What if it's all nothing?

Question: What if it's all nothing!?

Do you ever catch yourself thinking about the possiblitiy that life is 'nothing'!. And by 'nothing' I mean life is just a streak of 'being' that eventually fades and ceases to exist!. Why is it that we as humans assume that everything is about us, why are we worthy of having a god and the possibility of life after death!. It seems kinda egotistical to me!.!.!. I don't mean to rag on the religious people here at all, but what makes you so sure you'll be saved!? We work up so much about life and the world but don't you think it's weird that all our efforts could be for ****!.

Don't get me wrong here, I love to philosophize, wonder and disscuss life and religion, and "living life to the fullest" as the saying goes, I just thought that this concept was weird and was curious to see what others had to say!.!.!.
Leave your thoughts!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

Well I think life is a fever dream on the soul of nonexistence, but that doesn't bring me down, it makes me wonder (I hear Stairway to Heaven in my mind as I continue,) and I think that life is a pretty neat trick all things considered!.

As a "believer" but not a "potential worshiper" (meaning I think what I do on Earth matters here, not in some heaven!.) I don't know whether to be offended or not by the "egotistical" comment!. When I die I am going back to the nonexistence from which I came, and none the wiser!. But here I am now, so I'd better get used to broken bones and changing socks every day!. I don't feel superior to nothing, we are one and the same stuff!. In fact, and the Atheists will Love This One, God is nothing too!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Im a christian and I ask myself those very questions every day!. Its hard to explain but I know there is a God!. I have my moments of disbelief but at the end of the day I know that ive seen too much, experienced to much, and felt way too much to ever deny God!. Its a personal thing, once youve felt God in your heart and have seen him work in your life and the lives of others around you, its like wow theres no way that God isnt there!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

What if it is!? Does that change it in any way!? Other than your perception of it and of 'reality' (whatever that is), does it honestly make any difference!?

Live it, enjoy it, and see what happens next!.

DougWww@QuestionHome@Com

I understand!. How come there are different religons!? We never know the menaing of life or what happens at the end!. Life is just something we live!. I think people are extremely egotistical and selfish!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

of course its all nothing, but so what the fact that lives are short and we hold no importance in the universe is meaningless to us we are still importantWww@QuestionHome@Com

Sometimes I say to myself, I don't know what I believe!. The greatest saints and sages have experienced times of unendurable despair, most likely because they are more awakened to the pain, suffering, and misery that exist in this world!. Sometimes it seems that a higher order intercedes in our lives, only to disappear for years at a time!. Other people experience a god force that they think will always be with them!. In the end, I believe we are alone in this vast cosmos, and it is up to us to row our little ships through the storms of life, because it builds strength and character!. Life, to me, is not about wealth, or status, or ego-tripping, it is about service to humanity, because in that lies our only true salvation!. This is not to say that we can't pursue goals, or dreams, but in the pursuit of these desires, we do so through learning service to others!. Again, this cannot even be done, without first serving ourselves, that is our core values that lend dignity to our lives!. I believe that some of us, when we die, if we have given service to humanity, that we dissolve back into the mist, to be eternally at peace, and part of the wonderful nothingness that surrounds us, a consciousness alive and vital but composed of ether!. Don't bank on anyone to save you, bank on yourself to save yourself!. It's a risky challenge, because we don't know if we'll be able to handle the ultimate reality when it descends on us!. But if we care, truly care about our souls, our own and others', we stand every chance in the world of achieving salvation!. Enlightenment is painful, each ascendancy a test of spirit, until we reach the final transcendence, a gut-wrenching moment that no amount of preparation prepares us for!. Instead it is the decision to pursue against overwhelming odds our own salvation, because we are worth it!. This is self-love in its purest form!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I am in full agreement with you that it all could really amount to nothing and it is just to gratify our ego that we may be imagining it all as relevant because of us, as though we humans are the very purpose of this 'creation'!. What I believe is that the idea of a Supreme Being (called God) Who created this all could well be either true or equally false, that the creation is purposeful could be either true or equally false, but to take the idea to the extreme and assume that human beings are the most superior aspect of the creation (created in His own image!) and hence has the key responsibility to realize and fulfill the Grand purpose of the Creator is not only egoistic but also ignorant!. It is ignorant as well because it assumes that the responsibility has been transferred by the Almighty All-knowing Supreme Being on to us imperfect beings, to be carried out by us in accordance with our own freewill which is left completely uncontrolled by the Supreme Being, subject only to an evaluation at the end of life, by when the purpose could well turn out to have been scuttled or even damaged totally!. I see no signs of our having ever earned such confidence and credibility given our inconsistencies, frailties and uncontrollable penchant for the slippery evil path!.

I therefore believe that if our life does have a Grand purpose, it wont be left to us imperfect beings to fulfill!. This then leaves us in no different situation than as if there was no meaning!. Our role in, and our way of life, in either case therefore, remains the same; namely, the search and attainment of Happiness in life that is stable and lasting!. In my view thus, this if at all can only be the meaning of our life in this vast Universe, in so far as we are concerned or can be sanely and confidently held accountable for!. We are "No Big Deal" is an important starting point for the key journey towards stable and lasting Happiness in life!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I definitely agree!. If the earth was created by a "someone", I just find it easier to believe that they created it and everything then went on their way!. Yet here we are, trying to define our lives because it makes it easier to cope if we believe we aren't all alone, and making claims that we are the promised race and all that!. What if the "someone" left to do other things!? What if we're leftovers who falsely still believe that we are the **** and that we are important!?

