What do you think was the purpose of your life?

Lara said:
I like this answer @oldpop except I think procreation
reached it's fulfilled purpose of populating the earth long ago.
Now it's just "stop-it-already"! :giggle:
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You may be right. My thoughts are that every organism living here on earth has some purpose. We theorize what that purpose is but who really knows? There is one thing about all the organisms here on planet Earth that I think is a constant. They all seem to procreate in one way or another. I have many theories and thoughts on existence but In my mind procreation is one of the only explanations that I can come up with that is even close to a real constant for organisms living here on earth. Sometimes I wonder if human beings are designed to destroy each other and the planet. We do both so well. Even cancer has some type of purpose? I am just a regular person with my own thoughts and do not claim to be close to a scientist. Please forgive me for any misinformation I may have conveyed.... o_O
 
Murrmurr said:
It's futile to wonder about that, imo. I deal with life's challenges as they come, the best I can. I help people when I can, however I can. That's made life good for me and my family, sometimes made a day or a moment a little better for someone, but I don't think any of it served some grand purpose.

If you removed one ant from an anthill, none of the other ants would even notice. They'd still have an anthill.
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It may be futile but I enjoy thinking about it. knowing I will probably never know the truth or have an answer makes it more intriguing to me...:)
 
fuzzybuddy said:
I agree with Murrmurr. We exist, and there is no grand scheme or purpose for life. A potato is alive, and may end up as McDonald's fries, but its purpose is only what we give it. Our purpose is only what we give it.
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I believe there is a grand scheme and purpose, I am just not sure exactly what it is all about. The world we live in and our bodies are of such a magnificent design there must be purpose behind it all..IMO
 
Leann said:
I have thought endlessly about the purpose of life. Years ago I came to accept the concept that we somehow "pre-negotiated" our lives before being born. I didn't realize it was a new age philosophy until now. Where were we before we were born? I don't know. You may recall that in another post I wrote about my Catholic upbringing and some of my beliefs. I know that the idea of past lives and reincarnation flies in the face of the tenets of the Catholic Church but it somehow melds together in my mind. I don't have a clue as to who I was in a past life but I do know my purpose in this life and that is to be a caregiver, to be genuinely kind and accepting. Not a saint, mind you. Just an average human.
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I agree with you in saying pre-negotiation would make sense ..just like IMO reincarnation makes sense from the standpoint of fairness. I too have a Catholic upbringing and it seems to me there was in the early church a belief in reincarnation and past lives...so much was changed in the years that followed. I think there is a reason we can't remember... perhaps because it would take away from what we need to do now??
 
Not sure what my main purpose in life is, but from time to time I get a pretty good idea. Like bringing up two fine sons, having a great wife for the last 50 years to share my joys and sorrows and generally helping others, doing what I can for the environment. Not huge things but all add up to why I am here I guess.
 
I have no idea, in the big scheme of things I have done nothing to garner any type of fame or wealth. I just got up everyday and did what was best for my family and friends. I have no regrets, I played the cards I was dealt. I have had a very good life and have a good retirement. We all have had our crosses to bear and struggles to overcome. If we can say we have done that things must have been good. I am have climbed the mountain and now on the other side I will continue to take it a day at a time.
 
DaveA said:
For me, it would have served an even greater purpose if it had ended up at Burger King.
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We know that's in jest and you're quite humble.

From posts I've read, you are a family man, entered the military at the age of 18, married and brought 2 children into the world. You built many highways that connected loved ones, saved lives as they were transported in a hurry to the hospital on your highways, brought joy to travelers discovery America, and more.

You have served others all your life. You're a giver. An honorable purpose in life. Thank you.
`
 
Lara said:
We know that's in jest and you're quite humble.

From posts I've read, you are a family man, entered the military at the age of 18, married and brought 2 children into the world. You built many highways that connected loved ones, saved lives as they were transported in a hurry to the hospital on your highways, brought joy to travelers discovery America, and more.

You have served others all your life. You're a giver. An honorable purpose in life. Thank you.
`
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And thank you, Lara. I think that most of us do the best that we can as we travel along life's path.

And on a side note, I may have misspoke but we have 4 children. Our youngest just turning 60 this month.
 
Why must there be a purpose ?
I believe we exist, merely to exist. We are alive today, but given enough time, no-one will know we ever existed.
I wonder, occasionally, who baked Caesar's bread. What was his name ? What desires did he have ? Was he a free man or a slave ? Did he have a lover ? Who knows ? No-one knows. No-one can ever know.
Likewise, when I pass on, soon no-one will know I ever existed.
 
In my case, it wasn't to procreate; that's for damn sure. Neither one of my parents should've either, def. not parent material those 2. And neither were my full siblings but they also did it anyway, guess I'm the only one who learned the lesson. (Now the half brother that I've got bouncing around out there somewhere and I never knew of his existence 'till about 15 years ago: who knows?)
 
I’ve never come up with a definitive answer to what my purpose is.

But if backed into a corner and forced to answer, I’d say my purpose in this life cycle on Earth was to be part of a large extended group of kinfolks. To learn the positive and negatives of relationships with parents, brothers, sisters, cousins, aunt, uncles, grandparents and, later in life, to husband and children. To experience the human emotions of love, joy, pride, disappointment, fear, laughter, dislike, hurt, and so on. To experience a deep connection to a place and people. And deep sorrow at loss.

I hope I’ve shown enough kindness and care to all living beings to warrant forgiveness for mistakes I’ve made along the way of my life’s journey.
 
I am religious.

I think, first of all...we have purpose...and deep and important purpose.

If, we are striving to be good people, that will always mean, we respect and honor humility.

And sometimes, with humility, we get into too much self-deprecation and fail to properly honor ourselves and our lives. Because we don't want to be self-aggrandizing.


But, and I believe this, our purpose in life is to connect with God as deeply as possible.

And the way to that? Daily prayer. And more and more prayer. And deeper prayer. And as sincere as we can make it.

And a constant daily devotion to being as good and kind as we can possibly be.

To listen to and serve the better angels of our nature...and try, as best we can, to control and conquer our negative impulses towards anger, hatred, jealously, revenge and on and on.

I think the more work we do in that direction, the more doors it opens up, the deeper we connect with spirituality in and through all things...whether that is beauty in art and nature and music...or having love for the people in our lives.

I once read in a religious text, that in life, there is no pause button. We are either ascending the ladder of spirituality or slowly falling down. So, we either consciously do work in a positive direction, or the nature of life will suck is down into all negative qualities and experiences.

Personally, I think most of us are constantly doing that, even if not consciously.

We go fishing. Now, we make think to ourselves, oh, I want to catch a nice dinner. But we may also, subconsciously want to connect with quiet, with peace, with nature...and that fishing trip is really an act of spirituality. I think we all do that, even if we don't assign names to it, like spirituality.

At this age, with all I have been through? I respect everyone. I think everyone has worked hard, and enormously hard and suffered a great deal. I have tremendous respect for that. And I think, almost all of us are deeply good people, working very hard to be the best we can be.
 
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