The ideas that the meanings of our lives are controlled by what other people say and do have been around for a long time. In his book “Survivor”, Chuck Palahniuk explores a step further and creates a character that has, throughout his entire life, had his meaning of life created and controlled directly by other people. Through this character Palahniuk demonstrates how modern day culture is now doing this for all of us and the meaning of life has become something impersonal that is created by other people, thus they are meaning less. Although he shows this meaning of life in the story, he also shows that even though you are stuck this way, you have to enjoy the better things in life. He does this through a secondary character's outlook on the world in the story, the main character's life as a member of the so-called “Creedish Death Cult”, and through his life afterwards as the publicly promoted hero/sole surviving member of the “Creedish Death Cult.” He also shows that you need to enjoy the finer things in this meaningless life through the main characters love interest, Fertility.
The main character, Tender Branson, has always had everything in his life controlled by others, even the meaning of his life has always been dictated by other people and never by himself. This is first evident in his situation with the “Creedish Death Cult,” in which he was raised, named (even his name was dictated by what point in the family he was born. Because he was not a first-born, and because he was male, he was named Tender, just like every other second born male in the cult), taught beliefs, and sent to work. The leading members of the Creedish “cult” control all these things. “If you met someone from the church district colony, you could say: May you be of complete service in your lifetime. You could say: Praise and glory to the Lord for this day through which we labor. […] That was the limit. […] No hugging. No hand shaking. You would say one approved bit. She would say one. The two of you would of back and forth until each of you had said two lines. You kept your heads bowed, and you each went back to your task.” The Creedish Church controlled all his actions, interactions, jobs, and relationships, and by controlling all of these things, they controlled his meaning of life, which Palahniuk is using as a blatant example for how all of our life meanings are controlled by others. Because all these things were controlled, Tender Branson’s life was meaningless, but he still tried to enjoy life, this is seen through his love interest with Fertility. However, the Creedish Church forbids him to have sex, but he still tries to enjoy the companionship of a female. Though Tender fails this relationship in the end, it still shows the importance of enjoying life despite it being controlled/meaningless.
The idea that life is meaningless is explored in other means of art as well. The song zero sum also explores the idea that life is meaningless through the idea of the end of the world, and the lead singer talks about how life has been fairly meaningless up until that point in time. “Shame on us; doomed from the start; may god have mercy; on our dirty little hearts; shame on us; for all we have done; and all we ever were; just zeros and ones” This line talks about how up until now (the end of the world) everyone has wasted their lives, and because everyone’s lives have been wasted, and now that there’s no chance to make it up (due to the fact that it’s the end of the world) our lives are meaningless. This song does a good job of expressing ideas about the meaning of life in song form. Along with the aforementioned chorus other lyrics in the song bring out the idea that even though life is meaningless and has been wasted, it was still important to enjoy life all the same: “and i guess i just wanted to tell you; as the lights start to fade; that you are the reason; that i am not afraid; and i guess i just wanted to mention; as the heavens will fall we will be together soon if we; will be anything at all” What he is implying is that although the earth is ended, he is still glad that he was able to enjoy the time spent with the person he is talking too (presumably a lover). This expresses the idea that even though life is meaningless because you die in the end, it is still important to enjoy life without worrying about your inevitable fate.
The song Zero Sum is not the only piece of art that expresses the meaning of life in that sort of way. The movie The Seventh Seal expresses similar ideas to the song about death and enjoying life. Throughout the movie the main character is striving off death by playing chess with him. The movie expresses how death is inevitable, and that death always will make life meaningless in the end, but that even though life is meaningless in the face of death, you still have to enjoy the finer things in life. In the movie, this enjoyment is symbolized by the innocence of the traveling actor family, who share strawberries with the main character during the journey and all how him enjoy life. The innocence of their child and the main character's reaction to the child shows that life is meant to be enjoyed, and that one should not brood over death, because it will happen to all of us.
The enjoyment of life is a reoccurring theme in art about the meaning of life. The writing piece Rita Hayworth and the shawshank redemption covers ideas about enjoying life no matter what situation you are in. The main hero in the book, Andy, is said to enjoy life and not let the institution of prison get him down, which is the main theme of the story in relation to the meaning of life. The idea is that no matter what situation you are in (such as facing death as in the Seventh Seal) you still need to enjoy the finer things in life, this is shown in the shawshank redemption by the way Andy lives in prison and how he still retains who he is even though prison tries to break him down. Andy is an example of a person who enjoys (in a sense) life no matter what situation he is thrown into, much like all the other aforementioned pieces of art.
The idea that life needs to be enjoyed despite the situation is a recurring theme among the displayed art, but this is not the only message conveyed by art. Art has conveyed countless ideas about the meaning of life throughout time, and is one of the greatest forms of communication. As shown art can convey idea through the use of a main character (Andy), through the use of a friend (Fertility), through the use of symbolism in a movie (Seventh Seal), and through song (Zero Sum). It is clear that art can display many messages about the meaning of life and other things, and that is the main reason art is so important to our culture, because of its ability to convey complex ideas about complex questions, such as what is the meaning of life.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Friday, January 18, 2008
Scienetology Outline
OUTLINE: SCIENTOLOGY ESSAY
Introduction: Scientology, which means “the study of truth”, is a religion that was born out of a self-help program called Dianetics established by L. Ron Hubbard. He first published his ideas in a self-help book, Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. This self-help program covers the three parts of man; the mind, the body, and the spirit and goes in depth into how to balance your life. Beliefs that relate to the meaning of life are The Dynamics, which are the eight areas in which human’s urge for survival breaks down to. There are also the two triangles, the ARC triangle, affinity + reality + communication = understanding, and the KRC triangle, knowledge, responsibility, and control.
First Paragraph: ARC triangle: Affinity + Reality + Communication. How ARC is used in conversations to make things more meaning full.
Second Paragraph: The dynamics: How they determine what is meaningful in what sort of context.
Third Paragraph: Operating Thetan level: Reaching the pinnical of scientology and the meaning of life.
Conclusion: Scientology’s views on the meaning of life focus more on each individual person and the bigger picture ideas are mostly just there to give framework on which each individual persons life can be given meaning. We understand that the ultimate goal of life is to reach the final level of Operating Thetan and to obtain a sort of enlightenment. To reach this Scientology has set down a number of doctrines that include ideas such as happiness and understanding to help a person live a more meaningful life and eventually reach the level of Operating Thetan.
Introduction: Scientology, which means “the study of truth”, is a religion that was born out of a self-help program called Dianetics established by L. Ron Hubbard. He first published his ideas in a self-help book, Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. This self-help program covers the three parts of man; the mind, the body, and the spirit and goes in depth into how to balance your life. Beliefs that relate to the meaning of life are The Dynamics, which are the eight areas in which human’s urge for survival breaks down to. There are also the two triangles, the ARC triangle, affinity + reality + communication = understanding, and the KRC triangle, knowledge, responsibility, and control.
First Paragraph: ARC triangle: Affinity + Reality + Communication. How ARC is used in conversations to make things more meaning full.
Second Paragraph: The dynamics: How they determine what is meaningful in what sort of context.
Third Paragraph: Operating Thetan level: Reaching the pinnical of scientology and the meaning of life.
Conclusion: Scientology’s views on the meaning of life focus more on each individual person and the bigger picture ideas are mostly just there to give framework on which each individual persons life can be given meaning. We understand that the ultimate goal of life is to reach the final level of Operating Thetan and to obtain a sort of enlightenment. To reach this Scientology has set down a number of doctrines that include ideas such as happiness and understanding to help a person live a more meaningful life and eventually reach the level of Operating Thetan.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Revised MoL Draft 2
A Meaning of life isn’t something that someone originally has, but it is something that people develop ideas of over time. Someone’s initial ideas on the meaning of life will almost certainly change with deeper thought and research. I know this from personal experience. Earlier in the year I formulated what I believed to be a fairly strong meaning of life based on what I believe in, but now, after thought and research, I am to revise my original perspective on the meaning of life into someone that does more for my everyday life. What I initial imagined was that the meaning of life was the bigger picture of someone’s life, what their final goal was, but now, after examining other peoples perspectives, religions, philosophers perspectives, and various forms of art, I have come to realize that the meaning of life is more about things you do in everyday daily life and not about what you do with your life as a whole. My new revised meaning of life follows the idea of enjoying life and not brooding over death/the future.
In my original thoughts about the meaning of life I talked more about my overall goal of life, and what I wanted to be thought of after death, things very far in the future; “The meaning of life also includes a final goal. This goal isn’t to be remembered personally by the world, but for the changes I made to be remembered by the world. An example of a change would be to help cure patients of a serious disease, or to have a revolution technology that affects the world.” While this original idea on the meaning of life is nice and idealistic, it realistically doesn’t have much effect on my current life. What I aimed for in revising my meaning of life is to make it more personal, to make it effect my every day life, and to avoid big overarching goals that are set far in the future. Thus I developed the idea that instead of worrying about the future and death, it is most important just to enjoy life in the present, do things that would make you enjoy life and not things that would make you worry about hindrances such as death.
This idea was not formulated solely out of my own ideas, but instead its draws on all the research I did on the meaning of life. When investigating what people in my life believed to be the meaning of life I became engaged in an interesting discussion with my friend Taylor, who deeply influenced my revision of the meaning of life. Taylor claimed that “life is insignificant in hindsight or foresight but in the living moment (the moment that is happening) life is incommunicably important”, an idea that I adapted into my own meaning of life. What he’s trying to express is that living life to enjoy the present is the most important thing, and that living life thinking about the future or the past will just make life less enjoyable, less “significant”, all ideas that were molded into my revised perspective on the meaning of life.
Along with Taylor’s opinion art also had a big influence on my meaning of life. Lots of art tells us about death, and death is something that people think about all the time. Because of this huge focus on death in our culture my original thoughts dealt a lot with death; “These are all things done to be remembered for after I have passed away.” But as my research progressed I came across a lot of art that changed my opinion on this. The main example would be the movie: “The Seventh Seal”. The movie brought out ideas about the meaning of life and death by applying a death situation to the main character (he has been marked for death but is playing chess with death to stall). His thoughts are preoccupied with death until he comes across the innocence of a young acting couple and their child, who represent the good things in life. The movie shows how death is inevitable (he dies in the end) but that you should enjoy the finer things in life (life a bowl of strawberries). This brought my focus on the meaning of life away from death and more towards how to enjoy life. Much like Taylor’s opinion it talks about living in the present and not thinking about the future (death in the case of the movie), ideas I adapted for my meaning of life.
