academic purposes)

[Fireball]

Hello everyone,
I am currently collecting views about life, solely for academic purposes. I would really be grateful if any of you could answer the questions below. It doesn't matter if it's short or lengthy as long as they display your own thoughts and views. Thank you!

1. How would you define happiness? Pastafraianism
2. What qualities make a person successful in life? Not being a dick
3. What qualities make a person a good person? See above
4. Are there any absolute or objective standards of right and wrong? If so, what are they? Maybe
5. At this point, what is the highest priority of your life? Converting lost lambs to FSMs light
6. If someone asked you to explain to them your philosophy of life (what you live by), what would you say? What reasons would you give to justify your answer? Live each day as if it were your last, Because it just may be
7. What is your view concerning the existence of God or the nature of ultimate reality? What reasons would you give to justify your answer? FSM created all, It's in his holy book
8. In your view, what is the most basic or fundamental human problem? All religions excluding mine 
9. Is there a solution to the most basic human problem? If so, what is it? Stop worshiping invisible sky genies, Unless it's FSM, Then double worship
10. What question do you most wish you could answer in your life? Are ducks secretly plotting to take over the world?

inb4 ban

My answers in bold
Ramen

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Hey there, I'm bored so this will give me something to do for the moment.
1. A state in which you feel no guilt or shame and are glad for your existence.
2. I'm not sure. Even if you were an honest, trustworthy and kind person, the world has a way of keeping you down.
3. I guess the qualities listed above as well as faithful 
4. Right and wrong depends on what the majority believes (we don't hurt people because society says it's wrong. but i'm sure there are some places where eating people is considered the sane thing to do. Or right and wrong could be an innate thing.
5. To survive 
6. Just be kind and believe 
7. Evil
8. God exists 
9. God and faith
10. I want to know once and for all if there is a Heaven and a hell.

Did you just out yourself as his/her sock? lol

  IK,R? How obvious can they be? It's Monday, so I guess buy-bull study over the weekend was a bit slow, or something. 
ETA-
Hmm. Just realized that it's Tuesday. I guess that's what retirement does for a person. 

[GrandizerII]

I don't have a logical problem with the existence of some God, so long as we have good reasons to believe that whatever entity exists that you're calling God is plausible. I'm an atheist partly because I just haven't seen good arguments for the type of entity that I would honestly consider to be "God". Is there a First Cause out there in the Aristotelian sense? Maybe, but that is not enough to be of concern for me as an atheist.

As for ultimate reality, I don't hold to any cosmogonal/cosmological worldview with strong conviction. It would be foolish for anyone (theist or atheist) to do so. But I do like the idea that reality basically amounts to this: if a world is metaphysically possible, it actually exists "out there". Meaning that, ultimately, all metaphysically possible worlds exist, and we live in one such world. This, to me, seems to be the most "non-arbitrary" view one can get.

I'm not attempting the other questions because trying to answer those would bore the hell out of me.

What arguments have you heard? I'm curious.

Why, what are you implying? That I haven't heard enough to be convinced? That you have these awesome arguments that I have yet to hear?

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Hello everyone,
I am currently collecting views about life, solely for academic purposes. I would really be grateful if any of you could answer the questions below. It doesn't matter if it's short or lengthy as long as they display your own thoughts and views. Thank you!

1. How would you define happiness?
2. What qualities make a person successful in life?
3. What qualities make a person a good person?
4. Are there any absolute or objective standards of right and wrong? If so, what are they?
5. At this point, what is the highest priority of your life?
6. If someone asked you to explain to them your philosophy of life (what you live by), what would you say? What reasons would you give to justify your answer?
7. What is your view concerning the existence of God or the nature of ultimate reality? What reasons would you give to justify your answer?
8. In your view, what is the most basic or fundamental human problem?
9. Is there a solution to the most basic human problem? If so, what is it?
10. What question do you most wish you could answer in your life?

