What's the difference between living and being alive?

[LightSun]

What's the difference between living and being alive?

 

[Lark]

Personally I think its a question of how closely your existence reflects your essence, which I'd wager for most people is not exactly that much, if they've ever thought about it never mind anything else.

 

[Typh0n]

"Being". That seems to be the main difference, not sure there is one beyond that but that's already big enough.

 

[biohazard]

I see "being alive" as just allowing things to be as they are. The person is just allowing themselves to experience, perhaps they go through moments of apathy. You are outside of it and do not participate.

I see "living" as actually experiencing. Relishing within the moment, accepting or changing it.... finding meaning or reflection. What have you. You are within it.. and actively participating.

 

[Typh0n]

I see "being alive" as just allowing things to be as they are. The person is just allowing themselves to experience, perhaps they go through moments of apathy. You are outside of it and do not participate.

I see "living" as actually experiencing. Relishing within the moment, accepting or changing it.... finding meaning or reflection. What have you. You are within it.. and actively participating.

I had understood the OP had meant it the other way around...like "being alive" was superior to "living"...kinda like "living" would be superior to "surviving". I guess I was off.

 

[Lark]

"Being". That seems to be the main difference, not sure there is one beyond that but that's already big enough.

What sources have you considered on that point?

Is it "being" in a stoical sense, ie a form of quietism, or is life "training for an afterlife" or prelude to an afterlife or do you mean in a sense of prefiguring something, whether its an afterlife or final stage/end of history/end stage as posited by monotheism or secular equivalents like marxism, just substitute revolution for messiah, return of the prophet, return of Jesus.

 

[Lark]

I see "being alive" as just allowing things to be as they are. The person is just allowing themselves to experience, perhaps they go through moments of apathy. You are outside of it and do not participate.

I see "living" as actually experiencing. Relishing within the moment, accepting or changing it.... finding meaning or reflection. What have you. You are within it.. and actively participating.

I think this makes sense, its very similar to Bertrand Russell's conclusions in The Conquest of Happiness, which is one of a few books which I think are genuinely wise.

 

[Typh0n]

What sources have you considered on that point?

Is it "being" in a stoical sense, ie a form of quietism, or is life "training for an afterlife" or prelude to an afterlife or do you mean in a sense of prefiguring something, whether its an afterlife or final stage/end of history/end stage as posited by monotheism or secular equivalents like marxism, just substitute revolution for messiah, return of the prophet, return of Jesus.

"Being" in an ontological sense, out of the examples you cite probably training for an afterlife of sorts. I could also existensialism, though I don't think that really does it justice, since for example Sarte, though I've only read excerpts, was mainly focused on man in his social context, in relation to what we choose to be and how we are shaped by our choices...I see being more as something metaphysical, so I am more in the tradition of Plato, Plotinus and the Hermetics.

 

[draon9]

living is basically you are just there going with the motions. Alive is actually enjoying life to the fullest and what it has to offer

 

[equinoxx]

Living; Existing. Doing what needs to be done.
Being alive; Living life to the fullest. Taking opportunities as they come. Being aware of yourself, other people, and your surroundings.

 

[Madboot]

Being alive is merely not being dead. You're living when you can look back and not feel regret over lost opportunities.

 

[Obfuscate]

the phrasing... this is just one of those carpe diem, be the change, grab life by the horns theories that won't change your life... you are either ready to get up off your ass and take responsibility for your own agency or you aren't... we're all alive, living, being, etc to more or less the same extent... some people have an internal spark that increases or decreases the significance that they feel, but in the end you and everything you do will return to the place it came from (and to be honest it makes no difference if you think of that as a physical or spiritual statement)... if calling it one thing over another makes the ride more pleasant, by all means feel free to do so...

 

[sLiPpY]

Living is purely subjective, there are no right or wrong answers. Being alive? It's rooted in the energetic experience of love, some of us are already there/here.

 

[nor]

Literally, no difference; the question, to me, seems to appeal to an intuition that differentiates the two ("being alive" and "living") in a manner similar to, say, "savoring" and "tasting". A paramecium's undulation as opposed to an olympic runner's sprint toward the finishing line.

I wonder what triggers this response. I posit that it arises out of how the phrasing is perceived, which to me suggests an intended distinction similar to the (definitional) one between the abovementioned terms; so language and therefore culture dependent, of course. Perhaps it's the approximation of a certain kind of platitude's form, such as: "[...] and that's the difference between a boy and a man" -- contingent upon whatever aesthetic ideal.

