I have a lot of books left to read.

It’s about connection. You can feel it when it’s there with your loved ones, in art, in nature, anywhere you can find it. You can’t think it into being. You can only open yourself up to it when it’s there.

there is no inherent meaning to life.

i choose to continue living each day because a) i am still enjoying myself enough to stick around, b) i’m a chicken and nothing has motivated me to voluntarily face quicker death just yet, c) i am committed to not fucking up my kids in that particular way if i can continue to avoid it, and d) i do work that matters and eases the suffering of others to create meaning for myself.

I have discovered that the meaning of life (for me) is to just exist. Whatever I do in life, I was meant to and builds on why I am here.

You could say, in a way, that I live to convey what to live for.

Perhaps I’ve done a little too much LSD (probably not), but I have a certain innate understanding of recovering from rock bottom. I want to help people help themselves, as psychedelics have done for me. I hope the insight I have about myself can translate to others’ struggles. Any number of things could end up helping or hurting someone, and I’m doing my best to provide resources to people on learning how to do more than simply tolerate life. Psychonautics were what helped me, but what would help my friends, or people I don’t know at all?

First will come my psychonautic journal on harm reduction in substance use (my main hobby in life), but then a book about the hardships and joys of life in a more broad sense.

The world hurts right now. It needs all the help it can get, so I do what I can. When a friend hurts, I listen, and I do my best to make them smile.

Truly, simply being a human is good enough for me.

i only do what i want to do, no more or less

Hey, this is broken. What if I dedicate my life fixing it, that would be cool. That’s how I found my meaning.

There isn’t any… you must provide the meaning to your life on your own

It’s shits and giggles all the way down, my friend!

I’m not religious or spiritual so I’m a pure hedonist. I work so that I can maintain a comfortable life for my wife and I with vacations and other treats. In my 30s but not very interested in having children; might be tempted to adopt in my 40s but will need to see where I am at that point in my life.

Essentially the goal is to be happy as a clam (that is a strange phrase now I consider it). It would be nice to author something to leave my name for future generations but I kind of get that from contributing to open source projects when I get the chance.

Meaning must be generated, not found.

I think “What is the meaning of (my) life?” is not a question that we should be focusing on. It assumes that there is meaning to life. Neither is saying “Life is meaningless,” as it assumes exactly that. Both approaches presupposes an answer.

I’d rather think about “What can I do today/tomorrow/this week/this year/in this life?” That is a lot more digestible than chasing a meaning, or dismissing what could be meaningful about my actions.

I’m already here, so… What is it under my control that I can do something about? What can I do about it? Something along those lines.

PS:

The overall tone of my response might be nihilist, or having shades of stoicism, but I am personally biased towards Epicureanism (not the present-day meaning, but the more classical meaning) which gives emphasis to ataraxia, or put very loosely, that state of contentedness. It’s not about avoiding pain and preferring (temporary) pleasure, but rather a more stable state absent of pain and having pleasure that is brought about by mindful actions. I am not exactly learned in this so please take my words with a pinch of salt (or several).

Logically I am a determinist and a nihilist. It’s the only thing that makes sense to me.

But I can’t live life like that. Life is lived through feelings and it feels like I have free will. So I feel meaning by contributing positively and that my choices in life matter.

So, I contribute, try to do good, be helpful and nice to people, and also fulfill some hedonistic desires such as good food, lovemaking, shows, etc.

I’m religious so that’s pretty much figured out for me lol

I want to see my planted apple tree bear fruit for the first time (it’s looking good this year so far!), and then I want to try splicing in a branch of my neighbours cherry tree, and then I want to keep building gradually to have a mutant tree with all kinds of fruit throughout the season. I’ll be the creator of my own Tree of Life.

Small goals, small joys, small triumphs - it’s what’ll make my life grand, I believe.