Can you help me to formulate an answer to the question: What is life about?

[MENTION=11542]Somewhereelse[/MENTION] , I have taken few pictures of the water in a pond. I took one today thinking about you and yours. There was a leaf floating by. I pondered what the water was all about; what the pond was all about. We take fish to eat. We bury the leftovers after cleaning them or feed the turtles or foxes with it. The Mayans supported themselves in a beautiful place called Belize by reprocessing everything. They enhanced where they lived by giving back to the land. We do it because we hate to see it wasted.

Your family has become your life, and furnishing for your family is a noble cause. Maybe grow a small garden or some plants and trees, and start putting back if it will help you with those thoughts. Don't dare let those thoughts make you feel guilty. You did not make things the way they are. We must look at the water every now and then as we do at life, but condemn us all if you are going to condemn yourself.
 
As soon as you find your answer to life you'll have already wanted to change it to something else, and that's just going to keep happening. Forever. And ever.

Never stop. :D
 
LucyJr said:
@Flavus Aquila @La Sagna

I said that to love oneself is contradictory, because that's not the nature of love. One must be loved by another, to love oneself is a contradiction, a malformation of sin.

And both of you skip that and begin to argue how it is best to love oneself...
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I think you just don't understand that all self-love is not disordered. Wanting to be generous to others is a self-love, because it is a desire to possess a virtue which is necessary in loving others. Ie. Wishing a good for oneself, in order to be good to others.

In popular culture, ever since the film 'As Good As It Gets', a common male expression of this is a compliment paid to women: "you make me want to be a better man."
 
816

LucyJr said:
[MENTION=862]Flavus Aquila[/MENTION] [MENTION=9809]La Sagna[/MENTION]

I said that to love oneself is contradictory, because that's not the nature of love. One must be loved by another, to love oneself is a contradiction, a malformation of sin.

And both of you skip that and begin to argue how it is best to love oneself...
Click to expand...


We are all children of God. Would you deny yourself what you would give to another?
 
Flavus Aquila said:
I think you just don't understand that all self-love is not disordered. Wanting to be generous to others is a self-love, because it is a desire to possess a virtue which is necessary in loving others. Ie. Wishing a good for oneself, in order to be good to others.
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Why wanting to be generous to others is a self-love??? ..."because it is a desire to possess a virtue which is necessary in loving others." - you could explain everything with this kind of thinking. So being generous with wanting to be generous....??????


The mean in wishing to be generous is not the other people, the mean is a good, a virtue, and all goods come from God. So by wanting to be generous, man is closer to love God, not oneself.
Hasn't Thomas Aquinas argued for this quite soudly?

Wishing a good for oneself, in order to be good to others.
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That's not true. Good must be chosen from goodness sake...there is no a further mean in goodness beside goodness itself.
So the correction is like this: Wishing a good for oneself, in order to be good and for the sake of good.

In popular culture, ever since the film 'As Good As It Gets', a common male expression of this is a compliment paid to women: "you make me want to be a better man."
Click to expand...
In popular culture everything is twisted, just like you are twisting words and the nature of morality right now.

Aside from that, in the example that you gave, isn't it more that "you make me want to be a better man."for the sake of ...himself...or her? I'm sure that for the sake of her, not of himself.


We can enter in endless discussion but unnecessary...the only question that must be asked is this: What is the nature of love? That's the question. And of course, one must not need to take the definition of love from psychology...or Freud, or something like that.
 
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apemon said:
We are all children of God. Would you deny yourself what you would give to another?
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Yes and no, it depends.

The problem is, you can not "give" yourself. You can not "love" yourself. You can not be "generous" with yourself. You can not be "forgiving" with yourself. Those are all contradictions in terms.
 
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Well you're just all kinds of messed up, aren't you.

And you wonder why I was passive aggressive to you. Your aura reeks of self betrayal. It tastes of a wounded animal that did not fight and instead lay down and died to authority.

You don't love you so I figure you won't mind if I don't love you either.
 
sprinkles said:
Well you're just all kinds of messed up, aren't you.

And you wonder why I was passive aggressive to you. Your aura reeks of self betrayal. It tastes of a wounded animal that did not fight and instead lay down and died to authority.

You don't love you so I figure you won't mind if I don't love you either.
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But I love you, sprinkles, and I gone continue to do it, even if you don't stop.

And to answer you, I kind of see what is your problem with self-love. Its a good philosophy for you, and it makes sense, because you need it somehow, just like most people who don't know God need the philosophy of loving self.
I don't need it, and its not because I'm messed up, its because really I don't need it.
 
LucyJr said:
Why wanting to be generous to others is a self-love??? ..."because it is a desire to possess a virtue which is necessary in loving others." - you could explain everything with this kind of thinking. So being generous with wanting to be generous....??????


The mean in wishing to be generous is not the other people, the mean is a good, a virtue, and all goods come from God. So by wanting to be generous, man is closer to love God, not oneself.
Hasn't Thomas Aquinas argued for this quite soudly?



That's not true. Good must be chosen from goodness sake...there is no a further mean in goodness beside goodness itself.
So the correction is like this: Wishing a good for oneself, in order to be good and for the sake of good.


In popular culture everything is twisted, just like you are twisting words and the nature of morality right now.

