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Home › Society › Philosophy › Life is a trip—or just a total death trap!

Life is a trip—or just a total death trap!

Started by swiftcobra15 · · 👁 3 views · 54 replies

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Participants swiftcobra15Jack Harris3Aredwalker63mistybisonNancy Perez72Ethan Sullivan2mistyfox812James Brown8jadeseal81Hannah Thomas13Harold James9Lawrence Robinson5silverfox6bluebison70steelridge58electricdriver93Harold Adams5coastalskipper92Edward Flores4
swiftcobra15 swiftcobra15 RegularOP
305 messages
joined Dec 2002
#1 ·


If we try to answer this by looking strictly through the lens of biology, we
quickly realize it only deals with living organisms rather than life as a whole concept.






Does life exist as a unified whole?






We can define any concept by examining its opposite:
Living things can die, whereas non-living matter cannot.





So, while biological life is mortal, is "Life" itself mortal?





In the phrase “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” it’s clear that the concept of Life transcends mere biology.



Perhaps the most fitting interpretation is: “I am true existence, as opposed to false existence (death).”



In a biological sense, an organism is mortal—it has an expiration date—yet it can reproduce, which allows it to partially overcome its own mortality.





No being is permanent. . . . But is Life itself permanent?








What does it actually mean to strive for immortality?







There are no static beings; everything changes, though living things evolve much faster than inanimate objects.






So, what would immortality even look like?






Is it the act of constantly changing while somehow maintaining one's identity?



Or, if we assume a being (the "I") possesses an unchanging core—viewing change merely as a play being performed before it—then the pursuit of immortality is simply the desire to eternally watch (perhaps always new?) performances.



Living beings cannot emerge or survive without the death of other living beings.



At first glance, autotrophs might seem to contradict this, but even they (as we see it today) rely on the cycle of death within their environment.
Jack Harris3 Jack Harris3 Regular
451 messages
joined Dec 2002
#2 ·
Jack Harris3 said:What does it actually mean to strive for an individual being to achieve immortality?

It basically means "abolishing" death itself for that being... 😉
swiftcobra15 swiftcobra15 RegularOP
305 messages
joined Dec 2002
#3 ·



Did life actually begin? And more importantly, WHEN and WHERE? 😕




If we assume it happened through gradual abiogenesis, drawing a hard line between non-living matter and living organisms becomes nearly impossible—unless we just decide to pick one arbitrarily.



On the other hand, if we lean toward creationist theories, we run straight into another hurdle: the assumption that a "Creator" must be a living entity. 😉

A Anonymous Veteran
3.6K messages
joined May 2005
#4 ·
Yesterday, I, swiftcobra15, drafted a post two or three times before hitting delete... 🙂 I kept wondering why (and obviously, I’m just talking about myself 🙂)—why bother putting words down when the meaning feels out of reach? What stays behind just looks like empty noise on a screen. But... I decided to try anyway. 🙂

The other day, while walking through town, I passed a tree where someone had posted an obituary, and I was struck by this sudden feeling that death doesn't actually exist. It was such a small detail—just a marker on a tree signifying a boundary someone crossed on their life's journey. But as an outsider looking in, I noticed that boundary, a uniquely human signifier that doesn't carry nearly as much weight in the grand scheme of existence as we tend to give it.
Of course, losing people you love is gut-wrenching; I get that... but in that moment, something inside me felt touched by the idea that death isn't "real." Or rather, that mortality isn't the same thing as death—it isn't that abrupt, final severance we think we know from watching others pass away.

p.s. As for everything else, I'm sure the folks here who actually study philosophy will be able to explain things way better and more deeply than I can. 🙂 I hope to keep writing and asking questions here... that's all for now. Take care. 🙂
Jack Harris3 Jack Harris3 Regular
451 messages
joined Dec 2002
#5 ·
oceanic said:



How did life actually start? WHEN & WHERE? 😕




If it was a gradual process (biogenesis), then you can’t really draw a hard line between non-living and living things, unless you just make one up.



