Conference turris::womannotes-v2

    
    
    Jenny,
    
    I think what keeps me going from day to day is that I never know
    when I will do that one great thing that will make life better for
    someone else.  Since I will probably never know when I have done
    it I have to keep trying to do it.
    
    I think I may just have summed up my philsophy in two sentences.
    
    _peggy
    
    		(-)
    		 |
    			In the mean time I love to watch flowers grow.
    

    jenny,
    
    this isn't the whole story for me, but one thing that gives my life
    meaning is to "follow my heart". the more i listen to what i want and
    need, and the less i listen to what others think i "should" do, the
    happier i am. having good friends and taking time to notice the
    beauty around me help too.
    
    e

    I have never been able to believe that life has a meaning. I didn't
    ask to be born, and won't choose when I die. 
    
    I see life as a continuum, with the explosion of stars millions
    of light years ago, and more of the same long after all life on
    earth has been extinct. We are just one drop in the universal ocean,
    and float along with the rest, neither more nor less meaningful
    than any asteroid, nebula, tree, animal or other human being.
    
    I don't find that belief depressing, or think that it is a licence
    to behave badly. Rather, it gives me both a feeling of belonging
    to the universe, and an enormous sense of intellectual freedom.
    Life without a beginning, an end and a purpose opens my mind to
    infinity.
    
    Joana
    
    
    
    PS: on a lighter note, the Swiss TV just showed "Monty Python: the
        Meaning of Life" on Tuesday evening. I love it when the building
        moves like a ship towards another building...
                                                     

    
    	I think that I kind of answered this in my reply to what I look
    	for in friends.  I went to a Catholic Univ and asked one of
    	my freshmen roommates (after flunking my 3rd physics exam in
    	a row) "What is the point?"  She, being very Catholic, gave
    	me some "party line" about living for God.  Deciding that 
    	wasn't good enough for me, I've been looking for the answer
    	ever since.
    
    	What I came up with is very simple and very complex.  The point
    	of life is to be happy.  Different things make different people
    	happy which is why it gets kind of complex.  For me, happiness
    	is making sure that everyone around me is happy.  Take Christmas
    	for instance.  If everything is going well, if the family is
    	all together, if I've bought some presents that I know my family
    	will love, if my family and my friends and their families are
    	healthy and together, then I feel wonderful.  I am happy.  I
    	live for moments like that.
    
    	Rachel (For whom being commissioned a 2nd Lt by her best friends
    	father with all of her friends attending was also a wonderful
    	moment)

	Re: .3

	Joana,

	  I wasn't going to reply because I didn't think my
	philosophy would be well taken.  But you put it so 
	perfectly into words, I just *had* too.  For my meaning
	of life, see .3.

	Thanx Joana!

	Kb

Well, the bible says that the purpose of life is to:

1: explore people and places
2: enjoy people and places
3: love one another
4: thank God for all of the above

I think that about sums it up...

JMB

    
    Life is a place to be, to do, and to take notice.
    
    

    
    i'd also have to agree with .3
    
    the sad part is most people do find it depressing that this is
    all there is, so depressing in fact that it keeps religions going.
    people need to believe there is something better than this.

    Although my religion is based on .3, it takes things a step further.
    
    I find that the meaning of one's own life is personal, and then
    extents to the environment, and then your life has meaning to others.
    And if you keep expanding on that, your life touches the rest of
    the universe and the universe would not be exactly the same if you
    weren't in it. (This is not the same thing as saying that people
    would NOTICE if you weren't born.) So, to borrow a cliche, life is
    what you make of it. Because the moments that you have life are
    pretty much under your control. 
    
    Life is most meaningful to me when I'm making little positive ripples
    in the universe. It doesn't matter how far they go, or where they
    end, or if they just affect me. (Although I happen to know that
    my family LOVES those ripples, so I know I'm impacting them). I
    also find that life feels very meaningless when I go with the flow
    and don't chart my own course. Either because I don't want to make
    an effort and sometimes when I'm making little Negative ripples.
    
    I'll talk endlessly on this one, so I'll stop here.
                                                              
    
    
    Lauren Foster (its about time I signed my name, isn't it!)

    RE: .9 - religion, and people needing to believe there's something
             "better than this"
    
    It occurred to me that religion (in the sense of "organized religion")
    is muchly to blame for the situation of "this" being so "bad".
    
    --DE
    

    
    re: .11 - i'd agree.
    
    seems the main thing religion does in terms of human relations
    is divide people.  
    
    bob

    	RE: 92.11
    
    	I would appreciate it if you would elaborate.
    
    	Scott

    Elaboration on 92.11
    
    Disclaimer: I am not putting down anyone's choice of religion, and
    one's own ideas/philosophies being subjective, this is, of course
    having to do with my own opinion...
    
    Thoughts on the Matter at Hand:
    
    1. Religions forbidding card playing, dancing, looking at certain
       objects which are generally considered "great art"
    
    2. Religions forcing (albeit with consent on some level) people
       to view other people as "less-than". Like non-members of the
       sect. Like women.
    
