Eugene I wrote: ↑Tue Apr 27, 2021 2:55 amEd Konderla wrote: ↑Tue Apr 27, 2021 2:01 am Does what we do here matter and if so why? Answer that and not in large nebulous words but specifically why. And if it doesn't matter and the only thing that matters or is worthwhile is "out" there then why not take a large opioid overdose and get to it.
Of course it matters, because if we do things here in one ("inappropriate") way, we will suffer and make others around suffer, and if we do it in another ("appropriate") way, we and they will not suffer (or at least hopefully suffer less). So, no matter how "real" or "unreal" the appearance of the world may seem to us, our suffering or happiness when we do things in this world is absolutely real - it is what we actually experience.
And part of the reason why we do "inappropriate" things here is because we have distorted views and interpretations of reality, distorted reasons to do things in a distorted way. And this is where philosophy and spiritual practice helps - to clear the mind from our distorted misperceptions and miscomprehensions. Well, ideally ... Because what often happens is that people simply replace one set of distorted ideas with another similarly distorted one.
I basically concur with Eugene here. What seems of paramount value is the learning, growing, evolving beyond the confusion of maya which is at the root of suffering, and which materialism does nothing to address, serving mainly to perpetuate the confusion. If what is learned from the suffering doesn't reveal the root of it, then it just goes on and on indefinitely. Yet this doesn't mean that one must escape it 'out there' somewhere/somewhen, as it can be dispelled here and now. However, insofar as the confusion remains, and is just carried forward, as one embodied experience is exchanged for another, and we carry on none the wiser with all the suffering that entails, we're still left with some other version of 'here and now' in which to dispel it. As to how this all might be integral to some greater M@L-driven telos, I can't claim to know. I only know that it feels like the most meaningful, fulfilling, and somehow imperative aim one can attain, in this version of here and now. And who knows, perhaps be an example of how this is possible, for others to follow if so inclined ~ albeit this version of here and now might not be the opportune version for others, and can't be imposed by anyone else.