We Have No Purpose, You Think You are Sooooo Special, Don't You?

reply to post by Toadmund


Who said anything about god ? I'm just saying we don't know if there is one or not. The reason might be highly unpleasant to our hominid sensibilities. Or it might be fantastic - who knows ? I don't.

You've got to admit that atoms in the universe have combined to create a living entity with the ability to discuss things on internet forums is pretty cool. Give it another billion years, who knows.

Would you believe me if I told you that you are a biological Automaton with memetical programming?

Nothing more
Nothing less

How special would you feel if you found out the universe was made FOR us.

You have no way to know. It's all about perspective.

Dishes need washing.

Clothes need drying.

Food needs cooking.

Terrorists need counter-terrorism.

Toilet needs flushing.

Kids need a drive home.

Boss needs you at work.

Wifey needs you.

Others need your smile, your reassurance, your recognition of their presence.

The sick person needs some pills and some luck.

Hitler needs an allied and immediate response from the world.

The baby needs surgery.

The dead person needs to be buried.

The old broken computer needs to be recycled.

The bills need to be reviewed and sent.

The ballot needs to be filled out.

The car needs a tune-up.

Etc.

Why do we do all of it. Because... Because...

Originally posted by jonnywhite
Dishes need washing.

Clothes need drying.

Food needs cooking.

Toilet needs flushing.

Kids need a drive home.

Boss needs you at work.

Wifey needs you.

Others need your smile, your reassurance, your recognition of their presence.

The sick person needs some pills and some luck.

The baby needs surgery.

The dead person needs to be buried.

The old broken computer needs to be recycled.

The bills need to be reviewed and sent.

The ballot needs to be filled out.

The car needs a tune-up.

Etc.

Why do we do all of it. Because... Because...

edit on 13-12-2012 by jonnywhite because: (no reason given)

This.

Nothing more, nothing less.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the Steve Martin film, The Jerk. He finds his "special purpose" in that Check it out if you don't believe me

I see the concept of "purpose" as a sort of subjective notion conjured up in the consciousness of subjective beings. The funny thing, is that in grand scheme of things, were are really just objects (albeit, objects with a subjective view-point of the universe) floating in the vastness, imposing our limited perspective on vast and material canvas. Purpose to me is little more than a variant of that projection. So whether we have "purpose" is entirely up to you, a s subjective individual (or object) to decide. I don't know--maybe I'm just talking crap.

-Ghoster

of course i find myself special...so why would you care?....it's my life, i really don't give a rusty nail what you think about it, or how i live it. geez...what a question.

reply to post by UnBreakable


But have to understand that something's do have purpose, like a man made Hammer, it was made with a purpose in mind; to strike.

The book " Life,the Universe and Everything" might come closer to answering your question. The answer is 42 btw.

Originally posted by luciddream
reply to post by UnBreakable

 

But have to understand that something's do have purpose, like a man made Hammer, it was made with a purpose in mind; to strike.

I agree. Like I said before our main purpose is to ensure survival of the species.

I wish I had a porpoise.

reply to post by UnBreakable


Is that a siamese twin in your avatar?
Seems like he always wants to keep a head ahead of himself.

Back on topic:
I said what I needed to say, my purpose today was to write this thread, to point out that if you think you have a special purpose in life bestowed upon you by a god, you have a bigger ego than 'god' himself.

We just is, no one is special, we are (almost) all the same.
We live, we die, whatever you did was your purpose.
You were not assigned one.

Thank you for participating in my thread.

Carl Sagan once said "We are a way for the universe to know itself." So yes, we do have a purpose . Without conscious experience, there would essentially be nothing. Without conscious experience to perceive & break up time, the universe would simply be born and then die. There would be the beginning and the end, & everything in between simply occurring in an instant.

As humans, we record time, experience every living moment; and in some sense THAT is was gives it all meaning. Would there really be a meaning if the universe just existed?? No. We need the universe just much as the universe needs us.

reply to post by Toadmund


yeah, you are entitled to think that, personally I find it more far fetched to think that our experience is just one long line of coincidences.

For example, take a computer, quite complex in terms of objects, but in terms of human beings, earth, the universe it is not complex, not even close to being as complex as those items and yet we are to imagine these complex things just sort of, happened, one long line of coincidences,,,,,,you can think that, I beg to differ

reply to post by Toadmund

Try reading some of the emerald Tablets
www.crystalinks.com...

it could be we are a part of something larger.

I see somebody has beat me to it.

There is more truth about being human and seeking purpose in Douglas Adams Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy 4 book trilogy than ever the bible contained.

The meaning of life is 42.

"42?? 42??

Yes I think the problem is you never really understood the question !!!".

If you've never read it I stromgly suggest you do.Not to be enlightened but because it's so well written,intelligent and funny as f**k.If you see any truth or not is up to you.

********************************
Personally I haven't seen any evidence of the divine in my 40 years other than people wanting it to be true.

Can't remember who said it 'If god didnt exist then man would invent him'.

That's the whole point 'god made us in his own image'.Mm or we made up god to reflect our needs,doubts and answer our fears and endless questions.

At some point we evolved to the point were we we from pretty damn smart to sentient,self aware.It's inevitable we would begin to ask why as well as how but without any satifying answers.

Was it that need to answer why that led them to the concept of god's,some higher being behind the scenes that knows the answers,makes thing happen.

Is it that surprising that as farming took hold and civillisations grew that belief went from quite cruel,non human and arbritrary ods/spirits/forces of nature to more defined,specific gods akin to the Egyptian/Greek/Roman type that could be interacted with to the one god that laid down the rules enshrining what are laws that society needed to survive and prosper.

