The Purpose of Life

[subterranean]

I don't know, I'm not a vegetable or animals, but as a human I sometimes consider that their existance in this earth is to compliment human's life. Either to fulfill physical needs or further than that, like some people have dogs as their best-friends.

IMO, when the philolosophers thought about this Q, they made a generalization about what's the purpose of life should be, means that they created a huge idea which can be breakdown to an individual level and thus (hopefully) will explain each person's regardless their situation/condition.
For example, existentialism just stated that life is made of choices. Without making choices and decision, you simply don't exist. This idea is actually can be applied to all humans.

[richelle]

If we assume that we exist just for the reason that we are breathing, it's so , i don't know the right word. I can't even explain it. I've read self-help books, i've studied philosophy, but all this study didn't give me the direction i need. i just continue living, hoping that someday i'll know why i'm here. i believe in God, but i'm ashamed to approach him because of my sins. Anyway, if i see a baby smile and hear my friends laugh, then it feels good to be alive. i guess in the end, it's love that will keep us going.

[IrishCanadian]

If there are any Christian's in the group here I strongly recomend The Confessions Of Saint Augustine. He is a doctor of the church, and this stuff i not light reading. He makes real literature, and that is not just because he lived in the early Middle Ages. -Be careful when reading Whitman with this question posed aswell: he took his wisdom from pure thought in a lone chair, he is a wonderful poet but not a philosopher, with nothing to back up his unfounded (yet interesting and well put) ideas. If you disagree with me I hope i can read any reply but i'm not online very often. At any rate, this is only what I think.

[amuse]

If we assume that we exist just for the reason that we are breathing, it's so , i don't know the right word. I can't even explain it. I've read self-help books, i've studied philosophy, but all this study didn't give me the direction i need. i just continue living, hoping that someday i'll know why i'm here. i believe in God, but i'm ashamed to approach him because of my sins. Anyway, if i see a baby smile and hear my friends laugh, then it feels good to be alive. i guess in the end, it's love that will keep us going.

as someone who believes that god made us and, yes, loves us, i don't see why you need to be ashamed to approach [it]. i mean, you're probably an open book to god, anyway. sins or no sins.

and yes, aren't baby smiles the best?

[mono]

If there are any Christian's in the group here I strongly recomend The Confessions Of Saint Augustine. He is a doctor of the church, and this stuff i not light reading. He makes real literature, and that is not just because he lived in the early Middle Ages. -Be careful when reading Whitman with this question posed aswell.

I loved St. Augustine's The Confessions, and probably intend to read it again soon, as I do not think one can fully absorb all of the material in that work through one read, no matter how thorough.
Perhaps this does not seem the best area for the forum, but how do you feel about Walt Whitman? I love his poetry, and, yes, some of his ideas expressed through his work seem . . . unique, but I understand and feel very open to others' opinions.

[atiguhya padma]

Many people today claim that life lacks purpose. I think that says a lot about how comfortable we have become as a species. If we had to fight harder for the survival of our species (and who knows, in a few centuries time, if not sooner, we may have to), then we might feel more purpose to life.

I don't believe that an individual's sense of purpose has much meaning beyond the individual concerned (unless that individual's purpose is altruistic). Indeed, it may well be the case that when a majority of a population is more concerned with individual than collective purpose, then that may be an indication of future population decline.

[Nerd]

I think the latin proverb 'carpe diem' is applicable here. It echos Herrick's sentiment of "Gather ye rosebuds.."

Our purpose is to live life to the fullest -- to add something imaginative, or whathaveyou -- and the only way to do that is to treat life like a pond: jump in.

[Loki]

Nice, Nerd.

I think everybody has their own view on "the purpose of life"...it has so many potential meanings. I think yours is possibly one of the best. Live life to the full - and this doesn't mean buying a lot of things, getting a lot of money, or being excessively epicurean...rather, I think, it's something about being satisfied with little things, like the opening of a bud, the glorious colour of the sky...noticing the world around you...

Yes...Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,/Old time is fast a-flying...had to set that to a song once...I still remember putting in the bars where the accents were...

[indrihama]

There is no guiding principle behind the explosion of a star or the replication of a virus; they are simply cosmic occurences. Human life is no different. It is a random and purposeless phenomenon. Unfortunately, humans acquired a deep self-awareness through the process of evolution. As a result, we want to know our purpose and our final destination as individuals. Some find solace in religion, others escape with drugs, and some just try to pass each day without thinking about it. But all of us must one day face the truth that we are here on earth for no reason at all.

[atiguhya padma]

Excellently well put indrihama (btw is that John Dryden enclosed in your avatar?)

Is life really so random though?

Why did we develop self-awareness? Almost every other creature gets by perfectly well without it.

[indrihama]

Atiguhya Padma,

(1) My avatar is actually a portrait of Henry Purcell, a 17th century British composer.

(2) Yes, I believe life is ultimately random. Although, I am still open to the possiblity that there is some grand scheme behind everything. Perhaps, as a human, I am just not able to see it.

(3) I do not know exactly why we developed self awareness; I have not studied evolution enough to be an authority. However, I would guess that it was a by-product of our ability to categorize reality into concepts. We learned to create the concept 'trees-in-general' and the concept 'this-individual-tree'. Then we transferred that same process to ourselves. We created the concept 'humans-in-general' and the concept 'this-individual-human", which then led to the concept of 'I'. I think that the resulting self-awareness has been more of a disadvantage for humans than an advantage. Kurt Vonnegut wrote an interesting book called Galapagos in which humans are allowed to evolve again and the first trait that is shed is self-awareness.

[~K~]

Is the meaning of life a purpose ?
Not necessarily.
we can write all day about things we learn, our goals , dreams and human nature.
I would say this , "the meaning of anything / and everything is life". 6-11-2005~K~

[chmpman]

I think Thoreau described an interesting concept of what life's purpose could be in Walden Pond. Learning to know one's self and how the self can be related to nature and one's environment is a very important trait of a person with a 'purpose'.

[atiguhya padma]

The problem with that, is that the notion of self has changed quite significantly since Thoreau's day. I think it is generally accepted in psychology, philosophy and relevant areas of science that the self is socially constructed.

[chmpman]

It is socially constructed - in my view too - but it's also accepted that periods of solitude are important to reflect and understand the self. And I believe the socially constructed self is only part of the picture. And maybe absolute solitude is not the very best but to limit one's contact with an 'artificial' world is an idea I like.