existence
/ĭg-zĭs′təns/
noun
- The fact or state of existing; being.
- The fact or state of continued being; life. our brief existence on Earth.
- All that exists. sang the beauty of all existence.
ability of an entity to interact with physical or mental reality
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Firstly, I am really new to philosophy (and Reddit). I'm interested in other people's thoughts about the following and if/where I've gone wrong somewhere:
Colour is a word we use to represent a concept. Time is a word we use to represent a concept. The question "What colour is time?" is still possible to ask due to the nature of linguistics, but colour and time (in my understanding) aren't compatible concepts. Time and colour can't be used to describe each other. So the question becomes invalid and there is no possible answer.
Similarly, "Meaning" and "Existence" are concepts, so the question "What is the meaning of existence?" could just be another "invalid" question due to the mechanics of language.
How could "Meaning" and "Existence" be proven or disproved to be "incompatible" concepts?
I'm just asking this question because after realizing that religion is nothing but a fantasy story made to be fun for grown-ups, this made me question my existence as a human being. Do you know what life really means?
We cannot undertake to define being without falling into [an] absurdity: for we cannot define a word without beginning with the word it is, either expressed or understood. To define being therefore, it is necessary to say it is, and thus to employ the word defined in the definition.
On ne peut entreprendre de définir l’être sans tomber dans cette absurdité: car on ne peut définir un mot sans commencer par celui-ci, c’est, soit qu’on l’exprime ou qu’on le sous-entende. Donc pour définir l’être, il faudrait dire c’est, et ainsi employer le mot défini dans sa définition.
Blaise Pascal (1623 – 1662), Of the Geometrical Spirit
The proper derivation is as follows (from my computer dictionary):
late 16th century: from French exister, or from Latin existere, from ex- 'out, outside of' + sistere ‘set up, cause to stand’.
So 'to exist' means 'to stand out' or 'to stand outside of'. The idea, I imagine, is that something exists when it stands out from or is separate from other things.
I don't think the phrase "to exist means to be in the current moment in time" quite works. I think you'd have to say something more like: "to exist means to stand separate in the current moment in time".
The more I think about being alive, the less sense it makes. I am just a bunch of atoms arranged in a certain way. There is no “me” I am nothing but an hallucination of a brain.
I can’t explain, but the thing I as a human being value the most, my life, has no value. The emotions and the feelings we have for each other are nothing but a chemical reaction.
I’m just waiting for this state of order to be destroyed by “my death”, so this sense of self and personal being can cease.
It’s really sad to know I am and will be nothing, but it is what it is. Just sorry for my girlfriend, but our love doesn’t exist, it’s just a projection of this electrified meat I have in my skull.