04-17-2016, 10:53 PM | #1 |
Caffeinated
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Do We Live Only To Avoid Suffering?
So this is being written rather spur of the moment and I'll probably live to regret posting it as it's likely stupid but sense when has that stopped me?
——————————————— Recently just now I had a mental conversation with myself trying to understand why suicide is a thing (even outside of humanity) when in theory the goal of all things is to survive and and spread with suicide going completely against the former by personally ending ones own survival. But then the idea struck me: Maybe the living don't hold survival as a base desire but rather TO AVOID SUFFERING. Thinking deeper every part of humanities general way of life seems to convene on this one thing. We eat to avoid feeling hungry, we stay safe to avoid pain, we breed/make friends/seek partnership to surround ourselves with those we think might further us in this goal. We even seek leaders and Gods to put or feel like there is this extra layer of protection both from external sources and our own error. If all that is true then perhaps suicide is mearly the action taken when something or someone sees life itself as suffering and seeks to escape it. If you made it this far please share your thoughts.
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04-17-2016, 11:03 PM | #2 |
ROASTY ROASTY
Join Date: Feb 2014
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I personally agree with your sentiments, Zelphy, in that we as humans pursue the avoidance of suffering. We've seen countless wars in history where the goal is "end the suffering of our people + reclaim what should be ours + etc." The harsh reality of that is that we impart suffering upon others to end our own suffering. It's a really vicious cycle.
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04-17-2016, 11:58 PM | #3 |
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I've always thought that the meaning of life for any atheist should be to maximize pleasure while minimizing suffering. Therefore, if suffering far outweighs the pleasure, and the person sees no way that they can fix this situation, suicide is the best option.
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04-18-2016, 12:06 AM | #4 | |
我が名は勇者王!
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Life doesn't have meaning. It is. Meaning is a human concept ascribed to "stuff". You basically have to assign your own meaning to life.
Suicide, to me, looks like something that only occurs in higher-cognates, especially humans. In fact, it pretty much only happens in humans, which suggests to me it's sapience overriding the biological imperative to survive. I know that people who consider suicide are either not aware of the value of their life (are very young) or their awareness of that value is clouded (usually by things like emotion). I know of a case where a girl tried to kill herself via OD because she was dumped by her boyfriend. I don't want to put it like this, but as a child living to me was closer to a "video game" awareness in the sense I was rarely aware of my own mortality. Like the person who grows up in peacetime and craves war, that naiivety would cause people to underestimate their own value of living. Quote:
... As an aside, I think suffering/pain is far more integral to life than the opposite. You feel, you are constantly reminded that you are alive. Lack of sensation is closer to death.
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