Should life be taken seriously?

All my life, I've been taught to take life seriously.

My mom and my teachers told me school should be taken seriously.

Former employers told me that my job should be taken seriously.

Ex-girlfriends told me I should take monogamy seriously.

My bank told me to take money and finances seriously.

Moderators and administrators on Gamespot told me to take the Terms of Service seriously.

I believe they're all wrong. I believe they've tricked themselves. This whole thing, it looks like a game to me, if anything. Not in a trivial sense, there's nothing trivial about these games that we play with eachother, but they are games to me nonetheless. Were I to take a game seriously, there wouldn't be much point playing along. My time on this Earth is running remarkably short, as is yours. So, isn't a moment gone without dance, great conversation and kisses, a moment gone to waste?

What do you believe? Do you take your life seriously? And what is the reason behind your opinion?

Life should be taken (however you want)

Instead of 'should', one would say 'could', because 'should' implies a fixed direction, a directive, e.g "You should X", whereas "You could X" is the free form of the two.

Life could be taken (however you want)

Always found it quite silly when people talk about life is a game but then mention things lost in the process of playing the game.

You can't miss out on a moment if the moment is false. When you mention the dance, conversation, and kisses you forget to realize that you only found those things "of worth" because the other person was serious about it.

In the end, what you're saying is that you won't want to write a story. What you want is a story presented to you for you to be entertained.

It all depends on who you are and how you look at life. I try not to take life seriously. I find that it's often depressing if you do so.

That being said, I don't look at life like a game or anything like that. I just find it's easier to traverse through the bullshit if you're willing to laugh at everything, including yourself and the "bad" things that happen to you.

It's ok to take life seriously just don't take yourself too seriously.

Safe to say you take life quite seriously. I hope my silliness didn't strike you as too unbecoming.

"you forget to realize that you only found those things "of worth" because the other person was serious about it."

This is just patently false, and the diametrical opposite of the truth. I found those things of worth because there was no seriousness attached.

"In the end, what you're saying is that you won't want to write a story. What you want is a story presented to you for you to be entertained."

That's not at all what I'm saying, that's you trying to claim an ancient moral high-ground as the "producer" with me as the "consumer", in a vain attempt to justify your own actions to yourself.

That's not at all what I'm saying. that's you trying to claim an ancient moral low-ground in a vain attempt to justify your own actions to yourself.

It really sounds like you're fed up with not being able to meet the expectations placed upon you from the many layers that we call the game of life. It is easier to enjoy the moments where consequence and responsibility is only of immediate face value for all parties involved, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. It just sounds like you're salty that such moments are too often denied to you. Chin up! You'll develop thicker skin from the many years left of the same ordeals you've had to endure. We still have to feed you, no matter how far you fall.

Get your **** done, then you have fun.

"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, a time to reap that which is planted;

A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace."

You take moments seriously so you have the resources for frivolity.

I don't think that it should all the time, but I've been spoon-fed that.

I donno.

I've always found it fuller to enjoy a silly moment when you have something profoundly serious to compare it to.

I remember when I was out of work for a few months. I had all the time during the day until I got called back to work but it was such a drag. Games, fishing, all that jazz dwindled into boredom after a few short weeks. When I've worked many hours during the week and that weekend hits? I have the best times of my life.

I've discovered that if you take a life with a serious demeanor or not, eventually the cops will show up and they're rarely pleased with you.

You're all going to die. May as well enjoy it.

False dilemma. Entirely possible to be serious and have a good time, often simultaneously, and always possible as an overall balance. The reason everyone tells you the same thing is because they don't perceive enough balance in you. Therefore, my suggestion is to look in the mirror.

@CreasianDevaili: The sweet is never quite as sweet without the sour :-P

Uh, no. This should be obvious, because actions have consequences and not taking things seriously will probably make your life shittier. Like, if you knew you only had another 10 minutes to live, then by all means don't take things seriously. Who gives a shit, you'll be dead in 10 minutes anyway. The thing is, you're PROBABLY going to live for quite a while longer. Several years longer, at least. So it'd probably suck if you had to spend the next 5 years living in dumpsters and eating garbage because you decided to not take life seriously.

