From: Rebecca Temmer (ratemmer.lists@gmail.com)
Date: Tue Nov 22 2005 - 05:44:39 GMT
Matt & Peter:
I always liked Viktor Frankl's conception of the 'will to meaning'. It's
entirely based on existentialism and it works for me.
From "Man's Search for Meaning":
"Man's search for meaning is the primary motivation in his life and not a
'secondary rationalization' of instinctual drives. This meaning is unique
and specific in that it must and can be fulfilled by him alone; only then
does it achieve a significance which will satisfy his own will to
meaning."... Further on "...we can discover the meaning in life in three
different ways: 1) by creating a work or doing a deed; 2) by experiencing
something or encountering someone; and 3) by the attitude we take toward
unavoidable suffering."... And to top it off: "Pleasure is, and must remain,
a side-effect or by-product, and is destroyed and spoiled to the degree to
which it is made a goal in and of itself."
Somewhere in a book I was reading (perhas From Alpha to Omega), the author
cited the example of a story from a newspaper that told about four perfect
cribbage hands (each player recieving all of one suit) being dealt somewhere
in England. He pointed out that the probability of this is astronomical,
however, it's not any more astronomical than the chances of any other hand
being dealt - it's just that we detected a _significant_ pattern...
Food for thought,
Rebecca
PS - What exactly is the probability of that sperm whale spontaneously
turning into a cheesecake?
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