Purpose of Life (Earth, evolution, hell, worship, faith)

[Bishka]

What is your faiths or you opinion on what is the purpose of life?

"If he would seek the real purpose of life, the individual must live for something higher than self. He hears the Savior's voice saying, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life....'(John 14:6 KJV)"

[Cordoba]

Hello Becky:

That's a good topic. This article may be of interest to answer your question from a Muslim perspective:

"They say that a fool lives to eat and a wise man eats to live. But then the question remains: for what purpose does the wise man live? Living is not an end by itself. There has to be a purpose for man to live for. So what is this purpose?
Where from? Where to? And Why?"

http://www.beconvinced.com/en/article.php?articleid=0166&subcatname=Selected%20A rticles

All the best.

[nightwolf]

I believe the purpose of life is to educate. Not just through school means, I mean educate the spirit. I believe we need to also lend insight to those around us. I think if we were all created equal, then things would be pretty dull in the afterlife because we would be clones of each other with the same personality.

[jeffrey]

To love. To understand God's love, and be a part of it. To feel it. To know it. To live it.

[standing_alone]

I think the purpose of life is to find a purpose for it.

[Master Vigil]

Originally Posted by standing_alone

I think the purpose of life is to find a purpose for it.

I like this idea.

When I was walking in the woods one day, I came upon a bench. I had a flower stuck in between my toes so I propped my foot up on the bench and picked the flower out from between my toes. Clearly this was not the "purpose" of this bench. Or was it? I got to thinking that perhaps we have multitudes of "purposes" in our life. I for one, am a boyfriend. Is that my purpose? Yes, but not my only purpose. I teach about the spirits, and I teach Pulsus. Is that my purpose? Yes, but not my only purpose. I make custom flutes, do freelance film, graphics, and web design work. Is that my purpose? Yes, but not my only purpose. So what then is my "purpose"?

At the moment, it is to tell you about my theory on purposes. Afterwards, well; we'll see what happens.

[standing_alone]

When I was walking in the woods one day, I came upon a bench. I had a flower stuck in between my toes so I propped my foot up on the bench and picked the flower out from between my toes. Clearly this was not the "purpose" of this bench. Or was it? I got to thinking that perhaps we have multitudes of "purposes" in our life. I for one, am a boyfriend. Is that my purpose? Yes, but not my only purpose. I teach about the spirits, and I teach Pulsus. Is that my purpose? Yes, but not my only purpose. I make custom flutes, do freelance film, graphics, and web design work. Is that my purpose? Yes, but not my only purpose. So what then is my "purpose"?

At the moment, it is to tell you about my theory on purposes. Afterwards, well; we'll see what happens.

Man, you expanded way on that even deeper than I had originally felt about purposes of life. I seemed to restrict it merely to humans. I never really thought about how benches and the like serve multiple purposes. Our lives definately take on many different purposes and I don't think that there is one great purpose for every single person on Earth - say, like, it is everyone's purpose in life to worship God, for example. I believe it is our purpose to, basically, discover our own reasons for living our lives, indifferently to whatever purposes others have found for their lives. I think discovering our own purposes for living life, whatever they are, give more meaning than one unifying purpose for every single human being on Earth. Make sense? I tend to be terrible at explaining things.

[Master Vigil]

Originally Posted by standing_alone

Man, you expanded way on that even deeper than I had originally felt about purposes of life. I seemed to restrict it merely to humans. I never really thought about how benches and the like serve multiple purposes. Our lives definately take on many different purposes and I don't think that there is one great purpose for every single person on Earth - say, like, it is everyone's purpose in life to worship God, for example. I believe it is our purpose to, basically, discover our own reasons for living our lives, indifferently to whatever purposes others have found for their lives. I think discovering our own purposes for living life, whatever they are, give more meaning than one unifying purpose for every single human being on Earth. Make sense? I tend to be terrible at explaining things.

Makes perfect sense. And I'll expand on it even more, and say that our psychological need for a "purpose" does not necessitate one. Obviously we think we have a purpose, and we think we need a purpose. But are these just part of our ego that we need to break out of to understand the true nature of the universe?

[standing_alone]

And I'll expand on it even more, and say that our psychological need for a "purpose" does not necessitate one. Obviously we think we have a purpose, and we think we need a purpose. But are these just part of our ego that we need to break out of to understand the true nature of the universe?

Very interesting... Finding purposes to live our lives is not neccessary for us to live, it just makes living life seem meaningful and easier for us. It gives life more direction (maybe even stability and predictability) if we see ourselves as serving a greater purpose in it, sort of like a piece of a puzzle, perhaps, and makes us strive to make more out of our lives than just being born, reproducing, and then dying (a basic "evolutionary" purpose we serve). We need a purpose to fufill our own lives, life itself does not need us. We just are. Perhaps we need to feel we have a purpose because many things in nature tend to have specific functions, sort of like parts of a machine to serve a certain purpose, so we too like to make ourselves feel as a part of a machine so we feel we are contributing to something greater than ourselves. Doesn't mean we are, but it sure beats just living to reproduce and then just die.

[Master Vigil]

Originally Posted by standing_alone

Very interesting... Finding purposes to live our lives is not neccessary for us to live, it just makes living life seem meaningful and easier for us. It gives life more direction (maybe even stability and predictability) if we see ourselves as serving a greater purpose in it, sort of like a piece of a puzzle, perhaps, and makes us strive to make more out of our lives than just being born, reproducing, and then dying (a basic "evolutionary" purpose we serve). We need a purpose to fufill our own lives, life itself does not need us. We just are. Perhaps we need to feel we have a purpose because many things in nature tend to have specific functions, sort of like parts of a machine to serve a certain purpose, so we too like to make ourselves feel as a part of a machine so we feel we are contributing to something greater than ourselves. Doesn't mean we are, but it sure beats just living to reproduce and then just die.

Perhaps, like I said it is definitely a psychological need we seem to have. And while the rest of nature seems to perform certain functions, I don't see nature recognizing or even caring about it's "purpose." Instead, I see nature being peaceful, and at one with Tao. But, maybe that is just my own perception.