Some may say that my ideas on the meaning of life regressed in terms of maturity level, due to the fact that I chose to worry less about the future and instead try to enjoy the present, but I believe that is not always for the worst. Sometimes a lower maturity level is better for certain people. When interviewed Rabbi Alder claimed that he believed the idea that god is a father in the sky who rewards all our good deeds is a childish, immature idea of god, but its still an idea that has helped many religious people live better lives. In this case I believe that my new view on the meaning of life may be childish/immature, but that it would still help me, and possibly even other people, lead better lives (better of course is based on opinion.)
Having drawn from the perspectives of close friends and art, I have reformed my original idea of the meaning of life into something that is more important to my everyday life. I have concluded that my meaning of life is to enjoy life in the present, and do not brood over problems in the future. While I am certain that this is the right style of meaning of life for me, I will always have questions. It is clear that I have completely disregarded ideas about bigger pictures in the reforming of my meaning and that is something that can and will be worked on, because creating a meaning of life is an ever changing process which doesn’t end till you die (something not to brood over.)
In my original thoughts about the meaning of life I talked more about my overall goal of life, and what I wanted to be thought of after death, things very far in the future; “The meaning of life also includes a final goal. This goal isn’t to be remembered personally by the world, but for the changes I made to be remembered by the world. An example of a change would be to help cure patients of a serious disease, or to have a revolution technology that affects the world.” While this original idea on the meaning of life is nice and idealistic, it realistically doesn’t have much effect on my current life. What I aimed for in revising my meaning of life is to make it more personal, to make it effect my every day life, and to avoid big overarching goals that are set far in the future. Thus I developed the idea that instead of worrying about the future and death, it is most important just to enjoy life in the present, do things that would make you enjoy life and not things that would make you worry about hindrances such as death.
This idea was not formulated solely out of my own ideas, but instead its draws on all the research I did on the meaning of life. When investigating what people in my life believed to be the meaning of life I became engaged in an interesting discussion with my friend Taylor, who deeply influenced my revision of the meaning of life. Taylor claimed that “life is insignificant in hindsight or foresight but in the living moment (the moment that is happening) life is incommunicably important”, an idea that I adapted into my own meaning of life. What he’s trying to express is that living life to enjoy the present is the most important thing, and that living life thinking about the future or the past will just make life less enjoyable, less “significant”, all ideas that were molded into my revised perspective on the meaning of life.
Along with Taylor’s opinion art also had a big influence on my meaning of life. Lots of art tells us about death, and death is something that people think about all the time. Because of this huge focus on death in our culture my original thoughts dealt a lot with death; “These are all things done to be remembered for after I have passed away.” But as my research progressed I came across a lot of art that changed my opinion on this. The main example would be the movie: “The Seventh Seal”. The movie brought out ideas about the meaning of life and death by applying a death situation to the main character (he has been marked for death but is playing chess with death to stall). His thoughts are preoccupied with death until he comes across the innocence of a young acting couple and their child, who represent the good things in life. The movie shows how death is inevitable (he dies in the end) but that you should enjoy the finer things in life (life a bowl of strawberries). This brought my focus on the meaning of life away from death and more towards how to enjoy life. Much like Taylor’s opinion it talks about living in the present and not thinking about the future (death in the case of the movie), ideas I adapted for my meaning of life.
Some may say that my ideas on the meaning of life regressed in terms of maturity level, due to the fact that I chose to worry less about the future and instead try to enjoy the present, but I believe that is not always for the worst. Sometimes a lower maturity level is better for certain people. When interviewed Rabbi Alder claimed that he believed the idea that god is a father in the sky who rewards all our good deeds is a childish, immature idea of god, but its still an idea that has helped many religious people live better lives. In this case I believe that my new view on the meaning of life may be childish/immature, but that it would still help me, and possibly even other people, lead better lives (better of course is based on opinion.)
Having drawn from the perspectives of close friends and art, I have reformed my original idea of the meaning of life into something that is more important to my everyday life. I have concluded that my meaning of life is to enjoy life in the present, and do not brood over problems in the future. While I am certain that this is the right style of meaning of life for me, I will always have questions. It is clear that I have completely disregarded ideas about bigger pictures in the reforming of my meaning and that is something that can and will be worked on, because creating a meaning of life is an ever changing process which doesn’t end till you die (something not to brood over.)
Other Peoples perspectives: ORIGINAL SAVED OUTLINE
Into: What do these people in our lives think about life and its meaning? Throughout the research many patterns arose, it seems that most people view what is most important to them as the meaning of life, such as family and personal happiness. Results from the survey cross into the casual conversations and interviews, all sharing common thoughts about happiness, friends, family, or about basic human instinct and human evolution. There were also responses beyond those a personal happiness and family that contrasted what it seemed the majority thought.
Body Paragraphs:
1) survey
2) Mom interview
3) Taylor interview
4) kyle interview
Conclusion: In conclusion, while the amount of sources may be slim, it is still clear that being happy and having friends and family is one of the most popular beliefs about how to live a meaningful life.
Body Paragraphs:
1) survey
2) Mom interview
3) Taylor interview
4) kyle interview
Conclusion: In conclusion, while the amount of sources may be slim, it is still clear that being happy and having friends and family is one of the most popular beliefs about how to live a meaningful life.
Revised MoL Draft 1 :OUTLINE:
A Meaning of life isn’t something that someone originally has, but it is something that people develop ideas of over time. Someone’s initial ideas on the meaning of life will almost certainly change with deeper thought and research. I know this from personal experience. Earlier in the year I formulated what I believed to be a fairly strong meaning of life based on what I believe in, but now, after thought and research, I am to revise my original perspective on the meaning of life into someone that does more for my everyday life. My new revised meaning of life follows the idea of enjoying life and not brooding over death/the future.
---------------------------------------Orignial ---> Current Change-------------------------------------
---------------------------------------Example One (book/movie?)----------------------------------------
---------------------------------------Example two (other person?)----------------------------------------
---------------------------------------Example three (wthdqem?)------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------Orignial ---> Current Change-------------------------------------
---------------------------------------Example One (book/movie?)----------------------------------------
---------------------------------------Example two (other person?)----------------------------------------
---------------------------------------Example three (wthdqem?)------------------------------------------
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Art MoL Essay Draft One
The ideas that the meanings of our lives are controlled by what other people say and do have been around for a long time. In his book “Survivor”, Chuck Palahniuk explores a step further and creates a character that has, throughout his entire life, had his meaning of life created and controlled directly by other people. Through this character Palahniuk demonstrates how modern day culture is now doing this for all of us and the meaning of life has become something impersonal that is created by other people. He does this through a secondary characters outlook on the world in the story, the main characters life as a member of the so-called “Creedish Death Cult”, and through his life afterwards as the publicly promoted hero/sole surviving member of the “Creedish Death Cult.”
The main character, Tender Branson, has always had everything in his life controlled by others, even the meaning of his life has always been dictated by other people and never by himself. This is first evident in his situation with the “Creedish Death Cult,” in which he was raised, named (even his name was dictated by what point in the family he was born. Because he was not a first-born, and because he was male, he was named Tender, just like every other second born male in the cult), taught beliefs, and sent to work. All these things are controlled by the leading members of the Creedish “cult”. “If you met someone form the church district colony, you could say: May you be of complete service in your lifetime. You could say: Praise and glory to the Lord for this day through which we labor. […] That was the limit. […] No hugging. No hand shaking. You would say one approved bit. She would say one. The two of you would of back and forth until each of you had said two lines. You kept your heads bowed, and you each went back to your task.” All his actions, interactions, jobs, and relationships were controlled by the Creedish Church, and by controlling all of these things they controlled his meaning of life, which Palahniuk is using as a blatant example for how all of our life meanings are controlled by others.
Palahniuk further expands this example by highlighting Tender Branson’s life after the entire Creedish Church (which was a suicide cult) has died and he is the sole surviving member. His life meaning then becomes controlled by the people who want to use him as a publicity stunt and make money off of him. “In the shadows, the agent and the writers give each other silent high fives. The agent gives me a big thumbs-up. My hands are numb. I can’t feel my face. My tongue belongs to someone else.” His life meaning has now become dictated by the “Tele-Prompter” which he reads off of as instructed by the writers and his agent. Palahniuk has now given us two examples of how this one persons life is controlled by others and uses Tender as the overarching example for how all our lives are controlled by others.
While most of the book focuses on the example of Tender Branson, Palahniuk is able to bring the example to the rest of America through the views of a secondary character who states that “We all grew up with the same television shows. It’s like we all have the same artificial memory implants. We remember almost none of our real childhoods, but we remember everything that happened to sitcom families. We have the same basic goals. We all have the same fears.” This is what the book is exploring about the meaning of life. How all of our life meanings have become dictated by other people, mainly the media, and how we will never have control of our lives until we commit suicide (hence the use of an suicide cult as an example for the main character.) In a sense the book is saying that life is meaningless because you will never have control over it.
The idea that life is meaningless is explored in other means of art as well. The song zero sum also explores the idea that life is meaningless through the idea of the end of the world, and the lead singer talks about how life has been fairly meaningless up until that point in time. “shame on us; doomed from the start; may god have mercy; on our dirty little hearts; shame on us; for all we have done; and all we ever were; just zeros and ones” This line talks about how up until now (the end of the world) everyone has wasted their lives, and because everyone’s lives have been wasted, and now that there’s no chance to make it up (due to the fact that it’s the end of the world) our lives are meaningless. This song does a good job of expressing ideas about the meaning of life in song form. Along with the aforementioned chorus other lyrics in the song bring out the idea that even though life is meaningless and has been wasted, it was still important to enjoy life all the same: “and i guess i just wanted to tell you; as the lights start to fade; that you are the reason; that i am not afraid; and i guess i just wanted to mention; as the heavens will fall we will be together soon if we; will be anything at all” What he is implying is that although the earth is ended, he is still glad that he was able to enjoy the time spent with the person he is talking too (presumably a lover). This expresses the idea that even though life is meaningless because you die in the end, it is still important to enjoy life without worrying about your inevitable fate.
The song Zero Sum is not the only piece of art that expresses the meaning of life in that sort of way. The movie The Seventh Seal expresses similar ideas to the song about death and enjoying life. Throughout the movie the main character is striving off death by playing chess with him. The movie expresses how death is inevitable, and that death always will make life meaningless in the end, but that even though life is meaningless in the face of death, you still have to enjoy the finer things in life. In the movie this enjoyment is symbolized by the innocences of the traveling actor family, who share strawberries with the main character during the journey and all how him enjoy life. The innocence of their child and the main characters reaction to the child shows that life is ment to be enjoyed, and that one should not brood over death, because it will happen to all of us.
