Could someone please tell me the purpose of life?

[Aaron]

The purpose of life is a tricky question, because when one asks it, you can assume that one of the answers may be that there is no purpose to life. I think if you examine the question on a basic level that we could answer the question by simply stating that we are here to live. On a grander scale we could also assume we are here to procreate and perpetuate the human race. The perpetuate is the sticky part, especially with the abundance of war and catastrophe that seems to pop up here and there.

 

I think another way of answering this question is simply by recognizing that purpose is a construct of the mind. To ask, "what is the purpose of life?" Is to ask, "is there a purpose to life?" When one asks that question, it's usually because they feel that there life has no purpose or requires purpose. If you ask, "is the purpose of life to be happy?" I think it's wise to also ask, "am I happy?"

 

As others have stated there's nothing wrong with pursuing happiness, but to some extent I believe it is unrealistic to focus on happiness as the sole purpose. I keep in mind the idea that there have to be opposites in life, without sadness, there can't be happiness, so if the purpose is solely to be happy, then if we achieve that purpose, will we still value it as much as we did before we pursued it? Perhaps the best course of action to take is to find a sense of balance in ones life?

 

In my own life I don't strive for happiness, but rather I strive to do what I believe needs to be done. I look at the things happening around me and try to keep in mind what is really happening. I address those things I can do now and do them. Those things I can't do today, I don't worry about. My main concern is living in the hear and now. When I live in the hear and now, I find that a lot of the things that cause me to stress out evaporate and what I'm left with is the possibility of the moment.

 

Anyways, I could go on, but what I'm saying is that the question, "what is the purpose of life?" Isn't as important as living life. So what I would suggest is not to worry about what you don't need to worry about. Not to worry about those things you can't change, and try to appreciate all those things in your life that allow you to enjoy the moment.

 

Aaron

Edited December 21, 2010 by Twinner

[xenolith]

...Please understand that to be an apology and a request for forgiveness.

 

Lotsa Love,

 

xeno

Absence of said reveals much Kate...look to your Te, friend.

[fiveelementtao]

IMO (today) To learn and grow. This planet is a school. Forget about enlightenment. Forget about liberation. Don't try to escape. Embrace the pain and fear. Embrace the joy and pleasure. Abandon denial. Face oneself ruthlessly. Make mistakes. Forgive yourself and strive to improve on all levels whenever possible. Instead of the word enlightenement or freedom, I prefer the word fulfillment.

[ben]

IMO (today) To learn and grow. This planet is a school. Forget about enlightenment. Forget about liberation. Don't try to escape. Embrace the pain and fear. Embrace the joy and pleasure. Abandon denial. Face oneself ruthlessly. Make mistakes. Forgive yourself and strive to improve on all levels whenever possible. Instead of the word enlightenement or freedom, I prefer the word fulfillment.

Well said. I would also add look after your health. Health is everything, without it life is shit.

[fiveelementtao]

Well said. I would also add look after your health. Health is everything, without it life is shit.

 

Good point!

[phore]

Call me critical, but i see you as a pretender, Phore.

I prefer the term "imagineer"

[z00se]

It's all about choice. To do whatever you want to do. To live however you want to live.

 

Of course there is an easy taoist way or a more difficult fustrating way. But everyone has the choice to do what they want. Fame, excitement and riches (in anything imaginable) are available for those who desire them. You can be remembered or forgotten.

 

I think the great thing about taoism is that you live for the now and how you feel right now. Even in the age we live in of recorded history, even if you are some great wonder or superpower you only exert your fame among people who have interest to read or learn about you in the future. Even though everyone knows hitler i'm sure he will be forgotten at some stage. I mean everyone knows alexander the great too but its too far back to generate any real feelings within most people. Most of the famous painters (I walked through the london gallary and thats all i saw) painted pictures relating to christianity and thats why they are remembered. Is that rightous?

 

I love taoism because when i live for now, nothing else matters. I get the most intense feelings, sensory experiences and life moments that just seem to get more and more intense. I don't care what others think, i only care what i think myself. It is my world, i make of it what i want. Life is what i see and it can become anything i want it to become. I am in control.

 

Then maybe when my place in the world becomes less important. When everybody can learn to live like this the earth can retake it's rightful control and heal it's self. The human race then lives in harmony with the earth and they survive alongside each other harmoniously.

[phore]

It's all about choice. To do whatever you want to do. To live however you want to live.

 

Of course there is an easy taoist way or a more difficult fustrating way. But everyone has the choice to do what they want. Fame, excitement and riches (in anything imaginable) are available for those who desire them. You can be remembered or forgotten.

 

I think the great thing about taoism is that you live for the now and how you feel right now. Even in the age we live in of recorded history, even if you are some great wonder or superpower you only exert your fame among people who have interest to read or learn about you in the future. Even though everyone knows hitler i'm sure he will be forgotten at some stage. I mean everyone knows alexander the great too but its too far back to generate any real feelings within most people. Most of the famous painters (I walked through the london gallary and thats all i saw) painted pictures relating to christianity and thats why they are remembered. Is that rightous?

 

I love taoism because when i live for now, nothing else matters. I get the most intense feelings, sensory experiences and life moments that just seem to get more and more intense. I don't care what others think, i only care what i think myself. It is my world, i make of it what i want. Life is what i see and it can become anything i want it to become. I am in control.

 

Then maybe when my place in the world becomes less important. When everybody can learn to live like this the earth can retake it's rightful control and heal it's self. The human race then lives in harmony with the earth and they survive alongside each other harmoniously.

 

I enjoyed reading this.

[Birch]

Absence of said reveals much Kate...look to your Te, friend.

 

Huh?

