What is this all about ?

Depends where you're coming from....

The Eastern philosophy (as much as I've skimmed through) is that your purpose is to enjoy your life. Sure, there are "rules" and "thou-shalt-nots," but the premise is that your job is to enjoy your existence.
I loved reading that and have taken it to heart!!

I'd lie if I said I didn't wish I had the brain of Isac Newton or the skill to make some amazing contribution to the Earth before my time is up.....but the few readings I've done (and boy, I need a lot more on this subject), the crux of it is do no harm and enjoy your existence.

Hoping you find what you need :-)

Life is about living.
Life is about getting up in the morning.
Life is not fair and that's not a bad thing. Just the truth.
Life is about changes.
Life is about where I am right now.

Actually, life is about enjoying the ride. :)



My opinion anyway.

It's all about the hokey-pokey.

Life is about relationships. Allowing others to have meaningful input into our lives and trying to do the same.

Life is a test; a lifelong test to get you to notice the truth that is "hiding in plain sight". What is that truth? That you have "no place to go", because, "wherever you go, there you are". It's all you, baby. Every shred of reality you know occurs--ultimately-- within your brain. When you sit on a chair, it's your brain that constructs the "reality" of a firm resistance against your backside... You are not feeling the chair itself... the ding an sich. This means that you have to work out your reality on your own, basically, right here in the Now Moment. This entails a life filled with learning and forgiveness, and attempting to integrate and understand every iota of person, place and thing that makes itself appparent in your sphere of awareness. It's simultaneously the easiest-- and most challenging-- task you will ever have in your life. Truth be told, it's the ONLY task you have in your life. Truly, it requires time; our rush-rush-rush society is basically our cowardly attempt to dispense with true learning and forgiveness. It requires recognizing the myriad desires and addictions you have, and taking responsibility for them, not blaming them on other people.

Gnothi seauton!

Dear David,

You rock.

Hugs,

Ruby

What do want a college disertation? Is there a short answer to this VAST question? Gotta go with CV on this one. I can't believe it........but........

Great answers, especially (as always) from David.

Personally, the only thing I really know about life is that it will be over soon

Truly, it requires time; our rush-rush-rush society is basically our cowardly attempt to dispense with true learning and forgiveness.
Gnothi seauton!
[/quote]


David -

I tend to agree with you about the rush-rush-rush that our society seems to be in.
I always want to ask those people - What are you running from? Kids don't even have time to be kids anymore with all the "structured" activities their parents put them in. ((kind of off topic)) One of my friends has her child (he's 12) taking 2 language classes outside of school - chinese and spanish. He's also taking violin and piano and is he is involved in some type of sport. They are always in a rush. She becomes a nervous wreck when the activities come to a close and then she's in a rush looking to fill in the empty spaces with other activities.

On the other hand, I am a slow-mo person by nature. They probably wonder what's wrong with me. I'll get there when I get there and that really bugs some people.

Dawn

Life is a rug--more of a carpet really.

Love reading all the answers.

I'll assume you were asking what the Life board is about rather than what is Life - the eternal question ... The Life board is where you put everything that is not directly about Perfume, Music, Celebs/Art/Books or Food ;>)

What leads you to ask?

Hey Glo! Rumor has it that satan is trying desperately to get space heaters sent down... ;D

What's it all about Alfie?


Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do.

Life passes by in the twinkling of an eye, and we never seem to have enough time to do it all...
And...really...the most important thing, IMHO, is being good to others...and letting those we hold dear...know it.
While we can.
I ponder these kinds of things often.
Nothing that I *own* really means anything to me, when it comes to thinking about my family and friends...and those who are no longer here...
Any good memory I have revolves around people and pets...not even places or things.
I am not quite thrilled that my youth is gone...and I'm passing the torch to my son and his contemporaries...but...c'est la vie.
Now...I have to get used to being the grandmother (soon, I hope!)...and one of the ones on her way out.
That doesn't mean I want to stop savoring those good moments -- moments that FLY by -- before the play of my life is over.
For me, life is about love. Giving. Receiving. And learning to love yourself.

What do you want it to be about?

I don't know. I do have a feeling, however, that our very ability to ask the question is important for the way we live.

Impossible for me to answer this question without referring to God, so ...

I believe it's about loving God with all our heart, soul, and might; and loving our neighbor as ourselves.

Hope that's general enough for this board. If not, please feel free to delete.

Donna, I think you're on to something here...

Donna,

That was the exact same answer my husband gave when I posed the topic question to him. :)

Dawn

Life is about loving and enjoying God and all his gifts, and doing all the good we can.

It's about making certain that the world is a better place because you were in it.

Life is a gift.

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." Jim Elliot

Yes it is impossible to answer seriously without God in it which is why I answered such a light hearted no answer answer.

This question is way too weighty to discuss on venue.

That question is not possible to answer on this Forum, and without knowing you. Just my opinion.

For me personally, life's about a journey.

Click to view attachment

Some snowy night, before a crackling fire . . .

Life is a highway and I want to ride it all night long : )

I'm not even sure I want to know what it's all about... All I know is that the day it ends, I don't want to feel as though I wasted it.

Wonderful reply, David I'm copying it to refer to later. I also like how you bring the biological compenent into your answer:-)

I wish I knew the answer to this question. Some part of what I've got so far is that we are here to connect and help each other. Unfortuantly, what I've noticed is that in many conversations of any depth, often people just "check out" after seven seconds. Has life in the US become so fast paced that people have such a short attention span? It's dissapointing, really. I'd love to just get together with others for coffee/tea and ponder, but noone seems to have the desire or the time!

