One of my favorite quotes is from a childrens movie:
"Your life is an occasion, rise to it."
Everyone always has it better off than you... your situation could always get worse. That's what keeps me going.
I don't like angst and negativity, I find it a real downer. Even I have my days, and I haven't exactly had the best life (haven't had the worst though!). Nor do I see a future full of adventure, gold, money, happy-go-lucky, someones even love, but as long as I'm content with my living situation (which I'm not picky about), and I have people to share my life with, I'll gladly keep going.
People are born, and than they die. What happens inbetween those points is chaos and choice. The balance and struggle between those two is life. What we take away from that struggle is growth. What comes from growth is knoweledge. What comes from knoweledge is wisdom.
Humans are chaos and choice, beautiful and ugly, decietful and honest. There's no right answer because we'll constantly outgrow that answer. So take a deep breath, step away from ego, and look at yourself. Accept who you are without defining who you are.
Hmmm, I don't think that I can produce a universal reason for the will to live, but I think I can try. I think it's because we all want something, whether it be money, love, fame, we all have something we are determined to have. Even if you are living for another, that other person's happiness is what you want, what you desire. Even if you achieve this thing, or things, that you want, it's never enough, is it? People are always thinking that they can get more if they just try a little harder and most times they are successful. It's these successes and failures that move us forward to new goals and dreams. Thus, our will to live.
Kikora, I don't totally agree with the statement that you have to live for yourself in order to be happy. Many men and women commit their lives to the betterment of mankind through service in the military, the cleric, and volunteer organizations. What I believe is, is that these people live for the people that they help. And that is what makes them happy. It takes a rare person, but sometimes it just happens that way.
your body is but a tool driven by genes, striving for immortality.
When you do something good your brain rewards you and stimulates your dopamine receptors.
When you are afraid or in pain you learn from those experiences and try to avoid similar situations in the future- NOOOT that it was mentioned before or anything...
Death is inevitable. You might as well see it all the way through .You never know when it's going to get better or worse. You just have to take the experiences as they come.
I'm sure we wouldn't have as amazing poetry/literature, art or other creative ordeals if it wasn't for hard times. If life was always good, what would drive us? It all depends on where you channel your emotions.
don't be confused, just live your life
do something that inspires you- set some goals- you'll find your "will" in there somewhere.
also
-I don't really think one needs ...education to survive. There were plenty others before us that were cunning, yes, but educated not.
-spousal issues aren't only caused by financial problems. Jealousy ,envy and betrayal are among a handful of other wonderful factors that may cause a couple to part ways. Maybe the "sizzle" just fizzled.
Or whether, what gives humans the will to survive?
We all know that without a few things like a job, education, or experience are required to be able to survive in this world. But why do we strive for these things? Because we know that if we don't have them, we won't be happy. But what is happiness? They say that all the money in the world can't provide happiness, but so many divorces happen because of financial issues. The man isn't taking care of his family financially, I can't be with him anymore. Its HER fault that she doesn't work and she's dragging me down. I can't survive with them, I have to get out. Then the people with money who are alone want love, because they believe it will fill a hole in their hearts. However, look at all the celebrities who end up divorced because they committed infidelity. Look at all the people in the world who only marry because of the money and end up unhappy.
What the hell will make us happy? No matter what there is a struggle. Why is happiness so important that we are willing to suffer so much pain, agony, bitterness, anger, jealousy, greed, and other negative emotions? Are people born with this will? To suffer no matter what life throws at you? Or is it something that is formed while you are still alive? Is it able to deteriorate?
A long time ago there was an argument here about how suicidal people deserve to die.
But are they really to blame for their actions? They used to have the will to survive like most of the us. But it began to disappear and whither away as their life went on. Maybe it wasn't because they couldn't live on. Maybe they just were tired of it. Maybe they were tired of surviving all the time.
Can anyone really live their lives? There are moments of happiness and peace, but those moments end. Why can grief and anger and bitterness last a life time...no, generations and generations, but happiness lasts from moment to moment? Are these moments really worth surviving from day to day?
