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If death is inevitable, why bother?

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Reply 60
Original post by im so academic
It's bull**** unless proven with sound evidence.


There's no sound proof the world made by several gas and different compounds but it most likely how it happened.
Original post by DonJuan
I often pondered this during bouts of severe depression which luckily no longer plague me. I then started pondering a similar and equally valid question.

Why not bother?


Because everything we bother to do in life becomes irrelevant once we die, unless there's an afterlife of course.

Just saying...
Reply 62
Because it's fun to live life even though it has no meaning in the long run, at least for non-religious people
Original post by MereBeing
Why do we feel compelled to live life like it has a purpose?


People who can't be bothered, die out. So you have inherited the genes of ancestors who felt it was worth the effort.
If death is the end and nothingness then why can you think and be conscious and have memories? If there is nothingness ahead then it's like you never existed from your point of view in the first place. Time is irrelevant.
Why bother eating a chocolate bar? It's just gonna be gone after you eat it

Same sorta logic in my opinion
Reply 66
If hunger is inevitable why eat?
If thirst is inevitable why drink?
If death is inevitable why bother?

Its because we want to and more importantly we physically and mentally NEED to.
Reply 67
Because of the experience.
Reply 68
Original post by corallie13
Because everything we bother to do in life becomes irrelevant once we die, unless there's an afterlife of course.

Just saying...


If there is no afterlife, then there is nothing. Being dead/the nothingness of non-existence/whatever will never become a reality to you as you are not there to be able to perceive it. Thus, as far as you are concerned you will never actually be dead. So 'after you die' isn't even a concept worth contemplating. It simply won't 'happen' to you. It won't be possible for your actions whilst alive to be considered irrelevant, irrelevancy is not a concept that exists in a state of nothingness.
Original post by MereBeing
Why do we feel compelled to live life like it has a purpose? Okay, death could count as purpose, but why bother adhering to rules and being 'good' if our bodies are just going to rot in the ground?

(I probably sound like an idiot to the philosophers out there but I am intrigued about the responses.)


*cautiously submits thread*

If you are here to reply with the fact that I am being pessimistic, etc...don't worry, you don't have to waste a post as a few already have done it.

I purely created this thread because I was curious about people's attitudes towards life, not because I feel that there is no point to life or to bring anyone down.


Life has no purpose. That is why you should create one for yourself. If people behaved like life had no purpose then wouldn't you get bored?

In term's of being good that is important because it makes your life more pleasurable when you are living it.
Original post by ian.slater
People who can't be bothered, die out. So you have inherited the genes of ancestors who felt it was worth the effort.


No, you have inherited the genes of ancestors who F***ED.
Just because something ends and has no objective purpose doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. Otherwise you'd be unable to defend the principle of going on a week's holiday.
OP what you have said is very true. After thinking for very long periods of time, I realised that the "point", or "purpose" of life, is whatever we want it to be. Sometimes that may involve having children, or indulging in hedonism, or adhering to a religion etc... or a mix of multitudes of these factors

The reason why I continue to keep myself alive and put effort into life boils down to 4 fundamental reason:

1. Survival instinct that is hardwired into every human.

2. Curiosity. I want to know what it feels like to eat chocolate and have sex, drive cars, succeed academically, earn wages, travel, donate money to the poor etc... multiple times.

3. Killing myself would hurt loved ones.

4. Religious beliefs.

And overall I think this is what life and death boils down to for everyone, and why we keep ourselves alive and continue to reproduce. At least the top 3, if not the 4th reason will apply to almost everyone.
(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 73
Read the denial of death
Reply 74
Personally, I feel that everybody has a purpose, we just don't know it and may never know it. Think of life as a train track and everyone you meet is a train, you are a piece of track. If you were not there, the trains would derail, would you rather your friends derail or get to there destination. Only you can fill that space of train track which is why when we lose someone we love, we feel that there is an empty space in our lives.
Hope this helps :smile:
Reply 75
There's no sound proof the world made by several gas and different compounds but it most likely how it happened.


Then there is proof. For something to be most likely their needs to be more evidence than the alternatives. There is more evidence to suggest that death is the end than their is for an afterlife.
Original post by im so academic
It's bull**** unless proven with sound evidence.


Not everything we believe in or accept day by day has sound evidence; even the rising of the sun, as far as my knowledge goes there is no way logically prove that it will rise tomorrow! So I do believe its better not to attempt to be so scientific about everything.


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Answer - in my opinion, there is no reason - you just do it.
Reply 78
Don't want to live a life of regrets, living passively etc.

If we're all going to die anyway, why die without self-pride and self-love?

Take reality for what it is, and common sense, and live.
Reply 79
Original post by MereBeing
Why do we feel compelled to live life like it has a purpose? Okay, death could count as purpose, but why bother adhering to rules and being 'good' if our bodies are just going to rot in the ground?

(I probably sound like an idiot to the philosophers out there but I am intrigued about the responses.)


*cautiously submits thread*

If you are here to reply with the fact that I am being pessimistic, etc...don't worry, you don't have to waste a post as a few already have done it.

I purely created this thread because I was curious about people's attitudes towards life, not because I feel that there is no point to life or to bring anyone down.


Basically the point you highlighted is that we don't see a result to life. I'm no philosopher and I don't know if there is an end to life, but if there is I know I will be closer to reaching it than if I sat back and did nothing. Even if it has no reason, being gifted with opportunity also means being laden with responsibility, a responsibility to use that opportunity in order to, even if we know nothing else, make the place we live a better one.

It seems stupid, but on a small scale it at least makes me feel good that I'm trying to make the most of my life.

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