# Is there any meaning to life? or is it really just nothing? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 28, 2010, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-meaning-to-life-or-is-it-really-just-nothing/541051 "2010-05-28T07:12:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Swarog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Swarog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swarog)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-meaning-to-life-or-is-it-really-just-nothing/541051/41 "2010-05-30T09:44:33Z")
But overall voyager, I think you’re right, considering my position. The reason I feel nihilistic from time to time is because I haven’t really done anything yet. I can’t have my own family, or do anything that I want to do because it isn’t up to me yet. I can’t support anything let alone myself, and I don’t intend to prove it by working entry level positions and living pay check to pay check unless I absolutely have to. My time will come but I’m so anxious to do things already, that preparing for it, whether its studying or working seems like an eternity. So I’ll end up feeling like life will always be so unrewarding!!! WAHHH!!! So thanks for the heads up. Obviously my thoughts give me some meaning, elsewise i would be 'splainin everything about everything al the time ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-meaning-to-life-or-is-it-really-just-nothing/541051/42 "2010-05-30T10:23:01Z")
42 ---
**Author:** ![adhay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@adhay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhay)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-meaning-to-life-or-is-it-really-just-nothing/541051/43 "2010-05-30T11:17:18Z")
> [@muody25](#): > > I can become fairly nihilistic every once in a while, … Welcome to the Dope. A look at your other OPs, in both their quality and considering you’ve been on board 3 days, their quantity, reveals a truly honest inquiring mind. God knows, we can use a few more around here. Let me first say that I was a “nihilist” most of my until life until recently. If you want particulars, PM me. The universe, per se, has no meaning. Each of us brings to everything in every situation any meaning it seems to have to . This is to say, believing is seeing. IANAC, but this idea was the most important thing Jesus had to say on the subject of personal salvation, IMHO. Of course, the standard argument against is that seeing is believing and, ultimately, I am not responsible for my thoughts and am at the mercy of a chaotic universe. I agree the “evidence” for this is at times seems overwhelming and enough to turn any thinking person into a nihilist. But take hope in the fact that you _are_ responsible for and _can_ change your thoughts and that _believing is seeing_. Look within and find all the meaning you need. As it comes to you, you will _immediately_ begin to recognize it in the world you see. Happy hunting. Again, IANAC, but as Jesus put it, the kingdom is within and at hand, and I interpret that to mean, not sometime in the future. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-meaning-to-life-or-is-it-really-just-nothing/541051/44 "2010-05-30T12:47:04Z")
Well, as a solipcist, I know that you all are just figments of my imagination. So I don’t worry at all-I am ALL, I will ALLWAYS exist, there is NOTHING but ME! So why should I worry? ---
**Author:** ![adhay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@adhay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhay)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-meaning-to-life-or-is-it-really-just-nothing/541051/45 "2010-05-30T13:04:18Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Well, as a solipcist, I know that you all are just figments of my imagination. > So I don’t worry at all-I am ALL, I will ALLWAYS exist, there is NOTHING but ME! > So why should I worry? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ToborAton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/57b2e6/32.png) [@ToborAton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToborAton)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-meaning-to-life-or-is-it-really-just-nothing/541051/46 "2010-05-30T13:41:43Z")
This is my first SDMB post and I have to apologize because it is as true as a poem. I actually do know the answer but I don’t have the time to organize it and type it up; also it won’t fit in this margin. ; ) Even if I could type up the meaning of life I don’t think it would be any more or less meaningful than 42 unless you put in the time to understand it yourself so I am going to give you a number of lenses to help focus your question a bit more. Problem solving inspired solution: start small and and try to generalize. I asked about the meaning of Winnie-the-Pooh’s life. I know A. A. Milne created Pooh and even have some data on why Pooh was created. I can also know everything Pooh has done. Calculus inspired: cut life up into shorter pieces and shorter pieces and try to discover the meaning of your life right now then integrate the meaning from birth to now/death/infinity. Biology wonderfully explains the mechanics behind Life itself. One might be tempted to look to Psychology to understand the meaning of life for your individual mind but I only trust Psychology as far as Neurology can throw it and that is getting farther everyday. Lastly, I would strongly suggest that you consider the remote possibility that you may never need to die without getting bogged down in the technical details. Does living forever change the meaning of life? ---
