I really want to know why we keep ourselves alive. Since we are more complicated than 'animals' it is a very interesting question. Some people live for revenge some for faith...etc.

We, inividuals don't live for the same thing and don't follow other people. Speaking about that topic here is more interesting than listening to the 'fellas' (those who are really 'mind washed').

Instincts? Indulgence? Knowledge? What do you think is the most imoprtant for living? Or what things are needed to fulfill your happiness?
To simplify the question: Why do you live? What are your goals in life?

Simple really... to eat, drink, and be merry. :P

But really, I live for equally simple reasons. To learn, to enjoy the finer things the world has to offer, and to be a father. Everything else is just a part of the ride; some good, some bad. It's just a ride. Try to enjoy it.

And yes, I am quite fond of Bill Hicks.

I live because I do. My life in and of its self needs no justification, explanation, arbitrary value or purpose. The more complicated things I do may require these observations or judgments, but my life does not.

Underneath my actions, there lies the baseness of my living. My eating, drinking, smiling, fucking. My essential carnality. To ascribe greater meaning to those things is only for those people who have somehow sullied their own lives with ideas that savages have rightfully scoffed at for ages.

I have found in my life that being happy simply requires being joyful, as much of a pain in the ass that might be for all the crackpots who want to sell you a smile. It's when we go stirring our hands around in the simplicity of ourselves that we go screwing things up.

I'm a savage. All I need is freedom, food, shelter, wonder and a mate.

That's it.

Now as for:

"Since we are more complicated than 'animals' it is a very interesting question."

Not so much. I find that people are building on little increments of knowledge gained over the course of millions of years.

People in their egoism, admitted or otherwise, assume they're in an elevated position because they're able to solve one piece of a much larger puzzle.

Sure, that's admirable. Sure, our process makes us different.

More complicated, better, higher? Not really. The genome of mankind has traded off the direct decency and purity of other animals so that it can solve this puzzle, piece by piece. Sometimes I question whether or not it was a fair trade.

Most people are clearly unhappy.

The complication is from an amassing of years of knowledge, not our direct and personal complication in some contrast to other animals.

I live because I'm curious, I want to find answers.

I also live to create, and to enjoy all the pleasures of life.

I want to be as happy as I can, so I also want to be as strong as I can, because I know it's connected.

Exactly. People attempt to separate themselves from their true nature, but that's our essence. We are animals. We eat, drink, and fuck to survive much like any other animal. Everything else, all of our subjective experiences and such, is the "icing on the cake" in my opinion. What we do and how much joy we get out of life is entirely up to the individual.

Lol, I'm not sure how I could forget to mention one of the most entertaining things about life for me

Motion Of Love

Why do I live? What else is there? My life is the only thing there is! Everyone else, and everything else, are just extensions of that. Death doesn't even exist because when it's here, I won't be.

To be or not to be. I'd rather BE.

And whatever meaning I attach to my being is entirely up to me, and always subject to change.

I live for


and

And I live to see women in high heels!
On a serious note.
I live to enjoy life and to embrace what sweet nature offers, and creating my own masterpiece. Living should be the book of endless chapters.

I really want to know why we keep ourselves alive.

Well, there is no other way. Suicide is no fun. We cannot always have what we want and many people have all the things that others can only dream of and stll they are unhappy. So it is important to find joy and pleasure in simple things like, for instance, walking in the snow, drinking coffee, talking to friends, reading, music, stroking and cuddling pets and so on.

Both of those things look delicious.

You can't guzzle whiskey and pinch pretty ladies' asses when you're dead.

Oh, well, it looked interesting, and it seemed like other people were enjoying it enough, so I figured I'd give it a try myself .

Seriously--on the small scale, I live for the simple pleasures, like food, friends, family, sex, books, movies, fun outings and adventures, teaching, and learning. On the large scale, various long-term career-related goals and projects keep me moving forward, even during those times when the present isn't so pleasant .

"What is the purpose of life?"

To live.

Hear, Hear!

Cheers!