Intrinsic Purpose of Life

[Thief]

The mystery is how there can be such a disconnect between your premise and your conclusion.

Well gee....physical life fails.
I have little guarantee for you that your spirit won't fail.

According to the scripture I've been reading.....it could.

But there's not much point in forming 7billion learning opportunities only to have them all crumble to dust.

7billion people and we all fail?
Not one to survive the last breath?
No positive possibilities?

Man would then be a complete mystery.
No explanation, no purpose, no continuance.
Just the eternal darkenss of the grave awaits.

 

[LuisDantas]

The closest thing to a purpose that all life shares is to survive long enough to reproduce and pass along its genetic material.

I guess I agree, but then there is also the opportunity of sentient beings like humans to build and keep cultural environments, at least for a few generations.

 

[BSM1]

This sounds downright depressing. Is it to you?

Absolutely not! This attitude frees me from wasting any precious time wondering why this happened or that happened, or what was the purpose or reason for something happening, or what I did to deserve this or that. This allows me to live each day as it comes, choosing my response to anything and everything that I face. I choose calmness and joy.

 

[Thief]

Absolutely not! This attitude frees me from wasting any precious time wondering why this happened or that happened, or what was the purpose or reason for something happening, or what I did to deserve this or that. This allows me to live each day as it comes, choosing my response to anything and everything that I face. I choose calmness and joy.

You could do the same with belief in Something Greater.
but that is what you meant.....right?

 

[Kathryn]

Absolutely not! This attitude frees me from wasting any precious time wondering why this happened or that happened, or what was the purpose or reason for something happening, or what I did to deserve this or that. This allows me to live each day as it comes, choosing my response to anything and everything that I face. I choose calmness and joy.

Interesting perspective. I personally don't care for it but to each his own.

Here's how I look at things.

I believe when things happen to me, they are often (not always) a direct result of choices I made. So...I try to learn from each experience, and part of that learning process involves asking "why this or that happened."

I think that every event, even those that are not the direct result of things that we choose to do, can teach us something that we can apply to better our lives or the lives of others. In fact, I think that's one of the main purposes of life.

I like making informed decisions, so this process doesn't cause me the slightest big of angst. In fact, I enjoy it and feel very fulfilled and pleased when I figure something out and apply it successfully to my life. This brings me calmness and joy.

 

[BSM1]

You could do the same with belief in Something Greater.
but that is what you meant.....right?

Absolutely. Something unfathomable and completely out of my control.

 

[FunctionalAtheist]

Ultimately, that sounds very dour to me, even more so for those who drew the short stick in health or comfort.

If there is no God then all that is left is fear and cynicism…

"You live in a deranged age, more deranged than usual, because, in spite of great scientific and technological advances, man has not the faintest idea of who he is or what he is doing." —Walker Percy (1916-1990), American Catholic author

Ah. So the concept of god originates from the mind that has nothing but fear and cynicism. That explains much.

 

[BSM1]

Interesting perspective. I personally don't care for it but to each his own.

Here's how I look at things.

I believe when things happen to me, they are often (not always) a direct result of choices I made. So...I try to learn from each experience, and part of that learning process involves asking "why this or that happened."

I think that every event, even those that are not the direct result of things that we choose to do, can teach us something that we can apply to better our lives or the lives of others. In fact, I think that's one of the main purposes of life.

I like making informed decisions, so this process doesn't cause me the slightest big of angst. In fact, I enjoy it and feel very fulfilled and pleased when I figure something out and apply it successfully to my life. This brings me calmness and joy.

We have little, if any, control of the outside forces of our lives. We do, however, have complete control of how we choose to react to those forces./

 

[FunctionalAtheist]

Well gee....physical life fails.
I have little guarantee for you that your spirit won't fail.

According to the scripture I've been reading.....it could.

But there's not much point in forming 7billion learning opportunities only to have them all crumble to dust.

7billion people and we all fail?
Not one to survive the last breath?
No positive possibilities?

