Why are we here?

[light upon light]

Why are we here, today, now?

I believe we are here to learn through our lives the meaning of love and beauty. And the best way to do that is to see the love and beauty of God in every person who we come across today.

“For each of the creatures is a sign of God, and it was by the grace of the Lord and His power that each did step into the world” - Abdu'l-Baha

 

[awitch]

I think it's just the way things worked out.

 

[WoodrowX2]

Life is our school, a time and place to learn how to make choices and understand we will be held responsible for our choices. A time to learn to love and how to make our love one of giving instead of taking. It is a place to to discover what it means to be loved and how to love wisely.

Life is a trial to face consequences and overcome our own inner desires.

 

[gord44]

who knows. perhaps to learn. perhaps it's part of God's self discovery. Perhaps it's an accident that must be corrected. I lean towards the self discovery of God. What looks like an accident may in fact be a required part of the universe's evolution.

 

[MehGuy]

I do not believe we are here for a reason. In some ways I like it that way. For if there was an ultimate reason I that would be too limiting. I view reality as an open world video game or a sandbox. A story arc would get old after a while.

 

[dlamberth]

Why are we here, today, now?

All of Creation, not just man, is here so that God can know Himself. That's how I look at it.

.

 

[BruceDLimber]

The Baha'i Faith states our purpose here is twofold:

• As individuals, to acquire the spiritual virtues we'll need both now and in the Next Life.
• In aggregate, to carry forward an ever-advancing, spiritually-based civilization.

And the purpose of religion is to show us HOW to go about these!

Peace,

Bruce

 

[EnemyOfReason]

Does there have to be a purpose for life? No. So must there be one? No. Is there proof for a purpose? No. Is the quest for the purpose of life emotionally rooted? Yes. Is it thus a meaningless and moronic claim? Yep.

I would love for somebody to tell me the purpose of the color pink or the purpose of our current set of physical laws.

 

[AskTheFamily]

Love.

 

[Dialogues]

For the worship of God Almighty.

Worship means acquiring/developing (some of) the attributes of the One worshipped, such as mercy, love, kindness, justice, knowledge, wisdom ...

 

[gord44]

Does there have to be a purpose for life? No. So must there be one? No. Is there proof for a purpose? No. Is the quest for the purpose of life emotionally rooted? Yes. Is it thus a meaningless and moronic claim? Yep.

I would love for somebody to tell me the purpose of the color pink or the purpose of our current set of physical laws.

You make a good point too.

 

[Snake75]

For the worship of God Almighty.

Worship means acquiring/developing (some of) the attributes of the One worshipped, such as mercy, love, kindness, justice, knowledge, wisdom ...

Why would God need people to worship him?

 

[Dialogues]

God doesn't have such a need.

But we have a need to worship God.

 

[light upon light]

Does there have to be a purpose for life? No. So must there be one? No. Is there proof for a purpose? No. Is the quest for the purpose of life emotionally rooted? Yes. Is it thus a meaningless and moronic claim? Yep.

Or perhaps part of that purpose is that we get to choose whether to see beauty (purpose / God) or brokenness (meaninglessness / nihilism). It wouldn't be much of a choice for love if we couldn't also choose meaninglessness, would it?

I would love for somebody to tell me the purpose of the color pink or the purpose of our current set of physical laws.

Pink is part of the variety of colors. Consciousness clearly loves variety!

Regarding the physical laws, their purpose is to create the appearance of separation out of an intrinsic unity.

They are the building-blocks to create a dream-world of apparent separate egos with choice and freedom in time - in other words the material world we exist within in the current physical existence.

See:

http://www.amazon.com/The-World-According-Quantum-Mechanics/dp/9814293377

 

[elephunky]

I think it's just the way things worked out.

As do I.

We exist simply to exist.

 

[EnemyOfReason]

Or perhaps part of that purpose is that we get to choose whether to see beauty (purpose / God) or brokenness (meaninglessness / nihilism). It wouldn't be much of a choice for love if we couldn't also choose meaninglessness, would it?

The intellectual capacity of this conversation has dropped. If a person believes that god has no purpose for us or there is no god does not rob a person of purpose. God has no purpose for our lives so we are free to find it. I make my life very meaningful in my efforts to provide knowledge int he field of computer science.
Also, love is not a very coherent purpose since it is the lowest emotion for me. I despise it and acknowledge the fact that it is the most highest double standard and contradiction in the human social output.

Pink is part of the variety of colors. Consciousness clearly loves variety!

Not all minds require variety, I dislike pink thus pink has no objective purpose.

Regarding the physical laws, their purpose is to create the appearance of separation out of an intrinsic unity.

So any set of worlds can exist and posses different meanings, purposes or physical laws. This makes out universe very unspecial then. You keep making gashes at your own answers

They are the building-blocks to create a dream-world of apparent separate egos with choice and freedom in time - in other words the material world we exist within in the current physical existence.

God could have easily made the world in another manner with different material and diffetrent physical components. There is no objective purpose then.

See:

The World According to Quantum Mechanics: Why the Laws of Physics Make Perfect Sense After All: Ulrich Mohrhoff: 9789814293372: Amazon.com: Books

You are relying on scientific claims to solve a philosophical one. My response to your mentally bankrupt assertions has no purpose thus this conversation is done.

 

[EnemyOfReason]

God doesn't have such a need.

But we have a need to worship God.

Thank you, a reasonable response finally. The need to worship god is a meaningful purpose and a self satisfying one as I have it as well. Although it is not an universal purpose as no such thing exist

 

[EnemyOfReason]

Love.

Love is a very poor purpose to fulfill one's life

 

[GabrielWithoutWings]

Because we evolved and our ancestors managed to live long enough to propagate.

The wishful part of me would like to think there's some over-arching cosmic purpose to my life and those around me. But, the realist in me tells me that I'm here because the universe, the galaxy, and the planet randomly developed to allow life that is compelled to procreate.

 

[ViaCrucis]

I'm here because my parents did something that I'd rather not think about because that's icky. Nine months later I popped out.

If I had to give a Christian response to the question "Why is there something rather than nothing?" I think, at least since the Scholastics, is the a priori philosophical proposition that being is better than not being. That tends to flow out from Anselm's Ontological Argument, that an actual thing is by definition better than an imaginary thing (and that is a fundamental component to his argument for God's existence). Thus the universe--and we--are here because existence is better than non existence. I'm not exactly arguing to the absolute affirmative on this so much as offering some of the philosophical musings of the Scholastic period.

While the Westminster Confession isn't one I subscribe to, its response to the chief end of man is interesting: "To glorify God and enjoy Him forever." I'm particularly drawn to the phrasing "enjoy Him", that man isn't simply a tool, but a relational subject, and that at the heart of the human-divine relationship, what it's meant to be, is one of enjoyment. To take joy in God.

I don't know that I have an answer quite yet, but these are two ideas that I enjoy mulling over while considering the question. I would also throw in the idea of Theosis, and also the idea that God as Creator isn't about God doing something alien, but that the Creative Act is intrinsic to God's Self. Existence is meant to be because the One who brings it about is the One That Exists. An organic outflow of the innate reality of God Himself as the One who generates (as Father), is generated (as Son), etc. That's also an idea I'd want to mull over a bit.

-CryptoLutheran