But I try not to think about THAT too much because I still have responsibilities(whether I'm a leftover or not) and it's too disappointing and sad!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

If it is for "nothing", then why bother living!? See no one can say for 100% or even 10% certain that 'THERE IS GOD, AND I HAVE MET HIM AND KNOW THERE IS AN AFTERLIFE, SO DO SOMTHING IN YOUR LIFE"!. We can only imagin, religious or not! So instead of wonder "what if it is for nothing" why not make most of what we DO HAVE while we have it!. Concept should not be weird, but practical, that while you are here, and living, why not enjoy it to the fullest, who know what is there after you are dead and gone!. May be another life maybe nothing, you will never know until you are THERE, or if you fade away, then you won't be able to tell anyone about it!. So stop worrying about 2maro, and worry about the present moment, cause no one ALIVE still would be able to make you believe in their views, unless you experience it yourself!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Only human beings are the only living creatures that I know of that ask themselves those kinds of questions!. But all the others do not!. Instead they show man that this present life is very important and that it is worth fighting for to keep on living in it!. It is a matter of life and death no matter how brief a moment it really is!. Perhaps in a sense that is what wars mean between human beings and races or civilizations!. If creatures of lesser intelligence than man show us this struggle for life is natural then the human race should live the same way!.

Does this mean that while struggle is important is it all for naught because of the inevitability of death!? And this makes it all for nothing!?

No!. I think not!. For man is not like other creatures that have an instinct for survival!. Instead man must rely on the past experiences not of those alive in his generation but those from countless generations before him!. That information alone means that life is not for nothing!. But that it counts to keep alive not just our present generation but to preserve those that will come after us!.

It is a great question to contemplate on!. Take care!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE!

Why does that escape peoples mind!. ALL THERE IS IS EXISTENCE! Where in the universe does "nothing" happen!? where can it be observed!? How is it perceived by the sense!?

We exist in the universe, the totality of ALL that exists, not the totality that "sometimes" exist!. Humans are the content of the universe as much as anything else!. Life is sustained by energy!. What are we if not energy!? Energy cannot be created or destroyed only made to change form (Creation/Evolution) Law of Conservation!.

Life is eternal like Jesus and many other taught and lived!. (That is why he chose to die for our sins rather than opposing the law and living to better serve mankind)!. Forgive them lord fore they not know what they do!." Yes, it can be said that we are ignorant to the fact that life is infinite, even in a society that that relies on heavily "science" and "faith," both of which confirms infinity has existence in one form or another!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I don't think all our efforts would be for ****!.

First of all, I believe in God, not based on any scientific evidence, but on subjective experience!.

But that aside, if it is all nothing as you say, so what!? Why worry!? Socrates wasn't afraid to drink the hemlock!. He said if there was an afterlife, he would certainly be judged by those worthy of judging him!. If not, then he'd go to mere dreamless sleep!.

If this life is all there is (and I'm not convinced of that), it's one helluva ride!. I'll take it over never having been born!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

It is weird, and radical to think that we first of all have existence and are not nothing!. That is the point of departure for existentialist philosophy that says from the fact of our brute existence, life is meaningless and we go on and create our meaning!.

You say we might not be worthy of 'having a god!.' No reasonable person thinks that God exists because we are worthy!.

The question of immortality is sometimes separate from the existence of God!. Look into Plato's discussion of the immortality of the soul in the Phaedo!. He spends time on his theory of the transmigration of souls (reincarnation basically) but he brings up something that has validity still today!. Hericlitus said that 'you can't step in the same river twice' meaning that things are always in flux and changing!. If everything is in flux and changing, there can be no knowledge if the object of our thoughts never correspond to the physical universe!. Plato argued that this is not the case and our ideas of the things around us must come from somewhere, they are not just nonsense!. They might be nonsense but they have to have a source and cannot be dismissed!. Plato's theory of ideas or Forms is still influential as an alternative to radical materialism!. In a sense, the universe is intelligible to us, and the reason for that is (most would agree) that there is an order inherent in the physical universe!. Plato says that order is the Form or edios (ideas)!.

As for the soul: 'the ideas are the sole causes of all things and the sole objects of knowledge!.' The idea inherent in 'soul' is life, and since ideas are so connected with particulars that no particular can admit an idea directly contrary to its own inherent idea, the soul cannot admit death!.

Like, when someone dies, they consist of the same matter (atoms, organic molecules, cells, tissues, organs !.!.!. ) but the organism no longer functions!. That is because of what!? Science does not answer this except for chalking it up to one kind of failure or another in the liver or heart usually!. But these do not determine death, it is considered a phenomenon!. The organism no longer functions because there is an absence of a force which enters into the matter and informs it and guides all the complex processes (chem reactions) in a perfect harmony!.

So the order, the intelligibility we see in the physical universe requires a source!. Some have argued that such an infinite amount of intelligible things can only have their source in an infinite intellect!. I believe in rejecting this we reject that the universe is intelligible!.

I don't think it is egotistical to conclude this based on observations and reason!.Www@QuestionHome@Com