Man would then be a complete mystery.
No explanation, no purpose, no continuance.
Just the eternal darkenss of the grave awaits.

One I spoke to was the connection between your premis and your conclusion. More concisly it looks like this;

You have 5 senses,
Therefore (and obviously) you were built to become spirit.

 

[roger1440]

The purpose of life is to live or to put it another way, to survive.

 

[Thief]

One I spoke to was the connection between your premis and your conclusion. More concisly it looks like this;

You have 5 senses,
Therefore (and obviously) you were built to become spirit.

And why have an existence in a learning device?
Built to learn and then die....with nothing to continue?
7billion copies of said device and they all fail to produce an enduring spirit?

No will to live?

 

[Kathryn]

We have little, if any, control of the outside forces of our lives. We do, however, have complete control of how we choose to react to those forces./

We have plenty of control over many aspects of our lives, and many outcomes of our lives are directly impacted by our decisions and choices.

 

[Whiterain]

The question is trivial, think of the situation as I exist instead of why I exist. Do something
positive with your time and try to give back to the world. Soldiering for some, missionary work for
others, philosophy or entertainment.

Try not to add to the worlds grief. Starvation, disease, destitution, there's plenty of causes and to
many making more grief than resolving it.

Putin is doing a good job of this.

Then there are others that believe in fulfilling their own desires and living an entirely self center
and selfish life.

Religion and spirituality is the next level of existing, not your physical endeavor at the moment.

 

[FunctionalAtheist]

And why have an existence in a learning device?
Built to learn and then die....with nothing to continue?
7billion copies of said device and they all fail to produce an enduring spirit?

No will to live?

With god, purpose is to entertain him, to jump through loops, to figure out which way he wants us to travel through the rat maze, to pass the test he has preordained the answer.

Without god there is an objective purpose and a subjective purpose. The objective purpose is to be that which increases against the gradient of entropy. The subjective purpose is to be that which you are.

It is the subjective purpose in which people imagine god. Those that cannot define for themselves who and what they are, those that see no hope within themselves, those that cannot find purpose in their own being, feel the need to invent an external purpose.

This is evident in the thought that without god there is only despair and cynicism. It is evident int he thought that without god humanity is meaningless. It is evident in the shifting of purpose from the here and now to some mystical super-nature, spirit, entangible.

If you cannot find purpose in your being, then inventing another source of purpose may provide you comfort, but it does little to fulfill who you could be.

 

[Thief]

With god, purpose is to entertain him, to jump through loops, to figure out which way he wants us to travel through the rat maze, to pass the test he has preordained the answer.

Without god there is an objective purpose and a subjective purpose. The objective purpose is to be that which increases against the gradient of entropy. The subjective purpose is to be that which you are.

It is the subjective purpose in which people imagine god. Those that cannot define for themselves who and what they are, those that see no hope within themselves, those that cannot find purpose in their own being, feel the need to invent an external purpose.

This is evident in the thought that without god there is only despair and cynicism. It is evident int he thought that without god humanity is meaningless. It is evident in the shifting of purpose from the here and now to some mystical super-nature, spirit, entangible.

If you cannot find purpose in your being, then inventing another source of purpose may provide you comfort, but it does little to fulfill who you could be.

I have the will to live....and plenty in mind for the next life.
Gotta continue.

Death and the grave are a shallow option.

 

[thau]

Do you prefer a rose-tinted fantasy to seeing things as they are?

Fantasy?

I / we do not have time for fantasies.

Just because I cannot account for your conclusions has no bearing on ours.
Faith without reason is false says Pope Benedict XVI. Our reasons are sound.

 

[BSM1]

We have plenty of control over many aspects of our lives, and many outcomes of our lives are directly impacted by our decisions and choices.

Name one.

 

[Kathryn]

Name one.

Just call your insurance agent for clarification if you don't believe me.

 

[Word]

Just call your insurance agent for clarification if you don't believe me.

Got him there.

 

[Sabour]

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The Meaning Of Life