The purpose of life

[Primalex]

"Death does not concern us, because as long as we exist, death is not here. And when it does come, we no longer exist." -- Epicurus

“According to most studies, people's number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two. Does that sound right? This means to the average person, if you go to a funeral, you're better off in the casket than doing the eulogy." -- Jerry Seinfeld


So, it's a well-known fact that humans die. When I'm asked if I believe in God, my response is:"Whenever I try to imagine an infinite universe and the time before the big bang - yes. Whenever I look at the 'eat or be eaten' concept of nature - no."

If you believe in reincarnation you are basically screwed, too. What's the purpose of having the same soul with a different personality? It's like Alzheimer, who needs this?

So, in the end, we can sum it up to: You will die and everything that defines yourself will be gone. Under this premise, what purpose can your life have at all?

Some try to experience as much as they can, either informal or even with a "bucket list". They usually mention that you can't take any worldly goods with you anyway. This is of course correct - but you can't take any memories with you either. There is no difference between a partygoer and a couch potatoe when the Grim Reaper knocks at the door. All those precious moments will be gone - like they never happened. Mark Twain is wrong as he assumes that you can reach a point in life where death doesn't matter - but this can only be if you are bored of life - an oxymoron. So, what else can be there?

You can try to become famous or infamous. I doubt that you can beat Achilles, but hey..you can try. Of course, this only gives you the fuzzy feeling as long as you live - when you don't need it in the first place. Homer is dead (not the yellow one, moron), Shakespeare, too, they don't twiddle thumbs on a cloud, whatever they have been, is completely destroyed, except what they left behind. So is this the answer to the purpose of life?

What can you leave behind? You can raise children. Of course, if we define this as purpose of life, we are riding a Möbius strip - live to maintain life is merely the concept of "live to be", thus removing any purpose from life.

You can leave something behind to inspire or entertain humans. Luring people into a fantasy world so they escape from reality - and the fact that they will die - is this the purpose? Creating intellectual drugs for the masses?

I think the purpose of life is to find a way to preserve life. As soon as you acknowledge the value of life - or the value of consciousness - there can't be any other purpose of it. If you didn't do a step for humankind to reach this goal, your life was basically worthless.

 

[ZRT]

I think the purpose of life is to find a way to preserve life. As soon as you acknowledge the value of life - or the value of consciousness - there can't be any other purpose of it. If you didn't do a step for humankind to reach this goal, your life was basically worthless.

I like that. I don't necessarily subscribe to it as the purpose of life, but it is something that I tend to follow as an instinctive calling.

I don't believe that life has any intrinsic purpose. My best going theory from the current accumulated knowledge is that we're pretty much a product of pure randomness and a confluence of physics.

So it is entirely incumbent on us to find a meaning that makes us get out of bed in the morning. In that, I tend to follow that 'accumulation of experience' model that you mention earlier in the post.

Does it have any greater meaning? Nah. I'll be dead and gone and it won't mean a fucking thing to the universe in general. But I'm here now, and I want to enjoy myself.

My hedonism does have its limits- I'm willing to sacrifice pleasures for whatever strikes me as a greater good, and I'm willing to defer other pleasures for the promise of better things down the road. But ultimately, I intend for my existence to be comfortable and well-appointed in a fashion consistent with my ethical beliefs.

What's the point? Why do we need any greater meaning that what we manufacture for ourselves? Isn't that the greatest gift of freedom there is?

 

[MisterSir]

My own perspective on this has wavered over the last few years, but I've settled on "Enjoy yourself while you're alive". If this leads to me seeding part of the next generation, awesome, I like kids. If it results in me dying of a heroin overdose at 37, so long as I've enjoyed myself until then that's cool. Probably comes a little from being an atheist, but it's more or less an extension of the whole "you've got one life to live do something you fucking coward" sentiment at the heart of Clerks.

 

[Netzach]

You can leave something behind to inspire or entertain humans. Luring people into a fantasy world so they escape from reality - and the fact that they will die - is this the purpose? Creating intellectual drugs for the masses?

I'm fine with that goal. If all you can do is contemplate death, you're either Buddha or insane, and it's unlikely most people who think they're Buddha are anywhere near. The most subsistence level oppressed people on the planet sing and dance and paint things if they have paint.

So I vote making shit.

Whether it winds up in a landfill or not, we build shit. It's the difference between me and a New Caledonian crow. My bendy sticks are more complicated.

 

[jockdom]

The answer is 42.

 

[midwestyankee]

I'm fine with that goal. If all you can do is contemplate death, you're either Buddha or insane, and it's unlikely most people who think they're Buddha are anywhere near. The most subsistence level oppressed people on the planet sing and dance and paint things if they have paint.