**Author:** ![adhay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@adhay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhay)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-meaning-to-life-or-is-it-really-just-nothing/541051/47 "2010-05-30T18:48:47Z")
> [@adhay](#): > > 😉 A word of explanation. When I was a nihilist, what I was actually doing was denying responsibility for the _seemingly_ chaotic and eminently unfair universe I had _seemingly_ been born into without my say so. Hey, fuck who’s ever responsible for this shit. It ain’t _my_ fault. Were I a solipsist, I would claim credit for it _all_ but still feel I could unhypocritically join the bitching chorus. I’m doing it, I hate it but I can’t stop doing it. Make room on the bench, it ain’t _really_ my fault, guys. Were I a theist, I would imagine a Creator (names vary) which had dumped me in a pile of shit and expected me to dig myself out, either in this life or the next, be that on earth, in heaven or hell. Atheists get to shovel shit in any direction and tell everyone else to STFU. Agnostics have it the easiest. The occasional duh? suffices. There is an alternative and that’s all I’m saying. Period. Now! This is our new member’s thread and I am really out of here. I have expressed a few opinions and if anyone wants to question them, take it to the board of your choice, I’ll be there. And once again, **mu** , good work. On preview, I see that **ToborAton** is a poet and he knows it. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-meaning-to-life-or-is-it-really-just-nothing/541051/48 "2010-05-30T21:53:41Z")
> [@muody25](#): > > Well but what I can’t agree with, and believe me I’m having a hard time disagreeing with Voyager as it is, is that it couldn’t be possible that the prospect of death doesn’t shape who you are. > The fact that you die gives you the instinct to survive, which includes things like eating drinking, sleeping, shitting. You wouldn’t do anything of any human quality if you were simply immortal. > > If you are going to die, you do what you can. One day you realize you’ve spent your youth considering only the immediate future. Well, it is isn’t the naivety of youth, but the drive to do things that makes you young and naive. After all said and done what have you really done. Well… you’ve done whatever you pretty much can feel good about. How much is that? Well, I’m satisfied with the response I get from those near and dear in my life and those that I’ve affected. That’s enough for me. I’m sure you are right that we are all shaped by the knowledge of death - but we are also shaped by having to eat, and wanting to keep warm, and lots of other things. All I’m saying is that it doesn’t affect what I’m doing now very much. Though I suppose if I knew I were never going to die I’d have put more in my 401K. I’ve never been big on just looking for immediate rewards - I spent 7 years in grad school. I started saving a lot when our first kid was about 1, and we timed our kids so that they would not be in college at the same time. It is possible to think ahead, and I recommend it - when they were in college, not at the same time, we were damn glad we had thought of this. I have a father who is 94 and very healthy, so let’s say I haven’t canceled any magazine subscriptions yet. I suspect everyone in this thread is talking about the meaning of life to us. Not much more we can say. ---
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2010, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-meaning-to-life-or-is-it-really-just-nothing/541051/49 "2010-06-05T11:38:58Z")
In my thinking,Life’ is’ purpose. We were born to live as long and as well as we can. Animals, plants etc. propagate to keep the species going. Our singular purpose is to live as well as we can, and that means helping others as it also betters our lives, and our decendents. One reaps what one sews in most cases. A good deed seems to come back to us at one time or the other. That has been my experience. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2010, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-meaning-to-life-or-is-it-really-just-nothing/541051/50 "2010-06-05T12:15:01Z")
> [@monavis](#): > > One reaps what one sews in most cases. A good deed seems to come back to us at one time or the other. That has been my experience. I think this is confirmation bias. Otherwise, good things would not happen to bad people. ---
**Author:** ![Swarog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Swarog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swarog)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2010, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-meaning-to-life-or-is-it-really-just-nothing/541051/51 "2010-06-05T23:53:08Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > I think this is confirmation bias. Otherwise, good things would not happen to bad people. AMEN to that moderatorino… You can’t just say stuff because it sounds like it could make sense. You’ve got to avoid those falacies peoples!!! ---
**Author:** ![Swarog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Swarog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swarog)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2010, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-meaning-to-life-or-is-it-really-just-nothing/541051/52 "2010-06-05T23:55:47Z")
Plus, you can’t say morality has a role in anything anyway. Because morality is defined by what people say, like everything. And if everyone doesn’t agree, than it’s not inconsequential and people will still do whatever they want, as they always have. ---
