Purpose

[joe1776]

It occurred to me that one reason to seek out god is to find purpose. A reason for my existence or our existence or the existence of life in general. I personally find it difficult to give a crap about anything without knowing why I should. Life seems engineered specifically to try and make me give up at times. As if the universe is designed to repeatedly remind me how pointless it all is.

So I wonder, if I am the creation of a super-being and that being had some reason for making me, why would that being not make it more obvious? Why do I feel the need to find this being and ask it? Shouldn't I know? Or is it that I'll fulfill my purpose whether I know what it is or not? And if that's the case, why do I seek to know?

My tentative plan is to simply enjoy this silly ball of dirt as much as I can until something changes. But I can't help longing for something more. It doesn't have to be divine, of course. Just something more than exaggerated survival of the species, if that makes sense.

What do you all think about the idea of purpose? Do you seek it? Have you found it? Does it matter?

Atheists don't like the word "purpose" because it seems to imply belief in a creator. So, with my atheist friends in mind, I suggest that evolution has given our species a moral direction. Our mission in life should be to make moral progress...to become better human beings.

Our brains set our course by rewarding our good deeds with pleasure...we feel good about doing good. And they punish our bad deeds with the pain we call "guilt."

 

[Sir Doom]

My apologies, I tend to argue even when I don't disagree. I don't reject altfish's answer, it's just tough for me to leave it at that.

Regarding children, I don't mean to say I enjoy life better than those with children, just differently. People with children often continue to enjoy life in the way I do much to the detriment of their children. I am no parent nor should I be. I realize that plenty of people find unmitigated happiness from raising a family and I'm glad that is the case. For me, I can think of no faster way to go from doing alright to the end of my rope. I barely care for my own well being out of little more than laziness. I would never curse a child with me as a father. Lots of you are great at it, I'm not one.

 

[WalterTrull]

I would never curse a child

Obviously, you have never tried to fish the morning paper out of the bushes, or heaven forbid, the koi pond.

 

[YmirGF]

Maybe I'm just being silly but I've always felt that if you sense no purpose in your life then it is incumbent on you to create a purpose or purposes. I think we all seek, in one way or another, more in emotional and intellectual terms and our evolving brains are hard wired to become dissatisfied with pat answers.

 

[Mox]

What do you all think about the idea of purpose? Do you seek it? Have you found it? Does it matter?

One can decide for one's self what one's purpose in life should be.

However I don't believe in predetermination or manifest destiny, on any level.

I have various self determined purposes, to learn, to experience, to understand, to be of some assistance to my sisters and my brethren.

 

[Mox]

Funny how one picture can elicit a variety of opinions as to what is seen.why is that?
View attachment 22959

I see, home. I see, our Mother.

 

[BilliardsBall]

It occurred to me that one reason to seek out god is to find purpose. A reason for my existence or our existence or the existence of life in general. I personally find it difficult to give a crap about anything without knowing why I should. Life seems engineered specifically to try and make me give up at times. As if the universe is designed to repeatedly remind me how pointless it all is.

So I wonder, if I am the creation of a super-being and that being had some reason for making me, why would that being not make it more obvious? Why do I feel the need to find this being and ask it? Shouldn't I know? Or is it that I'll fulfill my purpose whether I know what it is or not? And if that's the case, why do I seek to know?

My tentative plan is to simply enjoy this silly ball of dirt as much as I can until something changes. But I can't help longing for something more. It doesn't have to be divine, of course. Just something more than exaggerated survival of the species, if that makes sense.

What do you all think about the idea of purpose? Do you seek it? Have you found it? Does it matter?

Good questions!

"Why do I feel the need to find this being and ask it?"

Did you know, the Bible says things like "God put eternity in the hearts of people, so that they would feel the need to find God, to ask"? Further, some people suppress the urge when they do the other thing you mentioned, "give up when the universe presses down on them".

Re: purpose, let's start with basics, theists v. atheists:

Atheist: No purpose, really. 1,000 years from now I will be dirt, forgotten, and all good and evil are societal constructs to make the here and now more pleasure, less pain. Pain and pleasure, however, are technically meaningless, as are love, justice, empathy, etc., etc.

Theist: Creation and created beings glorify their Creator. God will judge each person for good and evil, which reflect our innate awareness that though we act against conscience (sin), we should not.

Finally, we have Christians: Our purpose is to trust Jesus Christ for salvation, to come into right relationship with God, for illuminated knowledge and purpose. Through evangelism, we can even help someone achieve eternal, abundant life!

 

[Father Heathen]

Purpose is self-realized and self-determined.

 

[Jumi]

It occurred to me that one reason to seek out god is to find purpose. A reason for my existence or our existence or the existence of life in general.

Could be a reason for someone. I've already found purpose long ago, didn't need god for it.

I personally find it difficult to give a crap about anything without knowing why I should. Life seems engineered specifically to try and make me give up at times. As if the universe is designed to repeatedly remind me how pointless it all is.