So I vote making shit.

Whether it winds up in a landfill or not, we build shit. It's the difference between me and a New Caledonian crow. My bendy sticks are more complicated.

And we have the capacity to see that your bendy sticks are complicated in a more pleasing way than any similar bendy sticks that I could make.

 

[Adakgirl]

So, in the end, we can sum it up to: You will die and everything that defines yourself will be gone. Under this premise, what purpose can your life have at all?

You can sum it up to that, but please leave me out of your "we". People can and do leave things behind that defined their lives or what they did with their lives that have lasted for ages. Let's take for example things like writing words down, languages for instance, the telephone, the personal computer, discovery of electricity, the common invention of the light bulb. I could go on and on..but you get my point I'm sure. So to sum it up, I don't believe that when you die everything that defines you is gone, some things can live on to improve the lives of mankind in general.

 

[FurryFury]

I find my purpose in helping others, and enjoying life as much as I can given the givens. I don't need some big "they will remember me" deal. That's not what I'm about and hopefully, never will be what I'm about.

 

[nh23]

My purpose as a slave is to serve and make his life as happy as possible.

My purpose as a Mommy is to try to raise my kids to be productive members of society. And to hopefully keep them from being serial killers, rapists, murders, or thief's.

My purpose as a Nurse is to heal the sick, and comfort those who cannot be healed.

 

[Netzach]

And we have the capacity to see that your bendy sticks are complicated in a more pleasing way than any similar bendy sticks that I could make.

I learned a new trick today. Colorful glass stuck on pennies! Don't tell the Fed Reserve, K?

 

[minx1]

So, in the end, we can sum it up to: You will die and everything that defines yourself will be gone. Under this premise, what purpose can your life have at all?

Some try to experience as much as they can,

You can leave something behind to inspire

If you didn't do a step for humankind to reach this goal, your life was basically worthless.

Snipped to how it applies to me.

I plan to do as much as I can for the time I am here and experience everything it has to offer that is within my reach. To do this just for me.

But to also leave my mark where I can. To have had some positive input that will remain after me, from doing simple things like the recycling lol to campaigning for something I believe in.

Then i feel like I have taken and I have given and most importantly, I have actually lived.

 

[YourCaptor]

I've been pretty close on a few occasions, and honestly dieing is not much to get excited about.

I really don't see why I should define so many of my actions by such a minuscule moment.

Maybe its because I'm still too young to have the "what will I be remembered for" crises, and honestly don't give a damn about it either.

I just do what I am interested in. I don't care if its worth anything, I like it, and I like it when I like stuff.

 

[Primalex]

My purpose as a slave is to serve and make his life as happy as possible.

My purpose as a Mommy is to try to raise my kids to be productive members of society. And to hopefully keep them from being serial killers, rapists, murders, or thief's.

My purpose as a Nurse is to heal the sick, and comfort those who cannot be healed.

And your purpose as a human?

 

[Primalex]

People can and do leave things behind that defined their lives or what they did with their lives that have lasted for ages.

But it doesn't define themselves. You can't reduce the human Edison to "light bulb guy".

 

[Cattypuss]

I'm atheist. The purpose of my life? Whatever purpose I give it! Lately it's been trying to have fun while also enhancing the life-experience of others.

To me that's as good a purpose as any.

When I'm gone, if I'm not remembered then who cares? Not me - I'll be dead!

 

[Primalex]

I find my purpose in helping others, and enjoying life as much as I can given the givens. I don't need some big "they will remember me" deal. That's not what I'm about and hopefully, never will be what I'm about.

What about trying to leave a better world than the one you entered behind you?

 

[nh23]

And your purpose as a human?

To look pretty. I'm just joking. To me that encompasses my purpose as a human. I help society as a nurse. I try to help society by making sure my children are raised up with good morals. I don't think that my existence will leave a huge mark on the world, but I'm ok with that.

 

[FurryFury]

What about trying to leave a better world than the one you entered behind you?

Falls under the "helping of others" category for me.

 

[SimonBrooke]

I've been pretty close on a few occasions, and honestly dieing is not much to get excited about.

I really don't see why I should define so many of my actions by such a minuscule moment.

Maybe its because I'm still too young to have the "what will I be remembered for" crises, and honestly don't give a damn about it either.

I just do what I am interested in. I don't care if its worth anything, I like it, and I like it when I like stuff.

