What is the Meaning of Our Existence?

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on existential questions regarding the meaning of life and consciousness. Participants express feelings of being trapped in physical existence while grappling with the vastness of the universe and the nature of reality. One contributor emphasizes that the search for purpose is subjective, rooted in personal relationships rather than an inherent significance in life. The conversation highlights the tension between the desire for understanding and the acceptance of life's mysteries.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of existential philosophy
  • Familiarity with concepts of consciousness
  • Knowledge of the universe's scale and complexity
  • Awareness of subjective versus objective significance in life
NEXT STEPS
  • Explore existential philosophy texts, such as "Being and Nothingness" by Jean-Paul Sartre
  • Research theories of consciousness, including dualism and physicalism
  • Study the implications of cosmic insignificance in works like "Cosmic Perspective" by Jeffrey Bennett
  • Investigate the role of human relationships in defining personal meaning
USEFUL FOR

Individuals interested in philosophy, psychology, and spirituality, particularly those exploring existential questions and the nature of consciousness.

NWH
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Lately I've thought a lot about life and death, about how we are observers of a universe, how we experience our surroundings and what happens to our consciousness when we die. You try and imagine absolute nothingness and fail to comprehend how you as an entity can even cease to exist. It makes you ask some very profound questions. Why does anything exist in the first place? What actually is existence? Why all of this just so I can live and experience it? Where are we, really?

The fact that we are even here to begin with is a sign that something much, much bigger is at play. All I can tell is that something amazing is happening out there around me beyond every level of my understanding and I'm a part of it. While I feel I can function fine in our day to day society and understand our laws of physics I am absolutely lost on a spiritual level and really do not understand much about my existence at all. As a being of consciousness I feel imprisoned in this physical body, limited to life experiences and memories while there's so much out there for me to explore and understand. The irony is that it's only upon my death that I will finally understand the truth and go back to wherever it is that I've came from. My entire life is just one big mystery. I hold on to the small things and try to make something important out of them but in reality my existence here is insignificant and I'll likely never understand the real truth about my life.

Just to note. This is not a religious topic. This is just my perspective on life, the emotions that I feel and the experiences that go on around me. Please look inside your self and share how you view this dilemma as a conscious human being.
 
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I'm too scared to read this because I've had similar issues in the past.
 
Hi NWH, we provide you with space to create a personal blog for this type of musing.
 
NWH said:
Lately I've thought a lot about life and death...
I find a lot of your post problematic because it begs the question that there is purpose, significance and truth in life other than what we give it. Sure thinking about how big the universe is and how intricate the tiniest of processes are makes me marvel at my relative smallness but that doesn't have any bearing on how significant my life is as a human being because the majority of ways I evaluate my life is through how I relate to other human beings.

I don't see any dilemma here.
 

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