What Am I Doing Here?

Do you ever ask yourself this question?

Some could say I am merely sitting on a chair by my computer, typing on a keyboard and creating a thread on an internet forum. Others would say I am wasting my time in cyberspace, missing out on "real life" interactions I could be having with other people. Plenty could say I am over-analysing my existence and missing the ride as a result.

I don't mean in the literal sense of describing my exact actions at this exact moment in time in the context of my full life experiences. I mean the deeper reasons behind my existence on this planet at this very moment in time. Why do I exist? Why am I here? What am I meant to be doing? How should I act? Is there an ultimate goal I should be reaching for?

Or is this all random and my musings are simply the result of an intelligent life-form struggling to cope with a harsh realisation? One that suggests that this is all there is and life doesn't get any better. That there is no such thing as spiritual growth and enlightenment, love and compassion, selflessness and integrity.

It seems either everything has a purpose or nothing has a purpose. After all, how can some things maintain a purpose while others do not? Seems paradoxical if true, but then again, so does life in many ways...

a reply to: Dark Ghost

Why do I exist? Why am I here? What am I meant to be doing? How should I act? Is there an ultimate goal I should be reaching for?

Those are all good questions. As long as you keep asking them the prognosis is you are completely normal, humble and searching Human.

The highest regard,

intrptr

a reply to: intrptr

What makes them good questions, though?

Why do you see being normal, humble and inquisitive about life as positive?

(Sorry if it feels like I am going all Socrates on you, but I am curious.)

You are learning. You are learning about the personalities, desires, and beliefs of others. This place is a good place to come to open your mind, but research is needed to find the truth. There is some truth in most things we hear, that is if it sounds believable. The truth may have been twisted around to create a misconception, both for the authors and some who read their post. There are many who would like you to believe in a misconception, they parrot what they hear, and then if you do not agree, they get aggravated. These people should try to see what the others see and research what they read. Nobody is right all the time. Sometimes people have the right answer but their evidence is not pertinent, you see this in science all the time. The truth is then shoved under the table and the misconception continues.

So why am I here, to stimulate my desire to learn. The day I quit learning is the day I want to move on to investigate the other realities...the afterlife or rebirth what ever they call it. They say the old can't learn, that is a downright lie. Maybe they don't want to learn or are eating foods that lower their ability to learn but most people can keep learning if they want to and don't mess up their ability to learn with the wrong chemistry. Identifying the chemistry and practices that lowers our ability to learn is complex.

So keep learning OP, try to understand what others see. And by all means try to identify a motive for the information. Always remember that motive drives people so it cannot be used to discount all things. A very unreliable source can also give you some truth.

S&F

Or....You could just be hear because nuts like to be in the same tin foil lined can with other nuts.

a reply to: Dark Ghost

Life asks you the question. It's your job to answer it.

Sorry I can't be of more immediate help ... My only thought is that love, compassion, selflessness and integrity aren't as often linked to knowing the answers or having logical reasons as we like to think. Many of the most loving, selfless, and compassionate acts I've ever seen are completely irrational.

Would be a cold place if it all made sense.

a reply to: Dark Ghost



You are here to exist,
what reasons for it,
depends on what you do with your life.

originally posted by: Dark Ghost
a reply to: intrptr

What makes them good questions, though?

Why do you see being normal, humble and inquisitive about life as positive?

(Sorry if it feels like I am going all Socrates on you, but I am curious.)

Not at all. Socrates is another good indicator. Maybe you read the "allegory of the caves" in Plato's Republic?

Maybe you saw The Matrix, too?

The main theme of these tales being that most of humanity is only searching for something to fill their bellies or titillate their senses. That you have a bent towards trying to find these answers, that they bother you (like Morpheus says, "like a splinter in your mind") puts you in a whole different class. Thats a good sign.

Remember, these are only symbolic of peoples search for truth.These images are designed to provoke a response not answer any questions. Thats why you are here, to ask. Be patient, life is life long. The answers come, just not all at once. Each journey is different. You'll be fine precisely because you are "curious".

a reply to: Dark Ghost

Why do I exist? Why am I here? What am I meant to be doing? How should I act? Is there an ultimate goal I should be reaching for? - See more at: www.abovetopsecret.com...

Two people once got it on, and you were the intended (or not intended) result. The rest is up to you friend. You should act according to your own reason and thoughts, just as everyone else has done before you. And just like everyone else, you must create your own ultimate goals, your own meanings and your own purposes. By letting others answer these questions for us, we never find an answer.

a reply to: Dark Ghost

Further:

What makes them good questions, though?

Those are the questions. Rather than ask others for the answers though, you just keep asking them in your heart. True intent is never denied. The answers for you are unique for you and will lead to the same place.

Really, after years of thinking about it, I believe we are only here to fight against the natural balance of things until we become to weak to fight anymore and die.

We are then re-absorbed into the entire system and may become part of thousands of different things, maybe never to be a human again, but never truly dying but being redistributed to other living things.

I tried religion, rather tried to allow religion, studied several in fact, to explain what I am doing here, but religion never really explained enough or presented enough evidence, without a really big "leap of faith" to satisfy me of it's supposed merits.

After giving it an awful lot of thought, I think the simple act of taking what one needs to survive is a selfish act regardless of how one procures those things, but that is a completely different topic in a way, in a way, in a way, well, maybe not....

The natural system of things is perfect and needs no interference from or explanation/quantification by humans unless it is used for profit.

"Prophet", hee hee hee......

The more one strives for perfection, the more elusive perfection seems to become.

Brings a song to mind...Does anybody really know what time it is?, does anybody really care?,Oh Oh Oh, Oh I can't imagine why, we all have time enough to die...

K?....K.

a reply to: Dark Ghost

Why do I exist? Why am I here?

