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Is life a mistake?

betaboybetaboy Veteran
edited January 2014 in General Banter
Life evolved ... it wasn't always there. In the beginning, there was only inanimate matter. So is life a mistake, an accident? Is that why we all have the death instinct, thanatos, a desire to go back to our true nature, which is the inorganic state?

Maybe this is what experienced Buddhist meditators mean when they say: we must know our true nature. Maybe this is what some bizarre koans ( like "what's your face before you were born" etc.) are about - to emphasize that life is not our true nature.

Any ideas?
lobster

Comments

  • robotrobot Veteran
    betaboy said:

    Life evolved ... it wasn't always there. In the beginning, there was only inanimate matter.
    Any ideas?

    Wasn't always where?
  • rohitrohit Maharrashtra Veteran
    Life has no meaning in itself, it is itself an opportunity to make it meaningful.
    ~Siddhartha Buddha~
  • lobsterlobster Crusty Veteran
    :crazy:

    :crazy:

    :screwy:

    Looking forward to tomorrow already. Evolution here we . . . :wave:
  • BhikkhuJayasaraBhikkhuJayasara Bhikkhu Veteran
    edited January 2014
    who cares if it is or not? does it have any real bearing on your life?

    also @rohit that certainly is no quote of the buddha I'm familiar with.
    lobster
  • betaboybetaboy Veteran
    rohit said:

    Life has no meaning in itself, it is itself an opportunity to make it meaningful.
    ~Siddhartha Buddha~

    Sounds like Britney Spears on a bad hair day.
    rohitvinlynlobster
  • CinorjerCinorjer Veteran
    Is life a mistake? Sure. A glorious, wonderful, serendipitous mistake. Don't tell the other universes, or they'll all want one.

    anataman
  • rohitrohit Maharrashtra Veteran
    betaboy said:

    rohit said:

    Life has no meaning in itself, it is itself an opportunity to make it meaningful.
    ~Siddhartha Buddha~

    Sounds like Britney Spears on a bad hair day.
    I don't know her song but she had/has killing looks ;)
  • ZeroZero Veteran
    betaboy said:


    Life evolved ... it wasn't always there. In the beginning, there was only inanimate matter.
    So is life a mistake, an accident? Is that why we all have the death instinct, thanatos, a desire to go back to our true nature, which is the inorganic state?
    Maybe this is what experienced Buddhist meditators mean when they say: we must know our true nature. Maybe this is what some bizarre koans ( like "what's your face before you were born" etc.) are about - to emphasize that life is not our true nature.
    Any ideas?

    The statement on 'life' is speculative at best.
    There's an issue with 'infinite'... beginning / end?
    "Life is not our true nature...!!!" Where to put that when even a cursory examination shows that without this life's definition, what is 'true' or 'nature'?
    Thanatos is personification of death rather than a death instinct?
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    @betaboy, you really do need to get out more.
    how
  • anatamananataman Who needs a title? Where am I? Veteran
    And change his music tastes
  • betaboybetaboy Veteran
    anataman said:

    And change his music tastes

    Did someone say music?
  • DaftChrisDaftChris Spiritually conflicted. Not of this world. Veteran
    edited January 2014
    Is life a mistake?

    Perhaps it is. Perhaps it isn't. However, let's not worry about that. Regardless of how we got here, the fact is that we are here.

    Let's try to make the best of what time we have. :)
  • DakiniDakini Veteran
    betaboy said:

    Life evolved ... it wasn't always there. In the beginning, there was only inanimate matter. So is life a mistake, an accident? Is that why we all have the death instinct, thanatos, a desire to go back to our true nature, which is the inorganic state?

    Maybe this is what experienced Buddhist meditators mean when they say: we must know our true nature. Maybe this is what some bizarre koans ( like "what's your face before you were born" etc.) are about - to emphasize that life is not our true nature.

    Any ideas?

    I think what Buddhists mean by "we must know our true nature" is that we need to recognize that our true nature is Buddhanature.

    Life may have been an accident, but it was an accident waiting to happen. They key to creating life was electricity (scientists have proven this by running electrical currents through test tubes of inorganic matter), and electricity was everywhere in the early atmosphere of Planet Earth.

  • HamsakaHamsaka goosewhisperer Polishing the 'just so' Veteran
    betaboy said:

    Life evolved ...

    it wasn't always there. In the beginning, there was only inanimate matter.

    So is life a mistake, an accident?

    Is that why we all have the death instinct,

    thanatos,

    a desire to go back to our true nature, which is the inorganic state?

    Maybe this is what experienced Buddhist meditators mean when they say: we must know our true nature.

    Maybe this is what some bizarre koans ( like "what's your face before you were born" etc.) are about - to emphasize that life is not our true nature.

    Any ideas?

    There, I made the OP into a poem.

