Ok, I'll bite. :-) --- In [email protected], new.morning <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > In a recent conversation, someone mentioned Frankl's book -- > Mans Search for Meaning -- which i read some time ago -- but > when I was wrapped up in a TMO world view. > > I began reflecting on it. Frankl, as I refreshed my memory > on a website, said there is not abstract meaning of life, but > only meaning in the context of moment, in any given action -- > and having the freedom to define that moment (that is the > freedom to view any circumstance in ones on view -- in a > positive view.) Thats my quick take -- I am sure some of > that is mangled.
But it conveys the essence of it pretty well, IMO. I guess it goes without saying that I tend to agree with him. > I was wondering what others think. Perhaps there will be some > cute, some dismissive responses. No problem -- particularly > if there are some well considered views offered up. Would the more well-considered views make the thread more "meaningful?" :-) > Some tangental questions: > > Meaningfulness vs purposefulness -- can something be purposeful > but not meaningful? Absolutely. IMO, of course. I'm not a big person for searching for "meaning" in life. I'm not convinced life has any meaning at all. And y'know...I don't miss it. :-) > The TMO -- "the purpose of life is expansion of happiness." > Fine. But is there meaning in happiness -- and its expansion? That's what some choose to believe. Me, I don't. If the seeming *purpose* of life is expansion, that does NOT imply to me that that's the *meaning* of life. It's just what seems to be happening, not *why* it's happening. Maybe there ISN'T a *why*. > Socrates asked "what is the good life" -- a life well spent. > is that the same as meaningfulness? Not in my opinion. That's more like life as purpose- fulness. We're back to the conversation with Dana Sawyer that Rick posted here recently. There are all sorts of "inner revelations" and perceptions of "the meaning of life" that one could have subject- ively. We hear them every day on this forum. But the real bottom line for Dana -- and for me -- is, "Do these subjective experiences of 'higher' states of consciousness actually seem to change the person's everyday behavior in a way that most people watching them from the outside -- objectively -- would agree is beneficial for humanity?" If not, then what worth do these subjective experiences actually HAVE? Meaningfulness vs. purposefulness. One can have cool revelations all day, but if one never puts them to any purpose for the benefit of others, what "meaning" have they really *found*, eh? > SSRS said a couple of things that stuck with me. Paraphrasing > "Don't take life too seriously. It all doesn't matter" Sort > of a nihilistic approach -- but in a good way :) I don't see it as nihilistic in any way. More accurate than anything else. The only people who might get uptight at the suggestion that life might have NO meaning at all are those who are heavily attached to their lives *having* meaning. >From my point of view, a lot of people really seem to NEED their lives to have meaning. So they glom onto whatever "meaning" seems most appropriate to them. Cool, I guess. Me, I'm fairly comfortable with my life having no meaning at all, just being a dance from here to here, from Then (another form of now) to Now (the latest and greatest form of now). Hmmmm. Now that I think of it, dance may be the proper metaphor for what I'm feeling as I type this, thinking out loud. Think Snoopy in the "Peanuts" comic strip, doing his Dance To Spring, twirling away, waving his hands (uh...paws) flung in the air, clearly enjoying his life so much that it bursts out of him in spon- taneous and joyful dance. Does Snoopy's dance MEAN anything? Is it "symbolic" of something? Does it have layers and layers of meaning attached to it? Is it part of "God's plan?" Or is it just dance? I'm not convinced that the dance of life has meaning. But it sure does have purpose. The purpose of Snoopy's dance was to make millions of readers smile with the remembrance that someone *can* dance like that. If one or two of them did, inspired by Snoopy's example, then Charles Schultz's life had purpose. But that doesn't necessarily give it meaning.