The enjoyment of life is a reoccurring theme in art about the meaning of life. The writing piece Rita Hayworth and the shawshank redemtion covers ideas about enjoying life no matter what situation you are in. The main hero in the book, Andy, is said to enjoy life and not let the institution of prision get him down, which is the main theme of the story in relation to the meaning of life. The idea is that no matter what situation you are in (such as facing death as in the Seventh Seal) you still need to enjoy the finer things in life, this is shown in the shawshank redemtion by the way andy lives in prison and how he still retains who he is even though prison tries to break him down.
The main character, Tender Branson, has always had everything in his life controlled by others, even the meaning of his life has always been dictated by other people and never by himself. This is first evident in his situation with the “Creedish Death Cult,” in which he was raised, named (even his name was dictated by what point in the family he was born. Because he was not a first-born, and because he was male, he was named Tender, just like every other second born male in the cult), taught beliefs, and sent to work. All these things are controlled by the leading members of the Creedish “cult”. “If you met someone form the church district colony, you could say: May you be of complete service in your lifetime. You could say: Praise and glory to the Lord for this day through which we labor. […] That was the limit. […] No hugging. No hand shaking. You would say one approved bit. She would say one. The two of you would of back and forth until each of you had said two lines. You kept your heads bowed, and you each went back to your task.” All his actions, interactions, jobs, and relationships were controlled by the Creedish Church, and by controlling all of these things they controlled his meaning of life, which Palahniuk is using as a blatant example for how all of our life meanings are controlled by others.
Palahniuk further expands this example by highlighting Tender Branson’s life after the entire Creedish Church (which was a suicide cult) has died and he is the sole surviving member. His life meaning then becomes controlled by the people who want to use him as a publicity stunt and make money off of him. “In the shadows, the agent and the writers give each other silent high fives. The agent gives me a big thumbs-up. My hands are numb. I can’t feel my face. My tongue belongs to someone else.” His life meaning has now become dictated by the “Tele-Prompter” which he reads off of as instructed by the writers and his agent. Palahniuk has now given us two examples of how this one persons life is controlled by others and uses Tender as the overarching example for how all our lives are controlled by others.
While most of the book focuses on the example of Tender Branson, Palahniuk is able to bring the example to the rest of America through the views of a secondary character who states that “We all grew up with the same television shows. It’s like we all have the same artificial memory implants. We remember almost none of our real childhoods, but we remember everything that happened to sitcom families. We have the same basic goals. We all have the same fears.” This is what the book is exploring about the meaning of life. How all of our life meanings have become dictated by other people, mainly the media, and how we will never have control of our lives until we commit suicide (hence the use of an suicide cult as an example for the main character.) In a sense the book is saying that life is meaningless because you will never have control over it.
The idea that life is meaningless is explored in other means of art as well. The song zero sum also explores the idea that life is meaningless through the idea of the end of the world, and the lead singer talks about how life has been fairly meaningless up until that point in time. “shame on us; doomed from the start; may god have mercy; on our dirty little hearts; shame on us; for all we have done; and all we ever were; just zeros and ones” This line talks about how up until now (the end of the world) everyone has wasted their lives, and because everyone’s lives have been wasted, and now that there’s no chance to make it up (due to the fact that it’s the end of the world) our lives are meaningless. This song does a good job of expressing ideas about the meaning of life in song form. Along with the aforementioned chorus other lyrics in the song bring out the idea that even though life is meaningless and has been wasted, it was still important to enjoy life all the same: “and i guess i just wanted to tell you; as the lights start to fade; that you are the reason; that i am not afraid; and i guess i just wanted to mention; as the heavens will fall we will be together soon if we; will be anything at all” What he is implying is that although the earth is ended, he is still glad that he was able to enjoy the time spent with the person he is talking too (presumably a lover). This expresses the idea that even though life is meaningless because you die in the end, it is still important to enjoy life without worrying about your inevitable fate.
The song Zero Sum is not the only piece of art that expresses the meaning of life in that sort of way. The movie The Seventh Seal expresses similar ideas to the song about death and enjoying life. Throughout the movie the main character is striving off death by playing chess with him. The movie expresses how death is inevitable, and that death always will make life meaningless in the end, but that even though life is meaningless in the face of death, you still have to enjoy the finer things in life. In the movie this enjoyment is symbolized by the innocences of the traveling actor family, who share strawberries with the main character during the journey and all how him enjoy life. The innocence of their child and the main characters reaction to the child shows that life is ment to be enjoyed, and that one should not brood over death, because it will happen to all of us.
The enjoyment of life is a reoccurring theme in art about the meaning of life. The writing piece Rita Hayworth and the shawshank redemtion covers ideas about enjoying life no matter what situation you are in. The main hero in the book, Andy, is said to enjoy life and not let the institution of prision get him down, which is the main theme of the story in relation to the meaning of life. The idea is that no matter what situation you are in (such as facing death as in the Seventh Seal) you still need to enjoy the finer things in life, this is shown in the shawshank redemtion by the way andy lives in prison and how he still retains who he is even though prison tries to break him down.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Nietzsche 2nd Draft
Philosophers have had many perspectives on the meaning of life throughout the ages. Some have some up with reasons for existence; others have come up with reasons why there are no reasons for existence, even more have come up with reasons for why the reasons of why there are no reasons for existence are wrong, and so forth. Friedrich Nietzsche was a nineteenth century philosopher who developed many ideas on the meaning of life and who contracted even more. While Nietzsche never directly speaks of the meaning of life he develops ideas on how life should be lived, which is simply another form of the question. Nietzsche developed ideas on how animals and humans exist, and what they exist for; one of his major theories was that of Will to Power, which is that animals and humans live their lives to promote their power. “Nietzsche aims at freeing higher human beings from their false consciousness about morality (their false belief that this morality is good for them), not at a transformation of society at large.” (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) Nietzsche also talked about the transvaluation of values, which is the acceptance of all instincts as organic and therefore valid, the will to power being one of these instincts. Nietzsche believed that one must accept organic human instincts and not attempt to oppress them, thus he was vastly anti-Christian because he viewed the religion as something that oppressed natural human instinct and also because the religion “warped” the teaching of Jesus, who Nietzsche believed might be the first Übermensch. According to Nietzsche the Übermensch is the final man so to speak, the “superman”, and humanities goal would be to reach the Übermensch.
Nietzsche detested morality because he claimed that it made “untenable descriptive (metaphysical and empirical) claims about human agency” and that morality took away from the organic human instincts, which is how someone should live their life. Nietzsche believed that there were two types of morality, slave-morality and master-morality. Nietzsche looked down mainly upon slave-morality and claimed that master-morality was the creator of man as he is now. Master-morality, which Nietzsche claimed is the creator of values, is the morality of the strong and the noble. “The noble type of man experiences itself as determining values; it does not need approval; it judges, 'what is harmful to me is harmful in itself'; it knows itself to be that which first accords honor to things; it is value-creating." (On Genealogy of Morals) What Nietzsche is claiming here is that the noble man, the master-morality, is the one that creates values and does not follow others. From his views on master morality, we understand that Nietzsche had a very individualist perspective on the meaning of life, and viewed values as needing to be self created. Nietzsche’s ideas of mastery morality can be connected to the meaning of life through the Übermensch, which shares many characteristics of someone with master-morality, and also which Nietzsche believes is the final goal of a man. Along with this master-morality is slave-morality, which Nietzsche looked down upon. The people of slave-morality are weak; they do not create their own values and follow the herd in a sort of herd mentality. Slave-morality uses good and evil as excuses for actions. Nietzsche distained slave-morality and viewed its followers as weak minded and oppressed. While Nietzsche didn’t distain master-morality as much as he did slave-morality, he believed that they both detracted from the way ones life should be lived, with purely organic values.
Nietzsche also detested other things which detracted from acceptance of all instincts as organic, which is why he hated what Christianity taught. He believed that Christianity disrupted the natural, organic instincts of mankind and that it disrupted the pure teaching of Jesus for its own benefit. Nietzsche believed that Jesus may have been the Übermensch, but then discredited the thought because Jesus embraced death, when the Übermensch would exalt in life. He despised that Christianity promoted life as a mere path towards the afterlife, glorifying death over life, which goes against Nietzsche’s “transvaluation of all values” that exalts life above suffering, unlike Christianity. Other primal instincts that Christianity shielded against was sex, which Nietzsche claimed was the creation of life, and because Catholics and Christianity promoted abstinent from sex they promote abstinent from a primal, organic instinct, which is how Nietzsche believed people should live their lives.
Nietzsche believed that people creating meaning in there life through the Will to Power, which he claimed is an organic instinct. The idea of Will to Power was supposedly born from the notion of Will to Live. But instead Nietzsche claimed that living was merely a subset of the Will to Power. He said that: “Physiologists should think before putting down the instinct of self-preservation as the cardinal instinct of an organic being. A living thing seeks above all to discharge its strength — life itself is will to power; self-preservation is only one of the indirect and most frequent results” (Nietzsche). The will to power is a perfect example of Nietzsche’s view on the meaning of life. He believed the will to power was the massive combination of all the organic instincts of human behavior, and humans live for one thing: To promote their power thus we get “the will to power”. Nietzsche claimed that he was supported by many instances of this, including “people and animals are willing to risk their lives in order to promote their power (for example, ancient Greek heroes or "masters" often died young in battle, but achieved great power in the process).” (Wikipedia) He promotes his idea of the will to power in the Übermensch or in English: the overman or the superman.
The Übermensch is in a sense, the ultimate individualist who is created through the primal, organic instinct of the will to power. A man becomes Übermensch through a series of three steps. “By his will to power, manifested destructively in the rejection of, and rebellion against, societal ideals and moral codes. By his will to power, manifested creatively in overcoming nihilism and re-evaluating old ideals or creating new ones. By a continual process of self-overcoming.” (Wikipedia) The Übermensch breaks out of society standards and creates his own values and ideals to live by, all by the primal, organic instinct of the will to power. Nietzsche claimed that there was never a Übermensch during his life time, though he also claimed that to become Übermensch would be the final goal in life of all men, and the goal in life for all woman (according to Nietzsche) would be to give birth to the Übermensch.