    Gassho :)

  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    'Life is a mistake' is nihilism.
  • robotrobot Veteran
    betaboy said:

    anataman said:

    And change his music tastes

    Did someone say music?
    He was banned.
    Friend of yours?
  • howhow Veteran Veteran
    robot said:

    betaboy said:

    anataman said:

    And change his music
    tastes

    Did someone say music?
    He was banned.
    Friend of yours?
    Or is this simply the rebirth that so many here have been trying to find proof of??????

    robot
  • pegembarapegembara Veteran
    "As we understand the Dhamma taught to us by the Blessed One, this is the greater: the tears we have shed while transmigrating & wandering this long, long time — crying & weeping from being joined with what is displeasing, being separated from what is pleasing — not the water in the four great oceans."

    "Excellent, monks. Excellent. It is excellent that you thus understand the Dhamma taught by me."

    "Why is that? From an inconstruable beginning comes transmigration. A beginning point is not evident, though beings hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving are transmigrating & wandering on. Long have you thus experienced stress, experienced pain, experienced loss, swelling the cemeteries — enough to become disenchanted with all fabricated things, enough to become dispassionate, enough to be released."

    Assu Sutta: Tears
  • betaboybetaboy Veteran
    Dakini said:

    betaboy said:

    Life evolved ... it wasn't always there. In the beginning, there was only inanimate matter. So is life a mistake, an accident? Is that why we all have the death instinct, thanatos, a desire to go back to our true nature, which is the inorganic state?

    Maybe this is what experienced Buddhist meditators mean when they say: we must know our true nature. Maybe this is what some bizarre koans ( like "what's your face before you were born" etc.) are about - to emphasize that life is not our true nature.

    Any ideas?

    I think what Buddhists mean by "we must know our true nature" is that we need to recognize that our true nature is Buddhanature.

    Life may have been an accident, but it was an accident waiting to happen. They key to creating life was electricity (scientists have proven this by running electrical currents through test tubes of inorganic matter), and electricity was everywhere in the early atmosphere of Planet Earth.

    I understand. What I am saying is, If life is an accident, is it possible that everything that occurs thereafter (even enlightenment, nibanna etc.) is also an accident?
  • anatamananataman Who needs a title? Where am I? Veteran
    But life was never an accident, scientific fact!

    The universe came into being with life already wrapped up in its being. That is why in the first few moments of the big bang there was a moment of rapid expansion you see. The universe didn't realise what and how much it contained and it made itself jump!

    Now it just has to keep expanding forever, to contain it.

    LOL - sorry but sometimes I have to laugh at myself!
  • DavidDavid A human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First Nations Veteran
    We don't even know if this solar system is the only one that supports life... For all we know, life has always been, in one form or another.

    The potential has certainly always been here so it was just a matter of the conditions being right. As far as I can tell.

    At any rate, a mistake implies a goal.
  • anatamananataman Who needs a title? Where am I? Veteran
    ourself said:

    We don't even know if this solar system is the only one that supports life... For all we know, life has always been, in one form or another.

    The potential has certainly always been here so it was just a matter of the conditions being right. As far as I can tell.

    At any rate, a mistake implies a goal.

    Can you explain: 'a mistake implies a goal' to me @ourself. You lost me there.
  • DavidDavid A human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First Nations Veteran
    edited January 2014
    @anataman;

    A mistake means things did not go according to plan. If life is a mistake then what was supposed to happen instead?

    A random occurrence wouldn't then be called a mistake because there is no intention. It would be an act of absolute or universal grace (no effort involved).

    A mistake implies effort.
  • DavidDavid A human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First Nations Veteran
    edited January 2014
    anataman said:

    But life was never an accident, scientific fact!

    The universe came into being with life already wrapped up in its being. That is why in the first few moments of the big bang there was a moment of rapid expansion you see. The universe didn't realise what and how much it contained and it made itself jump!

    Now it just has to keep expanding forever, to contain it.

    LOL - sorry but sometimes I have to laugh at myself!

    There is no proof that the big bang is the beginning of the universe and not just a way it behaves. The universe could contain an infinite amount of big bangs.

    I don't think it is possible to have an absolute beginning.
    anataman
  • anatamananataman Who needs a title? Where am I? Veteran
    I was having a little joke @ourself - lol
  • DavidDavid A human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First Nations Veteran
    Yeah, I know... It still inspired a response from me though.

    Why is this thread being shuffled away when other less meaningful and relevant threads by the same poster are still in play?
  • anandoanando Explorer
    Hello,
    in some way human life is a mistake and it´s causing suffering, because the matter it consists from is always changing. In buddhist teaching there are two selfes. The first one is the material, that dies with the body and the secon one, the real self, survives
    the dissolvement of the material body. The suffering lifes circel dan find an end if you do the Eightfold Path and some reading of Dighanikay, the longer collection of the Pali-Canon. In buddhist Genesis this second self is a lightbeing that was thrown out at some cosmis clashes of planets. Brahma is also a lightbeing but on a higher status, than wie normal humans are. But we are similar.

    anando
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