Why are you?

This thread is open to all atheists, agnostics and religious folk, alike.
I expect each will have differing and interesting views....

So the question is why do you suppose that you were born when
(and where) you were born?

Could it be divine providence?

Or a happy mixture of exactly the correct DNA which provided an exclusive
blueprint from which YOU sprang forth?

Or was it just a lucky coincidence, overseen by nothing but chance and the
vast infinity of possibilities that chance provides in such an amazingly large,
and/or perhaps infinite universe?

The reality is that you are here now, sitting in front of your computer screen.
And, unless this universe was created especially for me, with all its galaxies
and stars and planets, and with all the billions of people that I find myself
surrounded by, you are exactly like me...

A singular consciousness arising from seemingly nowhere...wondering (if you
are like me) where the hell did I come from?...And why?

reply to post by rival


Does there have to be a why? just enjoy the ride dude

reply to post by rival


I've had a family member tell me that I was a sympathy baby after my brother died. Mom wanted another, Dad didn't. Then she died as well when I was but eight months old.

Oh well...such is life. I didn't ask to be here, but I am. I'm just trying to enjoy the ride and live a good life. Hell, I'm a rebel. LOL

boymonkey74
reply to post by rival

 

Does there have to be a why? just enjoy the ride dude

For some people, me included, questioning reality is part of the fun of existence. But asking a question doesn't mean that there will be a satisfying answer or that there is even an answer to that question.

As for the WHY, I think there is no particular reason to our existence. I know humans like to think they're special, but I don't think we are more special than a cat or a tree. I mean if you think there is a WHY worth asking regarding humans, then there must be a WHY worth asking regarding everything that exists: cats, trees and even inanimate rocks, and ultimately the universe itself.

That said, I like to play with hypotheses, and currently I like to think that a universe is an incubator for life, or consciousness.

i'm still here after 60 yrs.

i should have been dead a long time ago.

my parents never reached 40.

TDawgRex
reply to post by rival

 

I've had a family member tell me that I was a sympathy baby after my brother died. Mom wanted another, Dad didn't. Then she died as well when I was but eight months old.

Oh well...such is life. I didn't ask to be here, but I am. I'm just trying to enjoy the ride and live a good life. Hell, I'm a rebel. LOL

OMG!!! (( hugs ))).
You're here now... at some point your existence will change someones life for the good. Whether it be kind words or a simple gesture, and friendship.
You may only have one shot at this. Enjoy it.

reply to post by Bigburgh


I know that I have affected others lives for the better, and some for the worse.

I ain't done yet though.

It's what I do...being "That Guy!"

reply to post by TDawgRex


THAT'S THE SPIRIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

reply to post by rival



There is no reason for existence for being as any reason is subject to existence but existence is not subject to the reason.

Everything is IN existence. IAM EXISTENCE and IAM playing the game of identifying with a limited body.
This body will die. IAM will not.

I figure best I can gather empirically that I was born out of luck/chance, became me out of a combination of nature/nurture mostly when I was younger, choice more and more so when older. I found my own reason/purpose for my existance in the happiness of the person dearest to me and now I'm simply coasting until I'm dead (whatever that may bring).

The most important part of that I think was the choosing my own driving purpose/reason (The why as far as I care/decide).

I'd feel better if I had faith that there was a bit of well meaning divine grace somewhere in it all but that's neither here nor there.

reply to post by rival


Ive always thought that we are like new computer when we are born, with just a basic operating system intsalled. As you grow and experience new things, new programs are installed with how you respond to each new experience. Other people experience different things, learn different programming. As you age there are ways to rewrite the programming (eg. Cults, religions, etc). But as you get older the memory gets full, crashes, deletes old programming, until finally it just shuts down.

reply to post by gosseyn


I agree with you. I don't feel more special than any other living thing,
I know I am smarter than other animals by virtue of being human, but
I also sense that there are other species who possess consciousness and
self-awareness just like me.

And I, like you, enjoy questioning reality. Give me a riddle and I'm
a happy guy. And this 'life riddle' has kept me thoughtfully happy
for most of my existence.

I realize there is no answer to this question. But, the question itself
has merit. Considering that there can only be (a few) possibly correct
answers to the question makes it even that much more intriguing.

reply to post by kauskau


Your reply is interesting because you assert that you (or at least some
part of you) is not connected to the earth-bound body you're wearing.

I feel the same way. But the problem I have is that my singular
consciousness is the only proof I have. And that works terribly as
a proof because even I can't describe how that equates to a
belief in the continuation of me...or for that matter, any other
life, or form of life, as another poster pointed out.

reply to post by rival




That should answer your question.

reply to post by rival


no its not the only proof that you have. You have your intuition and countless sources (masters, beings of other realms) who can teach you about that. And you can astral travel to proof this knowledge to you. You can make contact to other beings to proof this to you.

It just takes will, a strong intent , discipline and openess to get this kind of information and live it..
There are many people walking on this earth who know for a fact that the body is only a part of their infinite consciousness.

Just research. The information will always come to you when your intention is there..

the "problem" of our society is that we are arrogant.

Old eastern societies know all this for fact but the knowledge is supressed.

YOGIS of old time were masters in SHOWING in bodily form that consciousness is stronger than the body..You just did not search in the right places. But this will change very rapidly.

reply to post by rival


Actually a simple question for me to answer, I was born when and where I was not because of my dna, divine providence or anything other than a really horny US Air Force Officer on leave in Japan raping a young Japanese girl because in his words "She looked so f'ing HOT"

That's why I was born... I have no delusions otherwise.

reply to post by vkey08

Uhhh ... not sure how to put this ...

I, for one, am damn glad you're with us!! I'd like to work the word 'providence' into this response effectively, but I'm just gonna shut up before my foot chokes me.

This is a question I've asked since I was a little girl - why? what is "me"?

A few years ago (about a half a century into "me"ness), I had become a huge fan of Bill Bryson's

and picked up his absolutely wonderful 2005 book

A Short History of Nearly Everything (free to read online pdf.)

he writes in the introduction:

Not only have you been lucky enough to be attached since time immemorial to a favored
evolutionary line, but you have also been extremely-make that miraculously-fortunate in your
personal ancestry.

Consider the fact that for 3.8 billion years, a period of time older than the
Earth's mountains and rivers and oceans, every one of your forebears on both sides has been

attractive enough to find a mate,

healthy enough to reproduce,

and sufficiently blessed by fate and circumstances to live long enough to do so.

Not one of your pertinent ancestors was

squashed,
devoured,
drowned,
starved,
stranded,
stuck fast,
untimely wounded,
or otherwise deflected from its life's quest of delivering a tiny charge of genetic material to the right partner at the right moment in order to perpetuate the only possible sequence of hereditary combinations that could result-eventually, astoundingly, and all too briefly-in you.

I'm still wondering, and like gosseyn said, the wondering is part of the joy. Every day brings a new opportunity to 'find out!'...
so much to learn.

I often wonder if I faded into this world at around three years old.

That makes sense to me, somehow.