    3. The concept of Hell, and teaching such stuff to impressionable
       youngsters.
    
    4. Religions telling people they can't be friends with/live with/
       make love with/marry certain other individuals
    
    5. Using the idea of Heaven, and creating The Rules for Getting
       Therein, in the interest of holding power over the people for
       monetary gain.
    
    
    Certainly, there are people who derive much satisfaction from their
    religious involvement, and that's wonderful. However, I also have
    known many people who were/are terribly burdened by many senseless
    rules created by an organized religion. 
    
    --DE
    

    Religion = An organized system of beliefs and rituals centering
    on a supernatural being or beings.
    
    This may be good discipline, but can often confuse us to death.
    There are so many and most are praying to the same God, so why
    take a title?
    
    Life is a process for me. Each part is very important. The Bible
    says we were created for God's pleasure (I guess he needed something
    to do). 
    
    Life is going after the good and spending little time dwelling on
    the bad. To go after the bad only brings some form of death
    (Spiritually, materially, Physically, mentally,
    professionally, personally, financially).............................
    
    Life must be lived to be enjoyed. Why plan to die? Living involves
    making mistakes. God allows for our mistakes whether it be family,
    friends, work or play.
    
    Life involves reaching out to diverse people, not just staying in
    a comfortable circle of friends and family. We must touch others
    in this PROCESS OF LIFE.........................
    
    NO DESTRUCTION, JUST CONSTRUCTION. LETS BUILD, NOT TEAR DOWN.
    
    SHERYL GASTON

I'm not fond of any of the alternatives.

Really. And somehow that seems to be enough for me, these days.
	Mez

    I like .3, .11, and .14, Dawn, we don't agree on phys.ed. classes
    but we do agree on organized religion.
    
    I think existence is probably just a coincidence so the most important
    aspect of being alive to me is to just enjoy myself as much as possible
    without hurting anybody else.
    
    Lorna
    

    re: .17 
    
    But, Lorna, if existence is just a coincidence, why does it even
    matter to you whether you hurt someone else while you're enjoying
    yourself?  That person's life doesn't have any meaning, either,
    so if s/he is hurt, that's her/his problem, no?
    
    --bonnie, playing devil's advocate

    Re .18, but Bonnie I didn't say an individual's life doesn't have
    any meaning.  I said that existence itself is probably just a
    coincidence, but that doesn't mean that since we're coincidentally
    here that we can't make our own meaning to our own lives!!
    
    I feel that I'm part of all the rest of life that is coincidentally
    existing, and that it's just chance that I got to be me.  I could
    have been born in Ethiopia or somewhere else that would prove to
    be even less desirable that central Mass. :-)  So, I always feel
    that it could be me, when I hear of something bad happening to
    somebody.  That it's just chance that it isn't me.  If I don't want
    something bad to happen to me how can I justify it's happening to
    somebody else.  Besides, I don't want just me to enjoy, I want
    everybody to enjoy life, and the less people hurt other people,
    the more people will be able to enjoy their lives.
    
    Lorna  (It's the best I can do right now, Bonnie, I have some very
    boring work to go do - yuck!)
    

    Here is the dialogue from a scene from the tv mini-series of
    Ray Bradbury's THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES, a speech by the ghost
    of a Martian who talks with Captain Wilder. Wilder asks about
    the "secret of [their] life on Mars". The Martian responds:
    
    	"Secret! There is no secret. Anyone with eyes can see
    	the way to live. By watching life, observing nature,
    	and cooperating with it. Making common cause with the
    	process of existence. By living life for itself, don't
    	you see? Deriving pleasure from the gift of pure being.
    
    	"Life is its own answer. Accept it and enjoy it, day
    	by day. Live as well as possible. Expect no more.
    	Destroy nothing. Humble nothing. Look for fault in
    	nothing. Leave unsullied and untouched all that is
    	beautiful. Hold that which lives in all reverence.
    
    	"For life is given by the sovereign of our universe.
    	Given to be savored, to be luxuriated in, to be
    	respected."
    
    --- jerry

    re .20, That's really beautiful!
    
    Bonnie, *that's* what I was trying to say!  I really believe it's
    true - and that it doesn't really matter if there's a God or supreme
    being or not - it's still true.
    
    Lorna
    

    Ah.  Okay, now I understand what you were trying to say, Lorna.
    Yes, I can understand, and agree with, that.
    
    --bonnie 

    Non-disclaimer:  I am a deeply religious Anglican person who takes
    _all_  published doctrines with a pound of salt and listens to the
    voice of the spirit within.
    
    I do not believe that I am here for a purpose.  I frankly do not
    care if I was ever here before, ever _was_ before, will ever be back,
    or ever be elsewhere. [with me so far?]
    
    I _do_ care that I am here now.  I am a part of something timeless
    and it is a part of me. The Meaning of Life for me is to live, to
    care, to create, and to be happy.
    
    So much for the 39 articles...
    
      Ann