by Turncoat"Life has no other purpose."
Who's to say Life isn't about sentiment, "the little things"? Success is empty, while the road you paved toward success, the experiences, you'll always have. Success means only comfort without sentiment.
Luna says, and when you pressure her about it she quietly slips away... only to reappear a few weeks later with another thread pushing the same agenda. :p
by Luna Preyits hard to answer
success = helping humanity, and i'm pretty sure that we are all of humanity, and that that greater consciousness exists beyond this corporeal life
What if the corporeal life is the most important part, though? When I die and rot away, my bones will remain. Does that make my bones the most important part of me?
by Luna PreyIn this Universe, success is life, and failure is death. I'm saying that.. if enough individual Humans don't decide they want to move Humanity forward in a direction that can ensure our survival, Humanity will certainly perish. I choose to be one of the Humans who will dedicate her life to moving Humanity forward instead of chasing an idea called "happiness", and playing social games.
The social creatures who have no ambitions, who choose to enjoy the moment because life is short.. They are taking on the philosophy that says.. well, I'm going to die anyway, not much I can do, I may as well suffer through this life in the easiest, and funnest way possible. I, on the other hand, don't feel quite so powerless. I feel that this Universe has some great secrets for Humanity. I think there is a lot to learn about ourselves ,and our existence, and I think biology teaches us that nature, and time can produce a great machine (that is our body), but with our power of logic, reason, and possible will, we can do even better, and by that I mean we can work to perfect the Human machine.
Let's consider death for a moment.. how do people die? There is really no such thing as "dying of old age". You die from something. Each time Humanity advances in medicine, we extend our average life span. The Human life span has doubled in the last couple centuries.
So if we can conquer death... and we know that within our own solar system lies limitless resources which Humanity could use if only we had the will power to develop the technology, and resources necessary to go forward with these sort of things.When I consider the massive things that can be done to improve Humanity, I think it's incredibly selfish, and unenlightened of them to decide to follow cultural religious values in stead that really mean nothing. Marriage for instance! Humans are mammals, it's not natural to "mate for life". Christianity and the religious cultures of our past has shaped our societal mindset as to what we believe we should be doing with our lives.
"In this Universe, success is life, and failure is death."
Well then I'm already succeeding, I guess. If I ever get the chance to see you on your deathbed, I'll be sure to have a good chuckle at your imminent failure. : )
I am a social creature. I choose to enjoy the moment, because life is indeed short. I'm also probably the most ambitious person on this forum, aside from yourself. Not everyones ambitions need to revolve around curing all disease and colonizing the moon. You throw this word "ambition" around like you own it, but you don't even truly know what it means. In fact, I think you're the one suffering from a nasty case of societal programming. You are a beauty queen, Luna. -ditzy voice-"If I could have one wish, I would end world hunger!" -sparkle eyes- How many beauty queens have ended world hunger, I wonder... : P
Whether or not you think I'm selfish for not dedicating my life to some humanitarian cause is irrelevant. Where is it written that I must be unselfish? Where is it written that I owe anything to the rest of this species? And in fact, is insisting that people should give up their happiness, their varying purposes for living, and in essence, their individuality, to contribute to a cause that you deem worthy, not incredibly selfish, too?
(Sidenote: I don't know where you get this silly idea that everyone who isn't contributing to the glory of Luna-verse is basing their life on religious values, but you need to check that ignorant shit the door, please.)
"If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or objects."
- Albert Einstein
"I choose to be one of the Humans who will dedicate her life to moving Humanity forward instead of chasing an idea called "happiness"."
- Luna
by Luna PreyI think a big problem in current society is the fact that a lot of Humans are overly distracted by sentiment. We let friends, pets, family, and sentiment get in the way of our future.
If you're a good business person, than I'd say it's fair that life's goal is to succeed. Life has no other purpose. Socializing for the sake of socializing is a time waster that often creates friendships that produce chemicals in the mind which encourage the individual to continue this non-business-conductive behavior-- all the while, the individual is distracted from looking toward the future, and focusing on goals.
For those of us who place high value in socializing, and indeed that is most of Humanity, of course our lives will revolve around getting married, and doing things that is expected of us socially such as buying a house, and making bills.