--

Living is purely subjective, there are no right or wrong answers. Being alive? It's rooted in the energetic experience of love, some of us are already there/here.

Is being alive superior to "merely living"?

 

[Stigmata]

What's the difference between living and being alive?

Semantics and subjective interpretation.

Whether you choose to occupy your days masturbating to the point of dehydration in your mother's dimly lit black-mold riddled basement until you're 40, or choose to skii off the Rocky Mountains and do all sorts of extreme SP shit, it ultimately doesn't make a difference as both roads lead to the same location. Live has been coming and going for an indeterminate amount of time, and for the foreseeable future the trend appears that it will continue, so pick your poison for the limited time you have available to you.

To "Experience" is a subjective concept and doesn't exist without a living context, so do what you feel you can derive value (in whatever form it presents itself, I guess) from and carry on.

 

[Lark]

Semantics and subjective interpretation.

Whether you choose to occupy your days masturbating to the point of dehydration in your mother's dimly lit black-mold riddled basement until you're 40, or choose to skii off the Rocky Mountains and do all sorts of extreme SP shit, it ultimately doesn't make a difference as both roads lead to the same location. Live has been coming and going for an indeterminate amount of time, and for the foreseeable future the trend appears that it will continue, so pick your poison for the limited time you have available to you.

To "Experience" is a subjective concept and doesn't exist without a living context, so do what you feel you can derive value (in whatever form it presents itself, I guess) from and carry on.

I kind of think that's existentialist drivel and it always, ALWAYS involves the validation of the mediocre, or abjectly abysmal and perverse even.

Never once have I heard someone proclaim some sort of sneering, clever nihilism and subjectivism and proclaim "therefore, lets make it a greater, far greater life of accomplishment than ever imagined possible", while it was meant to involve the proclaiming of the uber mensch, all that its ever actually resulted in was the ever lasting age of the unter mensch.

I think its why when given the suspicion of its validity for long enough even the dullest individual comes to embracing some sort of absolutely ludicrous absolutist idea or ideology, the crazier the better most of the time.

 

[nor]

"therefore, lets make it a greater, far greater life of accomplishment than ever imagined possible"

"therefore, lets make it a greater, far greater life of accomplishment than ever imagined possible, as defined by your objective standards of greatness, as derived from whatever culturally artefactual ideal of a life well lived" -- better? Eh, redundant.

Never once have I heard someone proclaim some sort of sneering, clever nihilism and subjectivism and proclaim "therefore, lets make it a greater, far greater life of accomplishment than ever imagined possible"

Your anecdotal arguments being indicative of a deficit in the philosophy, rather than the individuals with whom you've interacted (or both, you'll say?), who according to you ought to strive toward "greatness and accomplishment", as objectively defined? I mean, all of that being predicated upon a flawed understanding of whatever existentialist what-have-you is being referred to, anyway.

all that its ever actually resulted in was the ever lasting age of the unter mensch.

Those who dared defy (Survive & Stay Free's notion of) greatness; how grateful am I for *that* kind of greatness, I have to say.

I think its why when given the suspicion of its validity for long enough even the dullest individual comes to embracing some sort of absolutely ludicrous absolutist idea or ideology, the crazier the better most of the time.

Better for?

Also, in this thread's first page, you mentioned the individual's so-called essence -- how would you characterize this essence? I presume you believe it intrinsic? How could one's existence contrast their essence?

 

[sLiPpY]

Literally, no difference; the question, to me, seems to appeal to an intuition that differentiates the two ("being alive" and "living") in a manner similar to, say, "savoring" and "tasting". A paramecium's undulation as opposed to an olympic runner's sprint toward the finishing line.

I wonder what triggers this response. I posit that it arises out of how the phrasing is perceived, which to me suggests an intended distinction similar to the (definitional) one between the abovementioned terms; so language and therefore culture dependent, of course. Perhaps it's the approximation of a certain kind of platitude's form, such as: "[...] and that's the difference between a boy and a man" -- contingent upon whatever aesthetic ideal.

--


Is being alive superior to "merely living"?

Many things can be learned from merely living, so for myself being alive wouldn't consider superior.

 

[nor]

Many things can be learned from merely living, so for myself being alive wouldn't consider superior.

So, just to be clear: Does the question of how to be alive have an objective answer?

 

[sLiPpY]

So, just to be clear: Does the question of how to be alive have an objective answer?

I don't believe so...