Heaven and earth do not act from (the impulse of) any wish to be benevolent; they deal with all things as the dogs of grass are dealt with. Tao Te Ching

So I wonder, if I am the creation of a super-being and that being had some reason for making me, why would that being not make it more obvious? Why do I feel the need to find this being and ask it? Shouldn't I know? Or is it that I'll fulfill my purpose whether I know what it is or not? And if that's the case, why do I seek to know?

Why would some super-being even care about us?

What do you all think about the idea of purpose? Do you seek it? Have you found it? Does it matter?

Purpose is easy to find, you only have to follow your own nature.

 

[Sir Doom]

Why would some super-being even care about us?

Maybe we are worth caring about. I don't know, perhaps it wouldn't.

Purpose is easy to find, you only have to follow your own nature.

Following my own nature is what leads me to this conundrum. Perhaps seeking purpose is my purpose?

 

[dfnj]

It occurred to me that one reason to seek out god is to find purpose. A reason for my existence or our existence or the existence of life in general. I personally find it difficult to give a crap about anything without knowing why I should. Life seems engineered specifically to try and make me give up at times. As if the universe is designed to repeatedly remind me how pointless it all is.

So I wonder, if I am the creation of a super-being and that being had some reason for making me, why would that being not make it more obvious? Why do I feel the need to find this being and ask it? Shouldn't I know? Or is it that I'll fulfill my purpose whether I know what it is or not? And if that's the case, why do I seek to know?

My tentative plan is to simply enjoy this silly ball of dirt as much as I can until something changes. But I can't help longing for something more. It doesn't have to be divine, of course. Just something more than exaggerated survival of the species, if that makes sense.

What do you all think about the idea of purpose? Do you seek it? Have you found it? Does it matter?

I've recently spent a lot of time reading the Tibetan Book of the Dead. I tried reading it in my 20s but I did not connect with it. I'm much older now and it I found it to be fascinating. I'm still not 100% on board with only having an Eastern religious way of thinking. I still resonant with the Western religious idea of a vision of a heavenly Jerusalem. In Eastern religion it seems to me to be more about being in tune with nature but letting it happen to you. Eastern religion to me seems to be more about achieving harmony and peace in the face of unending suffering. In the Western mindset. it's about controlling or dominating nature. To me, there seems to be a unity of opposites between the two ways of belief. And what is in the middle is the realization of having a balance between listening and talking is our highest purpose.

In terms of our ultimate purpose consider the merging of the following ideas. Consider the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics. Combine this idea with the Tibetan Buddhist idea of personal reincarnation. In our life, our goal is to achieve a certain level of consciousness where when we die we graduate to the Buddha state. Once we achieve this state we become a steward of our Universe along with all the other infinite number of Buddhas managing the multi-verse. In this state of stewardship, we become the consciousness needed for the realization of each quantum state under observation. It's a thankless job requiring and infinite amount of patience dealing with the minutest details of mundane existence. It's a combination of listening and talking at fabric of nature's existence.

The purpose of the multiverse is to create more Buddhas needed in governing an infinite number of Universes in order to achieve a complete realization of God's omnipotence.

Now say you die and you don't have what it takes to attain the Buddha state. Then when our angers, petty desires, our lack of selflessness, or our lack of selfishness, dominates our consciousness we then return to the pool of consciousness from which we came. I'm not sure I completely believe in reincarnation the way the Tibetan book describes it as a conscious will choosing the location of its next reincarnation. I'm not sure the obsession with finding the right place supporting good Dharma is that important. Before anyone has ever been reincarnated consciousness had to begin from somewhere. It's a big pool and there's a lot of people being born everyday!

If you are looking for evidence of our purpose then you will be disappointed. Most people who are looking for evidence of purpose or evidence of God have no sense of spirituality. There's something extremely profound in that we are made of the very stuff we are experiencing. I recently found a fascinating talk on the idea of consciousness boundaries:

You can easily dismiss Joan Tollifson's talk as some goofy middle age crazy woman. But if you have some patience and listen to what she's is saying it's a very well-done talk.

Before you can really understand our purpose you have to get beyond evidence-based thinking. Evidence doesn't exist out there because you have to combine subjective and objective experiences to get even close to understanding our purpose. With evidence-based thinking there is no room for subjective experience as being evidence. The word purpose implies or requires a certain level of subjective judgments and experience.

 

[Jumi]

Following my own nature is what leads me to this conundrum. Perhaps seeking purpose is my purpose?

Could be, or perhaps you haven't found your nature yet. It's not always easy to know what's in our nature... sometimes we enjoy something we thought we would hate. For instance I picked up a hobby a few years back that I thought was ridiculous and one that I would never have imagined enjoying.

 

[dfnj]

Could be, or perhaps you haven't found your nature yet. It's not always easy to know what's in our nature... sometimes we enjoy something we thought we would hate. For instance I picked up a hobby a few years back that I thought was ridiculous and one that I would never have imagined enjoying.

Me too!

 

[Sir Doom]

I've recently spent a lot of time reading the Tibetan Book of the Dead. I tried reading it in my 20s but I did not connect with it. I'm much older now and it I found it to be fascinating. I'm still not 100% on board with only having an Eastern religious way of thinking. I still resonant with the Western religious idea of a vision of a heavenly Jerusalem. In Eastern religion it seems to me to be more about being in tune with nature but letting it happen to you. Eastern religion to me seems to be more about achieving harmony and peace in the face of unending suffering. In the Western mindset. it's about controlling or dominating nature. To me, there seems to be a unity of opposites between the two ways of belief. And what is in the middle is the realization of having a balance between listening and talking is our highest purpose.

