As a Mormon, I totally understood the purpose of life. I mean, it was so easy...everything was spelled out and all I had to do was follow.

I am currently in one of my depressed moods and I wonder once again, what IS the purpose of life? Why do we go through all of this? Yes, there are some good times, but there's lots of bad times too. I think about how nice it would be for it to be all over, just to be done with life. Another day I'll read this post and chide myself for being depressed, but for now this is my reality.

Any answers?

life has no purpose or meaning other than what you give it.

Just live it. It's very short, actually.

Take one day as it comes.

Enjoy it, find peace and harmony, and love and be ever so grateful!
That works for me.

The rest is just frosting on the cake!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/02/2014 10:03PM by SusieQ#1.

Reproduce and survive. That's the purpose of life.

Consider this: we are the only creatures on earth who know that we care going to die. So of course we wonder why we're here and what happens after we die. I believe this knowledge is a blessing and a curse. A blessing, because we know that our time is limited and that we must do all we can while we can. A curse, because we tend to concern ourselves too much with what comes after, and miss the here and now. The here and now is what's important; How we live, how we love and how we fill our limited time.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/02/2014 10:14PM by Tiny Tears.

Love and help others, and treat them with kindness and respect. Try to meet your challenges with bravery and character. Learn something along the way, and let your words and actions reflect that wisdom. Always get up one more time than you fall down.

I was talking to my neighbor about this. She's 85. She was here taking care of me today. Crazy huh?

Anyway, she was telling me that she always said if she lived to be 80 that would be fine. She wouldn't just consider anything after that lucky.

However, now that she's 85 she's not too hot on the idea of dying. She still feels like she's in her 20's or 30's in her mind, and has no idea who that old lady in the mirror is.

She's in very good health. I wouldn't be surprised if she lived to be a 100. She gets up every day and walks 3 miles.

She doesn't want it to end, because she feels good, and is having a pretty nice life. Money hasn't been a concern for several decades, and won't be. She lives in a beautiful home, in a beautiful place.

Her husband is a different matter. He has a lot of health problems and is becoming imobile. He's about had enough. He's lived to be 86, and doesn't care if he lives to be 87. His only concern is leaving his wife of almost 70 years. He's worried about her being alone.

Love others and let them love you. Grow a soul.

To me the purpose of life is to learn and grow. I find the most enjoyment in studying something I've always wondered about but never had the time. Right now I'm studying both DNA and the origin of the universe. I am fascinated by science. Please know that many, if not most of the people on this forum have suffered from very deep depression. At times in my life I had a short-term goal to make it through the next hour and my long-term goal was to make it through the day. My therapist taught me a way to look at life. He asked me how I was doing on a scale of 1 to 10. I said probably a two or a three. He said, "Great. Next time let's try to make it to a four." Remember, the sun will always come up again in the morning and there's a good chance you could feel a tiny bit better. YOU ARE NOT ALONE!

The OP said "As a Mormon, I totally understood the purpose of life."

What was that purpose? I've never understood how being religious give you a 'purpose'. How is worshipping your creator almost non-stop (both now and in the afterlife) a fruitful endeavor?

The purpose of life taught by TSCC is part of their indoctrination. Without it a person has to figure out their own concept of purpose, and that can be an awesome adventure.

Make friends with people. If they don't want to be friends nuts to 'em, annoy them by being happy.
Enjoy things.
Eat and sleep when you want to, not when everyone says you should.
Be loyal.
Play a lot.
When you get down it's okay to sulk but don't sulk for long.
Be a wee bit selfish. If you aren't gettin enough attention from people shove others aside and demand it.

I said be like a dog but you don't hafta sniff butts, that's a bit much.

Well, now ....

Please don't forget that it was a false sense of purpose.
We each are a unique combination of atoms, Atoms do not cease to exist, they can recycle and transform(conservation of matter and energy). We are habitats for micro biology, inside of us is the entire universe for micro-organisms. Each of our existences have a ripple effect on the world around us, these ripples continue long after we are gone.

We live in this paradigm of there being a loving God who cares about us, made us in his image, and gave us this world and all its stuff for us to have dominion over.

Actually, we're as much, and no more, a part of the Earth as cats, dogs, (with due respect to the StalkerDog), horses, etc. We just happen to be the smartest. The Earth has been around for billions of years before humans, and will continue on for billions more years after humans have gone.

We are dust, and will return to dust. We consume things that were once alive, and other things will consume us when we're dead.

So, like cats, dogs, horses, we just exist. Being the smartest, we get to make the most and best of it.

Take a look at philosophy... you know, of men. The purpose of life question is not original to our time and place.

Since they claim to have an answer, churches make a big deal out of this question of meaning. It is part of our indoctrination.

They taught us to focus on it, when in fact it is the wrong question.

Instead of worrying about the meaning and purpose, we need to put our energy into asking what we can do to maximize our short, one and only life on Earth.

To quote from Whitman (via Dead Poets or via the recent apple ad), "O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?" Answer. That you are here - that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play *goes on* and YOU may contribute a verse.

You are the product of that which came before you and will be a factor in the product which comes after you. What will be your legacy? What will you add?

What is the purpose of life for those living in war torn countries? Those in oppressive cultures? Those, both now and thru out history, who only knew torture, injustices, violence oppression and fear?

