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Humanity's Purpose

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Sand
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16 May 2009, 11:19 pm

philosopher wrote:
To seek happiness and not to give up.Dont see why death is such a big deal if there is nothing then you are dead so wouldnt know if there is an afterlife bonus.Anyway i think it is possible that all we think we are is an illusion and realising this avoiding the banal and inane is the point,


This continual scream I hear everywhere for happiness strikes me as somewhat insane. Basically my life is a process of moving through a series of events that I try to make interesting and productive. This is not happiness, it is merely getting along. A supremely delightful moment may arise on occasion but this is a rather unusual occurrence and if I am not in pain or hungry or thirsty I am living a life of sustainable maintenance which is satisfactory and all I require. I can do without happiness.



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17 May 2009, 7:57 am

Perhaps the continual scream for happiness is from within where else would it be from.Seeking happiness is not insane and not a desperate struggle one can do without it but these moments or days are worth seeking.The evidance seems to suggest that possession of people and possessions is what is manically seeked to no obvious benefit.



ruveyn
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17 May 2009, 9:53 am

philosopher wrote:
To seek happiness and not to give up.Dont see why death is such a big deal if there is nothing then you are dead so wouldnt know if there is an afterlife bonus.Anyway i think it is possible that all we think we are is an illusion and realising this avoiding the banal and inane is the point,


The Journey is the happiness more than is the Arrival.

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beastinblack
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17 May 2009, 9:58 am

The only point of humanity I can see at the moment is to rape mother earth to the brink of collapse. There is no other purpose at the moment considering the attitude of the majority of people in soceity. The obsession with freedom and aimless consumerism is shallow and deluded to the point of denial about the harsh reality and moral restraint has virtually disappeared. People think it is their right to choose to have as many children as they want, whilst using the welfare state too prop them up. COMMON SENSE PEOPLE!! !

We need more people with the same vision as the late great Carl Sagan. From the majority of the consumer obsessed humanity we have the rare glimpse of brilliance. Everyone else just eats, breeds, and fights. If society is an organism, each person is a cell, then money is the cancer.

People dismiss star trek as being a show for sad losers, but I really admire its utopian vision, maybe there is a link.



alba
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17 May 2009, 11:47 am

Sand wrote:
I can do without happiness.

From the Buddhist perspective, my problem spiritually lies not with the clinging to pleasure [happiness] but rather with the avoidance of pain [misery]. And I've wondered if this isn't true of most Aspies. Many of us cope with very little happiness. But we don't tolerate misery well at all.



Gabe
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20 May 2009, 8:07 pm

Sand wrote:
Humanity's purpose is quite obvious. Merely look at the way the world is going. Humanity's purpose is to multiply to the point of using up as many natural resources as possible and then create a series of interminable wars to give life on Earth as miserable a conclusion as can be managed. The dodo and the passenger pigeon are a good start. Very soon it will be all the lions, tigers, elephants, gorillas and other primates. The fish are going fast. Most of the whales are defunct. Somehow frogs and bees and bats are getting eliminated also. If possible, mankind will be the last survivor, but without most other life, mankind will kick the bucket too. That's its purpose.


The amphibian/bat die-off is apparently caused by a certain kind of fungus that humans carry around. We've been very helpful to rats, cats, dogs, pigeons and cockroaches as well. Now that we've helpfully carried them across the globe and eliminated their competitors, will our pets and parasites dispose of us? Could make a good science-fiction story...



Sand
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20 May 2009, 8:47 pm

Gabe wrote:
Sand wrote:
Humanity's purpose is quite obvious. Merely look at the way the world is going. Humanity's purpose is to multiply to the point of using up as many natural resources as possible and then create a series of interminable wars to give life on Earth as miserable a conclusion as can be managed. The dodo and the passenger pigeon are a good start. Very soon it will be all the lions, tigers, elephants, gorillas and other primates. The fish are going fast. Most of the whales are defunct. Somehow frogs and bees and bats are getting eliminated also. If possible, mankind will be the last survivor, but without most other life, mankind will kick the bucket too. That's its purpose.


The amphibian/bat die-off is apparently caused by a certain kind of fungus that humans carry around. We've been very helpful to rats, cats, dogs, pigeons and cockroaches as well. Now that we've helpfully carried them across the globe and eliminated their competitors, will our pets and parasites dispose of us? Could make a good science-fiction story...


Although a good many humans enjoy the company of other animals the official attitude in many places including where I live is to discourage human-animal interaction. Signs are all over to forbid feeding birds and it seems most of the pigeons in and around Helsinki have been killed off by official orders. I am not particularly fond of either bedbugs or cockroaches since they seem to be pandemic in New York City where I used to live and the cold weather here in Helsinki seems to keep them away but as global warming progresses that may change.