If not 42, the meaning of life is …
You may have a Tim Tam for almost encapsulating the major Aussie life perspective.
I say ‘almost’ because there needs to be a extra box: Number three should be 'Go to footy ', THEN FUCK. Aussies have a well developed sense of life’s priorities. (this becomes more apparent as one ages) 
We all say that life is sacred.
All love life.
Everyone says that once we die, we’ll go to heaven but no one wants to die.
Scientific definition of Life is – capacity for growth, functional activity, and continual change until death.
All fear death.
Once one of my friends asked me that is it possible that we become immortal.
It made me think of a story which I heard somewhere.
The story goes like this.
Once somebody told Alexander that there is a waterfall, which has water of immortality.
Alexander sent his army to search for it.
After years of search the army found the waterfall in a cave.
Alexander told his army to stand guard around the cave so that no one other than him can go in. When Alexander went in and was about to drink the water, he heard a voice that said “Please drink the water only after listening to me”. He saw around and saw that it was a pigeon speaking. Seeing a talking pigeon stunned him. The pigeon told him that he drank the water of the waterfall Millions of years back. He said that he was very happy at that time. The pigeon did everything he ever wanted to. When he has done all, he found newer things and even did many things which pigeons can’t even imagine doing, as he was immortal.
He soon got exhausted & then did almost everything that was possible. He understood everything he possibly can but then he was exhausted and wanted to die. He tried everything from drowning to burning but he can’t die, as he was immortal.
He said that at this moment he was very sad & couldn’t enjoy anything, as he knows that he’ll never die.
Alexander threw away the water & ran towards the opening of the cave to never return. He even got the waterfall buried so that no one should suffer.
It should be very clear by now that it is immortality that is more fearful than death. The fear of death drives us daily. Have you ever thought that why humans want there own children?? It may not be the most important reason, but one of it is fear of death. Every human being knows from the core of his heart that he’ll die one day. And the constant urge of immortality leaves him with no other alternative but to live his name through his children.
There is nothing to fear from death.
It is because of death that we enjoy everything we do.
Death is such a thing that’ll relieve all the suffering.
Death is also as sacred as life.
The null hypothesis is that death is the end of life. Once the brain stops functioning and the bodily remains have started decomposing, life for that organism is no more (unless you count functioning as a food resource for bacteria, fungi and scavengers). Claiming anything else require evidence. What is your evidence?
Since you state this so categorically, I must assume you have strong evidence. So bring on the evidence.
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In other threads we have discussed what living forever entails, and I do agree that after a few billion years boredom would prevail. And the christian notion of heaven would be pure torture? Have any christians really thought it through? Spend eternity just on your knees praising a god?
People are driven to reproduce, that is built into us genetically. But many of us grow up being told and conditioned to believe one goal in life is to have a family to love.
Personally, I do not fear death. Of course I still want to live and will fight for that privilege, but death does not occupy my mind that much, not as much as many theists who cower in fear because they continually refer to death.
The problem is that religion has been so pervasive, we must separate what is truly innate in us, and what has been conditioned to us by our culture.
One good example is old movies. Watch any 60’s are Doris Day movie (just one of many examples) and it was automatically assumed that a woman had to be married. Spring forward to the present, and in my society, that pressure on every female to get married has been lifted.
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Although I tend to agree, there does not seem to be a broad consensus on that view.
Seems to me that it’s younger people who want to live forever. Hence the [to me] rather absurd practice of cryogenics. Freezing one’s head?
People who want to live forever seem make some unfounded assumptions.EG That those they love will also be immortal and that being immortal means being always young.
Asa practical proposition, immortality would need to be restricted to prevent human beings from breeding us to extinction by starvation.
I’m 73, I don’t want to live forever. I’ll be happy with another 5 years of lucidity and reasonably good health. Of course I’m afraid of dying, the thought terrifies me. This fear is instinctive. Not afraid of being dead as it’s not an experience, there is literally nothing to fear.***
***I don’t know that as a fact. Neither does anyone else. Nothingness seems the most reasonable and rational position. I mean, so far in recorded history no one has been able to demonstrate the existence of a god, any god. To me, that’s probably because there are no gods.
Having said that IF it turns out God is real and he’s the monster YHWH of the Torah, I’m fucked. IF he’s the compassionate, gentle Jesus meek and mild of my Catholic mother, I’ll be fine.
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If you haven’t seen it, I recommend this film;
Jesus Christ, did you need to write us a tome? You have no proof there even is a soul, much less that our souls will burn in hell for one day for disagreeing with you.
Sorry man, you’re preaching to the wrong crowd.
Interesting aphorism.