I don't think you will get any 'what will I be remembered for' crises as you get older. In my experience as I get older I get more and more relaxed about the idea of dying. I've known a lot of people die. The only ones who have raged against the dying of the light it were religious. Atheists seem much more able to go gently into that good night.

 

[Homburg]

If my friends and family can sit around after my funeral and tell stupid/funny/inspiring/whatever stories about me and my impact on their lives, I'm happy with that.

I would say that the purpose of life, if there is one, is to find whatever gives your life purpose. If it gets you out of bed in the morning, it is at least related to your purpose in some way.

 

[ammre]

My focus in life is women's rights. I hope to make the world better for women... and in doing so not only am I working for human rights and the betterment of the human population but also of the environment and the earth itself. It's been acknowledged by governments and various committees that women's rights/education/health is linked to environmental issues. Also, it's shown that the more family planing knowledge and rights women have the healthier and less impoverished the family will be. Which Hans Rosling proves in this TED talk. Also smaller families and smaller populations by default take less toll on the earth's natural resources.

How do I do that specifically? Currently at home I'm training medical students in proper health care and examination practices to involve and empower their female patients more in their own health care. I'm also soon to start working with a pro-choice network on some family planning aspects. Lastly, I'm looking for grants and programs that would let me bring my training overseas. I knew of a program that was going to do it in Iran, but with the re-election and riots recently I don't know how feasible that is anymore.

 

[Adakgirl]

But it doesn't define themselves. You can't reduce the human Edison to "light bulb guy".

You are skimming right over what i said and you know it .

 

[janeykay]

The answer is 42.

The best laid plans of mice... *nods*

What can you leave behind? You can raise children. Of course, if we define this as purpose of life, we are riding a Möbius strip - live to maintain life is merely the concept of "live to be", thus removing any purpose from life.

I think the purpose of life is to find a way to preserve life. As soon as you acknowledge the value of life - or the value of consciousness - there can't be any other purpose of it. If you didn't do a step for humankind to reach this goal, your life was basically worthless.

Perhaps I totally mistake your meaning, but you really seem to be contradicting yourself. If one human life has no intrinsic purpose, how can its purpose be to preserve life that also has no intrinsic purpose? It's like when Lucy Van Pelt says that the meaning of life is to help others... and Linus asks, quite logically, "Then what are the others here for?"

You are absolutely correct to say that, if life has no intrinsic worth, preserving life does not give life purpose. If, however, life or consciousness has intrinsic value, however, logic says that even the life of someone who did nothing toward preserving life, must have worth, simply because it is life. One way or the other. You can't have both...

It doesn't make sense to say there was no point in this potato because it didn't make other potatoes or help other potatoes grow. You still get to eat the a potato, don't you? Why is it important for other potatoes to grow if a potato is a worthless thing?

Some try to experience as much as they can... but you can't take any memories with you. ...You can try to become famous or infamous... Of course, this only gives you the fuzzy feeling as long as you live - when you don't need it in the first place.

We don't need memories or that fuzzy feeling when we're alive? In that case I think I have misunderstood all of my interactions with human beings, ever.

So, in the end, we can sum it up to: You will die and everything that defines yourself will be gone. Some try to experience as much as they can...but you can't take any memories with you.

Homer is dead... Shakespeare, too... whatever they have been, is completely destroyed, except what they left behind...

Excuse me, sir, but, um... have you died? Been dead?

(If so, well, clearly death does not destroy everything, cos somehow you have Internet access...)

If not, how can you know they're completely destroyed? There's no empirical way to know one way or the other. Same thing with the memories. We know you can't take your stuff with you 'cos the stuff stays behind. But there is simply no way to know (as opposed to have belief about) what, if anything, happens after death to that part of the person that makes him, himself. 'Cos it's invisibubble, that's why. *nods*

You can leave something behind to inspire or entertain humans. Luring people into a fantasy world so they escape from reality - and the fact that they will die - is this the purpose? Creating intellectual drugs for the masses?...

Homer is dead... Shakespeare, too, ...whatever they have been, is completely destroyed, except what they left behind...

I'd say they left a lot behind, wouldn't you?

To inspire someone is not necessarily to encourage them to live in a fantasy. IMNSHO, to explore other parts of reality and not just the bare fact of death's existence, is the opposite of "intellectual drugs for the masses."

We may never know the purpose of life's existence in general. But as an individual... Well, Homburg put it better than I ever could.

If my friends and family can sit around after my funeral and tell stupid/funny/inspiring/whatever stories about me and my impact on their lives, I'm happy with that.

I would say that the purpose of life, if there is one, is to find whatever gives your life purpose. If it gets you out of bed in the morning, it is at least related to your purpose in some way.