Question...Are we deluding ourselves?

[wizkid]

Hi (like-minded) people.

I was just wondering, having gone through (still going through actually) what I will generally describe as a period of emotional and spiritual "development", how many of "us" have arrived at places like this due to being discontent with our lives as they currently stand?

I have arrived here due to an emotionally traumatic event in my life which I now believe to be necessary for reasons which I cannot really articulate.
It could be that it's because other, let's say "learned" individuals seem to suggest that life (in the three-dimensional, reality based concept that we all accept(?)) is about spiritual growth and therefore learning.

I have generally cruised through life with an almost built-in belief that life is all about me.
I certainly did not expect that I would ever have to go through the emotional feelings that I am now experiencing.

I wonder, how many of us have arrived a this point - where we consider introspection and seek, dare I say, answers to life - due to negative experiences in our lives.

Who here has arrived at a point in their life where they seek "answers" when all was seemingly well in their lives?

I have, from a very early age, sought answers to "the meaning of life".
Others, it would seem, cruise through life with nary a care in the world and just seem to go from moment to moment contemplating only what is but a few moments away.

Or is this presumptious?

I haven't even begun to say (or ask) all of the questions which have been fizzing around in my mind since my youth.

If none of the above makes any sense, please refer to the thread title.
I guess this is the real question I am asking.
Are we just a bunch of over-thinkers if such a thing exists?

[Xanafax]

I suppose it comes down to this:

Are you a subjectivist, and intrinsicsist or an Objectivist?

Depending on your answer to that question, it will provide you with an answer to the title thread.

[spirit4711]

Originally Posted by wizkid

...
I wonder, how many of us have arrived a this point - where we consider introspection and seek, dare I say, answers to life - due to negative experiences in our lives.

Who here has arrived at a point in their life where they seek "answers" when all was seemingly well in their lives?

I have, from a very early age, sought answers to "the meaning of life".
Others, it would seem, cruise through life with nary a care in the world and just seem to go from moment to moment contemplating only what is but a few moments away.

Or is this presumptious?

...

Speaking for myself, I've always been curious about 'the meaning of life' and other related issues. More personal as in personal development was when I decided that what I had in my life wasn't working for me. I needed to change. So that's what I set out to do, to discover what I really wanted and to take steps to achieve that. And the more I change, the more possibilities for new changes I see. It never ends, as a trainer once told me.

I see similarities in people around me - many people follow a similar path, sometimes faster, others slower.

I guess change comes from being not content with what you have - otherwise there's no need to change. Being content is OK in itself, and so is the need to change.

[SmartAlx]

Originally Posted by wizkid

Hi (like-minded) people...

...I have generally cruised through life with an almost built-in belief that life is all about me

Not me, although I'm clearly not "like minded." Of coures this begs the question, if someone is like minded with you won't they agree with you anyway?

Anyway, I have not cruised through life with a built-in belief that life is all about me. Life isn't all about me. It's about God. Before I knew that God existed I didn't even question the meaning of life.

[wizkid]

Originally Posted by SmartAlx

Not me, although I'm clearly not "like minded." Of coures this begs the question, if someone is like minded with you won't they agree with you anyway?

Anyway, I have not cruised through life with a built-in belief that life is all about me. Life isn't all about me. It's about God. Before I knew that God existed I didn't even question the meaning of life.

Interesting. I pre-supposed that most people who responded to this question would, indeed, be like minded, and thus might have decided to "follow" the single consciousness philosophy. The natural expansion of which, if I understand it correctly, is that we are all essentially God.
I realise that this is a thread which, if followed to the n-th degree will, in actual fact lead to nowhere.
I have also learned not to assume. :-) I hope.

[Xanafax]

Originally Posted by SmartAlx

Not me, although I'm clearly not "like minded." Of coures this begs the question, if someone is like minded with you won't they agree with you anyway?

Anyway, I have not cruised through life with a built-in belief that life is all about me. Life isn't all about me. It's about God. Before I knew that God existed I didn't even question the meaning of life.

Praise be to the Man-Jesus and we say thankya Big Big.