On the other hand, if you look out at this world and think to yourself.. The only way life will have a point is if I give it one, and I choose to dedicate my life to "Insert business idea that will help the world". Once one has made the choice... to walk this path. The path of business, the path of good choices over bad choices, the path of tactfulness, reliability, competence, efficiency, then I think the Human will begin to have success in their business venture.
I know that.. as Humans, we are social creatures, but simply enjoying the company of someone isn't enough. It's important to surround ourselves with people with whom we can mutually benefit.
And a very merry bah humbug to you too, Narcbot3000. : P
For someone who believes themselves superior to the vast majority of mankind, you seem to be basing this pompous horseshit on the notion that everyone thinks and feels exactly as you do. That there can be no alternative to your meaning of life, your personal satisfaction, your moral philosophy, etc... Perhaps it's true that the only thing that can give you purpose and satisfaction in life, is to succeed in business for philanthropic reasons. But that puts you in the extreme minority. It's also neurotic and sad.
As for the rest of us, my question is "why?". Why should I give up the things that please me and make my life worthwhile, to fritter my time away pursuing something that does me no good? Why should I give a damn about contributing to society in any noteworthy way? Why should I sacrifice my happiness for the happiness of people I've never met? Why should I follow a path that wasn't meant for me, simply because you have decided that the Luna way is the only way? Why should we assume that the world exists in such black and white terms ("this is the meaning of life, everything else is worthless")? Why should we deviate from a state of being that humans have naturally taken on for as long as we've existed? Why bother enterprising to save the human race if we're all going to end up being miserable, lonely, robotic, cubicle dwelling virgins? And most importantly, why on earth would I take advice on the meaning of life from a half-witted, short-sighted, over-indulged, self-important, teenage girl?
Tell me, have any of you ever wondered what the difference is between Humans, and other DNA based life? We obviously, physically, come from the same tree... yet this consciousness that we feel doesn't seem to apply to other life. Why is that?
The answer is that we Humans have the ability to perceive time. The rest of the Animals, they must live in the moment. They rely on emotions, socializing, and finding food as it comes day by day. They are unable to become "enlightened" in such a way as to realize the future is coming. They cannot anticipate it. For this reason, they live in the moment as animals.
We, on the other hand, or at least some of us.. have the ability to truly anticipate the future. This is why education is so very important. Our minds are just like computers, but even better. We collect data about this universe throughout our lives, and we use that data to build a model in our heads that literally simulates the Universe. We then make use of that model to make predictions. The more educated and enlightened one is as to the true state of this universe, the more accurately one can look into the future.
For you peeps arguing that you feel empowered because you live in the moment, I don't understand it. You're just being animals. This Earth has a life-span, as does the sun, and possibly even our society. We as Humanity need to unite, and give ourselves a direction, and that direction must be our survival well into the future, and that can only be accomplished by people who dedicate their lives to bettering Humanity, instead of socializing for the sake of socializing, sex, pets, hourly-job work, and all the other little distractions people who "Live in the moment" create for themselves. 
Friends will drag you down. They don't wish to be left behind while you move on to a higher wavelength. The stranger does not feel jealous of you, while the friend in many cases will.
When you evolve into a higher class. Making more money, it's an abomination for us to lend money to those who can't afford to pay us back. The friend will expect your professional skills to be at their disposal for cheap, or free.
Hide your friends from those who are key to your success... Or else things WILL get complicated, as it is them who'll represent you. Also, friends will want a slice of the pie. This works in mysterious ways, and you'll see calamity manifest in your life in some way.
Not only in business or career ventures must we leave people out of it. But also in romance, however, romance can wreck your game too.
Any entrepreneur book comes with a disclaimer suggesting how your friends will be offended by the nature of you trying to succeed, and you'll lose them. They'll disagree with your aloofness and be at ease when you sacrifice your build time to go party with them. In my personal experience, it had to do with racing to meet a deadline, and stuffing in a 3 day camping trip. The friend does not care about your job like they may seem to. They will never lose sleep over what you stress over.
For example, hanging around my buddy Edvard does absolutely nothing for me. For me to even invest my time in him means I'll take a hit. Still at the end of the day, I'm better off with my hard earned status, while he's some jackass who does nothing day and night. That wouldn't get me anything -_-
