# The point of life/living **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussion\ **Created:** [August 28, 2024, 4:28am UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/the-point-of-life-living/11076 "2024-08-28T04:28:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![lausten](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.centerforinquiry.org/lausten/32/23705_2.png) [@lausten](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/lausten)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2024, 12:26am UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/the-point-of-life-living/11076/182 "2024-09-23T00:26:49Z")
> [@inthedarkness](#): > > It’s stupid in the sense that you’ll die anyway and still miss out on life, If you lived, you didn’t miss it. Right? > [@inthedarkness](#): > > I want a reason Chocolate. Ponies. Flowers. Pink Floyd. Cat videos. Mountain climbing. Laughter. Not knowing but moving forward. Breathing clean air by a cool stream. ---
**Author:** ![inthedarkness](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.centerforinquiry.org/inthedarkness/32/23404_2.png) [@inthedarkness](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/inthedarkness)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2024, 12:55am UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/the-point-of-life-living/11076/183 "2024-09-23T00:55:02Z")
> [@lausten](#): > > If you lived, you didn’t miss it. Right? But the point is that you’d always miss out on something else, you can’t live forever after all. > [@lausten](#): > > Chocolate. Ponies. Flowers. Pink Floyd. Cat videos. Mountain climbing. Laughter. Not knowing but moving forward. Breathing clean air by a cool stream. That seems so small though. Even then I can’t help think that I wouldn’t have to concern myself with such things if I ended it now. No matter how I slice it, death seems like the better deal. Like…if I don’t have to live then why would I? > [@mriana](#): > > Everyone ignore him, please, because he does not want to get help, enjoy life, or even live life to its fullest with the time he does have to do all of that. Since he just wants to troll, argue, and refuses to get help from professionals, just ignore him, please. Because I for one am tired of his BS games. You failed to answer anything I asked since you couldn’t think of anything outside of “they must be mentally ill”. Very short sighted. I already explained why “professionals” didn’t work out, they can’t answer serious questions. Like you they can only dismiss it as illness, that’s the easy answer. I’m guessing your schooling has blinded you. “get help”, “enjoy life”, “live life to the fullest with the time he does have”, you haven’t listened to a word I said have you? ---
**Author:** ![lausten](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.centerforinquiry.org/lausten/32/23705_2.png) [@lausten](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/lausten)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2024, 1:02am UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/the-point-of-life-living/11076/184 "2024-09-23T01:02:55Z")
> [@inthedarkness](#): > > you can’t live forever after all. I don’t see how that is a reason to not want to live at all. > [@inthedarkness](#): > > No matter how I slice it, death seems like the better deal. Yeah. You keep saying that. You haven’t convinced me why that is. > [@inthedarkness](#): > > you haven’t listened to a word I said have you? Yes we have. You have told us our answers aren’t good enough. You have offered some pretty poor reasoning. You have asked for answers to the questions that people have asked for thousands of years, then complained when we didn’t have a satisfactory answer. That’s what it is to be human. Are you saying that after a few million years of evolution, you’ve figured out that we shouldn’t exist? That’s the end of our species? ---
**Author:** ![inthedarkness](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.centerforinquiry.org/inthedarkness/32/23404_2.png) [@inthedarkness](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/inthedarkness)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2024, 1:26am UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/the-point-of-life-living/11076/185 "2024-09-23T01:26:26Z")
> [@lausten](#): > > I don’t see how that is a reason to not want to live at all. It’s more an argument against the notion you’ll miss out on things. > [@lausten](#): > > Yeah. You keep saying that. You haven’t convinced me why that is. I did, you wouldn’t have to worry about anything that living deals with, including making life bearable. > [@lausten](#): > > You have offered some pretty poor reasoning. You have asked for answers to the questions that people have asked for thousands of years, then complained when we didn’t have a satisfactory answer. That’s what it is to be human. Are you saying that after a few million years of evolution, you’ve figured out that we shouldn’t exist? That’s the end of our species? I haven’t offered bad reasoning, you just don’t have anything to offer besides assuming life is worth living as the default and I don’t buy that. I’ve been told that as a kid and just believed them, until one day I stopped to think about it and didn’t really see the point of it. A lot changes when you stop assuming life is worth living is the default. ---
