# Purpose of Life



## Lila

Deep topic.

What do you think is the purpose of life? Do you think there is a purpose? Are your opinions based on a religious belief?


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## TBT

Would that be a purpose to all life or just specifically to mankind?


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## Faithful Wife

I can’t get into it here because my beliefs are just too woo woo for the average TAM reader. But I do believe there is purpose. Just that we won’t “remember” what that purpose was until we die. Also I believe the smallest most trivial events in our lives are part of this purpose.


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## Cletus

No purpose whatsoever. Purpose implies a consciousness outside myself with a goal for my being here to which I do not subscribe. 

The follow-on question is usually something about how can I be anything but a complete nihilist. The only answer I can give is that I do not need to have a predefined purpose for my existence to find it meaningful, to have a functioning morality, to care about others, or to be a "good person".


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## Ragnar Ragnasson

Ahhh, the most important question of all. A great topic. I won't add, yet, but this has potential to be a long and varied thread.

Good topic!


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## 2ntnuf

There is no purpose to life, if there is no afterlife. There are literally few consequences for those who live a decent life and go along with whatever the newest trend is within the culture. This would provide a means of survival in itself. 

There is no reason for us to be here. We are just a matured parasite. I use the term parasite because that is literally what we are in the womb. We live off of the host. Therefore, only because the majority believe something is wrong, would we have any laws. If we were all of the belief that no one is worth more than a parasite, then we would have no laws about murder or any other crime against humanity. Why would we need to care? 

When we realize we normally have a desire to achieve at least some of Maslow's Hierarch of needs, we know that there is something more to us than simple animals. We don't need that quality. We only need a desire to procreate to continue. Food sources would regulate population.

The earth did not have a need for humans. We don't contribute much to the environment. We use the earth's resources and barely give back, if at all. We even take resources from the earth and send them to space where oxygen and hydrogen are expelled after chemical reaction, never to return to earth. We are literally throwing away our own resources when that happens. They won't return. At least, CO2 can be split into carbon and oxygen and reused by plants for food and to replenish oxygen. 

What do we do? Can't think of a thing. Well, we love each other. Do we? Really?

So, if there really is no need for us to be here in the circle of life that keeps the earth healthy, like the rest of nature, there has to be something else. There is no other reason evolution had to produce such an intelligent creature.


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## 2ntnuf

Faithful Wife said:


> I can’t get into it here because my beliefs are just too *woo woo* for the average TAM reader. But I do believe there is purpose. Just that we won’t “remember” what that purpose was until we die. Also I believe the smallest most trivial events in our lives are part of this purpose.


Is that a technical term?


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## Ursula

I think that everyone is here for a special purpose. Sometimes, we know early on what that is; sometimes it takes a little while to figure it out. I’m not terribly religious, but am spiritual, but this opinion/feeling has nothing to do with that, it’s just how I feel about things.


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## Lila

TBT said:


> Would that be a purpose to all life or just specifically to mankind?


Purpose to life in general? Why are we here?


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## Lila

Cletus said:


> No purpose whatsoever. Purpose implies a consciousness outside myself with a goal for my being here to which I do not subscribe.
> 
> The follow-on question is usually something about how can I be anything but a complete nihilist. The only answer I can give is that I do not need to have a predefined purpose for my existence to find it meaningful, to have a functioning morality, to care about others, or to be a "good person".


I'm kind of with you on this one. 

If you had had the choice, would you have chosen to come into existence?


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## GTdad

Life really has no purpose, except for what purpose we give it.


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## SadSamIAm

I remember when Steve Martin found his Special Purpose in The Jerk!


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## Faithful Wife

SadSamIAm said:


> I remember when Steve Martin found his Special Purpose in The Jerk!


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5xLLwERIqXs


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## Lila

GTdad said:


> Life really has no purpose, except for what purpose we give it.


Oh we can go down the rabbit hole with this one.