But if we go with those creative "theories," we run right into a wall because they assume the "creator" is a living being.😉


I have my doubts about both versions, honestly...
With the first one, everything seems just a little too "perfect"... all the gears clicking together so seamlessly... it feels like there’s an overwhelming amount of coincidence involved. And even then, how does something transition from being totally inanimate to suddenly "coming alive," or mutating from "dead" matter into something "living"? How and why would that even happen?
As for the second version—the one that attempts to explain our very existence—it just pushes the mystery back one step... where did the creator get life from in the first place? What is the source of its own life?
And then there's the fundamental question of what life actually is. We see how it interacts with matter, sure, but I'd argue that life itself isn't material...🙂
What we call death might just be the expiration date of the physical matter itself...😁
swiftcobra15 swiftcobra15 RegularOP
305 messages
joined Dec 2002
#6 ·
viviana said:Yesterday, I actually drafted a post for swiftcobra15 at least two or three times before deleting it all... 🙂 I kept wondering why—and of course, this is just me 🙂—why bother writing something when the true meaning feels out of reach? What stays on the screen just felt hollow. But... I decided to give it a shot anyway. 🙂


I have to call you out here: you're being far too self-critical.🙂
There are plenty of people who have nothing of substance to say yet never stop cluttering up their screens,
but you really raise the bar for quality, so it’s a shame you don't post more often.

viviana said:...just a boundary someone crossed on their life's journey, one that perhaps only those of us looking in from the outside can see. It's a label that defines a person, yet it doesn't hold the weight we tend to assign to it.



I wrote that opening to get people thinking about what the word "life" actually implies.
It carries so many contradictory meanings, yet most of us just breeze right past them.


viviana said:p.s. As for everything else, I think those who study philosophy will be able to write much more deeply and clearly than I can. 🙂 Still, I hope to keep writing and asking questions here... for now, that's all. Best regards. 🙂


I am truly glad you thought to visit this subforum again, and I look forward to seeing you around more often. 😉
A Anonymous Veteran
3.6K messages
joined May 2005
#7 ·
I’m here, lurking in the shadows, but I don't always feel brave enough to jump in and post. 🙂 Thanks for having me! 🙂

The Atlantic coast. said:






What does it actually mean to crave immortality? It’s one of those heavy, existential questions that keeps you staring at the ceiling at 3 a.m. Is it a genuine desire to live forever, or is it just a deep-seated fear of being forgotten? When we talk about the drive for eternal life, we aren't just talking about science fiction or some futuristic Silicon Valley obsession with longevity drugs. We're talking about the fundamental human urge to leave a mark—to ensure that our existence wasn't just a blink in the eyes of time. It’s that restless feeling that there is still more to see, more to do, and more to become. Is it ego? Maybe. Or maybe it’s just our way of protesting against the sheer unfairness of how fleeting everything feels. Whether it's through art, legacy, or the literal pursuit of biological permanence, we are all essentially trying to outrun the clock.






I still remember being a little girl and getting lost in that same loop of thought: just once, and then never again... I’d sit there trying to wrap my head around that idea of something so fleeting, so absolute, and completely irreversible. Never. If I actually tried to wrap my head around that, I’d probably just bail on the whole idea. I'd end up spiraling into this endless loop of overthinking, convinced that something like that is just straight-up impossible. Never. We’re all just drifting through this vast expanse of time and space, desperately trying to find even the smallest crack of logic—some tiny glimmer of purpose that might eventually lead us to a light at the end of the tunnel. Honestly, it's almost impossible to wrap your head around.

Not a single crack in sight.

Looking back at what you asked about that deep-seated human craving for immortality, I can still see my younger self. Back then, I’d just shrug it off, bounce right back into the flow of things, and run down the stairs to go play, completely unbothered by the concept of forever. But the person I am today? I see life through a much sharper lens. There's this profound ache within me—this sense of being perpetually unfinished. It’s like I’m constantly reaching for something more, trying to grasp the essence of existence before that feeling of incompleteness eventually fades away. Right now, I’m holding onto that thread with everything I've got. I just hope it stays strong enough to keep me tethered, as long as I still have that restless hunger to keep starting over, time and time again. 🙂

If you're only skeptical about the afterlife, you're missing out on a much bigger picture. I keep coming back to this one piece of wisdom. It’s one of those quotes that stays with you long after the author is gone, and honestly, it feels like the perfect thing to share right here, right now.
Jack Harris3 Jack Harris3 Regular
451 messages
joined Dec 2002
#8 ·
viviana said:I'm hanging around, but I don't always feel brave enough to jump in and post. 🙂

Just be brave. 🙂
And please, don't just run away if you get hit with a nasty comment. Sometimes those happen... 😉

But can you really wrap your head around what "sometimes" actually means?
A Anonymous Veteran
3.6K messages
joined May 2005
#9 ·
Jack Harris3 said:Just stay strong. 🙂
Don't run for the hills just because you get hit with a nasty comment. Even the best of us take a hit now and then... 😉

Don't worry, I'm not exactly made of sugar. 🙂 What I meant earlier was about paying enough attention to ensure what we write actually makes sense and holds water.

Jack Harris3 said:But how do you personally define "someday"?