**Author:** ![write4u](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.centerforinquiry.org/write4u/32/23410_2.png) [@write4u](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/write4u)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2024, 1:29am UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/the-point-of-life-living/11076/186 "2024-09-23T01:29:46Z")
> [@inthedarkness](#): > > I don’t really consider life a miracle, and more and more I’m starting to wonder if there is such a thing as life or if it’s just matter arrangements. Correct! Life is an extension of dynamic pattern forming. Sensory consciousness is an extension of chemical interactions. Almost all matter has some of these qualities. Evolved patterns in Nature. Humans and a few other highly evolved organisms have both. Single-celled bacteria already communicate via “quorum sensing” Eagle’s eyes started as light-sensitive patches in single-celled organisms. ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/uploads/centerforinquiry/original/3X/0/d/0d4fcf6fd2c2ffc7bc7caafac323542e3d920cd6.jpeg) _\> That’s an eyespot, or stigmatum. **With its little patch of photoreceptors, algae cannot only sense the presence or absence of light, but even its direction and intensity.** For a long time, eyespots were the best life had for photoreception - here’s a much more complex flatworm (Dugesia sp., a type of planarian), clearly having two eyespots._ ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/uploads/centerforinquiry/original/3X/a/4/a43ab7b36617f9f7e7ae41bda048108980ac1827.jpeg) > **[How did organisms evolve to have eyes?](https://www.quora.com/How-did-organisms-evolve-to-have-eyes)** > > Answer (1 of 11): TLDR answer: evolution. Because eyes are advantageous. > > Full answer: one of the more recent experiments was done on why multicellular evolved. One hypothesis was that predation was the catalyst of change. Someone designed a test. In... This is the value of evolutionary processes. Better adaptations tend to live longer and survive to procreate. The miracle (a rare beneficial genetic mutation) is the human level of evolved abilities in sensory and abstract data processing, even as our physical bodies are vulnerable to injury and disease. ---
**Author:** ![lausten](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.centerforinquiry.org/lausten/32/23705_2.png) [@lausten](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/lausten)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2024, 1:34am UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/the-point-of-life-living/11076/187 "2024-09-23T01:34:06Z")
> [@inthedarkness](#): > > A lot changes when you stop assuming life is worth living is the default. Of course. You have nothing but tautologies. Stay out of trouble. Don’t work too hard. ---
**Author:** ![mriana](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.centerforinquiry.org/mriana/32/18174_2.png) [@mriana](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/mriana)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2024, 2:51am UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/the-point-of-life-living/11076/188 "2024-09-23T02:51:45Z")
Grandchildren or children if one isn’t old enough for grandchildren. A beautiful spring day. Pets. Nature watching. And of course… Star Trek conventions! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![lausten](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.centerforinquiry.org/lausten/32/23705_2.png) [@lausten](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/lausten)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2024, 3:26am UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/the-point-of-life-living/11076/189 "2024-09-23T03:26:52Z")
> [@mriana](#): > > Grandchildren or children I was thinking of them. I got a T shirt at the State Fair, it says “funcle, like a dad only more fun”. Really, seeing anyone go from birth to adulthood is an experience that helps make sense of the world. It’s not something you can put into words. I don’t mean friends your age, I mean after your over 20, watching the cycle begin again. ---
**Author:** ![write4u](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.centerforinquiry.org/write4u/32/23410_2.png) [@write4u](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/write4u)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2024, 3:45am UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/the-point-of-life-living/11076/190 "2024-09-23T03:45:31Z")
> [@mriana](#): > > Star Trek conventions! 😃 Make it so!.. ! 🚀 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/uploads/centerforinquiry/original/3X/0/6/0661af9865dbfbb9f515f64a739e239a20a6dcd5.png) ---
**Author:** ![inthedarkness](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.centerforinquiry.org/inthedarkness/32/23404_2.png) [@inthedarkness](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/inthedarkness)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2024, 5:19am UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/the-point-of-life-living/11076/191 "2024-09-23T05:19:43Z")
> [@lausten](#): > > Of course. You have nothing but tautologies. Stay out of trouble. Don’t work too hard. IT’s not really a tautology. The thing is we, by default, assume life has worth and value and that’s largely due to survival instinct. It’s so powerful that it does impact our thinking and as a result we tend to think life has worth and value to it. That’s the default. But break out of that thinking and you start to see that maybe that’s not the case, that maybe there is no real reason to keep this up and this survival drive just propels you onward for no reason. You survive, sure, but for what? No real reason. If anything you’re the one who has nothing but tautologies since everything you’ve said operates on the flawed assumption that life is worthwhile and anyone who says otherwise is wrong/sick. You point fails before it gets off the ground. ---