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2010, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-meaning-to-life-or-is-it-really-just-nothing/541051/53 "2010-06-06T11:28:05Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > I think this is confirmation bias. Otherwise, good things would not happen to bad people. Even Bad people have done some good things. I often wonder why people choose to do bad things, what happened in their lives to make them want to hurt others? People like Hitler who prosecuted Jews when his own biological father was Jewish! ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-meaning-to-life-or-is-it-really-just-nothing/541051/54 "2010-06-07T08:38:52Z")
Shakespeare wrote it. > [@](#): > > Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more; it is a tale **told by an idiot** , full of sound and fury, signifying _nothing_. ---
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-meaning-to-life-or-is-it-really-just-nothing/541051/55 "2010-06-07T11:47:23Z")
This reminds me of a joke I heard as a child; A minister was giving a sermon. he kept (in a loud voice ) saying" what are we hear for? After saying this several times, a young boy stood up and yelled back"Because we are not all there!" ---
**Author:** ![adhay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@adhay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhay)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-meaning-to-life-or-is-it-really-just-nothing/541051/56 "2010-06-07T11:48:42Z")
> [@monavis](#): > > This reminds me of a joke I heard as a child; > > A minister was giving a sermon. he kept (in a loud voice ) saying" what are we hear for? After saying this several times, a young boy stood up and yelled back"Because we are not all there!" Amen ---
**Author:** ![lekatt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lekatt/32/7269_2.png) [@lekatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lekatt)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-meaning-to-life-or-is-it-really-just-nothing/541051/57 "2010-06-07T14:09:09Z")
Regardless of what you may have been taught by religion or science, there is a purpose and meaning to life. There is a higher consciousness or power that created both you and the universe. Physical life is like a school of accellerated learning to become better than you are now. The point is to grow emotional by helping others to grow. The main points are the law of attraction, love, forgiveness, and non-judgement. The more you practice these the more you will understand the meaning and purpose. You will live on after the death of your body, and this instruction will be most important to you. If you are sure this is incorrect, then just keep doing as usual. ---
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2010, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-meaning-to-life-or-is-it-really-just-nothing/541051/58 "2010-06-08T12:14:27Z")
> [@lekatt](#): > > Regardless of what you may have been taught by religion or science, there is a purpose and meaning to life. There is a higher consciousness or power that created both you and the universe. Physical life is like a school of accellerated learning to become better than you are now. The point is to grow emotional by helping others to grow. The main points are the law of attraction, love, forgiveness, and non-judgement. The more you practice these the more you will understand the meaning and purpose. You will live on after the death of your body, and this instruction will be most important to you. If you are sure this is incorrect, then just keep doing as usual. That is how ‘you’ believe it to be, and I would not interfere with your rights to believe what you want to believe,neither your, my, or any one’s belief is fact..Just belief…a personal thing! One can cling to a belief and if it does no harm to others it doesn’t bother me in the least! We still have to live in the now the best we can. You are just a human like the rest of us so your thinking to me is that of a human and I feel my thinking is best for me, and others who disagree with you also have the right to think their own thoughts! ---
**Author:** ![lekatt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lekatt/32/7269_2.png) [@lekatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lekatt)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2010, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-meaning-to-life-or-is-it-really-just-nothing/541051/59 "2010-06-08T12:19:59Z")
> [@monavis](#): > > That is how ‘you’ believe it to be, and I would not interfere with your rights to believe what you want to believe,neither your, my, or any one’s belief is fact..Just belief…a personal thing! > > One can cling to a belief and if it does no harm to others it doesn’t bother me in the least! We still have to live in the now the best we can. You are just a human like the rest of us so your thinking to me is that of a human and I feel my thinking is best for me, and others who disagree with you also have the right to think their own thoughts! I thought I made that clear in my post. ---
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-meaning-to-life-or-is-it-really-just-nothing/541051/60 "2010-06-09T12:12:13Z")
> [@lekatt](#): > > I thought I made that clear in my post. You didn’t state as your belief, but as fact! That is why I replied to your post. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-meaning-to-life-or-is-it-really-just-nothing/541051.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-meaning-to-life-or-is-it-really-just-nothing/541051.md?page=4)