To me, "someday" is full of hope; it’s a projection into timelessness, an endless expanse... It represents both a goodbye and a reunion at once—a meeting where even as things part ways, there's this openness that never truly ends... like an ocean without a shoreline... 🙂

"Someday" carries within it a finitude that allows the infinite to shine through; the word someday acts as a promise without any guarantees, which is exactly why it feels so liberating. Or perhaps it holds an infinity where the finite finds peace, settling into a frequency where everything just aligns.

I wish "someday" were the word I used to say goodbye to the world.

"Someday" is a warm, human word. "Never" is cold and hollow.

What about you? 🙂 How do you interpret that word? (I think I might have gone a bit too deep down the rabbit hole with it 🙂 )
Jack Harris3 Jack Harris3 Regular
451 messages
joined Dec 2002
#10 ·
I’m definitely not the romantic type. 😁
To me, "sometimes" and "never" are basically two sides of the same coin. The only thing that actually separates them is the "moment."
If you seize the "sometimes," you've got a chance... if you let it slip, it just becomes "never." 😁
swiftcobra15 swiftcobra15 RegularOP
305 messages
joined Dec 2002
#11 ·
viviana said:If you stop worrying about the afterlife, your whole perspective starts to open up.

🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂



It’s funny looking back—when I first grappled with the idea of death as a kid, everything felt incredibly straightforward to me:
Some people pass away, but I, obviously, am going to keep on living.
At the time, I never even stopped to wonder who or what this "I" actually was.
To my younger self, it was just a given: I am me. 😉

A Anonymous Veteran
3.6K messages
joined May 2005
#12 ·
Mr. Pes said:I’m definitely not the romantic type. 😁
To me, "sometimes" and "never" are basically two sides of the same coin. The only thing that makes them feel different is the "moment."
"Sometimes," you seize the moment. "Never," you let it slip away... 😁

🙂 It's more invasive and pinpoint accurate when it comes to diagnosis. 🙂 If it were my patient, they’d leave the clinic totally confused about why they even made the appointment in the first place. 😉 But with you? They’d be left scratching their heads, wondering how they missed what was right in front of them! 🙂 Well, if you say so...

This isn't some minor issue we can just brush off. 🙂

swiftcobra15... I'll circle back to your post in a bit... 🙂
redwalker63 redwalker63 Newcomer
7 messages
joined Jun 2006
#13 ·
viviana said:..., if I really sat down to think about it: just once, and then absolutely never again... (trying to force my mind to grasp that incomprehensible, irreversible never as something actually understandable)—I’d probably give up on that mental trip pretty fast. It feels like a dizzying spiral where you're convinced such a thing is simply impossible, and that never doesn't exist within the time and space our thoughts search through, hoping to find some crack of meaning that might eventually reveal itself as light at the end of the tunnel... it's just too much to wrap your head around.

It looks like you aren't the only one who has run into this non-existent word: NEVER. When I was a kid, that thought used to spin in my head endlessly—stretching back into the past and forward into the future. The more I let myself drift with it, the more certain I became that it didn't exist. I couldn't accept the idea that my tiny little self wasn't recorded in the past, nor would ever be recorded in an infinite future.
Later, once I learned how to read, books opened doors to similar ideas and new theories.
Back then, Grandma's stories about Jesus were a fascinating world😲 but sometimes terrifying,😈 always confusing,😕 and impossible to find in real life.🙂 The promises of paradise and eternal life felt like nothing more than fairy tales to my young mind, which was empty of prejudice but full of intellectual speculation, especially compared to the heavy reality of death I witnessed firsthand—from people to even my pets.
I deeply believed that what I saw with my own eyes just wasn't fair or true.😵...
A Anonymous Veteran
3.6K messages
joined May 2005
#14 ·
swiftcobra15 said:


It’s funny looking back. When I first encountered the idea of death as a kid, it all seemed perfectly "obvious" to me, without any hesitation at all:
Sure, people die, but I, obviously, am not going to die.
And naturally, I never stopped to ask WHO or WHAT this "I" actually was.
It was just a given: I am me. 😉


Exactly. It’s just a given—this concept of me. Me versus the world. Or rather, me as the world.

From that viewpoint, I sometimes wonder when we lost that sense of belonging to everything—that feeling of being part of the whole. Back then, there was no need to search because I was already part of everything, or everything was inside me. It was just... understood. Integrated. Purposeful.

So, where does the disconnect happen?

What is it that actually separates us from the totality—from the wholeness of life itself? 🙂
redwalker63 redwalker63 Newcomer
7 messages
joined Jun 2006
#15 ·
viviana said:Where does the fall actually happen?

