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What's the point?

xisnotx

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Be thankful that you're not in some tribe that hasn't evolved in 40,000 years, and uses all of it's time scraping the bark off of trees, eating, sleeping, and repeating the process.

Hunter gatherer societies typically needed something like 4 hours (according to the history channel) to do what they needed to...and assuming they slept 8 hours...thats 12 hours of free time a day doing whatever. Times 7=84 hours of free time per week.

If you work eight hours a day*5+8 hours of sleep*7+2-3 hours of daily chores*7=40+56+14= 110. 7*24= 168. 168-110= 58 hours of free time a week.

So, yeah, who exactly is spending their time doing useless work?
 

Saslou

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What's the point?

Sometimes to jump high you need to dip first to generate the momentum.

:hug:
 

KDude

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Hunter gatherer societies typically needed something like 4 hours (according to the history channel) to do what they needed to...and assuming they slept 8 hours...thats 12 hours of free time a day doing whatever. Times 7=84 hours of free time per week.

If you work eight hours a day*5+8 hours of sleep*7+2-3 hours of daily chores*7=40+56+14= 110. 7*24= 168. 168-110= 58 hours of free time a week.

So, yeah, who exactly is spending their time doing useless work?

Some societies weren't even hunter gatherers. Like I said about scraping the bark off of trees, I'm not kidding! There's one tribe in Africa that really only has one crop available to them. They spend their days cultivating it - and unlike other societies that had crops that could be stored for later use, this crop spoils quickly. So these people are in constant toil and eating mode. They have to eat this stuff quickly, sleep, and resume work. They have no time to kick back and think of much else. All of their energy is placed in working one crop. And all that energy comes from one crop. And they haven't evolved as fast other humans, in different locales with different resources.

edit: That all said, from what I've seen (which is extremely limited), they seemed content.
 

Mole

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The Calculus of Distinctions

The point is there aint no point.

We are hard wired to find the shortest distance between two points.

We can see this physically in 'animal tracks', for no matther how well a site is designed, we find little worn pathways over the lawns as the shortest distance between two points.

Also we are hard wired to find the shortest distance between us and food, us and love, us and creativity, us and sex, us and money, us and status, us and fame.

All we need to do it to find the two points and our neurons will do the rest.

And the two points are a distinction. We distinguish between one point and another then move between them and back. We follow the calculus of distinctions.
 

Rasofy

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Good news for you:
You get to design the point. How amazing is that? (don't answer)
 

FunnyDigestion

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Also we are hard wired to find the shortest distance between us and food, us and love, us and creativity, us and sex, us and money, us and status, us and fame.

All we need to do it to find the two points and our neurons will do the rest.

I feel like I'm listening to someone tell an inappropriate story when I'm up past my bedtime. Were you talking to me??
 

Elfa

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I don't believe there is any predetermined point in life. Although, you have the possibility to give your life your own point (like most people in this thread is saying).

Still, the sugestion of mourning your loss of a point seems a good point. Why not mourning? The lost of a point is a loss of an idea, it's a loss of something that was important for you. Even if you can't touch it.

I've mourned for a lost idea and I felt better after a time. And took a lesson from the experience. Well, a TV show helped me with that, but that's another story. Maybe you could give yourself some time? Why not being nice to yourself and letting you just feel for a while, when you think about your point or lack of it?

But anyway,

My point is trying to be a good person, learn a lot and maybe help other people with what I learnt. Something like that. I've had some people telling me I always seem fine and happy too, but sometimes I do feel sad. Some weeks ago I felt kinda empty thinking about the point of friendship. I still don't have a satisfactory answer, but I'm ok with that for now.

I'm curious about you depressing, cynical rant. :p
 

Beorn

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On some level we all sense happiness is the point. It is only natural in life that we are drawn to the good, beautiful, and true and to find happiness in those things. I believe those three things are not just words that represent subjective value judgments, but inherent characteristics that exist in reality. God necessarily being the summum bonum, the highest good, it is therefore the highest level of happiness to enjoy God.

A person can pursue lesser goods, but I'm afraid that they will find such pursuit to be vanity. A quick assessment of the previous posts only affirms my belief that there is little difference between creating a purpose and there not being a purpose.

So I would suggest that the point is to enjoy the God who is there.
 

Mole

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On some level we all sense happiness is the point.

The pursuit of happiness is merely the point of one country. Others pursue learning. Others pursue honour.

And the point is there is no happiness without unhappiness. They are two sides of the same coin.
 

Beorn

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The pursuit of happiness is merely the point of one country. Others pursue learning. Others pursue honour.

You're right.

Why did those other cultures choose to pursue learning and/or honour instead of happiness?
 

Stigmata

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I was once asked by a member if I ever got depressed, because I always seem so happy. No, I'm not, and right now is one of those moments.

What's the point of it all? Life? Relationships? Before I go into some depressing, cynical rant, I want to hear other perspectives.

Objectively speaking, there's no point to anything; Life has no objective meaning. It simply is. However, the purpose is to use your allotted time to derive some level of meaning to the your existence, which is something which can and usually even be done on the most simplistic level (be it something as trivial as the sensory; indulging in taste, enhancing one's skill set, building a family/legacy)
 

FunnyDigestion

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what isnt the point?

my submission:

[YOUTUBE="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymKLymvwD2U&ob=av3e"]whipping hair[/YOUTUBE]

I don't think whipping hair is the point. People are disagreeing, but I'm holding firm to this.
 

citizen cane

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I think that Aristotle's assessment is correct- happiness is perhaps the only end in itself.





That being said, life has no inherent meaning. You must create meaning or come to terms with this being a meaningless existence.
 

Munchies

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Even happiness is fleeting. And notice, while we are pursuing happiness, we are unhappy. So the very pursuit of happiness causes unhappiness.

a duality of nature. The pushing for happiness personifies what is unhappy about your current life, maybe. But everything can be evolved until near perfection, and then evolved some more, since a state of absolute perfection is complety subjective goal (and the nature of nature is infinite in both - and + direction so you can keep constructing for happiness until infinity), you can always reach for something more. When trying to attain the happiness, keep your thoughts relative to the happiness and the law of attraction will naturally make you happy.
 

King sns

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I'm not really sure how to answer that question, Antimony.
However, I feel that this kind of circular downward spiraling thinking that leads to the question "What's the point?" is probably ...
what's the word? ...
Seems to be indicative of a mentally unhealthy state overall.
I think happy minds seem to have blocks in them that prevent them from even caring or answering with something broad.
"The point is to make a point!" or "There is no point!" or. "God!" (Moves on with their lives.)
I'm not saying, "don't ask that question!"
I just think that for whatever reason it is emotionally unnatural or difficult for brains to take on that question.
Unless you are doing it for some academic/ intellectual purpose in which case there will never be a set answer... You have to convince yourself of a set answer.... You have to believe in something. (Even if the "belief" of "something" to believe in "nothing.") Or just be open to many possibilities of what "something" is.



I for one tend to spiral down that path only when very depressed, otherwise I can happily glaze over and think of something else.
 
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