Nietzsche detested morality because he claimed that it made “untenable descriptive (metaphysical and empirical) claims about human agency” and that morality took away from the organic human instincts, which is how someone should live their life. Nietzsche believed that there were two types of morality, slave-morality and master-morality. Nietzsche looked down mainly upon slave-morality and claimed that master-morality was the creator of man as he is now. Master-morality, which Nietzsche claimed is the creator of values, is the morality of the strong and the noble. “The noble type of man experiences itself as determining values; it does not need approval; it judges, 'what is harmful to me is harmful in itself'; it knows itself to be that which first accords honor to things; it is value-creating." (On Genealogy of Morals) What Nietzsche is claiming here is that the noble man, the master-morality, is the one that creates values and does not follow others. From his views on master morality, we understand that Nietzsche had a very individualist perspective on the meaning of life, and viewed values as needing to be self created. Nietzsche’s ideas of mastery morality can be connected to the meaning of life through the Übermensch, which shares many characteristics of someone with master-morality, and also which Nietzsche believes is the final goal of a man. Along with this master-morality is slave-morality, which Nietzsche looked down upon. The people of slave-morality are weak; they do not create their own values and follow the herd in a sort of herd mentality. Slave-morality uses good and evil as excuses for actions. Nietzsche distained slave-morality and viewed its followers as weak minded and oppressed. While Nietzsche didn’t distain master-morality as much as he did slave-morality, he believed that they both detracted from the way ones life should be lived, with purely organic values.
Nietzsche also detested other things which detracted from acceptance of all instincts as organic, which is why he hated what Christianity taught. He believed that Christianity disrupted the natural, organic instincts of mankind and that it disrupted the pure teaching of Jesus for its own benefit. Nietzsche believed that Jesus may have been the Übermensch, but then discredited the thought because Jesus embraced death, when the Übermensch would exalt in life. He despised that Christianity promoted life as a mere path towards the afterlife, glorifying death over life, which goes against Nietzsche’s “transvaluation of all values” that exalts life above suffering, unlike Christianity. Other primal instincts that Christianity shielded against was sex, which Nietzsche claimed was the creation of life, and because Catholics and Christianity promoted abstinent from sex they promote abstinent from a primal, organic instinct, which is how Nietzsche believed people should live their lives.
Nietzsche believed that people creating meaning in there life through the Will to Power, which he claimed is an organic instinct. The idea of Will to Power was supposedly born from the notion of Will to Live. But instead Nietzsche claimed that living was merely a subset of the Will to Power. He said that: “Physiologists should think before putting down the instinct of self-preservation as the cardinal instinct of an organic being. A living thing seeks above all to discharge its strength — life itself is will to power; self-preservation is only one of the indirect and most frequent results” (Nietzsche). The will to power is a perfect example of Nietzsche’s view on the meaning of life. He believed the will to power was the massive combination of all the organic instincts of human behavior, and humans live for one thing: To promote their power thus we get “the will to power”. Nietzsche claimed that he was supported by many instances of this, including “people and animals are willing to risk their lives in order to promote their power (for example, ancient Greek heroes or "masters" often died young in battle, but achieved great power in the process).” (Wikipedia) He promotes his idea of the will to power in the Übermensch or in English: the overman or the superman.
The Übermensch is in a sense, the ultimate individualist who is created through the primal, organic instinct of the will to power. A man becomes Übermensch through a series of three steps. “By his will to power, manifested destructively in the rejection of, and rebellion against, societal ideals and moral codes. By his will to power, manifested creatively in overcoming nihilism and re-evaluating old ideals or creating new ones. By a continual process of self-overcoming.” (Wikipedia) The Übermensch breaks out of society standards and creates his own values and ideals to live by, all by the primal, organic instinct of the will to power. Nietzsche claimed that there was never a Übermensch during his life time, though he also claimed that to become Übermensch would be the final goal in life of all men, and the goal in life for all woman (according to Nietzsche) would be to give birth to the Übermensch.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Nietzsche Draft
Philosophers have had many perspectives on the meaning of life throughout the ages. Some have some up with reasons for existence; others have come up with reasons why there are no reasons for existence, even more have come up with reasons for why the reasons of why there are no reasons for existence are wrong, and so forth. Friedrich Nietzsche was a nineteenth century philosopher who developed many ideas on the meaning of life and who contracted even more. Nietzsche developed ideas on how animals and humans exist, and what they exist for; one of his major theories was that of Will to Power, which is that animals and humans live their lives to promote their power. “Nietzsche aims at freeing higher human beings from their false consciousness about morality (their false belief that this morality is good for them), not at a transformation of society at large.” (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) Nietzsche also talked about the transvaluation of values, which is the acceptance of all instincts as organic and therefore valid, the will to power being one of these instincts. Nietzsche believed that one must accept organic human instincts and not attempt to oppress them, thus he was vastly anti-Christian because he viewed the religion as something that oppressed natural human instinct.
Nietzsche detested morality because he claimed that it made “untenable descriptive (metaphysical and empirical) claims about human agency” and that morality took away from the organic human instincts, which is how someone should live their life. Nietzsche believed that there were two types of morality, slave-morality and master-morality. Nietzsche looked down mainly upon slave-morality and claimed that master-morality was the creator of man as he is now. Master-morality, which Nietzsche claimed is the creator of values, is the morality of the strong and the noble. “The noble type of man experiences itself as determining values; it does not need approval; it judges, 'what is harmful to me is harmful in itself'; it knows itself to be that which first accords honor to things; it is value-creating." (On Genealogy of Morals) What Nietzsche is claiming here is that the noble man, the master-morality, is the one that creates values and does not follow others. From his views on master morality, we understand that Nietzsche had a very individualist perspective on the meaning of life, and viewed values as needing to be self created. Along with this master-morality is slave-morality, which Nietzsche looked down upon. The people of slave-morality are weak; they do not create their own values and follow the herd in a sort of herd mentality. Slave-morality uses good and evil as excuses for actions. Nietzsche distained slave-morality and viewed its followers as weak minded and oppressed. While Nietzsche didn’t distain master-morality as much as he did slave-morality, he believed that they both detracted from the way ones life should be lived, with purely organic values.
Nietzsche detested morality because he claimed that it made “untenable descriptive (metaphysical and empirical) claims about human agency” and that morality took away from the organic human instincts, which is how someone should live their life. Nietzsche believed that there were two types of morality, slave-morality and master-morality. Nietzsche looked down mainly upon slave-morality and claimed that master-morality was the creator of man as he is now. Master-morality, which Nietzsche claimed is the creator of values, is the morality of the strong and the noble. “The noble type of man experiences itself as determining values; it does not need approval; it judges, 'what is harmful to me is harmful in itself'; it knows itself to be that which first accords honor to things; it is value-creating." (On Genealogy of Morals) What Nietzsche is claiming here is that the noble man, the master-morality, is the one that creates values and does not follow others. From his views on master morality, we understand that Nietzsche had a very individualist perspective on the meaning of life, and viewed values as needing to be self created. Along with this master-morality is slave-morality, which Nietzsche looked down upon. The people of slave-morality are weak; they do not create their own values and follow the herd in a sort of herd mentality. Slave-morality uses good and evil as excuses for actions. Nietzsche distained slave-morality and viewed its followers as weak minded and oppressed. While Nietzsche didn’t distain master-morality as much as he did slave-morality, he believed that they both detracted from the way ones life should be lived, with purely organic values.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
The ideas that the meanings of our lives are controlled by what other people say and do have been around for a long time. In his book “Survivor”, Chuck Palahniuk explores a step further and creates a character that has, throughout his entire life, had his meaning of life created and controlled directly by other people. Through this character Palahniuk demonstrates how modern day culture is now doing this for all of us and the meaning of life has become something impersonal that is created by other people. He does this through a secondary characters outlook on the world in the story, the main characters life as a member of the so-called “Creedish Death Cult”, and through his life afterwards as the publicly promoted hero/sole surviving member of the “Creedish Death Cult.”
The main character, Tender Branson, has always had everything in his life controlled by others, even the meaning of his life has always been dictated by other people and never by himself. This is first evident in his situation with the “Creedish Death Cult,” in which he was raised, named (even his name was dictated by what point in the family he was born. Because he was not a first-born, and because he was male, he was named Tender, just like every other second born male in the cult), taught beliefs, and sent to work. All these things are controlled by the leading members of the Creedish “cult”. “If you met someone form the church district colony, you could say: May you be of complete service in your lifetime. You could say: Praise and glory to the Lord for this day through which we labor. […] That was the limit. […] No hugging. No hand shaking. You would say one approved bit. She would say one. The two of you would of back and forth until each of you had said two lines. You kept your heads bowed, and you each went back to your task.” All his actions, interactions, jobs, and relationships were controlled by the Creedish Church, and by controlling all of these things they controlled his meaning of life, which Palahniuk is using as a blatant example for how all of our life meanings are controlled by others.
Palahniuk further expands this example by highlighting Tender Branson’s life after the entire Creedish Church (which was a suicide cult) has died and he is the sole surviving member. His life meaning then becomes controlled by the people who want to use him as a publicity stunt and make money off of him. “In the shadows, the agent and the writers give each other silent high fives. The agent gives me a big thumbs-up. My hands are numb. I can’t feel my face. My tongue belongs to someone else.” His life meaning has now become dictated by the “Tele-Prompter” which he reads off of as instructed by the writers and his agent. Palahniuk has now given us two examples of how this one persons life is controlled by others and uses Tender as the overarching example for how all our lives are controlled by others.
While most of the book focuses on the example of Tender Branson, Palahniuk is able to bring the example to the rest of America through the views of a secondary character who states that “We all grew up with the same television shows. It’s like we all have the same artificial memory implants. We remember almost none of our real childhoods, but we remember everything that happened to sitcom families. We have the same basic goals. We all have the same fears.” This is what the book is exploring about the meaning of life. How all of our life meanings have become dictated by other people, mainly the media, and how we will never have control of our lives until we commit suicide (hence the use of an suicide cult as an example for the main character.)
