Sue

Do you think we're all here on this earth just to live our lives and survive, or do you think we're all here for some greater purpose that we've yet to understand fully?

I think we're here for some greater purpose, IMPO. I've always felt that everything, whether good or bad, happens for a reason. Granted, we have fun while living, too, so it's not just about surviving (otherwise we'd be back in the caveman days). But every little thing we do, to me, every day, is how we survive. I mean think about it. (just for an example here) You throw out dirty, sharp, infected things when you clean. Why? Well, yeah, because they're not clean. But what would happen if you didn't throw this stuff out, clean your home, etc.? It would sit there, getting dirtier and dirtier, and eventually you get sick. Your allergies flare up, you cut yourself, you touch something that's dirty, you get an infection. You either treat the infection, or you ignore it. You ignore it, it gets worse, you get more sick, and possibly die. If you take the time to clean up this dirty stuff, treat your infection, you're alive. Cleaning helps you survive. Brushing your teeth. Washing your face. Washing your hands, and so on and so on.

That's survival (just one example on one of many levels).

I've always felt I'm here for some greater good. I don't know what yet, but who knows, maybe I'm already living that out by being here, meeting the people I've met, going to places when I have. Some might call it fate, destiny, whatever. I just go where I go, do what I do; and I wonder about it sometimes, but I don't question it, unless it goes against my better judgement where I'd be put in harm's way.

No idea where all of this is coming from, but who knows, maybe this is me making you think out there and making you wonder why you're here. Interesting, this brain of mine.

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Teg yw edrych tuag adref.

Ace_O_Spades

I think I'm here due to millions of years of evolution which allowed me to enjoy this pleasant wednesday evening.

I don't think we're here for any purpose, we're here to make our small impact on the world for the incredibly short time we're here. Our actions and goals are the meaning of our lives. Do what you can with the time you have.

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Feh.

Sue

A short convo with a friend of mine online (I'm libragrrldotcom in this)

I gotta get him to join up here one of these days.

ranger

i don't know, but it might just turn out all right...

if i was being a smart-ass, i'd say 'cause i want to, i do what i want.

our life is nothing in the scheme of things. i cannot think of anything anyone could do that would totally change the world for any great period of time.

and by the way some things are going, i doubt anyone in my generation is doing anything too great for everyone else.

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there are three ways to do things: the right way, the wrong way, and my way, which is the wrong way faster.

Ace_O_Spades

haha I don't think ol Isaac ever intended his laws to be used in a philosophical sense

I don't necessarily believe that there is a person who exists simply to make you see the greater good.

More like you see the greater good by viewing actions you don't define as good and doing the opposite.

But that's just me

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Feh.

cellophanedeity

I'm still trying to figure out why I'm here. I used to think that life was absurd and there was no meaning to anything, but I can't believe that anymore. But I don't believe that the meaning is predetermined either. I suppose my meaning will reveal itself eventually.

My love tells me that I helped him out of a dark time in his life, and that I have made him happier than ever before. I suppose his happiness may be enough for me to say that my existence has worth, at least to one person.

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who am I to refuse the universe?
-Leonard Cohen, Beautiful Losers

tecoyah

.........To Become More............

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Holding onto anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned. - Buddha

Master_Shake

In the great Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy the worst torture device imaginable is a machine which hooks up to your mind and gives you a perfectly clear picture of your significance in the universe. Everyone who experiences it is so shocked by their utter insignificance that they immediately go insane.

I think that's probably pretty close to reality (at least, the insignificance of our lives, not the existence of such a machine).

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You know something, I don't think the sun even... exists... in this place. 'Cause I've been up for hours, and hours, and hours, and the night never ends here.

fuzyfuzer

i have taken a pretty simple rout through life and look at each da as an oppertunity to make someone elses day just a little bit more bearable. that may be giving them someone to talk to or helping them through there work when they are getting stressed out. it is pretty insignificant but it makes me happy knowning i might have posatively affected someones life for a day.

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"The difference between commiment and involvment is like a ham and egg breakfast the chicken was involved but the pig was commited"

"Thrice happy is the nation that has a glorious history. Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat." Theodore Roosevelt

ARTelevision

The teleological ascription of purpose or reason to existence does seem to be something that humans are wont to do during or after the fact. As such, I do not see any particular teleology as inherent in my life.

I'm here - that's a fact. I do not see any particular reason or purpose in it.

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create evolution

Offkilter

I'm here because my parents birth control didn't work 100%. Instead of wondering why I am here, I try to ask myself, what can I do with the time that I have here.

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That man that hath a tongue, I say, is no man,
If with his tongue he cannot win a woman.
The Two Gentleman of Verona. ACT III Scene 1.

Sue

Art, did you mean theological, or teleological? I don't think I've heard of teleological before. Can you explain?

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Teg yw edrych tuag adref.

liquidlight

I'm here simply so that others will have a basis of comparisson for how bad things really could be.

At least that's how it end's up feeling most days, quite often I find myself hoping that I could add meaning that just doesn't come out in my day to day life, perhaps someday I'll be let in on what's missing.

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Halfway to hell and picking up speed.

Seeker

Sue, this might be helpful

tel·e·ol·o·gy
1. The study of design or purpose in natural phenomena.
2. The use of ultimate purpose or design as a means of explaining phenomena.
3. Belief in or the perception of purposeful development toward an end, as in nature or history.

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To those who wander but who are not lost...

~ Knowledge is not something you acquire, it is something you open yourself to.

Sue

ah, thanks much.

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Teg yw edrych tuag adref.

Furry

I'm here because the Prime Cause got bored. (The universe is Her/His/Its Petri dish).