Socrates allegedly said “the unexamined life is not worth living”
Here Campello and Socrates are each full of shit. (imo)
“Many aphorisms have the interesting quality of making their author seem ignorant, arrogant and stupid simultaneously.” (Tarquin St John Shagnasty)
My response to each of the two cited above is “if ignorance is bliss, t’is folly to be wise” (anon)
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There is a famous apocryphal story about a missionary and a tribesman in the remote New Guinea Highlands:
After politely listening to the missionary for several days, the tribesman asks:
"What if you had never come here and I died without hearing your stories. Would I go to heaven or to hell?
Missionary, proudly " God is so compassionate that you would go straight to heaven!"
Tribesman: “Then why didn’t you leave us alone?”
A good question for all arrogant, proselytising ignoramuses. 
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Spiritual bread? What the fuck? As a former catholic your novella was a complete waste of time and I’ll never get the time it took me to read it back. I’ve come to realize that I’ve been an atheist my entire life, even when I took communion and was confirmed as a child, I didn’t believe any of it then, and I sure as hell don’t now. Does this alone condemn me to hell?
I didn’t think it was possible for one person to be full of so much shit that they could compose something that long, and still be wrong about everything. Congratulations, you win the prize for the biggest waste of my time.
Next time I’ll know better.
NON SERVIAM.
That would be torture. My idea of death would be better. Which I can describe as nonexistence before we’re conceived in the womb. I don’t remember ever being conceived or having been born. Why would I remember anything after when I die. Which is referred to as Eternal Oblivion.
Blockquote Contemporary scientists Steven Pinker and Sean Carroll assert that death is equivalent to eternal oblivion, as science finds no mechanism to continue consciousness after death.
But yeah. Heaven sounds like a miserable nursing home for the dead.
Just so. Death is an experience for many/most people and can be excruciating.
I’m pretty sure that being dead isn’t an experience. There is probably literally nothing to fear. Now I can’t demonstrate my opinion is true. Neither can anyone prove it is not.
Exactly. The process of dying, i.e. the direct causes leading to death, like having your lungs filled with water so you are unable to breathe and having your entire body and your mind singularly focused on it being denied oxygen, being injured with extreme pain (whether due to an accident or due to torture) and dying from the trauma, etc. would be the excruciating part.
There is no credible evidence for “the dead” lingering here, in the form of ghosts/whatever. If such a thing as a ghost or a soul or whatver you call it could interact with us and tell us something, this means some sort of interaction and it would be measurable in some way. Therefore we must be able to detect it with objective measurements and the proper equipment and protocols. Despite all the advances in the sciences and electronics and sensor technology, this hasn’t happened. Yet. So if there is such a thing as an afterlife, it is remarkably elusive to have such a grasp of popular and religious ideas about what happens after death.
Further, given the fact that thought processes and conciousness is very closely linked to a working brain, and therefore to a big, complicated network of interacting neurons, here is very little reason to attribute conciousness/thought processes to other agencies than the brain and its normal functioning. If the brain is upset, like with a powerful enough blow, you get knocked out unconcious. An elusive thing like a soul (whatever that may be) that supposedly survives even the most violent death should not be upset by such simple physical trauma. Thus, given what we know about biology today, there is very little reason to believe there is such a thing as a “soul” that can survive death in an afterlife (whatever that may be).
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It’d be nice if we could clear up what happens when we die. I’m so sick of the mess of superstitious beliefs polluting the subject of it. Well. I want to believe in the idea that there’s nothing after and it’s all Eternal Oblivion. So until Heaven or Valhalla is proven with irrefutable evidence. I’m just going to do that proudly.
My mom had a drowning experience when she was young.
She did relate the initial panic and fight to NOT breath in water (terrifying) BUT her body could resist only so long and she did. She said at that point she completely relaxed, felt at peace, began to see beautiful vivid colors and felt “more alive” (in this internal mind state).
She was obviously rescued and resuscitated.
I was with you until you started into an argumentum ad ignorantiam fallacy.
That said I have absolutely no reason to believe I can survive my physical death in any meaningful way. As someone pointed out, my consciousness did not exist prior to my birth, and my brains physical functions starting.
Indeed.
From Hamlet’s soliloquy :
"----When he himself might his quietus make*
With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered country from whose bourn
No traveler returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?------"
This is one of the few things the JW’s actually got right(when it comes to Death, anyway)… you simply cease to exist, you feel nothing after that.
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No idea but how do you know all these craps?
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Wow, I’d forgotten about this annoying preachy nutjob, so I count 5 unevidenced assertions in that first sentence. Can anyone beat that?
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I spy with my little eye…a word salad
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