 

Oh, you were actually really asking for forgiveness?? I could do it to please you, but it would be dishonest.I don't need to forgive you because you didn't do anything. Unless you did something?

 

My Te seems to be alright, my K is gnarly and I'm looking forward to some time off.

[Everything]

Uh.... not exactly. They may be goals, but they can't be the purpose of life because life itself is imbued with unhappiness, struggle, limitations, anguish and failure. Life is not only these experiences, but it has been defined as tragedy since the Greeks and defined as suffering since the Buddha first uttered the First Noble Truth, but you don't have to be a scholar to figure this out. You just have to have escaped the steady drumbeat of Sweetness and Light that is the sound of New Age Punditry.

 

Or, you can ask any one of the 3.5 billion people in the world who live on $2/day or less to comment on happiness, freedom, and success. I'm sure you'll get an interesting answer.

 

Cheers!

 

Is achieving happiness, succes and freedom not a good purpose? I do understand that we all have suffered a day in our lifes. I have suffered too, I've had days where sadness and depression were the purpose of my life, I was masochistic even. I agree with suffering as a purpose of life and tragedy as a definition of life. But don't you think that this is relative to each person? Allot of guys who offed them selves had tragedy as a definition for life. Perhaps having this believe is limiting.

 

To have happiness, succes and freedom as the purpose of all human lifes in general makes most sense to me in a way that it is most commonly valued. Where as sadness and negative things are also valued by some, but not as many.

 

As I said in my previous posts, the purpose of life is relative and I showed step by step how this questions can be translated into "what is the value of your decision" If you move back a few pages to see my initial post on page 4.

 

We can also end in agreement by saying the purpose of life is relative, but then there would be no practice left for agreement.

Edited December 24, 2010 by Everything

[Trash Filter]

This probably is different for everyone. Most people are happy to know what their purpose in life is. But do people really want "the purpose of life?" Wish i could know either...

Can be safe bet to say: to learn from this experience is your purpose living here.

[Everything]

This probably is different for everyone. Most people are happy to know what their purpose in life is. But do people really want "the purpose of life?" Wish i could know either...

Can be safe bet to say: to learn from this experience is your purpose living here.

Actually, you have a purpose and you learn from the experience on your journey towards that purpose. The purpose may be expressed diffrently for every individual, but you can abstract the general purpose of every human life into "achieving happiness, succes and freedom". Since those are the 3 most commonly valued things. When you look at the people who are content when they face death, often these people have taken a shot at their individual purpose in life and most often succeeded at it. For example, becoming an astronaut, meeting your admired hero's, putting a flag on the moon, having found alot of love, entertained huge crowds on big events, etc.

Others have impossible purposes, like building a time machine. But a serious pursuit of such an individual purpose may still lead to durable happiness, succes and freedom and thus a content death in the end, regardless of wether or not the purpose is achieved. Your spirit does not care about such worldly matters.

Edited December 29, 2010 by Everything

[Kali Yuga]

This is where the structure of language in itself defeats that which is real understanding. In reality there is never really any true subject, nor is there ever any predicate. It is just a permanent being. Forgive me if this is very very abstract but there is no way to convey it, because to convey it is like asking "what is the sound of one hand clapping"? This in fact is the total purpose of zen training; to undo that which was never in fact there. This universe of eggs and soup and milk and cars and people, was never there. Why? Because in fact you are that universe of eggs and milk and soup and cars ad infinitum. The whole purpose of zen is to achieve enlightenment, by making blatant that which is fundamentally lacking in language itself. Words are fatally flawed. Until you can let go of words, you will never understand it.

 

Language is extremely awkward tool; and this is the challenge of the "guru"; to break you down, and either refrain from speaking; and make you find it on your own, or, frame his words in such a way which might help you understand. You do not need any form of training to become "enlightened". For some people it takes a very long time of trying to reach something so profoundly simple. For some people they understand very quickly in the blink of an eye; the flapping of a butterfly's wings. Because of the consciousness inherent with language, people will almost always hear but not listen; have eyes but not see.

 

This is why the highest spiritual truths, like I have said time and time again, can never be communicated, only pointed at. They are never shared, yet are self evident. Jesus used parables about the Kingdom of God; Buddha had his own experiential methodology. Taoism talks about the Tao -"the Tao which can be spoken of is not the true Tao". Which is perfectly correct. Do you see now what I am talking about here? The point in of itself is that no amount of reading or no amount of talking can give you the revelation. Because when you do you also break down the structure of your thoughts which are limited to subject-predicate relationship.

 

The purpose of language in itself is to limit something, as to exclude other things from being meant. It is a tool of duality. But do not mistake the tool for the operator! So when I say I, what it really means is that that which I do not consider myself, is not included. Which in truth is a falsity, because there is never any thing that is separate from any other thing; because of this conception we lose the very lofty truths. We sacrifice that which is always present, and that which is always connected to everything else because it IS everything else, in all languages, for the sake of utility, because if you want an egg-roll you can't ask for the whole universe. When you say something is something, then you're losing that part of it which isn't. Language is a tool of demarcation, and thus duality; division.

 

Division has it uses, but until you can also walk the path of union also you will never understand. There is a suffering there inherent in duality. In union there is peace. Proper meditation is getting a tiny glimpse of what it all is. but if you aren't looking properly then you won't see.

 

True mysticism is always union of polarities and merging of opposites. The taiji yin-yang. The darkness merges with the light. That above is also that which is below. The female is united with the male.

 

 

 

All is one.

 

 

 

 

so let me put it simply. what is the purpose of life?

 

 

 

the purpose of life IS.

 

 

 

 

let me repeat.

 

 

 

 

It IS.

 

 

 

do you understand?