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Source: (consider it) Thread: The meaning of life is love
Evensong
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# 14696

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Heard this line somewhere recently. "The meaning of life is love."

I quite like it.

Thoughts?

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a theological scrapbook

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Tortuf
Ship's fisherman
# 3784

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God is love. God is love beyond what we can comprehend.

To my mind God is trying to lead us to love. Love for God. Love for our siblings, the children of God. Love for ourselves as a child of God.

Jesus called upon us to follow him. And Jesus then embarked upon a journey of what love is all about. Jesus refused the temptations offered to separate Himself from regular human beings by performing god like feats. Jesus used His love to comfort, to heal, to turn the values of the world upside down because those values of the world were all about separateness and advantage.

Love is not about being separate, but about recognizing that God is in all of us and that God can work through us.

In fact, for me salvation means finding that God loves me even when I don't love myself. When that happened there was indeed a new Heaven and a new Earth.

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Yorick

Infinite Jester
# 12169

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Seems a little loose to me, though I can see where it goes. I think much of Christian theology describes God as Love, so the sentiment should have good carriage round here.


XP. See what I mean?

[ 20. February 2015, 10:30: Message edited by: Yorick ]

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این نیز بگذرد

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Galilit
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# 16470

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Julian of Norwich says that too: "Would you know your Lord's meaning in this? Learn it well. Love was his meaning. Who showed it you? Love. Why did he show you? For love"

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She who does Her Son's will in all things can rely on me to do Hers.

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no prophet's flag is set so...

Proceed to see sea
# 15560

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I'd say 'not quite'. The meaning of life is to be loved and give love in return, thus, relationship. There's also survival of the fittest, but I have trouble marrying that with relationship.

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Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.
\_(ツ)_/

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Jahlove
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# 10290

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quote:
Originally posted by Evensong:
Heard this line somewhere recently. "The meaning of life is love."

I quite like it.

Thoughts?

Luv iz da meaning of life - here we go [Smile]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ln9qi4brLEo

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“Sing like no one's listening, love like you've never been hurt, dance like nobody's watching, and live like its heaven on earth.” - Mark Twain

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LucyP
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# 10476

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Maybe it's ok if you want something simplistic, and are in a place in life where you have a sense of loving and being loved. Such as if you are happily married with beautiful children.

For the sake of applying the slogan to as many people as possible, you probably need to ensure your definition of “love” includes love of one's pet python, love of one's garden and of growing one's own food, and general community connectedness (“oh yes, we can ask Mavis to help out with this job noone else wants to do, she'll always lend a hand” - is Mavis loved? Or is she only showing love without much return? Is there meaning in her life?)

The trouble is, if you are at a point in life when you do not experience love and know of noone who wants your love, (for example a childless, divorced ,middle aged, unemployed person who has a distant relationship with siblings, and whose widowed mother just died) the corollary is “there is no love in my life, so my life is meaningless”. Cue suicidal thoughts as a response to a relationship breakdown or bereavement. Or immediately jumping from one dissolved dysfunctional “love” relationship to another.

“Meaning” is different for different people. Some 2nd world war concentration camp survivors had noone left to love, and for some of them, their “meaning” (at least in the short to medium term) was the establishment of a new homeland for their people. For others, it was the ability to reconnect with their scientific or artistic pursuits.

“The meaning of life is love” doesn't work for me, except maybe if it has a spiritual dimension added to it. Even if spiritualised, I suspect it would annoy me if I heard it in a sermon.

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Martin60
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# 368

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I love that LucyP.

And Tortuf.

Both.

Love is in Raqqa. Raqqa is in Love. Raqqa will be redeemed by Love. As Dame Julian said.

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Love wins

Posts: 17586 | From: Never Dobunni after all. Corieltauvi after all. Just moved to the capital. | Registered: Jun 2001  |  IP: Logged
saysay

Ship's Praying Mantis
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I was taught that my purpose in life is to try to learn to love others the way that G-d loves them.

Which sometimes means putting up with them when they're being dolts while trying to help them be better.

And accepting that they might not love you back even if you've loved them (in the sense of doing what you truly think is in their best interest) to the best of your knowledge and ability.

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"It's been a long day without you, my friend
I'll tell you all about it when I see you again"
"'Oh sweet baby purple Jesus' - that's a direct quote from a 9 year old - shoutout to purple Jesus."

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PaulBC
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# 13712

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Loving others does meaning putting up with their silliness . And hoping other people put up with yours.
But loving your neighbour well I just saw a story on BBC site about a student who raised a goodly sum to help the homeless after a homeless man offered her help. Now that is an example to us all. Especially when the homeless , or just idle people are getting on my nerves
So we should all love each other Always.
blessings
[Smile] [Angel] [Votive]

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"He has told you O mortal,what is good;and what does the Lord require of youbut to do justice and to love kindness ,and to walk humbly with your God."Micah 6:8

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W Hyatt
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# 14250

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quote:
Originally posted by Evensong:
Heard this line somewhere recently. "The meaning of life is love."

I quite like it.

Thoughts?

I like Swedenborg's take (which may have something to do with why I'm Swedenborgian [Biased] ) because he is so big on love. He goes much further than saying that love is the meaning of life - he says that love is life, and not in a metaphoric or poetic sense, but in a very real and literal sense. In his theology, the essence of what we experience as life originates as love proceeding from God. Furthermore, he also rejects the idea that God creates from nothing and instead says that God's love is the essential energy from which everything is created. So he's not talking about something we feel or even something we're consciously aware of, he's talking about love as creative substance and as something that can manifest itself as various emotions, including what we normally call "love."

Makes perfect sense to me. [Big Grin]

[ 21. February 2015, 06:02: Message edited by: W Hyatt ]

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A new church and a new earth, with Spiritual Insights for Everyday Life.

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SvitlanaV2
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# 16967

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To my mind, the trouble with the heading is that many people will assume that that only particular kinds of love gives life meaning.

E.g., they'll probably think of romantic love, or family love. But what about people who don't possess these kinds of love? Does this make their lives meaningless? The notion of loving (relative) strangers is part of Christianity, but society in general is quite ambivalent about it; we admire great acts of public altruism or self-sacrifice, especially when they're dramatic one-off events, but otherwise we view them as somewhat eccentric or unnatural, and hardly equivalent to romantic and family attachments.

And people (e.g. 'cat ladies') who devote their lives to loving animals are often pitied because the love they have is seen as second best to a loving human relationship.

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Raptor Eye
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# 16649

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I like it. The meaning of life is love. But as others have said, we will all read into it our own interpretations, of what love is, of what meaning is, and whether it implies our receiving love rather than giving it.

So I like it as my interpretation is that the whole purpose of our existence is to share the love, given to us as a gift from God when we draw near to God, with everyone else.

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Be still, and know that I am God! Psalm 46.10

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Martin60
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# 368

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We all know when we're loved. What's to interpret? We all know it when we see it. Read it. Hear it. Sing it. Feel it. Do it.

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Love wins

Posts: 17586 | From: Never Dobunni after all. Corieltauvi after all. Just moved to the capital. | Registered: Jun 2001  |  IP: Logged
itsarumdo
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# 18174

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quote:
Originally posted by Evensong:
Heard this line somewhere recently. "The meaning of life is love."

I quite like it.

Thoughts?

Experiencing it is not as easy as saying it.

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"Iti sapis potanda tinone" Lycophron

Posts: 994 | From: Planet Zog | Registered: Jul 2014  |  IP: Logged


 
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