The main character, Tender Branson, has always had everything in his life controlled by others, even the meaning of his life has always been dictated by other people and never by himself. This is first evident in his situation with the “Creedish Death Cult,” in which he was raised, named (even his name was dictated by what point in the family he was born. Because he was not a first-born, and because he was male, he was named Tender, just like every other second born male in the cult), taught beliefs, and sent to work. All these things are controlled by the leading members of the Creedish “cult”. “If you met someone form the church district colony, you could say: May you be of complete service in your lifetime. You could say: Praise and glory to the Lord for this day through which we labor. […] That was the limit. […] No hugging. No hand shaking. You would say one approved bit. She would say one. The two of you would of back and forth until each of you had said two lines. You kept your heads bowed, and you each went back to your task.” All his actions, interactions, jobs, and relationships were controlled by the Creedish Church, and by controlling all of these things they controlled his meaning of life, which Palahniuk is using as a blatant example for how all of our life meanings are controlled by others.
Palahniuk further expands this example by highlighting Tender Branson’s life after the entire Creedish Church (which was a suicide cult) has died and he is the sole surviving member. His life meaning then becomes controlled by the people who want to use him as a publicity stunt and make money off of him. “In the shadows, the agent and the writers give each other silent high fives. The agent gives me a big thumbs-up. My hands are numb. I can’t feel my face. My tongue belongs to someone else.” His life meaning has now become dictated by the “Tele-Prompter” which he reads off of as instructed by the writers and his agent. Palahniuk has now given us two examples of how this one persons life is controlled by others and uses Tender as the overarching example for how all our lives are controlled by others.
While most of the book focuses on the example of Tender Branson, Palahniuk is able to bring the example to the rest of America through the views of a secondary character who states that “We all grew up with the same television shows. It’s like we all have the same artificial memory implants. We remember almost none of our real childhoods, but we remember everything that happened to sitcom families. We have the same basic goals. We all have the same fears.” This is what the book is exploring about the meaning of life. How all of our life meanings have become dictated by other people, mainly the media, and how we will never have control of our lives until we commit suicide (hence the use of an suicide cult as an example for the main character.)
Friday, November 30, 2007
This quote taken from Amarilis's paper about wiccian opinions on the meaning of life: "One essential scripture is Doreen Valiente’s “Charge of the Goddess” as it expresses the set of eight virtues that many Wiccans cultivate. “Let there be beauty and strength, power and compassion, honor and humility, mirth and reverence within you.” The essence of the Valiente’s poem is not only that Wiccans value these things, but that they reflect dualism." I found this quote interesting because i find the religions views on dualism to provide insight into their opinions about how life should be lived, and also on the dualistic values on which wiccans live their lives.
This quote, taken from Casey's paper on Hasidic Jeudism offers us an insight into that religions perspectives on the meaning of life; " Hasidism emphasizes four other main points: one, that the Torah is infinite, and man can gain infinite wisdom from it. Two, that there is divine providence: every action is determined by God, every detail is essential to the perfection of the world, and divine purpose is what gives meaning to life."
This quote, taken from Casey's paper on Hasidic Jeudism offers us an insight into that religions perspectives on the meaning of life; " Hasidism emphasizes four other main points: one, that the Torah is infinite, and man can gain infinite wisdom from it. Two, that there is divine providence: every action is determined by God, every detail is essential to the perfection of the world, and divine purpose is what gives meaning to life."
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Scientology and the Meaning of Life
Scientology, which means “the study of truth”, is a religion that was born out of a self-help program called Dianetics established by L. Ron Hubbard. He first published his ideas in a self-help book, Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. This self-help program covers the three parts of man; the mind, the body, and the spirit and goes in depth into how to balance your life. He founded the first Church of Scientology in 1953 after the publishing of his best selling book and now the church claims to have 10 million members world wide. Because Scientology was first started as a self help program they have many practices that help a person live a meaningful life and survive. Some of these beliefs are The Dynamics, which are the eight areas in which human’s urge for survival breaks down to. There are also the two triangles, the ARC triangle, affinity + reality + communication = understanding, and the KRC triangle, knowledge, responsibility, and control. All these things help people live a more meaningful life. Along with the more personal meanings of life scientology also incorporates a bigger picture meaning that is called the “Space Opera” and involves Xenu the ruler of the galactic confederacy who brought billions of people to earths volcanoes and then proceeded to blow them up with hydrogen bombs.
To reach the state of Operation Thetan is the ultimate goal of all Scientologists and all these things like the ARC triangle and other doctrines of Scientology all lead to reaching the state of Operating Thetan. In Scientology 8-8008 L. Ron Hubbard says; “A thetan who is completely rehabilitated and can do everything a thetan should do, such as move MEST and control others from a distance, or create his own universe; a person who is able to create his own universe or, living in the MEST universe is able to create illusions perceivable by others at will, to handle mest universe objects without mechanical means and to have and feel no need of bodies or even the MEST universe to keep himself and his friends interested in existence.” This is the ultimate result of reaching the state of Operating Thetan, when one’s thetan becomes ‘enlightened’ so to speak. This is the goal of a thetan (or life) in Scientology. To reach this level one must follow all of the doctrines of Scientology.
One of the doctrines of Scientology is the Dynamics. The Dynamics are mans urge to survive broken up into eight different sections. The Dynamics are: Self, which is the individuals urge to survive. Sex, which is the individuals urge to reproduce and create a family. Group, which is a group’s urge to survive. Mankind, which is mankinds (or any specific species for that matter) urge to survive and evolve. All living things, which is all things that are influenced by life. The physical universe, which is all things that exist. Spirits, which are the source of all life. And the final dynamic is infinity, everything. “According to Scientology doctrine, these areas are used to understand one's life, and to improve one's solutions to life by bettering one understands of the different areas of life.” (Wikipedia) A balance created between all the dynamics helps a person understand their life more and further survival along the spiritual path that one is reaching for in scientology.
Happiness is also important to reach the level of Operating Thetan. L. Ron Hubbard stated in one of his speeches that “happiness and strength endure only in the absence of hate. To hate alone is the road to disaster. To love is the road to strength. To love in spite of all is the secret of greatness. And may very well be the greatest secret in this universe.” This is saying that happiness is the one of the most important things in Scientology and one must strive towards happiness. According to L. Ron Hubbard the best way to achieve happiness is to follow the doctrines of Scientology.
Happiness can be brought around by understanding in Scientology. Understanding is brought about by the ARC triangle. Happiness is good for the spiritual path in scientology and because of this the ARC triangle is very important for living a meaningful life by scientology standards. The ARC stands for: Affinity, Reality (agreement), and communication. According to scientology once you have a balance between these three things you achieve understanding. In a recent interview with practicing Scientologist, Andrew Orner, he stated “the ARC triangle helps Scientologists communicate emotions.” Scientologists often refer to the ARC triangle in conversation with a meaning of love or happiness. Balancing the ARC triangle is happy because in Scientology the happier you are the more positive your thetan is. According to Orner “The Thetan is the creator of things, the actual person, not just the body or the mind, and the Thetan must be trained.” A person can reach the level of Operating Thetan, which is that of an enlightened spiritual state, to reach this level is important for the creation of a meaningful life.
Scientology’s views on the meaning of life focus more on each individual person and the bigger picture ideas are mostly just there to give framework on which each individual persons life can be given meaning. We understand that the ultimate goal of life is to reach the final level of Operating Thetan and to obtain a sort of enlightenment. To reach this Scientology has set down a number of doctrines that include ideas such as happiness and understanding to help a person live a more meaningful life and eventually reach the level of Operating Thetan.
To reach the state of Operation Thetan is the ultimate goal of all Scientologists and all these things like the ARC triangle and other doctrines of Scientology all lead to reaching the state of Operating Thetan. In Scientology 8-8008 L. Ron Hubbard says; “A thetan who is completely rehabilitated and can do everything a thetan should do, such as move MEST and control others from a distance, or create his own universe; a person who is able to create his own universe or, living in the MEST universe is able to create illusions perceivable by others at will, to handle mest universe objects without mechanical means and to have and feel no need of bodies or even the MEST universe to keep himself and his friends interested in existence.” This is the ultimate result of reaching the state of Operating Thetan, when one’s thetan becomes ‘enlightened’ so to speak. This is the goal of a thetan (or life) in Scientology. To reach this level one must follow all of the doctrines of Scientology.
One of the doctrines of Scientology is the Dynamics. The Dynamics are mans urge to survive broken up into eight different sections. The Dynamics are: Self, which is the individuals urge to survive. Sex, which is the individuals urge to reproduce and create a family. Group, which is a group’s urge to survive. Mankind, which is mankinds (or any specific species for that matter) urge to survive and evolve. All living things, which is all things that are influenced by life. The physical universe, which is all things that exist. Spirits, which are the source of all life. And the final dynamic is infinity, everything. “According to Scientology doctrine, these areas are used to understand one's life, and to improve one's solutions to life by bettering one understands of the different areas of life.” (Wikipedia) A balance created between all the dynamics helps a person understand their life more and further survival along the spiritual path that one is reaching for in scientology.
Happiness is also important to reach the level of Operating Thetan. L. Ron Hubbard stated in one of his speeches that “happiness and strength endure only in the absence of hate. To hate alone is the road to disaster. To love is the road to strength. To love in spite of all is the secret of greatness. And may very well be the greatest secret in this universe.” This is saying that happiness is the one of the most important things in Scientology and one must strive towards happiness. According to L. Ron Hubbard the best way to achieve happiness is to follow the doctrines of Scientology.
Happiness can be brought around by understanding in Scientology. Understanding is brought about by the ARC triangle. Happiness is good for the spiritual path in scientology and because of this the ARC triangle is very important for living a meaningful life by scientology standards. The ARC stands for: Affinity, Reality (agreement), and communication. According to scientology once you have a balance between these three things you achieve understanding. In a recent interview with practicing Scientologist, Andrew Orner, he stated “the ARC triangle helps Scientologists communicate emotions.” Scientologists often refer to the ARC triangle in conversation with a meaning of love or happiness. Balancing the ARC triangle is happy because in Scientology the happier you are the more positive your thetan is. According to Orner “The Thetan is the creator of things, the actual person, not just the body or the mind, and the Thetan must be trained.” A person can reach the level of Operating Thetan, which is that of an enlightened spiritual state, to reach this level is important for the creation of a meaningful life.
Scientology’s views on the meaning of life focus more on each individual person and the bigger picture ideas are mostly just there to give framework on which each individual persons life can be given meaning. We understand that the ultimate goal of life is to reach the final level of Operating Thetan and to obtain a sort of enlightenment. To reach this Scientology has set down a number of doctrines that include ideas such as happiness and understanding to help a person live a more meaningful life and eventually reach the level of Operating Thetan.
