Do we really need a reason to live? Why not just live

[Jumi]

Do animals think they need a reason to live? They do just fine without a reason.

Why would we need a reason? If someone gives us a reason outside of just living, isn't that just creating an unnecessary void in us?

What do you think?

 

[Guy Threepwood]

Do animals think they need a reason to live? They do just fine without a reason.

Why would we need a reason? If someone gives us a reason outside of just living, isn't that just creating an unnecessary void in us?

What do you think?

Would you trade places with an animal then?

 

[Jumi]

Would you trade places with an animal then?

In part we are animals whether we like it or not

 

[Jumi]

Do you need an external reason to live, @Guy Threepwood ?

 

[Guy Threepwood]

Do you need an external reason to live, @Guy Threepwood ?

It was like I was empty. Well, I'm not empty anymore. That's what's important, to feel useful in this old world, to hit a lick against what's wrong for what's right even though you get walloped for saying that word. Now I may sound like a Bible beater yelling up a revival at a river crossing camp meeting, but that don't change the truth none. There's right and there's wrong. You got to do one or the other. You do the one and you're living. You do the other and you may be walking around, but you're dead as a beaver hat. (The Duke)

 

[Marisa]

Do animals think they need a reason to live? They do just fine without a reason.

Why would we need a reason? If someone gives us a reason outside of just living, isn't that just creating an unnecessary void in us?

What do you think?

I think it's a problem that rises directly from believing that you are apart from the animal kingdom, rather than a part of the animal kingdom. If your species is so special as to have been created in the image of a god, then surely you have a superior purpose, right?

 

[Father Heathen]

It was like I was empty. Well, I'm not empty anymore. That's what's important, to feel useful in this old world, to hit a lick against what's wrong for what's right even though you get walloped for saying that word. Now I may sound like a Bible beater yelling up a revival at a river crossing camp meeting, but that don't change the truth none. There's right and there's wrong. You got to do one or the other. You do the one and you're living. You do the other and you may be walking around, but you're dead as a beaver hat. (The Duke)

Do you believe that only christians can find purpose and morality?

 

[Guy Threepwood]

Do you believe that only christians can find purpose and morality?

Not exclusively but It seems to help a lot..

 

[viole]

Do animals think they need a reason to live? They do just fine without a reason.

Why would we need a reason? If someone gives us a reason outside of just living, isn't that just creating an unnecessary void in us?

What do you think?

Children seem also to be happy and live without any reason, apparently.

Ciao

- viole

 

[viole]

It was like I was empty. Well, I'm not empty anymore. That's what's important, to feel useful in this old world, to hit a lick against what's wrong for what's right even though you get walloped for saying that word. Now I may sound like a Bible beater yelling up a revival at a river crossing camp meeting, but that don't change the truth none. There's right and there's wrong. You got to do one or the other. You do the one and you're living. You do the other and you may be walking around, but you're dead as a beaver hat. (The Duke)

Yes, Jesus tends to fill holes. At least for the ones who have holes. Like any other deity in the past and present.

Ciao

- viole

 

[jonathan180iq]

Do animals think they need a reason to live? They do just fine without a reason.

Why would we need a reason? If someone gives us a reason outside of just living, isn't that just creating an unnecessary void in us?

What do you think?

We do just fine without a "reason" too.
Now, some people may choose to create something more, but that doesn't mean that it's real. It's simply their personal motivation; nothing more than their preference ...
It certainly doesn't apply to the rest of the world or alter reality in any way.

 

[Marisa]

We do just fine without a "reason" too.
Now, some people may choose to create something more, but that doesn't mean that it's real. It's simply their personal motivation; nothing more than their preference ...
It certainly doesn't apply to the rest of the world or alter reality in any way.

People tend to do what makes them feel good. Religion makes some people feel good. A lot of the emotional disturbances that religion massages I don't get, like fear of death. It's the people who do what they do because they think a god wants them to that you have to watch out for. Nothing is more disingenuous than someone who says "my god wants me to feed the hungry, so here's your meal". Kinda makes you wonder, would you have given a crap if you didn't have your god riding your . . . . . rear end?

 

[DawudTalut]

Do animals think they need a reason to live? ...........................

Peace be on you.
Animals know their reason to live.

[Quran (alislam.org/quran), ch24:v42] Hast thou not seen that it is Allah Whose praises all who are in the heavens and the earth celebrate, and so do the birds with their wings outspread? Each one knows his own mode of prayer and praise. And Allah knows well what they do.

