What is the Purpose of Life?

I think if you are searching for a purpose then you may be searching for a long time. If you find the purpose be sure to let me know what it is too

Lol, I will once I do with, hopefully, a big return on your investment.

Seriously though, does there actually have to be a purpose? Can we not just be happy with having the opportunity to exist at all without the thought of being here ofr some divine purpose?

Can ignorance in this instance set us free?

Does there actually have to be a purpose? I think mankind is embedded to try and seek the answers to the existential questions. This innate curiosity is almost like a double-edged sword in my opinion. This sword is in our plane of existence and we see for which way the sword is being swung by people in charge. This isn't gloom and doomy as one would think; just because the sword swings to the left does not leave it impossible for the sword to be used to the right.

Originally posted by DelayedChristmas

Originally posted by smithjustinb
There is no meaning to life nor purpose for life. Life only is. It is the isness. All it does is exist.

The meanings and purposes are a response to it. They come from it. They don't belong to it. The meanings and purposes always are changing. Beingness doesn't change, but causes change to happen.

You just are. If you are looking for guidance, my advice is to detach yourself from the happenings and see that they happen from you but do not define you. And just be.

And how did you come to this conclusion?

Existential answers come from existential investigation. The existential answer is nothing more than the fact of your existence. So I found myself to be that which only exists. I am. That's all I am. Everything else is a reaction to that.

the purpose of life is to find the purpose of life. By getting self-knowledge and finding that we have a Creator and behaving the best based on these two.
The broad purpose is worshipping the Creator. Not ritualistic worship. But doing whats right, self improvement, understanding that everyone has the same Creator hence dealing with them as with self.

the purpose is simply to stand, unflinching, upon the edge of the bottomless abyss.

I do not know of anyone who has yet succeeded. I've only had a glimpse of it myself.

Originally posted by michael1983l
reply to post by thoughtfuldeliquent

 

I am battling multiple addictions at the moment so I am sympathetic towards your plight. If it helps I found the way I deal with it most is to not make myself promises that are difficult for me to keep, like I will not drink ever again. I start with I will not drink today, then when I get to the end of the day I pat myself on the back for not drinking and then say now I will not drink tomorrow and repeat this process. I then after a while and look at my month and say was my month this month more productive and more happy than my previous month. I then make it my goal for the next month to be even better. One small step at a time, and do it because you want to do it not because somebody is telling you to do it. Only you can stop if you actually want to stop. Good luck and I pray that we both come out at the other side with what we desire.

I also do that too; particularly I like to use NLP whenever I remember to use it (neurolinguistic programming). Basically I just minimize the addiction by picturing me using and then making it small and as insignificant as possible and try to magnify something else in my life so it consumes that need/desire. I've been 72 hours clean now. So I'm proud and I feel like I can do it; but at the same time I just #ing miss it. Good luck to you sir!

Originally posted by DelayedChristmas
Don't drink the Kool-Aid.

I've been and still am in those shoes... Your steps are different, but comparable to mine. What makes you think that life is pointless?

edit on 8-1-2013 by DelayedChristmas because: (no reason given)

edit on 8-1-2013 by DelayedChristmas because: (no reason given)

Haha, definitely advice to live by. Never drink the kool-aid. Never drink anybodies kool-aid!

There are so many of us wearing these shoes around, but I think it's just the more you know the more you recognize that there is nothing you can know that will give you meaning. You create your own. So I just want to look into everything at least a little bit; who knows what I might learn, what feelings phenomena can conjure up. Most of all I believe that there's infinite paths you can take and they all lead to the same place. What is important for me is that we spread peace and love like the hippies we should be!

I think once you are removed from nature it is natural to search within yourself to search for meaning; because you're disconnected from the only global purpose: survival. Our survival is so dependent on society but not everyone likes it. Yet most have no choice because the knowledge is hard to find; the motivation is hard to find when you have been nurtured with all these material possessions.

I guess I have a vague sense that I could help somebody out there, perhaps even a lot of people, and one day I hope that I can. Right now I'm in the middle of my journey, and I find the further I go the more complete the story becomes as a writer. But the point is moot, existence is the game we're all playing and its obviously for the best if we make that game as fun as possible instead of making everyone retreat into virtual existence.

Stay positive, stay motivated to search, don't let the helplessness overcome and you have the opportunity to make a difference either to yourself or to someone else. But don't base your life on success in anything; but be proud that despite all the bad things that happen in the world, you can rise above it. Everyone has the opportunity to be free; it is only the observer that stops us. We have created an all seeing observer in society; and a lot of people can not escape it.

"based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places -- and there are so many -- where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don't have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory." -Howard Zinn