I believe the most fulfilling way to live your life is to find what you enjoy doing and pursue that, because you have limited time on this planet. Therefore you have to make the most out of your life... kind of unlike what I'm doing right now spending my hours in a pokemon/rom hacking forum.
What is the purpose in life?
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To find something worth living for.
And no, this is not as pessimist as it sounds.
I think ultimately in life we all find something, even if it's small, that keep us going foward. A goal, a dream, a family, friends, lovers, job, independence, kids.... It's different for every one of us.
And no, this is not as pessimist as it sounds.
I think ultimately in life we all find something, even if it's small, that keep us going foward. A goal, a dream, a family, friends, lovers, job, independence, kids.... It's different for every one of us.
Somewhere_
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The primary reason I mentioned religion is because many, many people (mostly religious of course) believe purpose can only be found in religion. The question itself was not leading or biased towards a side in any way. At least the intentions were not to be.
Metatron
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To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women.
or yknow whatever
or yknow whatever
SunsetGreen
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the main purpose is to develop yourself and visit as much countries as u can
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I can't shake the notion that we're put here as a simulation somehow, and they've gotta keep us from finding proof of that by constantly inventing more layers beneath the atom so we can never find out quite how things are put together, and making us believe the universe has no end so we can never escape etc.
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Somewhere_
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Occam's razor debunks this theory (thought it is very interesting). However, assuming the simulation theory is true, what would our purpose in life be in this case?
Elon Musk was in a hot tub talking about this question with one of his friends or brothers or something. The way I understand the question is that, provided that life-like simulations are developed in the "real" universe, we are almost absolutely living in a simulation. Why? Well, there can be only one "real world", but if that real world could create life-like simulations, you could create many, perhaps infinite simulations. So the probability that we actually are in the real world is one in a very very very large number, which is infinitisimally small.
I don't think Occam's razor really applies in this scenario, assuming that life-like simulations indistinguishable from reality could exist, because we wouldn't be able to tell whether we're in a simulation or not.
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What's the purpose of The Sims? Of the soldiers and citizens in Civilization V? Maybe we're not a primitive game in the same way, but why do we simulate things? Either to test a hypothesis out, or for enjoyment.
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That answers why someone/thing/whatever would run a simulation, but it does not explain our own lives' purpose within the simulation. "I think, therefore I am." My decisions come from me - regardless of your belief on free will - my cells are making decisions. Not some overlord.
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I never made any argument in favor of free will. I said that I make my own decisions- whether they are consciousness or not. These decisions may be the result of biology, determinism, or consciousness or a mix. Basically, my body makes my decisions.
I stand by the idea that we create purpose as opposed to a purpose creating us, so it really depends on who you ask. Some just want to enjoy life, some want to succeed, some want to make the world a better place or be remembered for something, some want to continue their lineage, some want to have children who can do one of or multiple of the above.
I would probably fall into the all of the above category, but I don't think I've reached the point in my life yet when I've settled on an answer to such introspective questions. :P
I'll probably never settle on a purpose for myself, so I just try to do the best I can in everything and hope it's enough. I suppose I'd like to be remembered as having done something that affects people outside of the usual circles of family and friends that everyone affects, but I'd also be okay with not doing that.
tl;dr idk man.
I'm an atheist and I feel like the only people who think this are some religious people. I personally feel like life actually becomes a lot more purposeful without religion. With an afterlife this world just becomes a stepping stone, whereas in a world view without God, our time is limited and we have to make the most of it to impact the people in the future who will have their own limited lifetimes.
I like how Ricky Gervais put it: we have nothing to die for but everything to live for. For the religious, it seems more like the meaning of life is simply to die above a certain threshold to get to the next stage, if that makes sense.
Pretty much explained above. Life doesn't have inherent purpose but we can give it purpose.
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i can relate xD
I think it depends on the religion. If you take Protestantism as an example: everything is a gift from God, and as a result, the value should be maximized. This is the origin of the Protestant work ethic. In this case, life isn't merely a stepping stone, but something to be utilized for happiness and achieving eternal glory, as well as helping others do the same along the way. In a way, I can see how this is somewhat overlapping with atheism (maximizing one's life), but the definition of happiness is radically different. Among other obvious differences.