Are you saying, sir, that life has no meaning other than to supplicate ourselves to a God who is, as Richard Dawkins so eloquently puts; "jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully"?

[SmartAlx]

Originally Posted by Xanafax

Are you saying, sir, that life has no meaning other than to supplicate ourselves to a God who is, as Richard Dawkins so eloquently puts; "jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully"?

Nope.

[Xanafax]

So he's everything else then??

[ellie]

Originally Posted by wizkid

Hi (like-minded) people.

I wonder, how many of us have arrived a this point - where we consider introspection and seek, dare I say, answers to life - due to negative experiences in our lives.

Oh for sure. My worst point in my life, helped me grow immensely. If I did not have that moment a lot of things wouldn't of clicked. So I am glad I had it. That moment allowed me to let go of everything, because I no longer cared. That's a great moment to have.

I have always been one to want to understand the meaning of life and explore it. I know when I was about 12 or 13, I definitely said to myself, "when I am older I really want to try and nut out what this life is all about for me. I want to be able to explore, learn and grow".

Well I am definitely doing that now

[Daffy Duck]

"You ask a very good question. Why do we seek answers to life? Why go on? Why even start off on such a path? What is to be gained from embarking on such a journey? Where is the incentive? What is the reason?

The reason is ridiculously simple; There is nothing else to do.

So the question is not: Why start off on such a path? You have already started off. You did so with the first beat of your heart. The question is: Do I wish to walk this path consciously, or unconsciously? With awareness or lack of awareness? As the cause of my experience, or at the effect of it?"

[Excellent Lodestar]

Originally Posted by wizkid

I guess this is the real question I am asking.
Are we just a bunch of over-thinkers if such a thing exists?

"The human condition: lost in thought."
— Eckhart Tolle

[ZHereford]

Originally Posted by wizkid

I was just wondering, having gone through (still going through actually) what I will generally describe as a period of emotional and spiritual "development", how many of "us" have arrived at places like this due to being discontent with our lives as they currently stand?

I must say that for me it was definitely discontent that prompted my seeking answers. When everything was hunky-dory and going smoothly in my life (mostly in my childhood), I was content and had no impetus to question, evaluate or assess.

This Oscar Wilde quote exemplifies it for me: "Discontent is the first step in the progress of a man or a nation."

[ZHereford]

Originally Posted by Xanafax

I suppose it comes down to this:

Are you a subjectivist, and intrinsicsist or an Objectivist?

Depending on your answer to that question, it will provide you with an answer to the title thread.

Few of us (besides Ayn Rand fans ) think about our daily lives in these terms.

[Xanafax]

But you should think about things in these terms, philosophy - no matter which you personally believe - is incredibly important and should dictate everything you do.

[ZHereford]

Originally Posted by Xanafax

But you should think about things in these terms, philosophy - no matter which you personally believe - is incredibly important and should dictate everything you do.

I totally agree that studying philosophy and reading about the greatest thinkers throughout history is important, which is why I write about it on my website - Philosophy and Personal Development, however, defining and then categorizing one's philosophical views (i.e. subjectivism, objectivism, etc.) is not what we normally do on a daily basis, nor is it necessary to have a personal philosophy.

In fact, narrowing yourself to any one school of thought is rather restrictive. I find most concepts (subjectivism, objectivism, intrinsicism) hold some grain of truth in them, but do not describe what I perceive as reality, entirely or accurately.

[Daffy Duck]

Originally Posted by ZHereford

Few of us (besides Ayn Rand fans ) think about our daily lives in these terms.

Speaking of Ayn Rand fans, here's five of them on a bus:

[Aleksander Krstic]

Originally Posted by Daffy Duck

Speaking of Ayn Rand fans, here's five of them on a bus:

Nice image, reminds you to love other people!

[ZHereford]

[QUOTE=Daffy Duck;383919]Speaking of Ayn Rand fans, here's five of them on a bus:

Daffy that cartoon is absolutely hilarious!

[Xanafax]

I love XKCD those cartoons are really good, and it's funny because I imagine that's what a lot of people are actually like - Ayn Rand fan or not