Aside from that, in the example that you gave, isn't it more that "you make me want to be a better man."for the sake of ...himself...or her? I'm sure that for the sake of her, not of himself.


We can enter in endless discussion but unnecessary...the only question that must be asked is this: What is the nature of love? That's the question. And of course, one must not need to take the definition of love from psychology...or Freud, or something like that.
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Seeing as you mentioned Aquinas, perhaps the distinction in ends will be helpful:

Every action is defined by its end (purpose for which). There are ultimate ends and proximate ends, which serve or hinder the attainment of the final end.

Self-love is wrong when the self becomes the ultimate and proximate end.

Self-love is ordered, when it is a proximate end ordered towards a good final/ultimate end.

Indeed, in order to pursue any good final end, there must be self-love type proximate ends. Because if one wishes to love another, or God, it is necessary that one seek the goodness of another, or God for oneself. Ie. One cannot voluntarily honour God, without wishing to attain heaven for oneself. St Augustine said that the glory of God is man fully alive - and who is more alive than a saint in heaven?

The two Commandments of the New Testament are complimentary:
1. You shall love the Lord your God with all your strength, mind, soul, spirit..
2. You shall love your neighbour as yourself.

To seek to love God, involves wishing for oneself the grace of God, which is the greatest good one can wish for oneself in this life. And this love is to be communicated to one's neighbour.
 
LucyJr said:
But I love you, sprinkles, and I gone continue to do it, even if you don't stop.

And to answer you, I kind of see what is your problem with self-love. Its a good philosophy for you, and it makes sense, because you need it somehow, just like most people who don't know God need the philosophy of loving self.
I don't need it, and its not because I'm messed up, its because really I don't need it.
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You say you don't need it, but your need for it is what put you where you are. You made this whole world for yourself as a workaround to it.

You sought rightness and to ease your own suffering. Others do the same. If it weren't for that, why would you have changed? I know you changed at some point. You're very constructed. The signature of acquired philosophy is on you.

The thing is other people do the same thing. Others are essentially you. If love is unconditional then there's no reason to exempt yourself.

Without love for yourself you can't act. You can't appreciate rightness. You'd have no motivation for it. Without self love how could you appreciate God, if God created you? Being worthless to yourself is almost spite. It's almost saying "I don't appreciate that you created me. I'm not thankful for my existence."

I think not loving yourself is incredibly ungrateful.
 
42.
My veiw on life is that it is a vacation from immortality.
 
LucyJr said:
But I love you, sprinkles, and I gone continue to do it, even if you don't stop.

And to answer you, I kind of see what is your problem with self-love. Its a good philosophy for you, and it makes sense, because you need it somehow, just like most people who don't know God need the philosophy of loving self.
I don't need it, and its not because I'm messed up, its because really I don't need it.
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I think there is vaule in recognizing life is complex and that no one view is correct. About anything. Keep an open mind toward everything and accept when others try to offer a different perspective.
 
Yesterday I had an absurd experience. A dream that I had written down two years ago happened frame by frame before my eyes. Scientists believe that time is circular and not linear, which basically means that we're living in the past, present and future all at once. I'm convinced that what I experienced in the dream was a memory from the future, as it happens over and over again.

What is life all about? It is about whatever it was about when it was happening. Which is also now, I guess. We're not supernatural, overtly logical beings, so we must accept that we are a part of Earth and therefore a natural evolution from it - God included, if you believe in that. As flawed animals/beings, we are bound to have good and bad sides, and they are both necessary to lead acceptable lives.

By those standards, as an answer to what life is "about", I would have to say that it is about doing what seems right to you as you're doing it.

I hope that made sense, and is useful! I guess it's like The Flaming Lips sing it:

All we have is now,
all we ever had is now.
 
La Sagna said:
[MENTION=11542]Somewhereelse[/MENTION]
I have been a working mom, and I know that stretching yourself too thin will not make the world a better place no matter how much you want to. If you take on too much you will then probably feel guilty about something else you're not doing.
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I think that well said about my fear and my hesitation at this moment. I brought a life to this world and that becomes my highest responsibility for years to come... I certainly can stretch myself, but I know I don't take stress well and I would feel horrible if he doesn't get what he's suppose to have simply because of my eagerness to pursue the meaning of my own life...
 
Skarekrow said:
Can I suggest a book for you?
It does make religious references, but in a rather vague way…so it could easily encompass any or no religion if you so choose.
Anyhow, whenever I start to feel lost in my life I like to re-read it (I have read it many, many times lol)
It is called “The Prophet” by Kahlil Gibran…he was a Lebanese poet.
Here is a link to the e-book - http://www.katsandogz.com/gibran.html

As far as the question of what this life is about, I feel the answer is different for everyone…for me personally, I think my life is about the personal connections that I make, my loved ones in other words, growing and showing my compassion to them and to strangers in general. To learn as much as I can while I am here is also very important to me…not just from a book, but learning who I am, what compels and drives me, how I can be the best version of myself that I can.
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Thank you for the recommendation!
 
Years ago, I found a path to understand why things had happened the way they had over years. So much gratefulness for life and for me being me... Since then, it became my belief that things happen in life for a reason. Now I'm looking for that reason again.
 
I'm lovin' it.

I meant the thread, not McDonalds! Never eat at such places!
 
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