Yes, we live in a competitive world.

With that said, I don't take life all that serious.

Ironically, I see you as the one coming off as salty. Since you're trying so hard to provoke, for no real reason other than defending your set of values, safe to say your feelings are stirred to the max. Which, again, shows that out of the two of us, you are probably the one who could benefit from growing a thicker skin. :)

It's interesting that you think that once a person stops taking things seriously, a person stops functioning in society altogether.

There's a middle-ground. :)

Au contraire mon frere, I embrace reality to the fullest. I am not pretending that everything is a game, I am acknowledging that a lot of what we do, seems highly analogous to a game. Feel free to look up the definition of a game, and then compare it to the rule-set of which most abide, and you will perhaps start to see my point.

Be wary of transference!

I never said that you couldn't enjoy yourself and be serious at the same time. I'm talking about a perception of life itself, not the activities we cram into life and deem a living. Regarding the latter part of your comment, let's be honest for a moment here: you really have no idea. You don't know why people tell me the things they do, you simply assume what they say, has more to do with me, than it has to do with them. That's a mistake. :p

@magicalclick: Why do you think that a lack of seriousness amounts to a lack of accomplishment?

No, actually I do know why people tell you things they do based upon what you have described, which is a laundry list of interactions and relationships. There is also the fact that you emphasized 'all my life' and positioned this as the general impression.

Now people can be anywhere on the serious - silly spectrum themselves either generally or in the moment. So if we were talking about a single person's view of you or a single interaction with you then I wouldn't draw a conclusion. But we aren't; we are talking all your life and a general impression based upon your own words.

Persons reading your posts here likely have already reached the same conclusion, which on its own might be incorrect, but which according to you is just one more element of a repeating pattern. So really, it is extremely likely that you are not balanced enough.

Life is Strange I tell ya.

Also, either you run the day or the day runs you.

Only when it matters other than that Couldn't give a shit.

I can't speak for all those other weird things you mentioned, but the Terms of Service are srsly srs

You take being not serious too seriously.

Of course, a Moderator would that, why am I'm not surprise.

See what I did there?

Hey, you're the one who set the standard for what it means to be serious when you said, "So, isn't a moment gone without dance, great conversation and kisses, a moment gone to waste?"

And by that standard, you're wrong, because according to your reasoning you've "wasted" a moment by filing your taxes or driving to work.

@BiancaDK:

Life should be experienced and enjoyed to its fullest. That's what I believe. ?

Knowing what to take seriously and when is a sign of maturity. Not only can being flippant about everything be immature it can also be selfish and even dangerous.

I take my fiance, son, money and my job seriously. I don't take anything or anyone else seriously.

I'm not the one who listed the things that you did. Just seems like you've disappointed people and can't seem to not be able to take it seriously. I can understand the mother thing and girlfriends, but I don't get how your bank offended you unless they told you you weren't worthy of a loan. Bad credit?

You should take life seriously, yes, but only as serious as you have to. And don't take yourself too serious; self-deprecation is the best way to express humility.

With that said, I found myself running out of shits to give when I hit 31 years of age. I mean, I still care about certain things, but stuff just doesn't bug me like it used to.

I don't know anything about should. I think taking life serious can be beneficial to ones well being depending on the circumstances. If you have a goal or purpose in mind, I don't see how it's possible to achieve it without taking life serious to some extent. One can probably get by at a minimal level since some human societies are wealthy and have access to an abundance of resources. I can see how this may contribute to one feeling as if life doesn't need to be taken seriously, when most of the people around them are well off.

I think that If you care for somebody and want to see them happy you would feel a certain level of responsibility for living well to enhance their life. This may mean taking life seriously. Though, like I said, I don't know anything about should. This goes back to what I mention in terms of a goal or a purpose. If your know you love somebody, and also know that by living seriously their life becomes better, why wouldn't you live life seriously? Maybe, you have no such purpose, but I think some people do. It gives people a way to orientate themselves and navigate through the ambiguity of life.