People live for the mere hedonistic joy in living. We go to work, why? To make money or for the mere thrill in our occupation. We love to spend money or we love to do something fulfilling that we are good at. Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy most anything else...more than we'd care to admit. And out of that mess something will be produced that gives us happiness. Some may never find that, but merely because of the multitude of stimuli that exist in our monetary-driven society. But many times more than that will find something that gives them happiness, and that happiness is likely to have a price-tag.
We love one another, why? Because it puts us in a state of elation to share feeling of attraction with one another. Whether it's an emotional or physical response, eliciting both or having sad feelings elicited from us propels us until a euphoria from which we scarcely wish to return from. Time and time again we see people continuing trying to create ways to reproduce this feeling from nothing, so that they can have it whenever they want.
This behavior is not always as blatant as I point it out to be. Even the most virtuous people, when you look deep into their core, are merely doing what they do for the sheer fact that they enjoy it. Indeed, ask anyone and you will scarcely find a person who does something because they don't enjoy it. And many of those you find unable to take joy in their actions turn out to only be doing them because said actions will produce either a thing, a setting, or a response that they do find enjoyable.
The problem with this behavior is that it is short sighted, and also forgetful. To put it in a setting, Actor A and Actress B will get together because they enjoy being together, but it was only a fleeting joy. Soon Actor A will find Actress D to be much more enjoyable, or Actress B will find Actor A to actually be less enjoyable than first impressions would have her perceive. So they break up, returning to the pool from which relationships in Hollywood spring from...only to have the same be televised soon for the process to repeat.
We live because we want to keep enjoying life. It's a strangely simplistic approach, but I can't find another way to phrase it. I wake up day in and day out and seriously wonder why I keep going to my dead-end job; why I keep forcing myself to crawl out of the warmth of my cozy bed. It's because I need to work so I can get the money to buy the things that bring me happiness. And the only reason I make such an effort to keep my job is because I enjoy the company of my coworkers over having to find a new group of people I have no connection to. Even now, I type up this post merely because I hope to find joy in having people agree with me, because that will make me feel like I am right and will thus give me joy. People are likely to argue because they will want that joy for themselves, and I'm likely to argue back to maintain my joy.
Darkworld said:
I don't exactly have the will to 'survive'.
Hell, I have pretty much given up on the world, but I guess... Hmmm, I guess I do have a small nugget of hope. My will to survive stems from my need to watch others fail.
If a suicidal person wants to die, let 'em. Saving them is pointless~ They'll just start taking up space.
And the clingy factor: If you have to rely on another being to bring you happiness/give you a reason to live, you probably will end up under the suicidal category sooner, or later.
I think the thing that gives us all a reason to push forward is the need to see what happens next. The world is just a big suspense film, and we want to finish it~
Can anyone really live their lives? There are moments of happiness and peace, but those moments end. Why can grief and anger and bitterness last a life time...no, generations and generations, but happiness lasts from moment to moment? Are these moments really worth surviving from day to day?
It's better than the alternative. Given the choice between existing(whether it be for brief moments of pleasure and long drawn out periods of pain and suffering) or ending everything that I am and not being able to come back and try again tomorrow, I'd go for the former option. I cannot predict the future and the balance between desire and pain fluctuates so much, tomorrow may bring more of one than the other and that hope drives me. Because some days are very good.
Some days are very good, and that is what drives all of us.
Bast the Cat Goddess said:
Okay, I came up with an answer, but I can't really go into specifics because I have to go to work soon.
I live because I want to find a way to make myself happy. I don't want to depend on anything or anyone else to. I know that its not impossible. I know that even if I find a way to do this it probably will fade away with each and every hardship. But so what? I want to learn to do it again until I get it right.
I can't depend on anyone but myself to satisfy me.
You live because you want to live, and you find things to make you happy while living. If you live for other people or for petty desires you wont be happy, because you'll reduce the meaning of your existence down to these trivial things. The wonderful thing about living for the same of living is that you can have hundreds of things that make you happy, and even if your ideals change it wont impact your desire to keep going.
They're finding happiness in living. Who cares if it comes from themselves or from another, the point stands that they are happy.
