Why?

[loseyourname]

By the way, you guys really need to make the titles of your threads more specific and descriptive. It'll make it a lot easier to browse.

[Stark Evade]

By the way, you guys really need to make the titles of your threads more specific and descriptive. It'll make it a lot easier to browse.

Why ?

[fIReBuRntInHeLL]

Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy yyyyyy yyyyyyyyyy? (Annie Lennox-Eurithmics)

[Crimson Glow]

Despite you claiming not to have missed the essence of my post, you have missed the essence of my post, for if you did not, you would not have veered off into the territory of the Matrix philosophy. You see, my thread did not concern itself with the Matrix philosophy, or the postmodern dictum of "there is no truth" and that we make up our own realities forming an illusion to hide what a horrible and meaningless place this is. No, that was not what my thread was about. My thread was about whether our pursuits in life are more practical or more spiritual

And the essence of my post, which "veered off" into the Matrix philosophy, was that it's neither, which does answer your question. Fair enough?

If you read more carefully you would see I did not ask why we are here, but why do we pursue the paths we pursue? Is it because we are practical and have practical means for practical ends, or is it because we pursue practical ends thinking we are practical but our underlying reasons are more spiritual?

Same response from me as above. Just because you don't like my answers doesn't mean it doesn't pertain to the question, or that I didn't understand you. You're trying to stuff the asnwers into 2 categories that YOU predetermined as the only possibilities, when there could be more. My post merel pointed out that "more". Please don't try to discredit it as an answer, or call it a misunderstanding just because you don't like that possibility.

Quaint. You brought out your post modern Matrix philosophy of how we are all mindless sheep trying to keep ourselves busy from getting bored and making up our belief systems for the sake of feeling validated. As much as it might seem appealing to prescribe to the post modern dictum of "there is no truth", which you adhere to, and which in itself is contradictory, it is however, not the only philosophy that came out of the Matrix. Further, it makes the fallacy of assuming that only it knows what everyone else thinks or supposedly does, as in, whatever reasons underly our beliefs and actions are all created by us to make us feel secure. It explains everything, yet it explains nothing. And the very fact that I am now dismissing this, is by your standards and those who argue from your point of view, proof that I am in denial and am hopelessly dependent upon the lies I have woven to make myself comfortable. The same fallacies were committed by Marx and his bandwagon, and other nihilistic followers.

And you constantly saying Marxism is a fallacy makes it so? You disagreeing with it does not make it so. Nor did I claim that the "there is no truth" philosophy is the only one that came out of the Matrix. In fact, there are LOTS of religious undertones to the movie. The whole thing is based on having faith in Neo to save mankind, duh! This thread is not about breaking down the meaning to the movie. And for the millionth time, I'm merely drawing a comparison to that movie because that is ONE of my interpretations, and by far, the most important/relevant one to me. It's to demonstrate my philosophy, not to define the meaning of the movie. I couldn't care less about that part.

One thing I have noticed about your constant jammering with your Matrix philosophy, is that it is very nihilistic, taking away the pillars of humanity, such as hope, honor, and faith, and bending them all to the common denominator of "there is no truth" because we make it all up. The last post confirmed it for me. It's a serious thing to belie a whole world and to speak of it as the abode of a toiling and drudging place, where all we do is create supposed beliefs to keep us comfortable. You would not so easily discredit your family, your friends, your country, your culture, would you? The world is not a wretched place, nor a misfortune, but a thing to be thankful for. We might lose the due sense of its invisible blessings, but it doesn't mean it does not exist. There is no sympathy for those who profess to have figured out the key to life and found it little worth, and made up their minds that it is a miserable place, because the things we ogften endure are tedious, hearts broken, friendships lost, loved ones dead, etc. To look at our world as a miserable place, fit only for scorn, and consider it a prison "for our mind" as the Matrix would have us believe, is to strike down faith, hope, and happiness from huamnity.

You're arguing a straw man. You do this a lot, I've noticed, putting words in people's mouthes. The Matrix philosophy does not have us believe the world is a miserable place, fit only for scorn. On the contrary, all it asks is that you annalyze life from a far greater distance outside of yourself, and your tiny little world. Freeing yourself from the material, social, and psychological comforts we have created will bring you a hell of a lot closer to spirituality than trying to fit into them ever will. Christianity, at its core, is not too far off this philosophy. Think about it. And if you truly think that my posts paint a pessimistic picture of our world, you have understood absolutely nothing about my outlook. My whole point was that humans have to go through some discomfort, and individual exploration in order to achieve growth, be it spiritually, intellectually, or what have you. The comforts we have formulated are hollow, and can not make you whole, or truly happy. That only comes from "unplugging", and seeing reality for what it is: unknown territory which should be interpreted by everyone individually, not something that you seek universal answers to from others. It is this constant clinging to that which comforts us that has deteriorated and severed any connection to spirituality we had, by allowing us to become comfortably numb. It is constantly clinging to our security blankets that has made this place miserable, and degraded quality of living. To me, unplugging is the only way to FIND hope and happiness, not LOOSE it.