As far as people with their overscheduled kiddies, I can only comment as an observer. My take on this is these parents are panicked that if they don't give their children every opportunity/experience possible, they could miss the next Mozart/Sports star/Economic mogel etc, in their offspring. With the world so competitve, they are trying to ensure their children come out on top. Time will tell if this is successful or just leads to early burnout.

"Life... is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing."

--From Macbeth (V, v, 19)

Seriously, I think it is a journey, upon which we are to learn and to help others as much as possible. And what is learned and experienced is profoundly different for each individual.

It's like a box of chocolates.

I'm with Macbeth.. cannot figure out any particular purpose or meaning.

Of course somebody had to mention the religious angle. *rolls eyes*

That maybe how SOME people feel, but that is not how EVERYBODY feels, so no, *it* is not about god, that''s only a part of it for some.
And I challenge ANYONE here to prove that those who don't have religion in their life and don't give a fig about any god on the planet, do not have and enjoy as full lives as those who do.
Give me a break, here.

I have a very philosophical answer that only our greek members here will "get" sadly.....

"I zoi einai ena aggouri: allos to troei kai drosizetai ki allos to troei kai zorizetai."

if we genuinely believe we can make sense of LIfe, let 's be civilized first and foremost, no BS, we must fight injustice towards the weakest, the poors, the animals, we must think the world and universe are in us, we cannot tolerate war, death penalty, we must stop the competitive mentality, our selfishness, we must reach out and share.
Life is about love, unconditionally.

Yeah, that'll be the day... LOL.
Especially when you consider the scores of people who are absolutely sure that their belief system gives them a higher IQ and a sense of entitlement, swear to the contrary but act as if anyone who feels differently than they do simply doesn't know any better.

Crush intolerance, I say! ;D

I can't really answer that question with my personal point of view without bringing my religious beliefs into it, but I will say this: while I think that life is a gift, I have also known people in my life, for whom life was an enormous burden and seemed ill-suited to traverse this terrestial plane. So do I think their lives were a gift, to them? No. I don't think I would say that for every person ever born. There are some lives others have had been dealt, that I know I would not want to live. I believe there is a reason and a purpose, but this life is like "seeing through a glass, darkly...," and I can't begin to know what the reasons were. I don't think this life, is it; it is a mystery that will be revealed, later.

BTW, is that Beatrice Dalle in your avatar Uella?

Moderator's Note:
7. Avoid Politics and Religion, with the exception of blogs.
Content specifically dedicated to the discussion of politics and religion will be deleted. Forum threads containing a mild discourse of politics and religion as an aside to the specific topic will be tolerated as long as personal attacks toward members are not involved.

Thank you Demetrue.

And noone got personal, so I guess we're cool.

A teacher I knew used to always say, "Life is a pain factory." Another one used to say, "Life is a meat-grinder." Another one said, "Life is a rock tumbler where we knock off each other's rough edges." Someone else I respect says, "Life is where we learn to seek truth and give love."

hey yes! it s Beatrice Dalle
I love her bad attitude, I saw her the other day on the french channel, behind the tough facade there is a person with great sensibility even shy.
Her ex boyfriend Joey Star (french rapper) dumped her and while filming inside a prison out of the blue she married a detainee that was early last year.

My husband has an old, super old tshirt with a pic of Zippy - the - Pinhead on it.
It says "All life is a blur of republicans and meat"... Go figure. But most people who see it, crack up, though.

No one was proselytizing or even trying to stir up a debate about religion, on this thread.
Personal answers were given, and God was mentioned several times.
No rambling posts about religion. Just short and sweet personal comments...and some mentioned they couldn't post their answers because it would violate the rules of the board.

I asked my husband the question, and his response was, "Life's a bitch, and then you die."
Hmmmm.
I guess that's par for the course with all he's seen in the past year...

Where is Deep Marine?

I couldn 't agree more with your husband, all I expect from Life is to get the most of it until it 's my time, I understand Death is part of Life and the most I can expect when dead is to rot under beautiful flowers! I think it 's quite a positive, realistic and beautiful image isn 't it?

Good question.

love

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@deep marine: i hope you're well, would you mind telling us what made you open this thread?
@ helg: would you mind translating the greek sentence?
@uella: you should see 'Betty Blue', 'Clubbed to death' and 'Sabba, the witch', if you like her... i love her, too.

I love the answers. No need to be snippy. No one is trying to say they are one better.

There was a quote at Curves this morning something like this: If you are following your bliss, then you are living the life you are supposed to be. Joseph Campbell

Then I googled and found this: http://www.patriciasimpson.com/bliss.html

Following your bliss isn't necessarily selfish. It may be the only way you can be authentic/be authentically yourself. And it isn't necessarily easy.

It led me to China and to my two youngest children and out of deep, deep, deep grief. Would my life be easier without them? I'm sure. I might still be grieving. I would not be living the life I'm living or helping the folks I'm helping...and yeah it was easier 10 yrs ago.

When my mother died, I asked a lot of questions like this. It goes with the territory. I believe in life after death, that our mothers live on and that we will see them again.

I don't know that it is possible to know all that life is about. Maybe that is part of life itself, the questioning and the wonder. I think we can make life what it becomes, insofar as we are able. Look for the good, claim it. Strive for happiness each day. Think of others. Do something good for yourself everyday. Do something everyday for someone else. Read. Listen to music (bring music into your life.) Try to be childlike: look at the flowers, see the interesting bug on the path.

My heart is with yours. Check in! You're not alone.