[Tokugawa]

With regard to the title of the thread, I would disagree completely with the statement expressed therein. Religion is ALL about "meaning", a fundamental expression of dissatisfaction with the seemingly absurd nature of existence. Why does anything exist at all? Why not rather nothing? Observation, such as scientific inquiry can offer only a causal exposition, and no "explantion" whatsoever. Mankind is completely ill equipped to "discover" any meaning, therefore it must be invented.

We can argue all we like as to the usefulness of invented "truth" (truth is in itself, a concept invented by man), however this would be futile. To hold that a "fictional" meaning is of no use, would be to deny the usefulness of life itself. I rail against such nihlism, and "those that would prefer a handful of certain nothing, over a cartload of beautiful, uncertain possiblities" (Nietzsche).


We should not concern ourselves with what is "truth", but rather what is what is "life-preserving", or even "life-enhancing", and it is here that I find many popular beliefs fall short. The message of Christ, died a very early death it would seem, and was replaced with the Platonic ideal of "the good in itself". Consider the "ideal religion" as given in Plato's Republic, it describes something suspiciously like Christianity. Consider also that it was written 350 years before Christ was born. Indeed, it seems that Greek influence on the New Testament extends well beyond a simple renaming of the noble Joshua. Christianity is no more than "Platonism for the masses".

For me it seems to make little sense to ascribe any meaning to life, other than to LIVE. This means embracing ALL of life, good and bad. What can you know of love, if you don't know what it is to hate? How can you know what it is to find peace, if you have not felt strife? What can you tell me about victory, if you have never tasted defeat? Each of these concepts is dependent on the other, and to me life is made up of all and none of these things.