[Anonymouse]

And the essence of my post, which "veered off" into the Matrix philosophy, was that it's neither, which does answer your question. Fair enough?

It's okay to claim things after the fact, when all you did was have an opportunity to insert how we all are plugged in and need to unplug. This isn't the first nor last thread.

Same response from me as above. Just because you don't like my answers doesn't mean it doesn't pertain to the question, or that I didn't understand you. You're trying to stuff the asnwers into 2 categories that YOU predetermined as the only possibilities, when there could be more. My post merel pointed out that "more". Please don't try to discredit it as an answer, or call it a misunderstanding just because you don't like that possibility.

It's not that I don't like your answers, it's because there is only two aspects to mans nature, whether he is a material/physical animal, or a spiritual being, and if that, thereby his pursuits are either practical, or spiritual. That was it, but noooo. You had to rant on about your Matrix philosophy of how we have to all unplug to then see how the world TRULY is, and we are all refusing to unplug. And now that I have called you on it, you jump on convenient excuse to say "This is MY answer, just because you don't like it...".

And you constantly saying Marxism is a fallacy makes it so? You disagreeing with it does not make it so. Nor did I claim that the "there is no truth" philosophy is the only one that came out of the Matrix. In fact, there are LOTS of religious undertones to the movie. The whole thing is based on having faith in Neo to save mankind, duh! This thread is not about breaking down the meaning to the movie. And for the millionth time, I'm merely drawing a comparison to that movie because that is ONE of my interpretations, and by far, the most important/relevant one to me. It's to demonstrate my philosophy, not to define the meaning of the movie. I couldn't care less about that part.

It's not that I constantly say Marxism is fallacious that it is so. You see, via reason we can deduce very simple truths. It's quite easy. Marxism has as its premise, "equality". Such a concept is not consonant with the natural world because there never has been, there isn't, nor there ever will be, because in this world, all we have, and can deal with, are inequalities.

You're arguing a straw man. You do this a lot, I've noticed, putting words in people's mouthes. The Matrix philosophy does not have us believe the world is a miserable place, fit only for scorn. On the contrary, all it asks is that you annalyze life from a far greater distance outside of yourself, and your tiny little world. Freeing yourself from the material, social, and psychological comforts we have created will bring you a hell of a lot closer to spirituality than trying to fit into them ever will. Christianity, at its core, is not too far off this philosophy. Think about it. And if you truly think that my posts paint a pessimistic picture of our world, you have understood absolutely nothing about my outlook. My whole point was that humans have to go through some discomfort, and individual exploration in order to achieve growth, be it spiritually, intellectually, or what have you. The comforts we have formulated are hollow, and can not make you whole, or truly happy.

I do not disagree with anything here. Although you claim not to have painted a dark and dreary world, that is certainly how your posts came off. Individuals are the health of every society. I've never disagreed with this, as you know, because of my liberal/anarchist leanings. It is only from individuals that the pedestal of creativity springs and when liberty is curtailed the first thing to suffer is the individual and his creativity. For any civilization to stay active and vibrant, as it meets more challenges of complexities, it needs to tap into its creative core, and it cannot do so without individuals and liberty. When individuals begin to attach themselves to external institutions and believe that only through our attachments to these institutions can we achieve bliss, that is when problem strikes. It is when we forget that institutions are there to serve as our creative arms for humanity, not humanity serving institutions. However, below...

That only comes from "unplugging", and seeing reality for what it is: unknown territory which should be interpreted by everyone individually, not something that you seek universal answers to from others. It is this constant clinging to that which comforts us that has deteriorated and severed any connection to spirituality we had, by allowing us to become comfortably numb. It is constantly clinging to our security blankets that has made this place miserable, and degraded quality of living. To me, unplugging is the only way to FIND hope and happiness, not LOOSE it.

This is where I do not agree with you, because you go on to paint a very relativistic world solely based on what we individuals think. The logical ramifications of this, if allowed to follow mean that there are no real world objective truths, and that it is all relative. Just because we all see different things at different times and interpret things differently, does not mean that there are no objective truths in this world. You can think one thing, I can think another, but one of us is right, and the other is wrong. To say that all things would be relative again would itself imply an objective truth, thereby negating itself.

[hyebruin]

"why ask why? try bud dry!" okkk...people need to stop writing theses on forums! for the love of god!!!!! learn to summarize!!! and have a bud dry and chillllllllllllLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLlllLLLLlllLLlLll lLLlLlLLlllLLLLlllllllLlLLllllllll