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## Mr. Nail

Religiously, the purpose of life is happiness.
Should I decide to pursue another religion I like Sikhism. Truth, wisdom, and sharing meals. Hard to go wrong there.


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## GTdad

Lila said:


> Oh we can go down the rabbit hole with this one.


Well, I mean, hopefully it would be a _good_ purpose...

When we camp as a family, I've drilled into the kids the importance of leaving our campsite better than how we found it, which usually means policing up all the trash, both ours and what was laying around when we got there. 

I try to apply the same principal to my entire life, leaving things a little better than how how I found them. That seems like a sufficient purpose to me.


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## Lila

GTdad said:


> Well, I mean, hopefully it would be a _good_ purpose...
> 
> When we camp as a family, I've drilled into the kids the importance of leaving our campsite better than how we found it, which usually means policing up all the trash, both ours and what was laying around when we got there.
> 
> I try to apply the same principal to my entire life, leaving things a little better than how how I found them. That seems like a sufficient purpose to me.


The rabbit hole for me meant questioning why people pick their purpose. If life has no purpose and we get to decide for ourselves, assuming there are no outside influences (religious tenets and morals) and human nature being what it is (pleasure seeking), wouldn't most humans seek pleasure? We'd be more or less feral.


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## arbitrator

Lila said:


> Deep topic.
> 
> What do you think is the purpose of life? Do you think there is a purpose? Are your opinions based on a religious belief?


*To live honorably, respectfully, and unselfishly, all in God's eyes!
And to experience life's high and low moments without disdain, envy, or arrogance for our fellow man!*


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## Affaircare

I am not sure what everyone else's purpose is--I think we each have our own unique purpose--but I know what my purpose is: to love well. I loved Dear Hubby but when we started I didn't understand what Real Love was and thus, I did a poor job at it. Heck, I cheated! But I did learn from it, and I took the time to not only find out what commitment is and what True Love is, but I practiced it up until the moment he died. 

And yet all that was just a stepping stone to where I am now. My purpose is to love EB well...to live in a way that he can believe that Real Love exists and put faith in the fact that he IS LOVED. If his last thoughts are something like, "I really was loved in this life" then I will have fulfilled my purpose: restoring for one man the knowledge that True Love really does exist, and that he is seen for who he is and worthy of being loved well.


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## Cletus

Lila said:


> I'm kind of with you on this one.
> 
> If you had had the choice, would you have chosen to come into existence?


Given what knowledge? The question presumes that at the time I would have some consciousness to ask "Do you want to exist", which of course is precisely the wrong time to ask someone if they want to exist or not.

If in general you're asking whether it is better to exist than to not, that too is unanswerable. Something that never existed in the first place cannot miss out on its non-existence. Just like I cannot be sad when I die. 

If you're asking "Am I glad I'm alive?", then the answer is yes. How lucky was I to be born into a first world nation in an era of relative peace where I have autonomy and the time to banter philosophical questions on the internet? What's not to like?


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## farsidejunky

Faithful Wife said:


> I can’t get into it here because my beliefs are just too woo woo for the average TAM reader. But I do believe there is purpose. Just that we won’t “remember” what that purpose was until we die. Also I believe the smallest most trivial events in our lives are part of this purpose.


When one can look at significant, life altering events someone else experienced based on some minor decision that you as an individual made, it is rather eye opening just how much we choose to do (or not do) matters.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk


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## Not

We can only function within the limits of how we’re built so our purpose has to fit within those limits. Our minds can imagine/conjur so much more than we’re capable of. How messed up is that? Like a bird trapped in a cage. 

I let go of meaning/purpose long ago but that doesn’t mean anything is meaningless because if that were true then even meaninglessness itself would be meaningless and that brings us back to square one. Waking up every day and going about our business which leaves us free to either assign a purpose or not, both are the same thing. Something we do.


