for - question - what's the meaning of life? - a philosophical perspective - John Vervaeke - The meaning crisis

37:00 going to war with self

• see zk notes on self-discovery & finding meaning in darkness

ep 20:

• 1:28:00 meaning of life: remembering that there is a greater purpose, reminding yourself (not forgetting)

While I agree with Sagan, that's not the meaning of life.

The meaning of life is to project ones self into the future. There might be other ways to do this, but the easiest way is to have and raise children.

Prinzing, M., De Freitas, J., & Fredrickson, B. (2020). The lay concept of a meaningful life: The role of subjective and objective factors in attributions of meaning [Preprint]. PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/6sx4t

I really enjoy this idea, for some reason, as something so unfathomably sad has happened to Dorian, as if his life were a novel (hmhmhm) and he finds it too amusing to be bothered by. Wilde demonstrates the surreal reality that plagues life and continues somewhat of a commentary on how precious one's life is, and how it must not be wasted on conforming when one does not see fit.

Wilde uses this dialogue to convey his theory on the meaning of life. "People are afraid of themselves nowadays" is Wilde's call to the oppression of individuals by society. Wilde opens the concept of living as one sees fit - their true identity. This dialogue probably cause issue from early critics of Wilde's work, as it holds a somewhat secular message.