What is your purpose?

Post Reply New Topic

I believe I'm a beautiful butterfly.

.

Purposes change, of course. At the moment my purpose in life is to get up every morning, pee, drink a cup of coffee and get on the net and be amazed at how silly so many people are.

I thought last evening that I knew what your question meant. But when I woke up this morning I realised that I had missed what it really meant.

It was meant to trap me! The words themselves mean nothing except material for a trap.

Apart from that :like the word "lazy" which means that whoever accused of it is not doing something the accuser wants/wishes them to do, ( and can accuse oneself of laziness ), "wrong" means that someone is doing something you don't think they should. It is criticism, that is all.

"Wrong" is nothing but a value judgement. Like truth, and beauty, and justice.

Was suddenly wondering whether the reason why the Bible uses so few abstract terms for things isn't because they had a vocabulary very poor in such words, but because words which do not refer to/symbolise something which the body can know/touch/grasp/experience are so completely value judgements that they are very "dangerous"/treacherous, or simply useless, for conveying spiritual "knowledge" ...

... especially the word "god" which is a kind of "meta"- value judgement

.

The Bible, of course, has been translated several times through different languages where a word can mean very different things in each language. The English version probably has little relation to the original and if God spoke it was probably not even in Aramaic.

and woman, and man, and ...

All words are value judgements, "except"


.

Back to the OP...

Firstly, not all atheists and no scientists that I know of see the world as randomness. Luck-of-the-draw certainly plays a part at times - say that big old asteroid 65 million years ago - but most of what we see around us is an endless process of evolution, natural selection, survival of the fittest.

As to the question of purpose, if my reason for believing in a god is because my life needs purpose that in and of itself is me grasping at straws to invent a purpose because I can't find a real one. "I want someone super-powerful and awesome to love me and approve of me, so I'll make up an imaginary friend who fits that criteria." Facing down this egotistical need for approval was a big part in my breaking free of religion. Once I no longer 'need' a god/super-cool imaginary friend to hold my hand, then I can consider the possibility that god does not exist.

I've never given much thought since or felt a great need for a higher 'purpose.' I endeavor to treat others as I would want to be treated - not to please a god-figure but because it's the right/human thing to do. I suppose I see myself as the aforementioned chain of evolution. What qualities do I think improve on our species and how can I contribute to those qualities? Education? Rationality? The end of racism? The end of reality TV? If I can influence some of the younger generations towards these ideals then I feel I've done my part.