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Furry is the leader of his own cult, the "Furballs of Doom". They sit about chanting "Doom, Doom, Doom".
(From a random shot in the dark by SirLance)

powerclown

No clue.
Plus, I had no say in the matter.

Hain

I hope that I am here for some greater good. It is my belief that we make our lives what we wish. At our disposal is a vast, just about unlimited reservoir of potential and it comes from the human spirit. Are we here with purpose? Yes. The question is what do you make yours?

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////\\// IRONSKY.NET \\//\\\\

Zeraph

In my more pessimistic days I say I am here to suffer until I figure out a way to achieve nirvana. I am having a pessimistic day so that's all I have to say.

qweds

Ya, no he definately did, that's why he was investigating the natural laws. He actually carreid on an extended correspondence with leibnitz about the nature of space - on a most certainly philosophical level.

Imho, people create meaning in the ways the choose to life. I believe we are free in a sense that we can make 'good' or 'evil' or do nothing and rot away.

Unfortunately, i think most contemporary societies have no conception of that. I idea that money, prestige, or anything that 'America' loves to make and spread around the world, has any significance is a very sad and misguided one.

The need for happy pills alone bespeaks of our dissatisfaction with the way things our, it represents our knowledge that there is something else and our denying that to be so just forces it to eat away at us.

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tim(mah)

mrpoopoohead

i think your purpose is what gets you off. but that is pretty bad if you like killing people...or something messed up like that.

Martian

I've never liked the idea of fate, but then again that's no reason to discount it. I may not be comfortable with it, but I won't deny the possibility on that basis alone.

I don't think the meaning of my existence or anyone else's is ultimately knowable. Are we random strings of amino acids that happen to form thinking, feling lifeforms? Are we the image of God? Something in between?

The thing about suggesting a 'greater good' is that it begs the question of what exactly is 'good'. The problem is that it's mostly cultural and what you consider good or evil depends on your upbringing. Most of Freud's work is a load of old tosh, but he's got conscience pegged, in that a lot of it has to do with what your parents approve of. There are parts of the world where cannibalism is still considered acceptable and opinions vary greatly on the merits of euthanasia. Much of the islamic world stil believes in the concept of an eye for an eye, but the western world seems to have rejected this concept, at least in it's most literal interpretation.

So who in all of that is right? What is the greater good and how can we rely on our moral compass when everyone's compass points to a different north?

At the end of all that, my thinking is that all anyone can do is carry on to the best of his or her ability. You do what you can and hope that should you find yourself in front of St. Peter at the pearl gates in the end of it all that it was enough.

Sweetpea

First, i don't belive in fate or destiny. If our lives were completely predestined, what would be the point of living and making choices. I think that we all have free will. We're put here on Earth into a certain set of family group, economics, culture and health, this is the only part of our lives that is predestined, who and where we are born. I could have the same personality, but if i were born in say . . . India at the bottom of the caste system as an untouchable . . . i hardly think i would be the same person, even though my inherent personality would be the same. We and our lives are the sum of small choices, thoughts and emotions we make on a constant basis.

Everything we think and do is carried on in the world i believe. And to some extent, what we put into the world and our personal situation is what we get back, so although i don't nessasarily believe in the standard idea of 'Karma', i think that there is a flow on energy in the world and in ourselves that manifests in the thing we know as 'connection' to other human beings.

That being said, i think i'm here to live my life with free will . . . to recognize that everything i do and say affects not only those in my intermediate circle, but the larger whole. In my belief of this, i find that i choose to put positive things into the world and make a small but consistent positive different with the actions in my life. Being in the social work field, i can manifest this through my career in addition to my personal relationships.
I know that i am not here to take up space on this Earth with greedy, selfish and self centered motivations, i know i am here to look beyond myself and make the changes i wish to see in the world with my life.

Sweetpea

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"I am the Type of Person Who Can Get Away With A lot, Simply Because I Don't Ask Permission for the Privilege of Being Myself"

K-Wise

I'm here for a reason...or reasons really...and I know what those are...they're just hard to explain. Those who know me well enough know what I mean. I seem to have a gift of relating to my friends, or helping them make sense of things even if I can't relate. I've had a very hard life..not as hard as some others I know but it still isn't a picnic. Just when I think that it's a curse I find my lifes trials helping someone else.

I also have noticed that my humor can be lifting. It's such a warm feeling. I've actually had people tell me that they're glad they met me/talked to me on a certain day because they were feeling really bad and I made them laugh and actually feel better. I'm a pretty understanding person and I'm genuine. Mainly because my social experiances growing up. They were bad...but I'm a lot stronger now than I was then because of it.

I have also been blessed with a gift of words, and talent. I'm not concieted or full of myself I just know that I have many talents. I guess this is a way of getting back for all I've been through. Most things I try out I usually take to easily and become pretty good at them if not great at them.

One thing is for certain. I was definitely put on this earth to sing. I believe that in the very pit of my heart. And I plan on doing just that. I just wish it didn't have to take so long. I have no way of knowing how much time I have left on this earth.

I'm also going to be a loving husband and father.

Asta!!

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"I love music and it's my parents fault (closing statement)." - Me..quoting myself...from when I said that...On TFP..thats here...Tilted Forum Project

It ain't goodbye, it's see ya later! I'll miss you guys! - Asta!!

eeef2

I decided the other day that my purpose on this earth would have to be reproducing. If you think about it, Life is the only thing that is guaranteed to exist a thousand or even a billion years from now. It may not resemble life on earth but life will still exist.
That being said, evolution is the way life is able to survive. Changes allow us to persevere through obstacles. So, if I don’t produce offspring, I will have a lesser part in evolution. Id like to think I have a role in the process of life (evolution).
So lets make them babies!