Or rather, what is it that separates us from wholeness—from life itself? 🙂

Forgive me for jumping into this conversation between you and Atlantic, but I can't help thinking the "fall" starts back in school. It happens when you start absorbing everyone else's lives and ideas. You find it easier to just go along with outside influences than to trust your own simple, small conclusions. Then, if you start getting punished for your own actions—especially if parents lean too hard on "discipline"—it becomes impossible to stay free-thinking and openhearted...

It always makes me think of the great Einsteins. He used to say he didn't reach wise conclusions until much later in life because his brain developed slower than his peers. He was still tackling those childhood questions—those big questions about meaning—well into his later years. Back then, the adults didn't exactly think he was a genius, so they didn't try to "mold" him in any specific direction...
A Anonymous Veteran
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joined May 2005
#16 ·
rakocy said:Sorry if I’m jumping into this conversation (between you and Delta Air Lines), but I honestly think things are starting to go downhill at the school...

No apologies necessary for weighing in... 😉I’m actually really glad you’re here—you have a great way with words. 🙂Especially that part about the school...
mistybison mistybison Regular
495 messages
joined Aug 2008
#17 ·
ocean breeze said:


It is fascinating how, when I first encountered the concept of death as a child, everything felt perfectly logical:
Some people die, but I, obviously, will not.
At the time, I didn't even stop to wonder WHO or WHAT this "I" actually was.
It was just a simple fact: I am me. 😉


I have similar memories from my own childhood. 🙂
Nancy Perez72 Nancy Perez72 Newcomer
5 messages
joined Jul 2006
#18 ·
If you try to tackle a question from just one angle, you’re only ever gonna get one answer! But hey, whether that single answer actually cuts it—if it’s enough or even right? Well, that’s a whole different ballgame!
Look, a human being is basically just a form of energy! And we all know how this works: energy can't be destroyed. It doesn't just pop out of thin air and it doesn't just vanish into nothing. So, if you look at a person as pure energy (if that's even the right way to put it), then even after death, you aren't really "dead"—you've just shifted into some other state of being!
But hey, that's just one physics-heavy take from a college kid...
swiftcobra15 swiftcobra15 RegularOP
305 messages
joined Dec 2002
#19 ·
viviana said:.

Where does the fall actually happen?

Or rather, what is it that separates us from the whole—from the totality of life? 🙂




We find a fascinating answer in the CIA: Rational Knowledge:
They ate from the "tree of knowledge" and suddenly realized they were naked.

It makes me wonder how vital the modern American school system really is for raising children. While rational knowledge predates organized schooling by ages, today every child is subjected to this specific type of processing: a kind of programming for uniformity. It feels like they shave away any originality or creativity that doesn't fit within a set curriculum, essentially forcing kids to abandon their own perception of reality just to adopt the adult world.

But I don't want to go completely off on a tangent here.
Our core questions remain: What is life?
Can there be life without death?
And to what extent do we truly live on through our descendants?


redwalker63 redwalker63 Newcomer
7 messages
joined Jun 2006
#20 ·
oceanview said:



Our big questions are really just: what is life?
Can there even be life without death?
How much of ourselves actually lives on through our kids?


[/INDENT]

So you're saying school today is basically a total failure, if I'm quoting you right.
But wouldn't things be different if schools actually started with those deep questions you mentioned? Maybe then we'd have real education.
Right now, it feels like the whole system operates on this dogma—this assumption that we already know everything about life. Death is treated like a taboo, and the entire structure seems designed to drill into our descendants (those little pioneers... we're the army, others had their ways...) that we and our grandfathers were always doing the right thing, just so they can follow in our footsteps.
And of course, if they happen to rebel... well, you hear it all the time about how "kids these days" are out of control. Back in our day, that didn't happen, and if it does, everything falls apart.
It reminds me of those old texts from ancient China where someone was complaining about the youth being corrupt, disobedient, and disrespectful to their parents. Pretty sure that was recorded thousands of years ago, too...
Anyway, what was it you asked? Oh, right.

People usually say black and white aren't actually colors, but rather the presence or absence of light.
That’s how I see it regarding life and death. Between that duality, I think there's a third element that matters more. In the color example, that would be light; in your question about life and death, that third thing would be Consciousness.
If that's the case, then death is simply the absence of consciousness.
And don't even get me started on whether an absence of consciousness is even possible.
If they say God is everywhere and in everything, then maybe that's just Consciousness being present in all things.
When we leave our bodies behind—what people call death—maybe we're just shifting our consciousness to something else, while the body itself retains its own kind of awareness, a sort of "biological consciousness."

In the end, I feel like there has to be a third element in everything.
That's what actually drives the whole thing.
Because as long as there are only two opposing forces,
nothing in time and space truly exists.

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