1.  The state or condition in which anonymous strangers don't ask other anonymous strangers to do their homework for them.
2.  The ability to do their own homework.
3.  The realization that doing their own homework is a moral imperative.
4.  It is objectively right for you to do your own homework.  It is objectively wrong to ask me to do it.
5.  Not doing your homework.
6.  Be generous to the poor, patient to the stupid, and don't do anyone else's homework for them. The reasons are sufficiently clear.
7.  God wants you to do your own homework.
8.  People not doing their own homework.
9.  People doing their own homework.
10.  'What makes strangers think they have a right to ask me to do their homework?'

Boru

[Shazzalovesnovels]

What arguments have you heard? I'm curious.

Why, what are you implying? That I haven't heard enough to be convinced? That you have these awesome arguments that I have yet to hear?

lol no I just want to know what you've heard. like I said i'm curious. Maybe they're ones that I've never thought about.

[polymath257]

Hello everyone,
I am currently collecting views about life, solely for academic purposes. I would really be grateful if any of you could answer the questions below. It doesn't matter if it's short or lengthy as long as they display your own thoughts and views. Thank you!

1. How would you define happiness?
2. What qualities make a person successful in life?
3. What qualities make a person a good person?
4. Are there any absolute or objective standards of right and wrong? If so, what are they?
5. At this point, what is the highest priority of your life?
6. If someone asked you to explain to them your philosophy of life (what you live by), what would you say? What reasons would you give to justify your answer?
7. What is your view concerning the existence of God or the nature of ultimate reality? What reasons would you give to justify your answer?
8. In your view, what is the most basic or fundamental human problem?
9. Is there a solution to the most basic human problem? If so, what is it?
10. What question do you most wish you could answer in your life?

1. I don't. Happiness is an emotion that comes about under certain circumstances.

2. That depends on the society, but usually hard work, intelligence, luck, and connections.

3. Having compassion and being able to think through the consequences of one's actions.

4. Very few. But once you stop being compassionate towards someone, you are on the road to doing wrong.

5. Love and Truth.

6. Be kind, learn as much as possible about as many things as possible. Help others.

7. I don't believe in deities and I'm allergic to the phrase 'ultimate nature'. The latter implies an outdated metaphysics I don't believe.

8. Lack of compassion and ignorance.

9. Teach children to care and to learn.

10. Whether the Cantor ternary set is a set of uniqueness for the Walsh functions.

[Porcupine]

I already gave my answers on the other version of this thread. I will repeat them here without spamming by copying it but putting it under a hide tag.

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How would you define happiness?

Experience that feels no urge to resist itself.

What qualities make a person successful in life?

Not having a need for success.

What qualities make a person a good person?

Above all: having virtues that tend to cause less harm than their absence. Secondarily: having virtues that actually decrease harm.

Are there any absolute or objective standards of right and wrong? If so, what are they?

Yes. The intrinsic nature of wrongness is harm and the intrinsic nature of goodness is the absence of harm. Duties and virtues are good only insofar as they tend to lead to the minimization of such a wrongness and the maximization of such a goodness. And virtues and duties can thusly be very individual things: because a virtue is just whatever works for the individual and what works for the individual is whatever tends to reduce harm. And a vice is also individual because it is whatever doesn't work for the individual which is just whatever tends to cause harm.

The subjective part is how such vices, virtues and duties and shall nots and shalls differ from person to person. The objective part is that the intrinsic nature of wrongnes is harm and the intrinsic nature of goodness is the absence of harm.

At this point, what is the highest priority of your life?

Utter acceptance and non-struggle. Both within and without.

If someone asked you to explain to them your philosophy of life (what you live by), what would you say? What reasons would you give to justify your answer?

I can't give the justifications because it would require more than one book. One of the key things is that it doesn't matter where you start .... the important thing is that it all fits together like a tapestry. If your philosophy is not unified then you should suspect that there is something wrong with it.

Here are some things I believe but I lack the mental energy to go into detail about justifying them right now:

Free will doesn't exist. Not even as an illusion.

The ego is not free. The self is not free. The ego, the self and the will are all one and the same thing.

