My Meaning of Life II
Ok, just one more post from me... Iain got me thinking with his "meaning of life" post. At one point Iain wrote,
Anyhow, like Iain, I'd like to share my "interpretation" of life, although I'm not sure how well I can communicate it. Last year I took Physics 190 at SFU, Astronomy. Let me tell you, learning about the vastness of the universe--how stars are born, solar systems formed, and so forth--was so incredibly humbling. On the grand scale of the universe we are utterly insignificant. Our individual lives, Earth, our solar system, even our galaxy (which is huge by the way) are all inconsequential 'specs' in the vast emptiness of space. And to top it off, the universe is expanding, making us even more insignificant by the second. So like Iain said, we live, we die, it doesn't really matter; nothing matters. So why live by any morals at all, why not do whatever we wish, like Hobbes' natural state of man? Well, by the same token that nothing matters, everything matters. All we have is the world we live in, we don't live for any 'greater purpose' and we cannot make a lasting impression in the universe. However, since our lives are limited as such, so then is the scale by which the significance of our actions is measured. Thus, every single decision or action that each of us makes each day are of the utmost importance in relation to our lives. The meaningless of our lives is what gives everything "hyper-meaning". I hope I'm expressing myself adequately here, I hope this makes at least some sense.
So then the question I need to answer is: how does love and power fit into my interpretation of life? The scale of love and reason that Mel and I came up with places love and power as polar opposites to one another. So perhaps love and power act as the ultimate boundaries of human expression. Nothing we can do is outside one or the other, so they both exist as a defining quality of life. However, to say this is to acknowledge that they both exist as equal forces, thus I'm still not agreeing with Milton or Hobbes.
That's it guys, my head hurts. Mel says my posts are like essays in themselves, so I think I'll leave it at that. Like all of you, I consider myself quite lucky to be in this of all groups. Even though we didn't come to any definite conclusions as a group, I feel that we were all able to learn from eachother and refine our understanding of the 17th century debate that is very much still alive to this day. Thanks guys, it's been fun.
"If we want to love our fellow humans, we can. If we desire to attain as much power as possible, we can do that too. Me, I just like existence."Iain, I don't mean to undermine your final post, but doesn't Hobbes argue that our pursuit of power is simply for a means to live well; ie: because we "like existence"? So then aren't you really aligning yourself with Hobbes? Just a thought.
Anyhow, like Iain, I'd like to share my "interpretation" of life, although I'm not sure how well I can communicate it. Last year I took Physics 190 at SFU, Astronomy. Let me tell you, learning about the vastness of the universe--how stars are born, solar systems formed, and so forth--was so incredibly humbling. On the grand scale of the universe we are utterly insignificant. Our individual lives, Earth, our solar system, even our galaxy (which is huge by the way) are all inconsequential 'specs' in the vast emptiness of space. And to top it off, the universe is expanding, making us even more insignificant by the second. So like Iain said, we live, we die, it doesn't really matter; nothing matters. So why live by any morals at all, why not do whatever we wish, like Hobbes' natural state of man? Well, by the same token that nothing matters, everything matters. All we have is the world we live in, we don't live for any 'greater purpose' and we cannot make a lasting impression in the universe. However, since our lives are limited as such, so then is the scale by which the significance of our actions is measured. Thus, every single decision or action that each of us makes each day are of the utmost importance in relation to our lives. The meaningless of our lives is what gives everything "hyper-meaning". I hope I'm expressing myself adequately here, I hope this makes at least some sense.
So then the question I need to answer is: how does love and power fit into my interpretation of life? The scale of love and reason that Mel and I came up with places love and power as polar opposites to one another. So perhaps love and power act as the ultimate boundaries of human expression. Nothing we can do is outside one or the other, so they both exist as a defining quality of life. However, to say this is to acknowledge that they both exist as equal forces, thus I'm still not agreeing with Milton or Hobbes.
That's it guys, my head hurts. Mel says my posts are like essays in themselves, so I think I'll leave it at that. Like all of you, I consider myself quite lucky to be in this of all groups. Even though we didn't come to any definite conclusions as a group, I feel that we were all able to learn from eachother and refine our understanding of the 17th century debate that is very much still alive to this day. Thanks guys, it's been fun.
posted by Sean C at 11:59 PM
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