Gods or god made sense of the world,gave authority to kings,reassured the lower orders that although life is hard,unfair and there's no justice if you shut up and take it with a smile you will get you're reward when you're dead.

If you break gods (and the kings !!) law,don't do what your told you will burn in hell for ever and ever amen (amon??).

With an uneducated,illiterate populace and rulers who are only too aware that they reign only with the tacit agreement of the masses skeeping them ignorant,in fear of a power beyond their abitlity to understand,that requires priests to interact with is ideal.

Nowadays in our more educated,information,internet age we see the popularity of the holographic/simulated reality and new age oneness.Now is just me or does we're all connected/living in a simulation bear a resemblence to the internet or in other words the belief changes mirroring society but the general need to believe doesnt.

Personally I don't feel any need to believe.Or need a higher being to tell me whats right or wrong nor as to why i'm here.

As some have said.i'm here cos thats how it is.And isnt that pretty amazing enough.

That life evolved and adapted over billions of years from single celled creatures to us is something special by itself,being alive and aware is one in a billion so make the most of it.

We are a monkey that had to exist in the open when the trees went,we survived against the odds because pretty defenseless and weak we were smart enough,we adapted,our brain became our strength.

We're a clever monkey.We're alive,see aware and clever enough to realise it's what you make it.Whatever it is that matters to you is what counts.

reply to post by fastbob72



Step back, look at the complexity, now decide whether you are a coincidence theorist or not

I'm not

reply to post by Toadmund


First, no, I don't think I am special, more than anyone else, anyway. Perhaps all of us are special.

spe·cial [spesh-uh l] Show IPA
adjective
1.
of a distinct or particular kind or character: a special kind of key.
2.
being a particular one; particular, individual, or certain: You'd better call the special number.
3.
pertaining or peculiar to a particular person, thing, instance, etc.; distinctive; unique: the special features of a plan.
4.
having a specific or particular function, purpose, etc.: a special messenger.
5.
distinguished or different from what is ordinary or usual: a special occasion; to fix something special.

LINK

So, this is special. I just wanted to clarify we were talking about the same thing.

Most of the definition, generally, applies to individuality, right? So, yes, I do believe I am an individual, though as a CT, I would say that this is being robbed from us daily.

Now, on to my response.
I think your OP highlights a paramount paradox. It states it, in fact, quite well.
But in doing so, marginalizing all of us, that is, you also illustrate, quite effectively, the purpose: to distinguish, in all the harshness of life and variables we have no control over, and the sameness of our experience from/to each others', why we are here, taking up space and air. Just to push on, to rise from a bed, from dreams that may have nothing do with whom you really are or the function of your brain, to bear the judgement of others no matter how you "look" or "seem," and carry on, sometimes, is the purpose. To find something defining, shattering, soul resonant, to learn, or know, in that epiphanous moment, is to add to the total experience of all the energy that came before, and will progress after, you have ceased to be, physically. And knowing this may be the most essential thing to our living with purpose.

Great question, your thread addresses. Hopefully, you are not as negative, but provacative, in asking the question.

Originally posted by Raelsatu
Carl Sagan once said "We are a way for the universe to know itself." So yes, we do have a purpose . Without conscious experience, there would essentially be nothing. Without conscious experience to perceive & break up time, the universe would simply be born and then die. There would be the beginning and the end, & everything in between simply occurring in an instant.

As humans, we record time, experience every living moment; and in some sense THAT is was gives it all meaning. Would there really be a meaning if the universe just existed?? No. We need the universe just much as the universe needs us.

I don't know that you're wrong - but, in all fairness, this is "someone's opinion...that became someone's belief".
Who are we (human beings), though, to say that "only WE" have conscious experience?
Why not rocks?
Why not stars & planets?
Why not the wind and cosmic debris and plants...and "other beings" that we do not physically see or feel...?
It would seem that - in the general way of the universe (seeds carry the potential of producing the likeness of whatever produced the seed)...the ability to "be aware of oneself" would likely have derived from the "first seed". Whether the "first seed" was the "Big Bang particle" or "God" or...something/someone unidentifiable (as yet), the ability to "be aware" was certainly present therein.
The OP proposes that those who believe we have a special purpose (other than that discovered by The Jerk), rather simply "need" a purpose...to make them happy.
Others say/believe that we "must" have a purpose...else why would everyone (so many) have striven for the duration of recorded history to "find it".
Maybe this is just a "vacation" world/incarnation... Do with it what you will...because, when this life is over, you go back to your mundane tasks of keeping the cogs and wheels of the universe running...eternally.
Sadly (or not) - all we can do is speculate.
If anyone (or all) of the Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Atheist, Satanist, Scientist or Otherist arguments were irrefutable (so sound - anyone with an open mind/heart/soul/what-have-you would see "the truth")...we wouldn't even be discussing the topic.
But - none of them are "whole-enough" to answer everyone's questions.
So - like was said before - "my dog's bigger than yours".

Considering the possibility of a "purpose" for each of us - one also has to consider the ramifications thereof -
Scenario 1:
If I was made/created/designed to accomplish, do or be something specific - can I fail? If so - what are the consequences of such failure?
Scenario 2:
If I was made/created/designed for a particular purpose -- what does that say about "free will"? Do I have a choice in the matter? What if I don't want to be the sacrificial lamb? What if I don't want to live in poverty? Etc...? Do I really get to choose -- or is it all, already, predestined?