Quote:
Originally Posted by ZHereford  Actually Stephen this sounds more like a nihilist point of view - i.e. that nothing matters.
As for existentialism, people often have the mistaken notion that it's contrary to a belief in God. Not at all. You can be agnostic, atheist or deist and still be an existentialist such as Kant was.
We have the freedom of mind to find meaning or lack of it in anything we choose. Life is as meaningful/meaningless as you allow it to be. I prefer to find meaning in it, especially in the beauty of music, art and nature and in man's ability to transcend himself. |
Hi Mate
Yes I am aware of the personally held beliefs of different existentialist thinkers. Søren Kierkegaard was a devout christain and Nietzsche was atheist for example.
I agree, not suprisingly, with Radu. Humans are arrogant. Eating sentient animals unnecessarily, fighting over who believes in the 'real' god, stripping the planet as if we were the last generation to populate it, believeing that life has a purpose. So what is the purpose of the head louse? Or is it merely an organism that breeds and survives; enjoying life as it satisfies its blood thirst?
Because humans are self aware and capable of calculation and reflection we invent things to make our lives less brutal.
Gods.....Jesus, Apollo, Zeus, Flying Spaghetti Monster.
Death....Reincarnation, After Life, Ghosts, Heaven, Hell.
It goes on and on. It really appears to me, we will delude ourselves as much as large bird will stick its head in the sand.
Hugo said...
"The soul does not give up to despair until it has exhausted all illusions"
How true.
Marx said....
"Die Religion ... ist das Opium des Volkes" translated as "Religion is the opiate of the people"
We are deluding ourselves.
Life has no purpose other than
being.
Therefore, isnt it more productive to embrace the reality of life and not waste our time; such little time, on such matters that only fool us?
Its not nihilism; its not hedonism, its pragmatism.
