BEING
You exist right now because you are supposed to. If you did not exist, you would not even miss it. But right now you are sitting on a miniscule ball of dirt and water in a vast expanse of nothingness. You will never do anything influential to the universe, nor change the processes that were going on billions of years before your species crawled forth from the muck and that will continue on after the last human heaves it's dying breath. Yet, to you, this life is a very important thing. The people you meet, the experiences you have, the way you live your life consumes your mind. Just a tick on the eternal clock! Has the question "Why?" ever crossed your mind?
It may come as a shock to you that the universe is trying to kill you. On our own insignificant speck alone there are electric storms, geological upheaval that spews molten core, giant waves that consume whole land masses. That's scary enough, but think about the massive asteroids that fly insanely fast through the black abyss, comets, supernovas, black holes. We live in a very, very hostile reality. In an instant, thousands of years of civilization could be wiped out, and the universe would hardly notice. And yet... we are here.
Look at the complexity of your body! Nerves, veins, pores, organs.... everything working perfectly, everything doing exactly what it's supposed to do to keep you alive. One thing goes wrong in the womb, horrid disfiguration and death are possible! But there are thousands of perfectly healthy, perfectly functioning babies born every day! With the smallest mistakes ending in catastrophe, the statistics are staggering, and yet our species continues to reproduce with relatively small margin of error.
AIDS, cancer, the common cold, do you realize how close to death you are every day? Your body responds to small pockets of "broken" cells before they become a tumor. That scratch on your skin let a potentially lethal strain of Staph into your arteries, only to be stopped by a flawlessly functioning immune system. Big things are trying to kill us! Small things, our own friggen bodies, are trying to kill us!
And some people don't believe in God...
With the incredible amount of "stuff" out there that could go wrong, could end your life, could destroy the planet, the main point is IT DOESN'T. Why? With the organized, destructive chaos raging around us, WHY ARE WE HERE? How does humanity continue existing year after improbable year?
Don't your little personal problems seem worthless and insignificant?
Like I said before, we ARE here. That is all that matters. We don't really know why, and frankly I don't know how, but the fact remains that we ARE here. It is a fragile, precious, and meaningless existence, but it's all we have. And it's astounding that we have that at all.
PURPOSE
Therefore, with what we discovered above, the purpose of life is fairly obvious. The purpose of life is to live. Doing all those things necessary to continue living, of course, but more then that, to experience unusual conditions we live in. And to find purpose in that experience, we need only to turn to our emotions.
Anyone who has been in love can tell you it's the most exhilarating thing ever. Better then sky-diving, better then heroin, better then a ham sandwich with just the right amount of tomato. This gives us a clue. Human interaction is one of the most gratifying experiences we can have, so why not indulge? We are made to procreate. Sex is a lot of fun. Why not have a lot of sex?! There are substances on this planet that break apart our perception and cause feelings of unrestrained ecstasy. Why not be high all the time?
Hold up there, cowboy. Let's not jump to conclusions. It's true there are a great many things that enhance reality, but we cannot fall in so deep as to forget about the original purpose of life, which is to live. Sex is great, but syphilis definitely does not increase the quality of life. Drugs and alcohol are really fun too, but too much and you lose touch with this peculiar thing called reality and might even get yourself killed in an overdose.... thus undermining the purpose of life. There are many reality enhancers, but lack of moderation in these things results in the purpose of your life being defeated.
So far we have living and having fun as the purposes of life. Sounds like a good time to me. But we have another thing to consider in this equation. We have a most marvelous gift. It is seated right there between your ears (side-note: can somebody explain how we evolved those things? And eyelids? We are such weird looking things...). It is your brain, and it is the key to a full existence.
As thinking creatures, we have the incredible opportunity of not only being able to experience reality, but to understand it! I know that when I put that funny little piece of paper in my mouth, in about an hour my perception of reality will alter significantly. Not just that, I understand how it works! I know, based on the tests done by other members of my species, that certain chemicals do certain things in my body to produce very specific effects in my perception. Something happens and I know why! I hope you can grasp the beauty in that. And the rule about thinking is like that of any other experience: you should because you can.
So, when it comes to Purpose, I think we have a very nice balance. It's like a system of checks and balances. You think to make sure your indulgences don't that priority over living. You indulge to expand your bank of experience, and you continue living to continue thinking and indulging.
Purpose of Life: To Live, To Enjoy, and To Think
I do so much enjoy being alive!
CONSUMPTION and KILLING
I think it is a bizarre piece of irony that our continued existence depends on the deaths of other living things. Unless, of course, you are a fruitarian, in which case you are a moron. As the comedian Ron White said, "I didn't climb to the top of the fucking food chain to eat carrots!". But this illustrates another important fact about life: life exists in delicate balance with death. Wildlife Biologists know that wolves have a natural equilibrium in their hunting and breeding habits to make sure they don't over-hunt an area, thus avoiding being damned to starvation.
We have the same issue. As omnivores, we have a system that functions and needs a large array of nutrition. Fruits, vegetables, meats, grains... fruit excepting, our diet depends on death. This is why I believe in giving thanks before a meal. Not to God, he has his own time, but to the life form that unwillingly gave up its' existence so I could continue existing. I remember that the burger I am enjoying once roamed pastures lazily grazing on grass. It is very important for us to remember where our continued existence comes from... death.
Another instance of death leading to your continued existence lies in you killing for something other than food. War happens for a reason. Whether it's another human being with a machete or a hungry tiger trying to eat you, there is a chance in your lifetime that you will be forced to make a decision: another life-form or you. Considering most of us make that decision every time we bite into a cheeseburger, it really shouldn't be that hard of a choice to make.
THE "AFTER" LIFE
So far, this chapter has contained little offensive material. That's about to change, because the Truth I'm about to share with you may piss a few people off. Are you ready?
There is no Heaven. There is no Hell. There is no Nirvana, no paradise, no Sheol... because there is no After-Life. When you die, your body will cease to live and that is all.
Before you get your panties in a knot, let me explain why. It is a basic principle of physics that energy cannot be created or destroyed, just changed. If an after-life (heaven, hell, what have you) existed, a place where we went after living, this plane we live on now would quickly become devoid of... well... everything. If all that energy were leaving this plane, this plane would cease to exist because new matter and energy CAN NOT be created to fill the gap. Therefore, we naturally remain here.
Think about that for a second. If energy and matter cannot be destroyed, and we are made up of energy and matter, that would mean that we can never be destroyed, just changed!!! Sure, it's a given that we will stop living as the processes of life stop in our bodies, but it certainly doesn't mean that we stop existing. We just change.
What happens after death, you ask? Reincarnation? We go on living in the environment around us? I don't fucking know! I'm alive right now, and that's all I really care about. All you really need to know is you will never go to an after-life because you will never truly die.
It's physics.
CONCLUSION
So, the short of it is this:
*The Purpose of Life is to Live, to Enjoy, and to Think.
*Appreciate the fact that you exist, no matter how meaningless it is, because the sheer unlikelihood that you are here makes you, ironically, special. Meaningless and Special... huh...
*Understand how and why you work, and always remember that your continued existence rests on the fact that you are willing to kill for it.
*Do not fear death, nor wish for it too soon, for life is precious and fun. But when it comes, know that you will never truly die.
We should have an 'enlightened' discussion sometime, it would be fun -boston
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