Are you sure, you know you can generate electricity with potatoes?

The humble spud has been around a lot longer than any of us...so...

I think we should ask Mr Potato Head

So, this is what you believe because it makes you feel good to think there's something more. I, on the other hand, wish I could believe there is something more. But, there just isn't any good evidence to back up that idea.

Why should life have meaning? If it did, how would that change things for the better? If we're all going on to a "better place" why should we bother with taking care of this place?

For me, knowing this is all there is makes it more precious. This isn't practice. This isn't a try out. This is it. Everything. All there is. So, we'd better take care of it or life is over and there will never be anyone to know it we were here.

Actually no. At one time I was an atheist and I did not believe there was "something more." I liked that idea a lot. It gave me the feeling that this life was the only one I would ever know. and my death would be a complete relief. For some, it is the feeling of the ultimate escape from life and any responsibility.

Then something happened to me that convinced me that this life is more like a dream or a just temporary existence. Actually, a few things happened to me that convinced me.

While I don't believe in Heaven or hell, I believe I will always exist. But with that came the feeling that there is no escape from life. None.

Everywhere you go, you will take with you what you are and what you have learned. Life is endless. You, as spirit, will always exist. Where you have been and how you have lived will always be part of you. That struck me as a huge responsibility. It seemed like quite a burden to accept. It was like: There is no escape from being. No escape from existence.



This place is what we have created for ourselves. Why should you take care of anything you created? You may not be going on to a "better place" but just a different and more challenging place. In fact, that is the way I see it. I have spent many lives here in this third density reality and many lives here on earth, as have all of us. We just can't remember the details. I remember small bits and pieces, just like my current life but I don't remember all the details.

Sounds crazy I know. But if there is nothing beyond this life, that will not bother me either. But if I die and find myself in another environment, at least I won't be totally shocked because it is what I am expecting. I'm ready to keep going.



Yes, exactly!! That is how I felt when I was an atheist. Then when, for what ever reason, I discovered I was immortal (spiritually) I had to accept that as a possibility too.

But that does not mean we should not live our lives as if they were our only life and very precious.

"While I don't believe in Heaven or hell, I believe I will always exist. "


To further clarify the above statement, the term "I" must be understood.

I don't mean me, Jeannie, age 63 going on 64.

I mean the "I" that is expressed in the feeling of......"I Am."

are u sure the answer is really no more than that?

Pretty sure.

People once asked why God created us? The usual answer was to worship him. I suppose if you believe in that sort of thing it's a reasonable answer. However, there isn't any solid evidence to support it. So, to me it's like telling me about the time someone saw a monster.

I suppose it could be argued that we are just big, limbering robots used by DNA to reproduce itself. But, that would explain the reason or meaning of DNA's existence.

Why is the universe here? Why does the universe go to all the bother of existing? Probably because it has no choice.

I think this is likely true for life. That would explain the reason; life exists because it has no other option. But, it still doesn't provide us with any meaning for life.

This reminds me of one of my favorite jokes.

A man learned of a wise monk that lived in a cave, high on a mountain. He searched for the monk for many years and finally found him. He asked the monk "why are we here?" The old monk sighed a deep sigh and said "I'm here because I wanted to be alone. Why the hell are YOU here?"

I think to care for perpetuate this thing called life gives quite sufficient meaning and to improve the quality a meaning also

Do we attach a meaning to life to avoid facing the horror of our own mortality and insignificance?

Once again, it doesn't give a meaning. It's simply a explanation of why we strive to find a mate. It doesn't explain why life is here in the first place.



Probably. However, so far as we know, Earth is the only place in the universe where life exists at all. I'd say that makes us pretty significant and worth perpetuating.

So far as we know? Seriously?

I think the odds that earth is the only place in the universe where life exists at all is close to zero. I think that assumption or conclusion is either arrogant or ignorant or both.

In fact, I believe we have proven otherwise.

Okay, let's see the evidence.

I'm not saying we're the only life in the universe. I'm saying there's no evidence of life anyplace else. We simply don't know the odds because we don't what causes life. Once we do we'll have a better understanding of how rare (on common) life is.

I agree, as a species, but I was positing from the point of view of the individual.

True, as far as we know, Earth is the only planet supporting life and that does, indeed make life itself, significant and worth perpetuating.

http://youtu.be/buqtdpuZxvk

To consume as much Chocolate as you can :)

Best answer so far!

Ahhh. I see you have posted this again. Everyone has an opinion, and you are certainly welcome to yours. But when you start spouting incorrect facts you change from making an opinion to spouting BS. The evidence of life elsewhere is huge and it comes from many different directions like, in contrast your statement, knowledge of the chemistry of what causes life which gives enormous understanding (in contrast to your statement) of the understanding of how rare life is.

The physics of planetary formation play a huge role too as people used to say, "I wonder if there are planets around other stars?" The physics has always told us that there should be planets around almost all stars but we didn't have the telescopes to see them. Now we do. Thousands of new planets have been discovered leading to the mathematical conclusion that billions of Earth sized planets exist in the "Goldilocks Zone" where liquid water can exist.

http://io9.com/5969106/7-good-reasons-why-there-might-be-life-on-other-planets

The paranormals use their own logic as evidence.
http://www.paranormalhaze.com/5-pieces-of-evidence-that-suggests-intelligent-alien-life-exists/

The "odds" of life on other planets actually favors red dwarf stars as opposed to yellow dwarf stars like our Sun. The red dwarfs are far more stable and have much much longer lifespans.

There is a good short video explanation from space.com on this website that you might want to view.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/06/earth-like-planets-are-ri_n_2632324.html

But if you just want to take a pessimistic view, there are those who are pessimistic also. They, however, reduce the odds, unlike you who eliminates them.

http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S33/52/89I01/

Again, I'm not saying there's no life out there. I'm saying there's no hard evidence for it. Yes, the math suggests i'st likely, but that isn't evidence. We could be wrong about the math. We've been wrong before.

Do I think it's likely there's life out there somewhere? Yes. But, without good, solid evidence I remain agnostic about it. As I've pointed out in the past, if there is life out there it's unlikely we'll every know it because of the vast distances. We can be pretty sure there's no other life within 100 light years because we haven't picked up any radio singles from them. And they don't have to be trying to make contact with us for us to see them in this way.

Here's a video with Steven Hawking talking about it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjBIsp8mS-c

Seeing how meaning requires drawing correlations, and life does not, it seems clear to me that the question is misguided.

A very good point.

That is because you still think everything is separate. In order for everything to be separate there has to be boundaries that prohibit the exchange of particles and energy on every thing or life form you believe to be separate. There are not.

Every day your body loses and gains and exchanges particles, and atoms. With every breath you take.

Everything is connected.

And "drawing correlations" is not necessary except for the conscious being who is aware enough to ask the question and find meaning.

Just because lower life forms are not aware of "meaning" does not mean there is no meaning.