Monday, November 5, 2007
When we first started the unit and discussed the meaning of life, I understood my meaning of life as being part of the bigger picture of life that I had to succeed in. Now life to me is less about the big picture but more about the smaller things of the goals of my own personal life. What I say what is meaningful tome on a personal level I am not talking about the petty things like drinking/partying but the more about the things that would affect the ultimate goal of my life.
This end goal for me is to accomplish something that will change the world and something that will have me remembered. For me this could be anything, this anything is not restricted by moral bounds for me, but as a person I doubt that the end goal to get remembered would venture out of moral bounds just because of how I am now. Possible examples of this “end goal” would be a doctor who discovers some genetic code or prevents a new disease from spreading or a world leader who creates a huge amount of change in the world. These are all things done to be remembered for after I have passed away. On my first opinion I talked more about being a good person and making a change that would help many people, now I feel that my opinion has changed and I believe I wish to be remembered after my death as well.
It may seem selfish to those who see my opinion from the outside but it is what would make my own life meaningful in my own eyes, which is what a meaningful life is. My thoughts do not include a bigger picture besides the bigger picture within my actual life that dictates the decisions I make. One could say this is a personal version of a big picture theory because it does meet and explain almost all of the criteria.
This end goal for me is to accomplish something that will change the world and something that will have me remembered. For me this could be anything, this anything is not restricted by moral bounds for me, but as a person I doubt that the end goal to get remembered would venture out of moral bounds just because of how I am now. Possible examples of this “end goal” would be a doctor who discovers some genetic code or prevents a new disease from spreading or a world leader who creates a huge amount of change in the world. These are all things done to be remembered for after I have passed away. On my first opinion I talked more about being a good person and making a change that would help many people, now I feel that my opinion has changed and I believe I wish to be remembered after my death as well.
It may seem selfish to those who see my opinion from the outside but it is what would make my own life meaningful in my own eyes, which is what a meaningful life is. My thoughts do not include a bigger picture besides the bigger picture within my actual life that dictates the decisions I make. One could say this is a personal version of a big picture theory because it does meet and explain almost all of the criteria.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Not only do people have many different view points on what the meaning of life is, they also tend to have different view points on what the question “what is the meaning of life” mean. For how can you answer a question that you do not know the meaning of? You cannot and trying so is like trying to tell a rock you are hungry in hopes of it giving you some food. Any people have tried to understand the meaning of the question of the meaning on life and three major points have arisen.
First, you have the two branches of the question: “We long to know the secrets of the universe and what it means, in itself, apart from human interests.” (Singer 58) This is the overarching question of what the universe mean does, why we here, and what are the point of our existence. Then you have the more personal branch of the question; “We seek a meaningful way to live our lives, whether or not we can find a separate meaning in the cosmos.” (Singer 58) This is asking how we can make our own lives more meaningful. The third opinion that sprung up over time is the idea that the question itself does not have any meaning and people should not even attempt to answer it.
The first overarching question about the meaning of the universe and everything is usually translated into a simple “Big Picture” question, which is: What is the big picture of life? This question asks us what the big picture is that our lives play a part in. Individually our lives seem very meaningless alone, but when part of a big picture they become meaningful. An example of how a single thing can be given meaning by a big picture is sports; “Were you to observe a player on a team, let us say the shortstop on a baseball team, if you did not know baseball you would probably this actions were totally screwy and meaningless. He runs this way and that, tries to catch the ball and sometimes does not, runs to the base and takes a throw from another player . . . all perfectly unintelligible, unless you know what you are watching is a baseball game.” (Ellin 77) Life is just like that according to the big picture question. Each of our lives do not make sense, but when put into the framework of a big picture, our lives have meaning. Therefore, what the big picture is is what this for of the question of the meaning of life is asking.
The sort of answer that is needed must follow a certain criteria: It must explain the purpose of our lives, enable us to explain the major events in our lives, justify suffering, and explain the purpose of life in a very positive way, as to make people happy. The big picture question is one of the major questions that are thought to be the meaning of the question of the meaning of life, because it is able to provide framework for everyone’s lives. The main example that we see everyday for how people answer the question like this is religion, which is the perfect framework for an answer to the big picture meaning of life question. Let’s look at Christianity: Does it explain the purpose of our lives? Yes to get to heaven. Does it explain the major events in our lives? Yes, it explains our birth, our marriage, our death and it even provides framework for how these things should happen and what we do in between. Does it justify suffering? Yes, for example Jesus, he suffered and died and Christianity justifies it as an act of bravery to help us atone for our sins. Finally, does it explain this all in a positive way? Of course, who does not want to go to a place of eternal bliss? This is one prime example of the idea of a big picture meaning of life. Christianity is not the only answer that the big picture question generates, which is why this form of the question is so appealing, because it can provide a multitude of frameworks that someone can live their life by.
Now that overarching version of the question has been covered, we move onto the more personal rephrasing of the question of the meaning of life: How can we make our own lives meaningful? This question is broken up into a multitude of questions that help us “answer questions about the nature of a meaningful life. Is it something we find or something we create? How is it dependent on purposes, values, ideals? How is it related to happiness, and does it give us assurance that men and woman can face up their predicament as finite creatures.” (Singer 58) These questions are all about the personal branch of the meaning of life question, where you have to find meaning in your own life. This question is controversial because it deals morality. If someone finds their life meaningful by slaughtering millions of people at a time, does that mean they lived a meaningful life? Or does this question have to be answered within society’s moral bounds? These are questions that a person has to answer by themselves to find out how they can make their own lives meaningful, for there isn’t an overarching idea that makes someone’s life meaningful but it must be determined by the person whose life it is. They have to decide whether a meaningful has to be within society’s moral standards.
Now that we’ve seen the two major questions that make up the question of the meaning of life we now look at the third major opinion, that the question itself is meaningless. People argue that every word has a meaning, for example the word book has a meaning because if you say book you are talking about a physical book, same thing with other words like house or car, when you say them you can point to a car/house, they have a physical meaning. “But if that is the explanation of meaning, it is perfectly clear that it makes little sense to attribute meaning to life, for life is not connected with some other thing in such a way that, when you think of life, you are thereby led to think of this other thing that is its meaning.” (Ellin 99) Because the word life doesn’t connect with anything when said or thought over, its is clear that it becomes meaningless to ask what the meaning is, therefore, the question itself is meaningless. While with book it connects directly to the thing that is a book, where with life it has nothing to connect to, you cannot point at life, and therefore, it is meaning to ask the question about the meaning of life.
When you look at these three major opinions about the questions of the meaning of life you are forced to wonder if this is all there really is in the question. You cover the big picture of everything and you cover the small things about how to make your own life meaningful. But while these two questions that come out of the question of the meaning of life it also makes you wonder if these two questions serve any meaning anyway. Is it necessary to know how to make your own life meaningful, or is your life meaning just because you are enjoying it? Is it necessary to have a big picture or can our lives still be meaningful without serving part in some bigger framework? All these questions must be answered before the true question of the meaning of life can be answered, or even attempted to be answered, which may in fact be impossible if the question doesn’t have any meaning at all.
First, you have the two branches of the question: “We long to know the secrets of the universe and what it means, in itself, apart from human interests.” (Singer 58) This is the overarching question of what the universe mean does, why we here, and what are the point of our existence. Then you have the more personal branch of the question; “We seek a meaningful way to live our lives, whether or not we can find a separate meaning in the cosmos.” (Singer 58) This is asking how we can make our own lives more meaningful. The third opinion that sprung up over time is the idea that the question itself does not have any meaning and people should not even attempt to answer it.
The first overarching question about the meaning of the universe and everything is usually translated into a simple “Big Picture” question, which is: What is the big picture of life? This question asks us what the big picture is that our lives play a part in. Individually our lives seem very meaningless alone, but when part of a big picture they become meaningful. An example of how a single thing can be given meaning by a big picture is sports; “Were you to observe a player on a team, let us say the shortstop on a baseball team, if you did not know baseball you would probably this actions were totally screwy and meaningless. He runs this way and that, tries to catch the ball and sometimes does not, runs to the base and takes a throw from another player . . . all perfectly unintelligible, unless you know what you are watching is a baseball game.” (Ellin 77) Life is just like that according to the big picture question. Each of our lives do not make sense, but when put into the framework of a big picture, our lives have meaning. Therefore, what the big picture is is what this for of the question of the meaning of life is asking.
The sort of answer that is needed must follow a certain criteria: It must explain the purpose of our lives, enable us to explain the major events in our lives, justify suffering, and explain the purpose of life in a very positive way, as to make people happy. The big picture question is one of the major questions that are thought to be the meaning of the question of the meaning of life, because it is able to provide framework for everyone’s lives. The main example that we see everyday for how people answer the question like this is religion, which is the perfect framework for an answer to the big picture meaning of life question. Let’s look at Christianity: Does it explain the purpose of our lives? Yes to get to heaven. Does it explain the major events in our lives? Yes, it explains our birth, our marriage, our death and it even provides framework for how these things should happen and what we do in between. Does it justify suffering? Yes, for example Jesus, he suffered and died and Christianity justifies it as an act of bravery to help us atone for our sins. Finally, does it explain this all in a positive way? Of course, who does not want to go to a place of eternal bliss? This is one prime example of the idea of a big picture meaning of life. Christianity is not the only answer that the big picture question generates, which is why this form of the question is so appealing, because it can provide a multitude of frameworks that someone can live their life by.
Now that overarching version of the question has been covered, we move onto the more personal rephrasing of the question of the meaning of life: How can we make our own lives meaningful? This question is broken up into a multitude of questions that help us “answer questions about the nature of a meaningful life. Is it something we find or something we create? How is it dependent on purposes, values, ideals? How is it related to happiness, and does it give us assurance that men and woman can face up their predicament as finite creatures.” (Singer 58) These questions are all about the personal branch of the meaning of life question, where you have to find meaning in your own life. This question is controversial because it deals morality. If someone finds their life meaningful by slaughtering millions of people at a time, does that mean they lived a meaningful life? Or does this question have to be answered within society’s moral bounds? These are questions that a person has to answer by themselves to find out how they can make their own lives meaningful, for there isn’t an overarching idea that makes someone’s life meaningful but it must be determined by the person whose life it is. They have to decide whether a meaningful has to be within society’s moral standards.