It's possible that those who believe life should be taken seriously have fooled themselves, but I don't see how this translates to being wrong, because as far as we know, it works quite well in producing productive societies that pass on genetic material. In what other sense would wrong matter?

@EMOEVOLUTION: liked this post

Speak for yourself. I plan to be the first organism that doesn't.

I like those odds.

Hard to say.

Let serious things scarcely matter to us

And grave things weigh little,

And let the natural drive of instincts yield
To the futile pleasure (In the peaceful shade of the trees)
Of playing a good game.

Whatever we take from this useless life,
Be it glory or fame,
Love, science, or life itself,
It’s worth no more
Than the memory of a well-played game
And a match won
Against a better player.

Glory weighs like an overlarge burden
And fame like a fever,
Love wearies, for it ardently searches,
Science never finds,
And life grieves, for it knows it is passing...
The game of chess
Completely absorbs one’s heart but weighs little
When lost, for it’s nothing.

~ Ricardo Reis (Fernando Pessoa's heteronym)

If you believe it's a game, either play along or leave. There are other people willing to take your spot.

pizza.

On a positive note- a one way conversation with a mirror.

We don't know anything but life. Everything else is extremely uncertain. And even in life there are no things that we can be 100% certain of. Not even that we will die. You don't know that. We haven't died yet. Still we say that some things are certain. In that sense it's technically a lie. A bit like a game of pretend. You pretend some things are more certain than they are, because otherwise we wouldn't be able to function in life. And that is fine. We don't want to be insecure all the time, questioning everything we hear and see and try to do. We wouldn't last very long, and it wouldn't be a lot of fun. People pretend a lot, don't they? Like in this case, it's not always negative.

To take something seriously is to wager something is of value, right? You see the importance of something, or you think you see it, so you don't want people to joke about it or treat it without respect. It's almost as if seriousness opposes fun and seriousness causes stress. It's not that you want to do something, but you must do something. It demands that, or you are not taking things seriously enough. As if enjoyment is the very enemy of life.

I've had a very interesting debate with a very wise person about humor and how it could be evil. Humor takes power away from something, right? You laugh about something and you strip away the gravity of the situation. But can you joke about something even though you understand the gravity of the situation? Maybe. We couldn't come to a conclusion. Either way, I believe we need it. When something horrible happens to someone, it feels grave. When something horrible happens to a hundred people, it feels grave. We can't feel the pain of a hundred people. So we don't. And humor is one of the tools to help us keep the gravity of the situation in check. I don't consider fun or humor or enjoyment to be an enemy of values and norms and serious things. At their worst they are frenemies.

Maybe you can find peace within yourself by looking at the value of those things you mention in life. And yes, sometimes we pretend they are so very important even though they really aren't. People's priorities are out of wack. Money is all important. But who wants to be rich and unhealthy, instead of healthy and poor? That's not you, that's on us. I'm not saying that you don't understand it. I know you are a very intelligent person. Understanding something and actively consciously making peace with it is something else. And after you make your peace maybe you can allow yourself to enjoy it? It's fine to ask that of people. Literally. Tell them you understand, and ask them to allow you to enjoy it. Because without enjoyment, we don't last very long.

<3

nope,

cuz you'll be dead (transmutated in another vessel) before you know it.

just have fun for a while in this limited 3 dimensional form with also limited 5 senses.

We are all waves on an Ocean of Conciousness.

As it is we can only percieve surface-reality where as the deeper layers are (for now) hidden.

I am just ANOTHER YOU where as the Singularity aka God aka Superconciousness is experiencing (duality) Itself through different Focus-points (you, me and all there was, is and will ever be) in order to achieve a greater self-knowledge.

(meaning of existence is to expand Conciousness in where the sum total of experiences gained will be greater then the whole)

I take life seriously because it's given me no other choice. It's treated me seriously.

It depends. I mean, if you didn't and just moped about and didn't achieve anything or make the slightest effort, you'd have wasted your bloody time, wouldn't you?