Finding your purpose in life

In this thread Science explains everything
People started claiming that science cannot define your purpose in life. While that may or may not be true, I am curious as to how people in here search for, and look to define their purpose in life.I kind of knew my mine, but adding God to my life has helped me define my life, and my purpose much better.So the questions to discuss are:How do you find your purpose?If you don't believe in God, or more specifically, don't believe in the after life, what is the purpose in finding your purpose?Is our purpose subjective?How do you validate your purpose (confirm the truth about it)?This message has been edited by riVeRraT, 03-14-2006 11:05 PM

Thread moved here from the Proposed New Topics forum.

Life has no purpose, in an objective sense. Subjectively, you can pick out any purpose you want.

I pretty much feel like robinrohan. I don't think life has to have a purpose. If you have one, or if one (or two or three) suddenly develops for me, great, but I don't think it's necessary to live and have a good life.Do I have a purpose right now? Perhaps. My husband and I (both atheists) are raising a wonderful little 4 year old boy who means more to us that life itself. Our goal is to raise him to be a productive and considerate member of society who enjoys what life has to offer. It never occurs to us to worry about the fact that there is no god or afterlife. Why waste time worrying about something we can't control?As for validation...I'm not sure what in my life requires outside validation. It's not something I actively seek nor desire. I know what's right and what's wrong, so as long as I do my part by being responsible for my own actions, making good choices, and raising my son to be a good man, I should be rewarded with good friends and loving family.This message has been edited by roxrkool, 03-15-2006 01:18 AM

It is an aspect of free will, that you get to choose your purpose. And if you change your mind, that's okay too.

riVeRrat I find purpose in things that allow me to relax and enjoy life as well as help others with finding some peace of mind. Other days I sit on rooftops and run the crosshairs at the necks of passerbys to see if they can feel the hairs rising. Crap. I never think that deeply since it tends to lead on to silly ad infinitum like what is the purpose of finding a purpose in your purpose. ETC ... That is a rhetorical question. After all,if you can call something yours that pretty much pegs it as subjective eh? I get a case of beer and crack open the first one and begin to meditate on What I consider to be my purpose this day. It is validated if I am capable of remembering it the next day.

assuming free will and the ability to make reasoned judgements ... your purpose is to is to exist and act in what ever way you chosse to , however humans do seem to come with some inbuilt instincts and predispositions which in most cases shape our choices .To claim any fixed or given purpose indicates a outside deity-like power bestowing attributes or attaching pupet strings thus limiting your free will .

Life's too short to have a purpose. Spending ages trying to figure out what ones purpose is is like spending ages trying to figure out what to do with your life. Most of the time things just happen and you take advantages of the opportunities life presents or you don't.Having a purpose just limits your options.

First you say: Then: Inbuilt instincts and predispositions, compared to bestowing attributes, sounds like it could be the same thing. I am not putting down what you said, but just pointing out a similarity in the 2 descriptions.I feel like God help connect me with my predisposition, and it feels fulfilling. If it didn't then I would wonder about it's authenticity.

Would you say that even if you think you do not need or have a purpose, that in itself is a purpose?If so, then we all have a purpose. So the concept of a purpose, is it then subjective or objective? (not the purpose itself)

I've never felt a need to have a porpoise, and I tend to question the sanity of those who insist on finding one. I mean, when I was a wee lad, I used to like to watch Flipper, and I suppose I might have thought it would be neat to have him for a pet, but kids have all kinds of funny ideas.I've been to the zoo where they have porpoises. They're fun to watch, but think of the practical difficulties. Where would you keep it? I'm pretty sure the bathtub would be way too small, not to mention the mess. My in-laws have a pool, but they cover it over in the winter, so that wouldn't work. Add to that the fact that feeding a porpoise has gotta be pretty expensive, the whole search for a porpoise in life seems..........What?............Oh, purpose?Well, that's different............Nevermind.This message has been edited by subbie, 03-15-2006 06:53 AM

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Those who would sacrifice an essential liberty for a temporary security will lose both, and deserve neither. -- Benjamin Franklin

i completely agree.

no point taken , in fact i mentioned instincts and predispositions to highlight the assumption that we have internal free will to chosse a purpose , for clarity of my point i should have said "constraining or direction-forcing attributes"fixed quote edit -- AdminPhatThis message has been edited by AdminPhat, 03-16-2006 01:28 AM

Without gods one may have as many or as few valid purposes as if there were gods.One might ask onesself if there are gods, what purpose would they have in creating people with purpose? What is the purpose for having such a purpose?In Abrahamic mythology, adam and eve do not seem to have been given any set purpose in Eden. God seemed intent for them to simply live and do. Once removed from Eden they were given instructions on how to do things, and some later individuals a purpose in order to gain power on earth, but most seem to have no real purpose at all.I'm kickin' it pretty much like adam and eve in the garden, or any of the humans under pagan or buddhist or taoist settings: I live. I find purpose as I invest time in things that I enjoy, but not more than that. Sometimes I find others have desires which if I accept will also give me a temporal purpose.The gods, if there are any, and if they have some purpose for me, will do as they please.This message has been edited by holmes, 03-15-2006 02:24 PM

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holmes
"What you need is sustained outrage...there's far too much unthinking respect given to authority." (M.Ivins)

That pretty much sums up my view. There is no purpose external to everything that exists, but there are purposes within it - and these we define for ourselves.This message has been edited by Modulous, Wed, 15-March-2006 02:13 PM