We are not separate from the world.

Existence itself is consciousness.

The more we accept that we are not in control of our lives the less frustrated and out of control we will feel.

Your happiness and unhappiness are just as much 'out there' in 'the world' as in here. And vice versa. There is no 'out there' or 'in here'. It's all out and all in. There is no real duality to it. The inner world is the outer world and the outer world is the inner world. When we recognize this we will stop chasing happiness as if it's out there in the world or in here in our thinking heads. This will set us free from frustration once we not only recognize it conceptually but also practice it perceptually. We will have the answer once we realize that there was no question to begin with. Our not realizing that we had it was the only thing stopping us from having it. It's like looking at a painting of two faces and not seeing it as a vase or vice versa. When we can see it both ways we are free. There is no way to do things wrong. The belief that there is creates the wrongness (I don't mean morally).

We need to not only stop holding ourselves and others responsible as if they are separate entities ....... we need to stop holding ourselves or others responsible for holding ourselves or others responsible and we need to stop holding ourselves or others responsible for holding ourselves or others responsible for holding ourselves or others responsible. It goes on for infinity and we can't force ourselves to stop doing it. So what do we do? Recognize and realize and FEEL fully that we not only don't and can't have such a force but we never did. It's all illusory. Step 1. Understand it. Step 2. See it. Step 3. Feel it. Step 4. Practice feeling it.

What is your view concerning the existence of God or the nature of ultimate reality? What reasons would you give to justify your answer?

I'm, again, not in the mood for justifying. I never get a satisfactory counter-argument back and I'm tired and lacking mental energy right now. I'm not here to preach but I AM here to answer at least some of your questions. And I may explain such things when I don't lack the energy.

To me ... the word 'God' is probably unhelpful but I certainly don't believe in a personified literal God. And the ultimate nature of reality is consciousness. And that consciousness is either one consciousness and our minds are part of it .... or that consciousness is infinite minds. It depends how you look at it.

In your view, what is the most basic or fundamental human problem?

Suffering.

Is there a solution to the most basic human problem? If so, what is it?

A lifetime of reflection and non-reflection ... and the ability to do both without struggle whenever one wishes. The ability to turn anxiety both on and off. To function as a human but to also function as something more than human.

The path to that solution may be different for everybody and some may never reach it. My own path was via secular philosophy.

10. What question do you most wish you could answer in your life?

"Have I already experienced the worst moment of my life?"

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[brewer]

@halos Tell me, what happens once you have collected AF member responses?

[chimp3]

1. How would you define happiness?
Er, the state of being happy!


2. What qualities make a person successful in life?
Depends on whether we are talking about Keith Richards or a brain surgeon 

3. What qualities make a person a good person?
Err, being good?

4. Are there any absolute or objective standards of right and wrong? If so, what are they?
Don't own people as slaves and don't advocate for genocide are two major ones.

5. At this point, what is the highest priority of your life?
I have about 25-30 top priorities. Staying healthy is one.

6. If someone asked you to explain to them your philosophy of life (what you live by), what would you say? What reasons would you give to justify your answer?
I am not a philosopher so I don't have "a" philosophy of life'

7. What is your view concerning the existence of God or the nature of ultimate reality? What reasons would you give to justify your answer?
No gods, I have no idea what "ultimate" means in this context.

8. In your view, what is the most basic or fundamental human problem?
As with "highest priority" I have no idea how to narrow humanities problems into ranks.

9. Is there a solution to the most basic human problem? If so, what is it?
See above.

10. What question do you most wish you could answer in your life?
Too many

[The Valkyrie]

I'll only answer the tenth question.

The question I want answered is why, every couple of months, a Christian posts something like this on our forum under the guise of "homework", "academic purposes", or "research", when it's nothing more than a weak attempt to make us question and perhaps come to the revelation of "god!"?

[tackattack]

Because valk, people in small circles of a like mind wish to expand their circles. That’s not a bad thing is it? That doesn’t mean it always is with an intent to convert.