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Certainly, I don't believe there is an ulterior motive behind my existence or a God in heaven that has a plotted chart of what my life should be as if he were planning a road trip with a bunch of sightseeing tours for his children.
I tend to believe that we are all unique individuals shaped by our biological 'presets,' our life experiences and our interactions with the rest of the universe (however finite or grandiose those interactions may be).
It is the combination of our individual nature and our individual nurture that I feel tends to allow our egos to deign a purpose to what it is we believe in and what we assign our motives to be. I feel that because of our egos, it should come as no surprise to us that we often placate some ulterior motive behind our existence. This, I believe, tends to stem from a residual 'holding area' in our minds brought forth upon us by our parents or those who have raised us. Because most people are handed down goals and 'purposes' from those who have raised us, it should seem likely that we suspect our origins and our presence in the universe would lead many to believe there must be a Master Parental Figurehead behind the alleged purpose-giving to human beings.
Something I have thought about very much in the past weeks and months is how something affects me and, no matter how logical I may try to approach things, it seems as though the resultant effect of whatever it was somehow seems directed at me. Now, what I mean by this is not necessarily that I feel some sort of divine presence is throwing things my way whether they be good or bad but that I think we tend to think of things that only affect us and not the whole of the variable 'system' that we are interacting with.
This seems typical to me of people in general. Because we exist, we seem to hold a certain intrinsic value upon the things that happen to us whether they be big or small. Because of those value-laden things we tend to ascribe ourselves to and because of the nature of the universe in which the 'cause and effect' principle is relevant everywhere we look, it almost would seem easy enough to think there must be some sort of 'purpose' to our existence.
However, I think that we should be able, as mature adults and even as children to realize that although we don't necessarily need a divine purpose or road map drawn out for us that we are capable of assigning ourselves some rather fantastic purposes or self-oriented goals, if you will. While this does not satiate the desire to be led by the hand by an omnipotent GPS system in many people, for those who are willing to accept their mere existence as strictly mortal, I think there is nothing wrong with that frame of mind.
Liked Troop's post. Very thoughtful comments on how our feelings of our own importance as individuals and a group lead us to assigns feeings of meaningfullness and purpose to our existence; and those tend to delude us into thinking that there must be some meaning or purpose or plan. There isn't, other than those we decide for ourselves.
Liked Troop's post. Very thoughtful comments on how our feelings of our own importance as individuals and a group lead us to assigns feeings of meaningfullness and purpose to our existence; and those tend to delude us into thinking that there must be some meaning or purpose or plan. There isn't, other than those we decide for ourselves.
You simply point out what I have called a "lesser included" requirement of our purpose . . . not the only possibility.
There is no more "purpose" for our life, than a mouse's life. We are simply here by chance and randomness.
There is no point. You live your life. That's it. There is no fairness, there is no reason.
Look at your pets and any wild animal out there. What do they do? They just live each day, play, eat, and reproduce and are quite content. We are animals, too, like it or not, that all we really have to do is just live each day the best we can and hope we get to do all the things we wanted to do when its all over.
Sometimes I wonder if the meaning of Life is to uncover the truth of oursleves, a lot of people seem to be identified with the various real / imagined outer layers of ourselves, i.e. Nationalities, religious denominations, skin color, sex, body form etc. etc. but if we are mercilessly honest with ourselves, can we really stop at such a superficial layer ?
if one was to relax, sit or lie down, close one's eyes, ( in a calm, quiet area ) and honestly look within to see who or what is asking for meaning,
what is this energy of self awareness that is always present, always available, what is this watchfullness that is at the centre of each of our individual experiences of life, this feeling of " I exist " that to me is more meaningful than to ponder various mental hypothesis of the universe, surely to know "Who am I " is of prime significance, whether we be alive / dead, on this planet or another?
Well I'm not worrying about the afterlife in this thread.
Well if we are not talking about an afterlife then the question is flawed. What is the point of life assumes that there needs to be a purpose. It inherently rejects the idea that we are just a stage of evolution and we are just lucky to be here.
Or you can take the evolutionary stance on life and say our only purpose is reproduction. And this may be more true than people realize because lets face it, the whole "dream" is to get married settle down and have kids, i.e. the point of life is to reproduce. I do not follow this because there are plenty of people who have had significant lives without having children.
Instead I believe the point of your life is going to be decided by how people remember you. To them you could be a great husband/wife father/mother friend/colleague actor/sports star whatever it may be. The way you affect those around you is how you are going to be remembered and the effect of your life is what your purpose will turn out to be. Life is only pointless if you allow it to be.
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