Ms_Muffintops said:
One of my favorite quotes is from a childrens movie:
"Your life is an occasion, rise to it."
Everyone always has it better off than you... your situation could always get worse. That's what keeps me going.
I don't like angst and negativity, I find it a real downer. Even I have my days, and I haven't exactly had the best life (haven't had the worst though!). Nor do I see a future full of adventure, gold, money, happy-go-lucky, someones even love, but as long as I'm content with my living situation (which I'm not picky about), and I have people to share my life with, I'll gladly keep going.
Few like angst and negativity. It tends to get in the way of enjoying life. The few who like such negative emotions typically prefer to elicit them in others rather than themselves, as they are already filling with joy as they are not that person whom they have brought down. Either way, it all comes back to being happy.
I had to do a paper on this in college. It was supposed to be like ten pages long. Being drunk, and in a philosophical mood my paper consisted of these five words: "The desire not to die." I got an A-. The professor said that the - was because I used an incomplete sentence...
That was just for silly i planed to post my real answer later. Anyhow on a serious note to me the will to live comes from the desire to be around my loved ones, especially my cat. Even though life is harder then ever i still want that, and thankfully i do have that.
Humans don't just want to live, we want to thrive. and you cant get that without love and support. I enjoy my family and i'm very lucky to be around them daily.
Do I have hours, days, sometimes weeks where I feel bad? Feel down on my luck? Feel lost? Yeah, it happens to everyone from time to time. But I know, that something enjoyable will happen soon and it makes it all worth while.
Perhaps it is just a joke that I laugh at with a friend.
Perhaps it is simply a smile I recieve from a stranger.
Sometimes, it is just the fact that I woke up this morning.
It reminds me of my late grandfather Mario. I called him one day on the phone, he was probably 85 at the time. I asked him how his day was. With a chukle he said "Well, I woke up... So it's a good day."
That moment always stuck with me, and I tell myself that everyday.
Another experience I had with him was simply the most amazing. It drove me to love and treasure my memories of him even more. I was lucky enough to be their the moment he died... I was the only one to hear his last words. He was hooked up to some dialysis machine that took blood from one side of his neck and replaced it in the other side after it ran through the machine. He laughed, smiled at me, held my hand and said "Well, it looks like I wont hit 90 (he was 89)" he smiled and laughed once more and then died. It amazed me that one person could be so happy, even as he drew his last breath.
He lived his life, simply because he was alive. Being alive, meant it was good. But even in death he found enjoyment, because he was with the people he cared about.
I guess the point of the second story is that... If it is difficult to find happiness or enjoyment in your life, just think about the people you care about, they should be all the enjoyment you really need.
well, its prolly evolution. If humans didnt evolve the will to live then they wouldnt have lived. Actually since the world is so much easier (in a lot of ways) to live in now than it was during ancient times maybe the will to live is getting weaker in us cause theres nothing to weed out those with a weaker will to live
The will to live is our will to survive. Like it or not, human beings are afraid (yes afraid) of the dark. It represents death and the unknown. Children are naturally afraid and are taught not to fear it. In some parts of Africa, they worship(ed?) the sun. Why? It represents living. We all depend on it for life and without it we would be savage beasts fighting over a peice of meat. Asking why we have it is like asking the meaning of life. No one really knows. What gives us the will to live is pure instinct. Somewhere along the way we figured out that living is good and dying is bad. I agree with the post above me in this way. Without it we wouldn't have survived.
Personally my will to live is borne from a will to show the universe that I don't give two shits about how insignificant I am. I exist and I don't care if my voice will be but a whisper in the chaos of the universe, even the smallest whisper will be heard one way or another.
I live my life because dying would be boring, because there's a hell of a lot to do in this world and I will live as much of it as I can, no matter how quickly time passes by. Because humanity will carry on after I am gone, we are almost impossible to eradicate in our limitless ingenuity and unparalleled ability to survive things that would wipe out lesser races, beyond our planet physically being destroyed I would doubt we can be destroyed and if we can construct self sufficient colonies on other worlds then we become effectively invincible.
I live for that dream of humanity spreading across the stars, whether or not it comes to pass in my lifetime.
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