**Author:** ![inthedarkness](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.centerforinquiry.org/inthedarkness/32/23404_2.png) [@inthedarkness](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/inthedarkness)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2024, 5:20am UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/the-point-of-life-living/11076/192 "2024-09-23T05:20:33Z")
> [@mriana](#): > > Grandchildren or children if one isn’t old enough for grandchildren. A beautiful spring day. Pets. Nature watching. And of course… Star Trek conventions! 😃 Why would any of that be reasons for living? That sounds good if you HAVE to stay alive. Again all these arguments for going on only apply if you HAVE to stay alive, but you don’t. ---
**Author:** ![lausten](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.centerforinquiry.org/lausten/32/23705_2.png) [@lausten](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/lausten)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2024, 12:40pm UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/the-point-of-life-living/11076/193 "2024-09-23T12:40:01Z")
> [@inthedarkness](#): > > No real reason. What is a real reason? If there is no real reason, then you must have a notion of what a real reason is, so you know you don’t have one. ---
**Author:** ![mriana](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.centerforinquiry.org/mriana/32/18174_2.png) [@mriana](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/mriana)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2024, 12:48pm UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/the-point-of-life-living/11076/194 "2024-09-23T12:48:38Z")
> [@write4u](#): > > Make it so!.. ! Yup! I play a Betazoid and I have a blue uniform too. 😃 It’s a BLAST! ![1c08](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/uploads/centerforinquiry/original/3X/8/d/8da280e147d4fa33374e612c1785722a6eccdd57.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![mriana](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.centerforinquiry.org/mriana/32/18174_2.png) [@mriana](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/mriana)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2024, 1:10pm UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/the-point-of-life-living/11076/195 "2024-09-23T13:10:39Z")
> [@inthedarkness](#): > > Why would any of that be reasons for living? Maybe not for you, but me… It’s what makes life worth living. Star Trek even saved my life once, but you wouldn’t understand any of that because you want to die. I’ll have Q give you some hemlock. I don’t HAVE to stay alive. I WANT to stay alive. That’s why I take my thyroid medication every morning- because I want to live. If I didn’t want to live, I could just stop taking my medicine and die. That’s what happens when one has Hashimoto’s and don’t take their medicine- they die. But I want to live. Something else you don’t understand, So, Q will be willing to give you hemlock so you can off yourself. He’ll be by soon to give it to you. This isn’t the hemlock scene, but it’s still a good scene: [![](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/uploads/centerforinquiry/original/3X/0/c/0cb7620ee9c7eedfa3c019d530a4da0fadec01d9.jpeg "Commander Riker Onboard The USS VOYAGER") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyyMPIuXrqw) [![](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/uploads/centerforinquiry/original/3X/3/d/3d4ff292e2eb43ef1662bf7abaa80a0ffe74ead7.webp "Star Trek Voyager [2x18] Deathwish") ](https://vimeo.com/86252107) But go ahead and off yourself. Janeway said you can have mortality. Q will bring you some hemlock very soon. I’m done listening to you, because I’m very happy living, but do what you want. I don’t care. No skin off my back: [![](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/uploads/centerforinquiry/original/3X/d/8/d884910d176f22767c692002ec855290cba61c37.jpeg "Janeway the Judge and Jury | Q's Request | Star Trek: Voyager S02E18 'Death Wish' #shorts #startrek") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIqlWDsM25k) ---
**Author:** ![lausten](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.centerforinquiry.org/lausten/32/23705_2.png) [@lausten](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/lausten)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2024, 2:23pm UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/the-point-of-life-living/11076/196 "2024-09-23T14:23:30Z")
We watched the entire Deep Space Nine series. I was hoping for more from the “Dark Mirror” episode and the Bajoran priests. Those turned out to be more political than spiritual. We also watched Voyager’s last couple of seasons, back when you watched things on reruns on late-night TV. It’s never been my favorite series, but maybe I should try it out. ---
**Author:** ![inthedarkness](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.centerforinquiry.org/inthedarkness/32/23404_2.png) [@inthedarkness](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/inthedarkness)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2024, 3:20pm UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/the-point-of-life-living/11076/197 "2024-09-23T15:20:55Z")
> [@lausten](#): > > What is a real reason? If there is no real reason, then you must have a notion of what a real reason is, so you know you don’t have one. Some greater purpose or plan. But life just goes on to go on with no real goal or anything like that. It’s like a machine that keeps going unless stopped. ---