Now that we’ve seen the two major questions that make up the question of the meaning of life we now look at the third major opinion, that the question itself is meaningless. People argue that every word has a meaning, for example the word book has a meaning because if you say book you are talking about a physical book, same thing with other words like house or car, when you say them you can point to a car/house, they have a physical meaning. “But if that is the explanation of meaning, it is perfectly clear that it makes little sense to attribute meaning to life, for life is not connected with some other thing in such a way that, when you think of life, you are thereby led to think of this other thing that is its meaning.” (Ellin 99) Because the word life doesn’t connect with anything when said or thought over, its is clear that it becomes meaningless to ask what the meaning is, therefore, the question itself is meaningless. While with book it connects directly to the thing that is a book, where with life it has nothing to connect to, you cannot point at life, and therefore, it is meaning to ask the question about the meaning of life.
When you look at these three major opinions about the questions of the meaning of life you are forced to wonder if this is all there really is in the question. You cover the big picture of everything and you cover the small things about how to make your own life meaningful. But while these two questions that come out of the question of the meaning of life it also makes you wonder if these two questions serve any meaning anyway. Is it necessary to know how to make your own life meaningful, or is your life meaning just because you are enjoying it? Is it necessary to have a big picture or can our lives still be meaningful without serving part in some bigger framework? All these questions must be answered before the true question of the meaning of life can be answered, or even attempted to be answered, which may in fact be impossible if the question doesn’t have any meaning at all.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Thursday, October 18, 2007
What the hell does that question even mean DRAFT ONE
There is the big picture idea about the meaning of life. That means that all our lives are just “players” in this big picture and all our lives serve the bigger picture. To be a big picture meaning of life it must do all of the following: Explain the purpose of life, enable people to explain major events in their lives, “justify” suffering, and explain everything in a positive way. But when you think of all of this you need to find out is if the meaning of life question is meaningful to start with. For example the meaning of words is what they are, the meaning of dog is an animal dog, but you cant define the meaning of life, because life is not connected with other things that can be used to define life. So if the question has no meaning, and life has no meaning because the question has no meaning, then all there is left to do is making our own lives meaningful, even if life as a big picture doesn’t have any meaning. Ways to do this are by “engaging in worthwhile activities”, and having goals and friends. Then you must also think of having a meaningful life within moral bounds, meaning that while we need to engage in worthwhile activities, we must also do it within societies moral standards.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Other Peoples Meaning of life
“So, what’s the meaning of life?” “*Sighs* what a stupid question.” “Well now, that’s a question alright.” “What? I don’t know, why?” “Eh?” “Well, the meaning of life is to, you know, live.” People around you are all living their life, but how
often do they think about it? How often do these people think about the meaning of life? And what do they think? Through a series of interviews with close friends and family, a school wide survey, and a bunch of casual conversations, we have come to an idea about what these people in our lives think about life and its meaning. Throughout the research many patterns arose, it seems that most people view what is most important to them as the meaning of life, such as family and personal happiness. Results from the survey cross into the casual conversations and interviews, all sharing common thoughts about happiness, friends, family, or about basic human instinct and human evolution. There were also responses beyond those a personal happiness and family that contrasted what it seemed the majority thought.
Happiness was one of the major patterns that arose when people were asked what they believed to be the meaning of life. The survey results had several questions on happiness that revealed that the majority of the school believed that happiness was one of the most important aspects of the meaning of life. 67% of the students attending School of the Future believed that happiness is almost always the most important aspect of living a meaningful life. While 22% percent did not say always, they still believed that happiness has to do with the meaning of life and said that it is sometimes true that happiness is the most important aspect of life. All of these percentages are drawn from a survey taken of 6th-12th graders that attend School of the Future, and these results are probably drawn from the fact that they haven’t really though about the meaning of life, and draw their answers from what is most important to them at the present time, which for middle and high schools is to be happy.
Much like the surveys the personal interviews and casual conversations revealed similar things about what people though about happiness and the meaning of life. A good friend of mine, Taylor Moore, had similar responses to those in the survey about the meaning of life and happiness: “Living happily. I think that is pretty self-explanatory. One should enjoy themselves within the bounds of situational morality.” His personal belief was that each person should live their life to be happy, and that they do this by living each day in the present, and not worrying about the future or the past. What h says about situational morality is basically that while you should live a happy life, you should still base your actions on the consequences. For example, if a certain action would make you enjoy life, but would cause others harm in the end, it would be out of bounds for situational morality. What Taylor said about happiness relates back to the survey, who like Taylor, believe that happiness is one of the most important aspects of life. Like Taylor, another one of my good friends, Kyle, had similar thoughts about the meaning of life: “I’d say it’s to find and live for something you love and something that makes you happy.” Kyle believes that the meaning of life was to find something that would make you happy, and then live for that. His ideas are much like those of Taylor’s and those from the survey that happiness plays a major roll in life.
While it may seem that everyone believes happiness is the most important, there are other opinions that have a different outlook on life. For example, there are people who believe in the Darwinist views on the meaning of life. My mother, Geraldine Engel, has this to say about the meaning of life: “We live to survive, to reproduce, and to further the evolution of human beings. That's the meaning of life in my opinion, it’s to survive and reproduce.” Another student at school of the future phrased the same idea in a more blunt fashion; “Eat, sleep, fuck, die. That’s life.” (Dean Merrit) These are both drawn from the fact that why should the meaning of human life be different then the meaning of life for all animals, which is quite simply “eat, sleep, fuck, and die.” Both these views take the side of evolutionary views of life, that life is just to survive, reproduce, and further the evolution of mankind.
Another idea that sprung up over the surveys and in people’s interviews was the idea of friendship and family. A good amount of people believed that the meaning of their lives is to live for other people. One of the survey questions asked students what was most important in their lives at the present time. 52% of the entire student body claimed that friendship was the most important aspect of their life. This and happiness were the two major trends that sprung up on the survey results. Many students probably chose this as the most important aspect of their lives because that is what they are surrounded by day after day. They are surrounded by their friends, so it just makes sense that they would be the most important aspect a student’s life.
Most of the trends that appeared in the survey are skewed because the survey was only given out to high school and middle school students thus lacked the opinion of adults and people who have already graduated school and now work for living. For example, the question used above: What is the most important aspect of your life at the present time? This question depends highly the current state that your life is in. While we know that 52% of the students said friendship was most important, would we get the same results if we questioned the occupants of an office building? Probably not. These errors surround all of the survey questions and, while the surveys do provide good information, it would still be good to get a wider opinion of more people in different stages of their lives.
The information gathered from the surveys and interviews gives us a glimpse into people’s beliefs about the meaning of life and generate interesting results. We see that the majority of students believe that happiness and friendship are some of the most important aspects of life. We also see alternate views on life such as Dean and Gerri’s ideas about evolution and Darwinism. Further investigation is always necessary for a topic as broad as this. Like stated before the opinions of middle age adults and above are lacking in the survey and in the interviews and that would be the perfect step to further the investigation about what people think about the meaning of life. In conclusion, while the amount of sources may be slim, it is still clear that being happy and having friends and family is one of the most popular beliefs about how to live a meaningful life.
often do they think about it? How often do these people think about the meaning of life? And what do they think? Through a series of interviews with close friends and family, a school wide survey, and a bunch of casual conversations, we have come to an idea about what these people in our lives think about life and its meaning. Throughout the research many patterns arose, it seems that most people view what is most important to them as the meaning of life, such as family and personal happiness. Results from the survey cross into the casual conversations and interviews, all sharing common thoughts about happiness, friends, family, or about basic human instinct and human evolution. There were also responses beyond those a personal happiness and family that contrasted what it seemed the majority thought.
Happiness was one of the major patterns that arose when people were asked what they believed to be the meaning of life. The survey results had several questions on happiness that revealed that the majority of the school believed that happiness was one of the most important aspects of the meaning of life. 67% of the students attending School of the Future believed that happiness is almost always the most important aspect of living a meaningful life. While 22% percent did not say always, they still believed that happiness has to do with the meaning of life and said that it is sometimes true that happiness is the most important aspect of life. All of these percentages are drawn from a survey taken of 6th-12th graders that attend School of the Future, and these results are probably drawn from the fact that they haven’t really though about the meaning of life, and draw their answers from what is most important to them at the present time, which for middle and high schools is to be happy.
Much like the surveys the personal interviews and casual conversations revealed similar things about what people though about happiness and the meaning of life. A good friend of mine, Taylor Moore, had similar responses to those in the survey about the meaning of life and happiness: “Living happily. I think that is pretty self-explanatory. One should enjoy themselves within the bounds of situational morality.” His personal belief was that each person should live their life to be happy, and that they do this by living each day in the present, and not worrying about the future or the past. What h says about situational morality is basically that while you should live a happy life, you should still base your actions on the consequences. For example, if a certain action would make you enjoy life, but would cause others harm in the end, it would be out of bounds for situational morality. What Taylor said about happiness relates back to the survey, who like Taylor, believe that happiness is one of the most important aspects of life. Like Taylor, another one of my good friends, Kyle, had similar thoughts about the meaning of life: “I’d say it’s to find and live for something you love and something that makes you happy.” Kyle believes that the meaning of life was to find something that would make you happy, and then live for that. His ideas are much like those of Taylor’s and those from the survey that happiness plays a major roll in life.
While it may seem that everyone believes happiness is the most important, there are other opinions that have a different outlook on life. For example, there are people who believe in the Darwinist views on the meaning of life. My mother, Geraldine Engel, has this to say about the meaning of life: “We live to survive, to reproduce, and to further the evolution of human beings. That's the meaning of life in my opinion, it’s to survive and reproduce.” Another student at school of the future phrased the same idea in a more blunt fashion; “Eat, sleep, fuck, die. That’s life.” (Dean Merrit) These are both drawn from the fact that why should the meaning of human life be different then the meaning of life for all animals, which is quite simply “eat, sleep, fuck, and die.” Both these views take the side of evolutionary views of life, that life is just to survive, reproduce, and further the evolution of mankind.
Another idea that sprung up over the surveys and in people’s interviews was the idea of friendship and family. A good amount of people believed that the meaning of their lives is to live for other people. One of the survey questions asked students what was most important in their lives at the present time. 52% of the entire student body claimed that friendship was the most important aspect of their life. This and happiness were the two major trends that sprung up on the survey results. Many students probably chose this as the most important aspect of their lives because that is what they are surrounded by day after day. They are surrounded by their friends, so it just makes sense that they would be the most important aspect a student’s life.
Most of the trends that appeared in the survey are skewed because the survey was only given out to high school and middle school students thus lacked the opinion of adults and people who have already graduated school and now work for living. For example, the question used above: What is the most important aspect of your life at the present time? This question depends highly the current state that your life is in. While we know that 52% of the students said friendship was most important, would we get the same results if we questioned the occupants of an office building? Probably not. These errors surround all of the survey questions and, while the surveys do provide good information, it would still be good to get a wider opinion of more people in different stages of their lives.