" Long-distance navigation; homing[edit]
Main article: Animal navigation
Many animals travel hundreds or thousands of miles in seasonal migrations or returns to breeding grounds. They may be guided by the sun, the stars, the polarization of light, magnetic cues, olfactory cues, winds, or a combination of these."
Animal cognition - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Why would we need a reason? If someone gives us a reason outside of just living, isn't that just creating an unnecessary void in us?

What do you think?

Inner built-in Compass keep this feeling alive we need purpose:
""I often see men and women who've become successful in their work or relationships -- their outer lives -- and yet they feel hollow, empty, unfulfilled. They describe feeling "off-track" in some way, or incomplete, despite a conventionally successful life. Sometimes they wonder if they've been on the "wrong" path all along -- chosen the wrong career, or the wrong life partner. Or that perhaps they haven't realized that their chosen path could be more meaningful or purposeful to them, if they let it.""
Why It's Hard To Find Your "Life Purpose" In Today's World | Psychology Today


Purpose of life and ways to achieve it @ https://www.alislam.org/books/essence/chap18/chap18.html
wwwDOTalislamDOTorg/books/essence/chap18/chap18.html

 

[Thief]

Do animals think they need a reason to live? They do just fine without a reason.

Why would we need a reason? If someone gives us a reason outside of just living, isn't that just creating an unnecessary void in us?

What do you think?

We need a reason because.....we CAN reason.

Animals respond to their nature as they can do no more.
We CAN do more.

Is it not a shame when someone of great ability, loses that ability?

 

[jonathan180iq]

Animals respond to their nature as they can do no more.

not true at all

 

[Quintessence]

Do animals think they need a reason to live? They do just fine without a reason.

Which animals? There are many non-human animals that demonstrate reasoning ability on par with humans for various tasks. Though as for seeing inside their heads to determine if they think they need a reason to live, I'm doubting that will be possible in our lifetime. There's too much of a communications barrier, so they can't "tell" us their reasons, if they have them. Nor can we read an animal's mind (human or otherwise) to see if there is a "reason" in there somewhere.

Why would we need a reason? If someone gives us a reason outside of just living, isn't that just creating an unnecessary void in us?

What do you think?

I think that your average person doesn't think about having reasons for living, with the obvious exception of the clinically depressed and suicidal. They just live.

 

[Guy Threepwood]

We need a reason because.....we CAN reason.

Animals respond to their nature as they can do no more.
We CAN do more.

Is it not a shame when someone of great ability, loses that ability?

I'd agree, of all the things that separate people from animals, that's the most fundamental of all- the capacity for purpose, and we would not have this capacity without a purpose for it.

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

Do animals think they need a reason to live? They do just fine without a reason. What do you think?

I think the statement here reflects some assumptions: Do animals think? Yes, there is quite a lot of evidence that many different species show the ability to "think" to some degree, even some insects--although of course some people will argue about whether or not they are "thinking" or just reacting. We as humans cannot at this time truly know what the experience of other species (even other humans) are, so we must recognize that we are making assumptions about thinking.

When (and/or If) animals think, do they think about reasons for why they are alive? Who knows? They don't speak our language, and we don't yet understand theirs, and we still can't see what experience is like inside their lives. If the average human (and I stress average human; not typical among RFers) lives 70 years, and spends some small portion of their time--a few hours, perhaps; let's say 10--considering possible reasons they live, what would the equivalent be for a creature that lives, say, 7 years? Maybe an hour, spread over 7 years...maybe a few seconds here, a few seconds there...

People in the Western intellectual tradition assume that animals don't think, don't use reason, don't contemplate philosophical questions, and therefore "do just fine without a reason." Other traditions assume otherwise. Reality: we don't know if they do or don't have a reason. Maybe some do, and others don't. Maybe none do. Or maybe all do, to the limits of their own species and individual abilities.

Now, the assumption that humans--individually, on average, or on the whole--do any actual thinking is another assumption that I'm willing to question!

 

[Marisa]

We need a reason because.....we CAN reason.

Animals respond to their nature as they can do no more.
We CAN do more.

Is it not a shame when someone of great ability, loses that ability?

I don't understand how you can be so positive of something you can't possibly know. You know who or what you are an expert on? You. Nothing more.

 

[Willamena]

We need a reason because.....we CAN reason.

Animals respond to their nature as they can do no more.
We CAN do more.

Is it not a shame when someone of great ability, loses that ability?

We reason, it's nature, but in being such it's the world. To make it us is hubris.