**Author:** ![inthedarkness](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.centerforinquiry.org/inthedarkness/32/23404_2.png) [@inthedarkness](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/inthedarkness)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2024, 3:23pm UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/the-point-of-life-living/11076/198 "2024-09-23T15:23:34Z")
> [@mriana](#): > > Maybe not for you, but me… It’s what makes life worth living. Star Trek even saved my life once, but you wouldn’t understand any of that because you want to die. You haven’t read this conversation. I said I don’t see a good reason to live if one doesn’t have to because in death we don’t have to do anything, even concern ourselves with joy or sadness. Your points are only valid if we have to live but we don’t. Also if Star Trek saved your life then it wasn’t much of a life to begin with. That sounds like a tenuous grip on existence. No wonder you’re so defensive about this and also why you don’t have any arguments and cling to the “illness” tag when people bring this up. It’s easy and makes it so you don’t have to think too much about it. ---
**Author:** ![mriana](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.centerforinquiry.org/mriana/32/18174_2.png) [@mriana](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/mriana)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2024, 4:12pm UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/the-point-of-life-living/11076/199 "2024-09-23T16:12:56Z")
My favourite series are TNG and VOY. VOY is a lot like Gene’s original concept for Star Trek. However, instead of the woman being the first officer, she was the captain. 😃 > [@inthedarkness](#): > > You haven’t read this conversation. Yes, I have read it, dear and I find your desire to die and refusing to listen to anyone else’s reasons to live appalling. Just because you want to die doesn’t mean everyone else should want to die. I don’t mind doing things. I like to do things. I like to live. > [@inthedarkness](#): > > Also if Star Trek saved your life then it wasn’t much of a life to begin with. OK you have no idea that Star Trek discusses the human condition a lot. You have no understanding of it and you don’t wish to understand. Gene, in his own way, was a secular minister of humanism and place many of the humanistic concepts in Star Trek. You have no right to decide what is much of a life or not. It’s not for you judge nor is it up to you to decide what is important to others or not important. That and you are full of sh\*\* and this is from a mod who is suppose to follow the rules. I’m being honest though. Personally, I’ve been wanting to ban your sorry butt, because it’s too depressing to be around. Why any of us keep responding to you, I don’t know. I still say we all need to stop replying to your lame depressing post and go on with life because your posts are not worth answering. Why any therapist is still working with your sorry butt I have no idea. Maybe to get money… Who knows. Better find a therapist who isn’t in for the money but rather to help others. Hopefully she’ll tell you to work on your depression or get the hell out of her office and not come back. To everyone else, apologize for my outburst, but someone had to say it because it’s not his place to decide what makes life worth living for others and gives them a life worth living. It’s not his place to do that for anyone else. ---
**Author:** ![write4u](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.centerforinquiry.org/write4u/32/23410_2.png) [@write4u](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/write4u)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2024, 4:58pm UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/the-point-of-life-living/11076/200 "2024-09-23T16:58:08Z")
> [@inthedarkness](#): > > I said I don’t see a good reason to live if one doesn’t have to because in death we don’t have to do anything, even concern ourselves with joy or sadness. Your points are only valid if we have to live but we don’t. No, this may sound correct to you, but it isn’t. Death is not relief of the burden of living. Death is the destruction of a complex organism and doesn’t result in “relief” (experience), but in “oblivion” (non-existence). The biochemistry that comprises your body will revert back to simpler biomolecules and become plant food (fertilizer) and plants thrive on fertilizer, so your death will promote plant growth and feed pollination insects which in turn will promote pollination and healthy plant growth. But you won’t be there to smell the roses. ---
**Author:** ![lausten](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.centerforinquiry.org/lausten/32/23705_2.png) [@lausten](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/lausten)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2024, 5:14pm UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/the-point-of-life-living/11076/201 "2024-09-23T17:14:21Z")
> [@inthedarkness](#): > > Some greater purpose or plan. How is a greater purpose different than inherent meaning? Someone a long time ago thought about going to the moon. I mean 100’s or thousands of years ago. They survived on that dream. In doing that, we’ve cured diseases, fed more of the population, and created the water park. That’s a great purpose. I can keep chasing your changing definitions, but I’ll warn you, quit telling people they aren’t thinking, or they don’t get it, or they are weak. We ban members who do that. [Previous page](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/the-point-of-life-living/11076.md?page=9) [Next page](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/the-point-of-life-living/11076.md?page=11)