Nature's God

What is the purpose of life? I really do not know, but I believe that there is a purpose.

To me, order and complexity in the universe imply design. Design implies purpose. Alternatively, if the universe is random, and life is merely an accident, what would be the point? What purpose would there be to life anyway?

On many occasions people have committed suicide because they have seen no point to life, no purpose, and therefore, no hope. Without purpose or hope, life is far less than it otherwise might be.

I believe Deism gives us hope. We can see that life has a purpose, even if we don't know what it is. Life matters. There must be some point to all this.

There is always a reason to be positive. Why would we adopt a different attitude?

I rarely go into negative mode, as far as life itself goes, but I'm not an optimist either. "Neutrally withdrawn" would be the best way to describe it, I think. I believe in predetermination to a degree, so in a stressful situation that I have no control over I generally just accept it, and wait it out. I tend to look at everything objectively. In certain situations, I am seen as cold, or uncaring even by the people that know me best.

For example, two elderly friends of the family are dying from terminal Cancer right now. Most everybody else in my family allows their emotions to cloud the fact that this is simply part of life. In situations like this, I continue my normal routine of gentle teasing, and "pushing of buttons", just to let the afflicted know that I am still who I always was, and they are still who they always were.

My family views this as acting disrespectively. I don't. I can tell that it is a welcome break for the dying, to have someone treat them the same as they always have. They spend too much time with friends and family who are mourning them before they are even gone...

My demeanor towards things over which I have no control it acceptance. That has nothing to do with predetermination, and everything to do with understanding where we can and should expend our energies. Wasting time with worry or trying to change the unchangeable is a waste of effort. It leads only to anger and frustration. Cold? Yes, it can be perceived as such, but only by people who react emotionally to most things. Emotion has its place. Wailing and carrying on about things beyond human control? Pointless. There is grief enough without adding to it.

I'm with you. Celebrate their lives while you still have them. Death sucks. No need to make it worse.

I am an optimist. I see no point in looking at life any other way.

i believe that there's a dual purpose of live, to live according to god' laws (which are the same as laws of nature, reason and virtue) and to enjoy life (which is to be happy). stoics were right in proposing the first, but the it includes in it the second- not just by considering the cradle argument as explained by epicurus, but also that the following god's laws itself brings happiness.

First of all I would say that I do believe in a Deistic God, but the opinion about her/him isn't always the same. The botom line is that I don't iknow anything for sure. I am just guessing. Sometimes I think a lot about atheism. I must admit people like Richard Dawkins and others put forward a good case, but in the end I do believe. My opinion is that life probably continues otherwise you are working hard towards death. If I was to think in atheistic tearms I would say that we would have to give life a meaning ourselves. So yes I do believe that there is a meaning to all this!
Thanks

Greetings cclendenen

"What is the purpose of life?"

You don't ask easy quesions, do you? What a topic for a symposium.

I will take a shot at answering it although this is really a fitting subject for an article and not a post. All I can guarantee that this is probably not the answer I would have given a few years ago and may not be the answer I would give a few years from now. What I will attempt to do is construct a reasoned arguement that lays out my thinking in the matter but it may take more then one post. What I shall do is lay out the foundational elements and build on them.

Like cclendenen I believe in a logical and orderly universe. So we should be able to approach this question in a logical and orderly manner. If life has a purpose, and I believe it does, then something of value must be the desired result. The concept that the result has no value we can discard as it does not meet the test of a logical purpose. Why would the purpose of life be a result that has no value to us or others?

So the first step is to identify what, of value, may be derived. If we believe that our time on earth is transitory and our existence continues beyond it then the logical conclusion is that this item of value progresses with us.

Yet we know that at death our physical existence, at least as we understand it to be now, ceases. So what of value transcends death? We know that material items remain with our physical remains. So physical items are most likely not a component of these values.

So what non physical items carry on with us? If we believe that what carries on is our soul, for lack of a better desciptive word, our intellect, our character, our emotional and psychological essence then this object of value must concern these. So I will name a few that I think are pertinent.

Knowledge is an intellectual capability that, once gained, I don't believe is ever lost. So any knowledge that we gain here on earth I think transfers to the next stage with us.

The ability to learn is I think both instinctive and intellectual. We are all born with varies degrees of analytical ability and problem solving skills. Yet some of us expand on these capabilities, and expand our intellectual capabilities, while others do not. So I think these expanded capabilities transfer with us as well.

Self control, or self mastery, is another attribute that I think transfers with us. The ability to control our emotions, our thoughts, our desires, and our thought process is one of the goals many make in life. Entire disciplines and religions have been based on attaining this attribute.

And I think the effect we have on others transfers as well. The good, or ill, we do to all those we encounter, and the ripple effect it has on those they touch, all carry forward with us.

All of these are items of value. Knowledge, self control, the ability to analyze and construct logical arguements, and the effect our life has on others are, to me, the logical outcomes of life on earth. I will not claim they are the only attributes we carry with us but they are what comes to mind.

Tomorrow I will try to construct a logical purpose to life from these outcomes

Peace - Yehya

Greetings

Having in our first step defined our desired outcome, or objects of value, that will comprise the sum total of what we take from life, we will now begin the second step of define what, if anything, is unique about the earth that supports, or hinders, the development of these values? For I think the purpose of life is more then the outcome but also the journey. (For convenience I will refer to the intelligence described in step one as our soul. I think it suffices to describe all the various components, except the physical, that make us individuals)

So what is unique about the earth? I don't think it is the earth itself but the physical existence that is unique. The earth is a labratory that allows our souls to experience a physical existence because there are things we can only experience in a physical state. Hunger, thirst, cold, heat, desire, lust, greed, fear of death, jealousy, pain, and myriad others are all physical attributes, or require a physical presence, to experience. In addition nature, or Nature's God, has designed into our physical bodies attributes that both hinder and support the development of the values outlines in step one. We have, through evolution, an instinctive understanding of right and wrong. We have a strong sexual desire and all the emotions that creates. We have a need for food and shelter, and an aversion to pain. We have a brain and nervous system that allows our intellect to function, an external system to allow us to input data, and the example of nature and the universal laws it contains to lead us to develop our own understanding of the world. And we have the interaction with other physical beings, both human and other, to allow us to develop in relation to others.

Why is a physical presence necessary for the development of the soul? Can a soul develop self control only as a spiritual being, when there are no physical actions to control? Can we learn to put aside material comforts in the service of others if material comforts have no meaning? Can we learn compassion for others suffering when there is no suffering, or stoic fortitude in the face of our own if we don't experience suffering ourselves? Can we deveop the intellectual strength to control base instinctive desires for food, comfort, sexual gratification, and ease when they conflict with our moral code? And can we learn to stand in the face of danger, to give our lives if need be in defense of the greater good, when we have no fear of death, no instinctive desire for self preservation? I answer no, emphatically no! All of these require a physical presence to develop.

So what is the purpose of life?

The purpose of life is to use the physical attributes God has given us, in the universal labratory He has created, to develop and grow the soul in areas that require a physical experience for that development and growth

Peace - Yehya

PS. I have to add that this is by necessity a much abridged version of a much larger thought process