Humans have zero purpose.

The rest of the animals accept this. Why did man have to create a culture of lies to persuade himself that he had a bigger purpose than any other foul stinking # smeared creature on this floating # spec called earth?

a reply to: Prene

Was there a purpose behind this thread?

We have no purpose except for what we create for our selves. Your life can be as meaningful or worthless as you so choose.

Lead, follow or get out of the way.

a reply to: Prene

That's kind of the whole rub, right? The whole existentialist thing? Being precedes essence, we have no inherent good or bad.

But we can set our own goals and agendas, and make our own purpose.

Evolution has one goal in mind for us... reproduce, and give our offspring every advantage to favorably reproduce themselves. That is the closest thing to a purpose nature gave us. Failing that, promote the genes closest to yours (family then community, then culture, etc).

Isn't it great that we can go off and do our own things instead?

Purposelessness equals freedom.

As footnotes, there is no such thing as complete freedom ...

and most people do not want to be free in the first place.

Guess again. Steve Martin had a special purpose and he found out how it works.

m.youtube.com...

Yes we do! We are alien food.

a reply to: Prene

Sure seems like all of this 'purpose' stuff is just a human concept, no?

Dreams, and dream interpretation?

Of course we have purpose. We are gods journey.

a reply to: Prene

I'd like to share a revelation I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species. I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with their surrounding environment, but you humans do not. You move to another area, and you multiply, and you multiply, until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You are a plague, and we are the cure.

- Agent Smith (The Matrix,1999)

originally posted by: Prene
The rest of the animals accept this. Why did man have to create a culture of lies to persuade himself that he had a bigger purpose than any other foul stinking # smeared creature on this floating # spec called earth?

What, if anything, do you believe bestows or determines purpose?

I mean.. "having a purpose" doesnt necessarily mean some grand plan, or even anything positive.

Sure, we are rather narcissistic creatures, perhaps even inherently, but I cant think of a single thing that legitimately has zero purpose.

That said, I dont believe purpose necessarily indicates "meaning." Nor do I believe other animals "accept" anything of the sort. I could be wrong, but other animals dont seem to get to a place where they could accept/reject such concepts in the first place.

a reply to: Prene

Every atom matters

originally posted by: Prene
The rest of the animals accept this. Why did man have to create a culture of lies to persuade himself that he had a bigger purpose than any other foul stinking # smeared creature on this floating # spec called earth?

Bad day?

Hell, my cat licks it's own asshole. We create energy, poetry, art, we feel, we think, etc. What the hell are you on about?

a reply to: Prene

My purpose is your mom.

a reply to: Prene

Speak for yourself, I've got a special purpose and I use it all the time.

a reply to: Prene
I had a friend a long time ago his attitude was I dint ask to be born into this # hole. Hopefully he out grew that attitude. maybe you will too.

originally posted by: Prene
The rest of the animals accept this. Why did man have to create a culture of lies to persuade himself that he had a bigger purpose than any other foul stinking # smeared creature on this floating # spec called earth?

There is no ultimate purpose to anything but that which we ourselves create. Even that though is ultimately meaningless. The universe will end, just as it began, and then some sunny day there will be another Big Bang and we get to do this all again and again..........

How can we be controlled without someone telling us what our purpose is?

Through the purpose they tell us we have, they control and extract wealth from us.

As others have so very clearly stated, without a purpose we are free.

a reply to: Prene

You assume that humans are animals and nothing more, that evolution is God and accept that a piece of inanimate clay can suddenly jump up and start self replicating, thinking and typing on a keyboard.

WAKE UP

You have a purpose, to see the universe, to wonder and explore and learn and do GOOD to others.

To BE good and by being see the work of an unimaginable being and make use of that which has been put in your hand's to further that creation, to care about other's even the lesser animal's.

Does a mountain KNOW that it exists, no but you do.
Does a flower know that it exists, no but you do.

You have to know that they exist so that they DO exist or else it is them which have no purpose for unless there is a self aware, self conscious entity to see and behold, to change reality by observation from maybe into actuality, to pull Schrodinger's cat from the box alive then it can not see itself, it can never be known and in a very real sense it never existed.

It takes YOUR Awareness and observation to make your universe which only you know and project into your own mind a reality, it may not be the real reality but it's your reality and it take a greater awareness of self to realise it is not alone and there are other Selves out there, to see them as equal to itself and to care about them.

You are far from the only one to feel depressed, some of us struggle with it every waking moment of our lives, we miss those we have lost and love and the safety and security and just there presence that is no longer there BUT they live on in our love of them which never diminishes as indeed the pain of there loss never goes away.

But love, that is a cure beyond words, beyond reason and without rational.

Love is not taking it is giving, being loved is humbling and loving other's is a kind of freedom and an expansion of the self, of the consciousness that goes beyond the self, it creates a reason for self sacrifice - not suicide but living self sacrifice.

There is always a reason, it is just sometimes we don't think we can live up to it, sometimes we think we are not worthy and sometimes we don't want that reason to be ours purpose but if not us then no other was created to fill our shoes so we have to, that is just one of our purposes.