The information gathered from the surveys and interviews gives us a glimpse into people’s beliefs about the meaning of life and generate interesting results. We see that the majority of students believe that happiness and friendship are some of the most important aspects of life. We also see alternate views on life such as Dean and Gerri’s ideas about evolution and Darwinism. Further investigation is always necessary for a topic as broad as this. Like stated before the opinions of middle age adults and above are lacking in the survey and in the interviews and that would be the perfect step to further the investigation about what people think about the meaning of life. In conclusion, while the amount of sources may be slim, it is still clear that being happy and having friends and family is one of the most popular beliefs about how to live a meaningful life.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Meaning of life Survey
Question Number 4: Struggle is needed to live a significant life.
Grade:____________Never_____Rarely_____Sometimes_____Usually_____Always
_________12th:____1(11%)____0(0%)_______4(44%)_______4(44%)______0(0%)
_________11th:____1(3%)_____4(11%)______17(37%)______15(33%)_____9(20%)
_________10th:____0(0%)_____0(0%)_______9(56%)_______4(25%)______3(19%)
__________9th:____1(1%)_____6(9%)_______20(29%)______24(35%)_____19(28%)
__________8th:____1(6%)_____5(29%)______2(12%)_______5(29%)______4(24%)
__________6th:____1(2%)_____6(14%)______9(21%)_______17(40%)_____10(23%)
Middle_School:____2(3%)_____11(18%)_____11(18%)______22(37%)_____14(23%)
__High_School:____3(2%)_____10(7%)______50(37%)______47(35%)_____26(19%)
________Total:____5(2%)_____21(10%)_____62(30%)______70(34%)_____44(23%)
The results for this question are hard to interpret. From the data we can see that the majority of the school believes that it is necessary to struggle to live a meaningful life, but the other answers from the survey are required to know what they think a meaningful life is, and also the question isn't open ended so we do not know what they think struggle is.
Grade:____________Never_____Rarely_____Sometimes_____Usually_____Always
_________12th:____1(11%)____0(0%)_______4(44%)_______4(44%)______0(0%)
_________11th:____1(3%)_____4(11%)______17(37%)______15(33%)_____9(20%)
_________10th:____0(0%)_____0(0%)_______9(56%)_______4(25%)______3(19%)
__________9th:____1(1%)_____6(9%)_______20(29%)______24(35%)_____19(28%)
__________8th:____1(6%)_____5(29%)______2(12%)_______5(29%)______4(24%)
__________6th:____1(2%)_____6(14%)______9(21%)_______17(40%)_____10(23%)
Middle_School:____2(3%)_____11(18%)_____11(18%)______22(37%)_____14(23%)
__High_School:____3(2%)_____10(7%)______50(37%)______47(35%)_____26(19%)
________Total:____5(2%)_____21(10%)_____62(30%)______70(34%)_____44(23%)
The results for this question are hard to interpret. From the data we can see that the majority of the school believes that it is necessary to struggle to live a meaningful life, but the other answers from the survey are required to know what they think a meaningful life is, and also the question isn't open ended so we do not know what they think struggle is.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
For my third meaning of life interview I questioned my Mom, Gerri, on the meaning of life. While I do not have a hard copy of how that conversation went, these were her answers:
Cole: So, what do you think the meaning of life is?
Gerri: *sighs* What a stupid question. Well, there really isn't a meaning of life, the idea of a meaning of life is just something humans created, when really life doesn't have any meaning.
Cole: Okay, how about I rephrase the question. What do you think gives life meaning?
Gerri: Well nothing gives life meaning.
Cole: So why not just kill yourself?
Gerri: Because all humans have an instinct to survive. Its biology. We live to survive, to reproduce, and to further the evolution of human beings. That's the meaning of life in my opinion, its to survive and reproduce.
Cole: So, what do you think the meaning of life is?
Gerri: *sighs* What a stupid question. Well, there really isn't a meaning of life, the idea of a meaning of life is just something humans created, when really life doesn't have any meaning.
Cole: Okay, how about I rephrase the question. What do you think gives life meaning?
Gerri: Well nothing gives life meaning.
Cole: So why not just kill yourself?
Gerri: Because all humans have an instinct to survive. Its biology. We live to survive, to reproduce, and to further the evolution of human beings. That's the meaning of life in my opinion, its to survive and reproduce.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
The person I asked about the meaning of life today was my good friend Kyle, who appears in this chat as Zerobane. Kyle at first didn't think that there was a meaning of life at all, but once the question was rephrased, he started to come up with ideas. What he decided on finally that the meaning of life for him was just to live, like to live in the short term, and not to live in the future.
Monday, September 17, 2007
The person I asked what the meaning of life was was my good friend Taylor, who in this IM appears as papple124. In this IM I am Dargazziocel. Taylor’s beliefs were that the meaning of life is to leave each day to its fullest. “the living moment (the moment that is happening) life is incommunicably important” he says. Here is all of our conversation:
Dargazziocel (10:08:10 AM): heya
papple124 (3:14:58 PM): hey
papple124 (3:15:00 PM): wassssup
Dargazziocel (10:15:15 AM): nothin much
Dargazziocel (10:15:22 AM): i have this school assignment
Dargazziocel (10:15:33 AM): i need to ask someone what the meaning of life is in their opinion
Dargazziocel (10:15:35 AM): so
Dargazziocel (10:15:39 AM): whats the meaning of life?
papple124 (3:15:43 PM): ohhh
papple124 (3:15:51 PM): well...
papple124 (3:16:14 PM): I have a whole lot to say about that one
Dargazziocel (10:16:28 AM): shoot
papple124 (3:16:49 PM): life is quite simply what it is; life
papple124 (3:16:52 PM): however
papple124 (3:17:18 PM): one should not see that as a nihilistic perspective becuse its not
papple124 (3:18:49 PM): life is insignificant in hindsight or foresight but in the living moment (the moment that is happening) life is incommunicably important
papple124 (3:19:29 PM): so the meaning of life is to live naturally and joyfully
Dargazziocel (10:19:58 AM): How would you define naturally and joyfully?
papple124 (3:20:51 PM): well the most important thing for one to do in any circumstance is to establish an equilibrium with the environment you are in
papple124 (3:21:17 PM): and living happily I think is pretty self explanatory
papple124 (3:21:35 PM): one should enjoy themselves within the bounds of situational morality
Dargazziocel (10:21:45 AM): well happy to me could mean something differnt then what happy means to you
papple124 (3:21:49 PM): ok well there you go then ^
Dargazziocel (10:22:07 AM): ah
papple124 (3:23:00 PM): have you heard of the idea of situational morality?
Dargazziocel (10:23:47 AM): where your current morals can be defined by the situation you are in?
Dargazziocel (10:23:52 AM): *thats a guess*
papple124 (3:23:59 PM): yea thats pretty much it in a nut shell
papple124 (3:24:23 PM): that which is right in one circumstance may not be right in another
Dargazziocel (10:25:09 AM): hmms
papple124 (3:25:15 PM): would you like an example?
Dargazziocel (10:25:38 AM): shoot
papple124 (3:26:02 PM): people say that to be honest is the right thing to do
papple124 (3:26:05 PM): however
papple124 (3:26:42 PM): in some situations honesty isn't needed and is instead hurtful
papple124 (3:27:40 PM): like when someone doesnt know something that would hurt them and wouldn't find out anyway or be effected by the honesty
Dargazziocel (10:29:08 AM): like a doctor telling his patient that this is his first time doing a surgery
papple124 (3:29:24 PM): haha well yes I suppose
Dargazziocel (10:30:35 AM): well thanks for sharing your opinion
Dargazziocel (10:08:10 AM): heya
papple124 (3:14:58 PM): hey
papple124 (3:15:00 PM): wassssup
Dargazziocel (10:15:15 AM): nothin much
Dargazziocel (10:15:22 AM): i have this school assignment
Dargazziocel (10:15:33 AM): i need to ask someone what the meaning of life is in their opinion
Dargazziocel (10:15:35 AM): so
Dargazziocel (10:15:39 AM): whats the meaning of life?
papple124 (3:15:43 PM): ohhh
papple124 (3:15:51 PM): well...
papple124 (3:16:14 PM): I have a whole lot to say about that one
Dargazziocel (10:16:28 AM): shoot
papple124 (3:16:49 PM): life is quite simply what it is; life
papple124 (3:16:52 PM): however
papple124 (3:17:18 PM): one should not see that as a nihilistic perspective becuse its not
papple124 (3:18:49 PM): life is insignificant in hindsight or foresight but in the living moment (the moment that is happening) life is incommunicably important
papple124 (3:19:29 PM): so the meaning of life is to live naturally and joyfully
Dargazziocel (10:19:58 AM): How would you define naturally and joyfully?
papple124 (3:20:51 PM): well the most important thing for one to do in any circumstance is to establish an equilibrium with the environment you are in
papple124 (3:21:17 PM): and living happily I think is pretty self explanatory
papple124 (3:21:35 PM): one should enjoy themselves within the bounds of situational morality
Dargazziocel (10:21:45 AM): well happy to me could mean something differnt then what happy means to you
papple124 (3:21:49 PM): ok well there you go then ^
Dargazziocel (10:22:07 AM): ah
papple124 (3:23:00 PM): have you heard of the idea of situational morality?
Dargazziocel (10:23:47 AM): where your current morals can be defined by the situation you are in?
Dargazziocel (10:23:52 AM): *thats a guess*
papple124 (3:23:59 PM): yea thats pretty much it in a nut shell
papple124 (3:24:23 PM): that which is right in one circumstance may not be right in another
Dargazziocel (10:25:09 AM): hmms
papple124 (3:25:15 PM): would you like an example?
Dargazziocel (10:25:38 AM): shoot
papple124 (3:26:02 PM): people say that to be honest is the right thing to do
papple124 (3:26:05 PM): however
papple124 (3:26:42 PM): in some situations honesty isn't needed and is instead hurtful
papple124 (3:27:40 PM): like when someone doesnt know something that would hurt them and wouldn't find out anyway or be effected by the honesty
Dargazziocel (10:29:08 AM): like a doctor telling his patient that this is his first time doing a surgery
papple124 (3:29:24 PM): haha well yes I suppose
Dargazziocel (10:30:35 AM): well thanks for sharing your opinion
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