What do you live for?

[Anonymous]

I find myself curious as to how others perceive, mainly in the realm of pleasure. What object of many gives you the most pleasure in your life?

I've thought about it long and hard and the answers remain generally the same. If I live for anything, it's giving people something that has use, bringing value directly to people, if you will. I unremorsefully live to serve others. Many consider this 'selfless' and sacrificial, I only see it as selfish as a pleasure can get.

The second thing that comes to my mind is making a woman feel beautiful and valuable; making people feel valuable in general is something I strive to do. Not in the name of mere flattery or the honor of being a gentleman but allowing people to see past the delusions that limit them. The truth is we all can be valuable and powerful people. That needs to be known if we will ever step forward as a species. The self must be loved before one can truly love.

Hopefully this thread can bring some much needed positivity to this forum.

[Xenland]

Wow what a great post, very enlightening and explanatory.

I like how you noted that serving others seems like an act of "righteousness" and self sacrificing of your time when this is far from the truth, as the server/giver gets ultimate satisfaction of it all in the end leading to ut-right-most-self-ish-ness.

As for me and my house I live for the Truth, and the world is my House.
I find it already difficult to properly communicate the truth and I'ts very easy even if you were truthfull 100% of the time to be still mis-understood,
 I can only imagine how difficult it is for the lairs, cheaters, and the scammers....

[RandyFolds]

Guns, bitches and weed.

[deslok]

Life liberty and the pursuit of happiness, after all isn't that the american way?

[greyhawk]

What object of many gives you the most pleasure in your life?

Pussy.

[TiagoTiago]

Positivity, eh?

I think i live due to the hope i'll eventually figure out how to fix whatever is wrong with me and i'll finally enjoy living...

[Rassah]

If I live for anything, it's giving people something that has use, bringing value directly to people, if you will. I unremorsefully live to serve others. Many consider this 'selfless' and sacrificial, I only see it as selfish as a pleasure can get.

Gah! Stop it! No matter how you try to explain it away, that is a totally shitty way to live. Live for yourself, and love yourself first. Knowing how to live for yourself, have fun by yourself, and live without needing others to base your hapiness on, or give your hapiness to, is the number one rule of being happy in life. Mainly because then you won't need others to love you, or admire you, for you to have any self worth (and it does sort of seem like you are hoping quite hard on this forum that others will admire or like you). Doing what you're saying you're doing is also a guaranteed way to totally f*uck yourself over with a relationship when you get stuck with someone you don't like, but feel you need them, or need someone to keep happy and to live for, and are afraid of being on your own again. This is also a way to make sure crap like depression and self-loathing are no longer a problem in your life (though stupid brain chemicals can still interfere sometimes).
After you stop that, then you can get pleasure from helping others, even if it's for selfish reasons.

Personally, I live for curiocity. Wanting to travel and see the world with its exotic cultures, foods, and architecture, wanting to learn about random stuff like history, philosophy, music, or interesting people, and wanting to learn about technology and see what the next big invention or gadget will be.

[Anonymous]

If I live for anything, it's giving people something that has use, bringing value directly to people, if you will. I unremorsefully live to serve others. Many consider this 'selfless' and sacrificial, I only see it as selfish as a pleasure can get.

Gah! Stop it! No matter how you try to explain it away, that is a totally shitty way to live. Live for yourself, and love yourself first. Knowing how to live for yourself, have fun by yourself, and live without needing others to base your hapiness on, or give your hapiness to, is the number one rule of being happy in life. Mainly because then you won't need others to love you or admire you for you to have any self worth (and it does sort of seem like you are hoping quite hard on this forum that others will admire or like you). Doing what you're saying you're doing is also a guaranteed way to totally f*uck yourself over with a relationship when you get stuck with someone you don't like, but feel you need them, or need someone to keep happy and to live for, and are afraid of being on your own again.
After you stop that, then you can get pleasure from helping others, even if it's for selfish reasons.

Pereonally, I live for curiocity. Wanting to travel and see the world with its exotic cultures, foods, and architectures, wanting to learn about random stuff like history, philosophy, or interesting people, and wanting to learn about technology and see what the next big invention or gadget will be.

It's a Randian delusion to believe we can live contently alone, Rassah. We will always desire other people. It's genetically embedded in our psyche.  I have accepted it. I can enjoy myself alone but I will continue to have a preference for people in my life. It's  not an absolute dependency but an acceptance of the desire.

Life is boring alone; that is my perception.  

Rand lived miserably in her later years and for good reason. She died trying to reject the human condition. She wanted her and everybody else literally to be impervious gods.

I fantasize of ridding myself of all these primal and social desires but to do that is to reject being human, to reject the very shell that has molded me. The only rational thing to do is accept the outlets of pleasure we are given.

Until our technology can allows to transcend our default forms we must optimally work within our means. I have chosen according to my perception and what genuinely brings me optimal pleasure.

[Rassah]

It's a Randian delusion to believe we can live contently alone, Rassah. We will always desire other people. I have accepted it. I can enjoy myself alone but I will continue to have a preference for people in my life. It's  not an absolute dependency but an acceptance of the desire.

Life is boring alone; that is my perception.  

I didn't mean so much "live alone" as "learn to make yourself happy without that hapiness depending on others." Regardless of how you spin it, you still basically said "the thing that makes me happy is pleasing others." And franky, I am not too surprised to hear you say that. And still hope you can, let's say, "get over" that. If there are no others, or if others are not pleased (or not made better by your standards), it sounds like you're saying you won't be happy. Worse, if others end up catching onto you and your personality, and start taking advantage of you without you realizing it, you will be happy. And that's just not right.