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## Emerging Buddhist

Affaircare said:


> I am not sure what everyone else's purpose is--I think we each have our own unique purpose--but I know what my purpose is: to love well. I loved Dear Hubby but when we started I didn't understand what Real Love was and thus, I did a poor job at it. Heck, I cheated! But I did learn from it, and I took the time to not only find out what commitment is and what True Love is, but I practiced it up until the moment he died.
> 
> And yet all that was just a stepping stone to where I am now. My purpose is to love EB well...to live in a way that he can believe that Real Love exists and put faith in the fact that he IS LOVED. If his last thoughts are something like, "I really was loved in this life" then I will have fulfilled my purpose: restoring for one man the knowledge that True Love really does exist, and that he is seen for who he is and worthy of being loved well.


Our purpose is made from the choice we create out of it, each one of us has a different purpose and a different path... this world cannot create a singular purpose because without our individual challenges, individual purpose cannot be attained.

My suffering had "my" purpose in mind... to be the man I am today so that the love I have to share is the kindest, most purposeful love that I can offer.

I would willingly suffer all over again for what I have now, because I could never be here this way without it.


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## aine

Purpose of life: 

"All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall ..........

We are here for a short time so our purpose is to make our existence count, in whatever way we can, leaving an inheritance to our children, legacy of our works, etc doing good, etc.


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## Hiner112

I distinctly remember being in my parents old house (we moved before my 2nd grade year and I was probably thinking about this stuff significantly before that) and trying to imagine the end of existence. There was nothing in my (limited) experience that led me to believe that there was anything to my existence other than the meat and mush of my body which was guaranteed to not function indefinitely so it had to come to an end. Not just the blackness of closed eyes. Not just the quietness of covered ears. Nothingness. I cried a lot. My parents tried to comfort me by saying things like, "That is so far in the future." or "You are still really young.", etc.

There were a couple logical extensions to this that I worked out like almost everyone that has ever lived has been completely forgotten and has almost no impact beyond a continually diminishing genetic legacy. I didn't know the word genetic obviously but I knew fractions and I knew I was half each of my parents, a quarter each for grandparents, and the great-grandparents I didn't remember were almost nothing.

Some other conclusions can be drawn from the "we're just meat" assumption. All of the philosophic capital letters, Truth, Justice, Fairness, Goodness, etc are just made up. There is no Meaning or Purpose.

I was an 8 year old in an existential crisis.

I decided to adopt cognitive dissonance and double-think. When I adopted them, I didn't know the vocabulary but I knew that I was acting on principles that I didn't really believe in and weren't logical. I would try to utilize the abilities I was born with the best I could to "contribute" and be productive. I would try to be a "good" man, citizen, (at the time potentially) husband, and father. I would hope that it might matter in the end because the alternative was so damn depressing.


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## Mr. Nail

Lila said:


> The rabbit hole for me meant questioning why people pick their purpose. If life has no purpose and we get to decide for ourselves, assuming there are no outside influences (religious tenets and morals) and human nature being what it is (pleasure seeking), wouldn't most humans seek pleasure? We'd be more or less feral.


There is the trouble. So many people assume that happiness and pleasure are the same end goal. But happiness contains more than mere pleasure. It also encompasses contentment, and frequently connections with others. Hedonistic pleasure seeking has never been a path to lasting happiness. When happiness is your purpose, then your work is to identify the path to happiness. There are many. Your religion becomes staying on that path that you have chosen. 

ferelness never was happiness


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## SunCMars

Without writing a book...

All the matter and all the other facets, known and unknown, of the Universe, is God.

Most things in space are said to be inanimate, not possessing life. I will get to that later in a longer post.

All those things said to be living, I posit, are some reflection of GOD. As in living.
The happy/sad face of God! 

Those are our words.

Men make God an Anthropocentric Being. Made in man's likeness. Acting/thinking like Man, in part.

In truth, we are in God's likeness. HIS/HER Likeness.

In part, to be fair.