I think every person on this planet has asked himself those questions, since the dawn of times, and till the end of times, they still will.

Some religions claim to have the answers. Some philosophers claim to have the answers. Some prophets claim to have the answers. I certainly do not have an answer but I can speculate.

Our life here on this planet is a blink of an eye on the grand scheme of things. If I had to give a personal answer, it would be to enjoy every moment of it, as much as we can and as often as we can.

For any other answers, deeper than that, please consult your closest religious body or philosopher or prophet.

originally posted by: Pinke
Many of the most loving, selfless, and compassionate acts I've ever seen are completely irrational.

Would be a cold place if it all made sense.

Wow. What a wonderful way to put it.

I kept trying to think of ways to convey to the OP "why" it made sense but... it doesn't. Life is natural and, as Professor Tyson says "Nature is under no obligation to make sense" (paraphrased from some lecture I watched but close enough).

Since when did everything have to explain itself?.

Since when did everything need a reason to be here?.

Since when did anything need man to explain anything?.

That's a question I think many intelligent life forms ask themselves, and this were arts, philosophies, or the spiritual teachings come into play. The Op question, is almost like how an A.I would ask it self or another human, that why was it made, or it specific purpose. Was it mean't to do something that part of it function, or was it built because humans could simply make it. But then, it wouldn't be a true A.I if it didn't ask it self those questions or cared for that matter.

Then you look at animals, and they could hardly care other then just breeding and having a meal, which lead to an endless cycle of life. Never bothering to ask about it existence, nor caring. Just is.

It does sound similar to what most religions these days do fear...An it the unknown, as well as the cold harsh depths of space and time. Where it never mattered.

Where science believes it all an accident waiting to happen, where the religious believer say it was meant to be.

And this is what humanity will always fear, the cold harshness of space.

I believe that the "reason" for us being is evidence. The Creator knows everything, except one thing... What is it like to NOT be a God. He/She/It cannot turn off being the creator, and being all knowing. There is no way for him to know what it is like to be just a human. He can't then know what it is like to have the kind of love that a man feels for his wife. We are here for one reason... Evidence, we are the proof that any of this and even that the Creator himself ever existed. That is why he made us so curious, and planted that deep desire for us to find our partners. He put it in us to examine and learn everything we can about everything that is. Like he needs us to prove he is real, we need someone to share our findings. It is all AMAZING, from how the petals of flowers develop, to finding out that Light is a particle and a wave. Without you here to explore and document his creation NOTHING has purpose. That, or he was bored and we are Direct TV....
As to what your specific focus should be directed on is left for you to find. We each have talents along with desires and the freewill to try any and all things. It is for you to decide what your Chapter of the Great Big Book of Everything is about.

Sadly our focus has been corrupted by a long line of the ruling class, convincing us to stay in line. We have been tricked into believing we are here to produce, and consume, and nothing more. Nobody thinks they have time to "stop and smell the roses" anymore when in truth I think that is exactly what we are supposed to be doing. We would have time, if we just took it.

Mongol General: We have won again. That is good! But what is best in life?
Mongol Warrior: The open steppe, fleet horse, falcon on your wrist, wind in your hair!
Mongol General: Wrong! Conan, what is best in life?
Conan: To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of the women!
Mongol General: That is good.

This all depends on your point of view.
For some being here has some religious meaning.
for others there is none.

personally we are here to be the best people we can be. so that eventually we can have children and teach them to be the best that they can be. etc etc.

We are all on a mission. Most have forgotten though. Until you find your purpose, what makes you truly happy, you will feel unachieved. This could change at any time though. Something you enjoy now, you may not like later. As souls with bodies, we want to do something that gives us a sense of accomplishment. We have created an artificial world. I was thinking this the other day: Do I really want any of this? This "civilization", "fiat money", "things"? Sometimes I feel like just running to the Amazon an just be amongst the indigenous tribes. The rich are actually the most lost and sad. They have traded spiritual understanding for worthless paper. Especially in the West we have become religious, but lost the spirit.

It's funny when you realize that nearly everything men claim to have invented and / or achieved is done by animals with out the use of machines or what we like to call "technology".

Humans are imitators and liars and lower than the animals, this is why many seem to almost resent them.

The day I see an animal shopping at Wal-Mart is the day I give up on this place the rest of the way.

Maybe not entirely on topic, but.....

a reply to: Specimen

I often ask myself the same questions, and I've come to the simple conclusion that individually we don't matter. If you or I died tomorrow the world would keep on turning and in time all memory of you will be forgotten.

The only thing left to do, is to not take life too seriously. Do what you can to fulfill your life so at the end of it, you'll feel you've made the best of an unlikely one time existence.

originally posted by: Dark Ghost

Or is this all random and my musings are simply the result of an intelligent life-form struggling to cope with a harsh realisation? One that suggests that this is all there is and life doesn't get any better. That there is no such thing as spiritual growth and enlightenment, love and compassion, selflessness and integrity.

It seems either everything has a purpose or nothing has a purpose. After all, how can some things maintain a purpose while others do not? Seems paradoxical if true, but then again, so does life in many ways...

I always get myself tangled up in this black hole of thought. The fact that we should even be able to ask and think about these questions makes no sense. What evolutionary purpose does it serve? Perhaps one we don't fully understand yet...

The whole why am I me in this body at this time in this place can drive a person insane.

I wonder what it's like to not be able to ask these questions... To live on pure instinct alone without even knowing full well why you do what you do. What will experiencing death be like. Does a whole other realm await us?

The answers are beyond us although the search is ongoing. Your entire existence is planck time compared to the universe, yet there's a deep richness to it..It's amazing that matter so insignificantly small can experience so much. Why would something so big as the universe bother with such insignificant details and go thru all this trouble to create living conscious matter?

And they say life is not purposeful...