[payb.tc]

Pussy.

Positivity, eh?

thanks guys i just thought of a new word: pussitivity

(not sure exactly what it means yet.)

as for what i live for, i enjoy the pursuit of freedom. i get excited whenever i learn about something (i.e. bitcoin) that i think could help me enjoy more of it.

[Anonymous]

It's a Randian delusion to believe we can live contently alone, Rassah. We will always desire other people. I have accepted it. I can enjoy myself alone but I will continue to have a preference for people in my life. It's  not an absolute dependency but an acceptance of the desire.

Life is boring alone; that is my perception.  

I didn't mean so much "live alone" as "learn to make yourself happy without that hapiness depending on others." Regardless of how you spin it, you still basically said "the thing that makes me happy is pleasing others." And franky, I am not too surprised to hear you say that. And still hope you can, let's say, "get over" that. If there are no others, or if others are not pleased (or not made better by your standards), it sounds like you're saying you won't be happy. Worse, if others end up catching onto you and your personality, and start taking advantage of you without you realizing it, you will be happy. And that's just not right.

Rassah, I know this rhetoric all too well. I've read all of Rand's works, especially The Virtue of Selfishness too many times to count. My outlets of pleasure have worked out grandly so far and people do value me. Chances are that it will continue to be that way. I am a wonderful human being to be around. If push comes to shove and I lose it all, I will be as resilient as what you deem desirable. I can adapt. I do gain pleasure for my accomplishments on my own without the provisioned esteem of others.

All I am really saying is that people are a high preference of mine in life. Is there truly something wrong with that?

[Anonymous]

I've taken a lot from Buddhist philosophy and it seems to work well in combination with parts of Aristotelian/Randian philosophy.

I suit things to my own perception. We aren't all the same, Rassah.

[RandyFolds]

I've taken a lot from Buddhist philosophy and it seems to work well in combination with parts of Aristotelian/Randian philosophy.

I suit things to my own perception. We aren't all the same, Rassah.

Stop reading philosophy and take things from life, for fuck's sake.

[deslok]

i'm starting to think you just post a new thread to see how much contreversy you can stir up, a thread about ending life comes to mind in recent history

[Rassah]

I've taken a lot from Buddhist philosophy and it seems to work well in combination with parts of Aristotelian/Randian philosophy.

I suit things to my own perception. We aren't all the same, Rassah.

Stop reading philosophy and take things from life, for fuck's sake.

Better to learn from mistakes of others and yada yada yada...

[RandyFolds]

i'm starting to think you just post a new thread to see how much contreversy you can stir up, a thread about ending life comes to mind in recent history

yeah...he's randtrollin', holmes.

[RandyFolds]

I've taken a lot from Buddhist philosophy and it seems to work well in combination with parts of Aristotelian/Randian philosophy.

I suit things to my own perception. We aren't all the same, Rassah.

Stop reading philosophy and take things from life, for fuck's sake.

Better to learn from mistakes of others and yada yada yada...

all the fancy book learnin' in the word don't mean shit if you don't play the game.

[Rassah]

Rassah, I know this rhetoric all too well. I've read all of Rand's works, especially The Virtue of Selfishness too many times to count. My outlets of pleasure have worked out grandly so far and people do value me. Chances are that it will continue to be that way. I am a wonderful human being to be around. If push comes to shove and I lose it all, I will be as resilient as what you deem desirable. I can adapt. I do gain pleasure for my accomplishments on my own without the provisioned esteem of others.

All I am really saying is that people are a high preference of mine in life. Is there truly something wrong with that?

I actually haven't read much of Rand's stuff, and didn't realise this was an established rhetoric. I was just speaking from experience. I personally lived for others and got pleasure from helping others and watching them grow. Then I got taken advantage of, and got fucked over by a relationship where I continued to live for the other person and got hapiness from seeing them happy. I was happy as long as I made others hapy, and damn my own well being and needs. Then before I knew it, I've gone through a few nervous breakdowns, and found myself wallowing in depression with my self-worth being entirely dependent on how happy and well off I could make others be. Turned out that this wasn't actually hapiness at all. A few pills and smacks upside the psychological head by a good psychiatrist later, and I started doing stuff like forcing myself to go to the movies, amusement parks, and museums by myself. Basically I figured out, or showed myself, or forced myself, how to be happy by making myself happy, and making myself grow and become better off. I still like to be around others, and I still love helping others and watch them grow, but I no longer depend on other's growth to be happy, and most importantly no longer fear losing others, since I know I can still be OK if I need to be alone.
And true, we aren't all the same. Nor is what I tell you realy matters, since we each find our own truths about ourselves, and rarely believe what others say about us (took me six years of beating my friend upside the head with zero results, only to have him just one day figure it all out on on his own, for me to learn that one). So, thanks for letting me vent/rant

[Rassah]

I've taken a lot from Buddhist philosophy and it seems to work well in combination with parts of Aristotelian/Randian philosophy.

I suit things to my own perception. We aren't all the same, Rassah.

Stop reading philosophy and take things from life, for fuck's sake.

Better to learn from mistakes of others and yada yada yada...

all the fancy book learnin' in the word don't mean shit if you don't play the game.

Das' true too!

[Xenland]

I agree with the statements above say how you must "live for your self".
One must help him and himself before helping others.

How will mybitcoin.com help protect mt gox from hacks if mybitcoin.com them selfs can't help from stealing from others? getting haxed them selves?