Life on Earth is subject to the rules of our bodily matter (DNA) and our environment.

It's purpose, our purpose is 'mainly' to survive and to propagate. Under our bodily genetic constructs and the competitive rules of the _Survival of the Fittest. _

Taking this life form, our life form further, we must deal, at some point, with our minds and creations, our potentials.

Yes, our purpose.

Our purpose, it would seem, would be to spread 'our kind' throughout the Universe. I believe this may have already been done.

We are not likely the only humanoid types in the Universe. 

More likely, we are not the only advanced life form in the Universe.

........................................................................................

We will continue to live and thrive if we prove worthy and are able to do such. And if our world continues maintaining a stable environment to sustain life in its present form. 

Inner Earth forces, such as volcano's, earthquakes can kill off all life on our fragile planet. 

Human interaction can destroy, and kill all humans and higher life forms (think a nuclear winter).

Outside forces, such as comet strikes and the like, or aberrant solar activity can kill off life on Earth.


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## SunCMars

Taunt the (would be) Sage?

Taunt the hermit out of his realm, asking him a question that he feels obliged to answer?

The Hermit (THRD) sends forth me, one of his HeadMates, his emissary. 

This will be a rehash of what we have written in the past…here and in other placings.


SCM-


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## SunCMars

Life itself is an amalgam of energies, none totally separate or free of exterior, interior influence. 

With respect to things described as living, some energies are subtle, some, like gravity or heat, are felt as strong.

Living things are described as mobile, can replicate, have growth, having a response to stimuli (from its environment) and unique to its own make-up.


Living things compete with other living things for resources needed for their survival. Higher life forms compete for things that please them, those things that are not ‘implicitly’ needed for their survival. 

Few higher life forms question those energies that are commonly accepted. It is the subtle energies that most people pass off as nonsense.


How can matter and molecules having no easily discernable qualities of life give rise to life, give rise to protein?

_Some 60 chemical elements are found in the body, but what all of them are doing there is still unknown. Roughly 96 percent of the mass of the human body is made up of just four elements: oxygen, carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen, with a lot of that in the form of water. The remaining 4 percent is a sparse sampling of the periodic table of elements._ –Live Science


Matter, the elements, especially water, have a natural affinity for bonding together. It is this affinity that leads to life and eventually… to motion, to replication, to thought. This is a simplistic explanation of life that is very complicated at its core founding.


The stuff of the Universe can and does lead to life. 
The stuff of the Universe can be called God, in its totality.

Life is more than matter, more than thought. It is an *Imperative*, made live by atomic structure and affinities and repulsions. The stuff of matter is alive, all of it. Motion and energy equal life, at the most basic level.

The laws and rules of our atomic/molecular/genetic construction mandate our very existence and ultimately our make-up and our actions.

We are patterned in the image of God, thru the chemical/physical makeup of those God particles. 

We are these programmed life forms, as are all living things down to viruses and more. Our material construction shapes our life form and even our mental processes.


*How is it possible that a collection of inert materials, atoms, molecules can remember, can think? *

Call it the Nature of Matter, call it the Will of God. Either is sufficient, at our level.

Purpose must include all that is good in our eyes……and bad. Yes, that, too.
Evil exist for reasons rarely kind to us, our species. Those animals that we eat, kill for sport would think us evil, if they could think so deeply.

Science can answer some of these things readily with their own creations using semiconductors and dozens of other mediums to set a certain electrical state in and read out later. They can mimic memory and thinking at some primitive level. 

Doing it at the microscopic level as seen in our heads, that is our future. 

God’s creations creating their own living beings, made of silicon (to replace our more fragile, carbon base) and other materials.

*Our ultimate purpose is to mimic our creator, our God.*

We cannot become HIM/HER, but we (and our creations) can be remain *HIS/HER ape*…..still!


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## heartsbeating

I believe that compassion is essential to a meaningful existence.


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