In terms of our ultimate purpose consider the merging of the following ideas. Consider the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics. Combine this idea with the Tibetan Buddhist idea of personal reincarnation. In our life, our goal is to achieve a certain level of consciousness where when we die we graduate to the Buddha state. Once we achieve this state we become a steward of our Universe along with all the other infinite number of Buddhas managing the multi-verse. In this state of stewardship, we become the consciousness needed for the realization of each quantum state under observation. It's a thankless job requiring and infinite amount of patience dealing with the minutest details of mundane existence. It's a combination of listening and talking at fabric of nature's existence.

The purpose of the multiverse is to create more Buddhas needed in governing an infinite number of Universes in order to achieve a complete realization of God's omnipotence.

Now say you die and you don't have what it takes to attain the Buddha state. Then when our angers, petty desires, our lack of selflessness, or our lack of selfishness, dominates our consciousness we then return to the pool of consciousness from which we came. I'm not sure I completely believe in reincarnation the way the Tibetan book describes it as a conscious will choosing the location of its next reincarnation. I'm not sure the obsession with finding the right place supporting good Dharma is that important. Before anyone was ever been reincarnated consciousness had to begin from somewhere. It's a big pool and there's a lot of people being born everyday!

If you are looking for evidence of our purpose then you will be disappointed. Most people who are looking for evidence of purpose or evidence of God have no sense of spirituality. There's something extremely profound in that we are made of the very stuff we are experiencing. I recently found a fascinating talk on the idea of consciousness boundaries:

You can easily dismiss Joan Tollifson's talk as some goofy middle age crazy woman. But if you have some patience and listen to what she's is saying it's a very well-done talk.

Before you can really understand our purpose you have to get beyond evidence-based thinking. Evidence doesn't exist out there because you have to combine subjective and objective experiences to get even close to understand our purpose. With evidence-based thinking there is no room for subjective experience as being evidence. The word purpose implies or requires a certain level of subjective judgments and experience.

I'm definitely not seeking proof as I don't really think there is such a thing. I just like to know how other people think. Find common ground and uncommon ground. Revel in the mystery, as the case may be.

I rarely settle on a belief without consulting my peers, even if I end up rejecting everything they say. What people think has more impact on reality than what they know, anyway.

I haven't watched the video yet but I will. I'll get back to you on that one.

 

[Sir Doom]

I enjoyed what Joan had to say. I won't say I agree with her perspective exactly, but I can see the merit of her position. Experiencing, perceiving, witnessing reality is totally unavoidable. Perhaps it is as simple as that. The purpose of our eyes is to see, we expect nothing else from them. Why expect so much more for ourselves? We are a collection of perceptual tools going about perceiving. Quite interesting.

 

[dfnj]

I'm definitely not seeking proof as I don't really think there is such a thing. I just like to know how other people think. Find common ground and uncommon ground. Revel in the mystery, as the case may be.

I rarely settle on a belief without consulting my peers, even if I end up rejecting everything they say. What people think has more impact on reality than what they know, anyway.

I haven't watched the video yet but I will. I'll get back to you on that one.

I hope you watch. It's pretty neat. Before you can understand purpose you have to have a rooted understanding on what it means to BE here.

 

[David T]

I see, home. I see, our Mother.

St Hildegard debingen said "we cannot live in an interpreted world. For an interpreted world is not home". Not every last person in religion across thousands of years is clueless. Mostly but that's OK it's normal! Mox you are not normal. I hate to break the news.

 

[Shadow Link]

I am almost 4 month here, and started with the thought "what is the definition of God"
When you say this, you have in mind "all have a personal definition, or is there a `one fits all` definition?"

Yes

 

[dfnj]

The TBOTD had a repeating theme of everything we experience upon of death is a reflection of our own karma. And in the recognition of our experiences as being reflections of our own consciousness we can become liberated through our experiences of own fears:

"O nobly-born, whatever fear and terror may come to thee in the Chönyid Bardo, forget not these words; and, bearing their meaning at heart, go forwards: in them lieth the vital secret of recognition. 'Alas! when the Uncertain Experiencing of Reality is dawning upon me here, With every thought of fear or terror or awe for all [apparitional appearances] set aside, May I recognize whatever [visions] appear, as the reflections of mine own consciousness; May I know them to be of the nature of apparitions in the Bardo: When at this all-important moment [of opportunity] of achieving a great end, May I not fear the bands of Peaceful and Wrathful [Deities], mine own thought-forms.'"

I wonder if every great prophet speaking for God or experiencing God throughout history is just tapping into the reflection of their own consciousness experiencing the vastness of nothingness.

 

[dfnj]

I am almost 4 month here, and started with the thought "what is the definition of God"
When you say this, you have in mind "all have a personal definition, or is there a `one fits all` definition?"

God is just a word. What it means is irrelevant.