I think those of us living in these last few centuries, in western cultures, can find it easy to come up with some feel good answers to a purpose in life.

But I think, in the historical view, we are in a very small minority. Most human beings purpose in life was to survive cultures of oppression and severe injusticd

And party on Dudes!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_yJFLvmjJY

For me, in my challenging life, the purpose of life is to survive and make a difference in as many lives as possible. I am not sure what happiness is and I do know that the cult is a bunch of lies and doesn't lead to true happiness-it is just a bunch of pretend and false everything. My purpose of life is to do my best each day and to make other lives better.

The purpose of life is to fart around. Don't let anyone tell you different.
- Kurt Vonnegut

~KV

There have been a lot of good answers on this thread. Comes down to there is NO inherent purpose to life. We're here for the same reasons the lions and the spiders are. And we, like all species have a genetic instinct for survival.

So we can go with the mormon mindset of "endure to the end" or we can live to make our own meaning and try to leave something good behind. Life has been more meaningful since I gave up thinking there was some purpose to it beyond survival. I don't just endure and I change course when something isn't working for me. Don't know how I ever lived in the confines of the mor(m)on "purpose of life."

Sounds Like Maslow ...

Have a Home, Have Food, Have a Screw!

lol

LDS teachings on the purpose of life is as good as anyone else's uneducated guesses. You could as well ask a 6 year old.

This world is here. Somehow life appeared on it. Some creatures survived, some didn't. The creatures that survived had offspring. Repeat that ad nauseam untill the creatures become bipedal and human-like. These human-like creatures developed a culture and began speculating about the "why" and "how". You are the offspring of a male and female of these creatures. You are the product of their decisions.

You exist and you can give whatever purpose you want to your life.

The purpose of MY life is to enjoy the Ice cream before it's over and do whatever I can so my other human cousins' Ice cream will also be enjoyable. I will also do whatever I can to perpetuate humanity so there will be always Ice creams being enjoyed. While our individuals lives will eventually be over, humanity itself is eternal as long as we don't screw it up.

There's no particular reason humanity and Earth exists, but it does.

LDS doctrine pretends it knows what life is all about, but it really is a shallow eternity of polygamous marriages and pumping out babies forever. Once you realize that they don't have the answers, but charge a lot for them, then you are ready to move on.

Study philosophy and other religions, especially non-Christian ones. Don't settle for facile answers or quick conclusions. Life is a journey but don't get too caught up in the final destination. Life's purpose is to exist, and human existence is no better or worse than any other.

Is there a God? Is he like Christians say, or more of a force? Did he create the Universe? Do we continue to exist after death? No one will ever know while they are still alive, but it is interesting to try and figure it out.

"Any answers?"
The answer is inside you.

You have to give life your own purpose. It's a do it yourself project.

For several years I have been writing an opinion column for our local newspaper on alternate Sundays. This was the column I wrote for July 27:
==========
One of the "big" questions we sometimes ask is: What is the purpose of this life?

The question is a very good one. However, it implies - by the very fact that it is asked - that there IS an inherent purpose for our existence, and that we need to find out what that purpose is. But why should we assume that there is a purpose? It seems to be a common assumption, especially among believers in God or the "supernatural", that everything happens or exists for a purpose. But there is no demonstrable basis for such an assumption.

Many things obviously exist without any inherent purpose. For example, if I find a hundred-dollar bill in the street, I don't ask "What is the purpose of this money?" It is the purest accident that it is there. I may (assuming there is no way to find its owner) create a "purpose" for it, by spending it, but that purpose is merely one that I have assigned to it myself, not any purpose that was inherent in it, or that had anything to do with its lying there on the street.

If I win a raffle where the prize is a two-week trip to London, do I ask "What is the purpose of spending two weeks in London?" Whatever inherent purpose it may have can only be expressed in the vaguest of terms: to be in London for a while. Anything beyond that is a purpose that I assign to it. If someone presumes to tell me: "Well, the purpose of being in London for two weeks is to visit all the historical sites there and to become familiar with English history", I would object that there are many other possible ways to spend the time, and that suggestion is by no means the only one or even the best one. It might be better to shop, to go to the theater, to walk around observing Londoners, to spend time in the pubs and restaurants, etc.

So, for someone to tell me that the purpose of my existence here on earth is something like "to have a chance to be saved" or "to learn to reject this existence as worldly and evil" or "to pass a test that God told me to give you" or anything similar, seems presumptuous to me, like telling me how to spend my hundred dollars or my time in London.

What is the purpose of the whale, or the tulip, or the eagle, or the mountain? Some parts of nature we humans can make some use of, even if only to admire them for their beauty, their power, their complexity, or their mystery. But that is only the product of our own minds, and does not reflect any inherent "purpose." They simply exist. They exist simply for the purpose of existing. And I am no different. I also exist, and that is also my purpose: to exist.

All living things have that purpose built into their genes: to exist, to survive as long as possible, and to reproduce their kind if possible. For us humans, we also want to make our existence as pleasant and painless as possible, which implies (since we are social animals) getting along with others of our kind. All moral codes developed by human beings are attempts to guide us in doing that.

Does such a view make life less meaningful? On the contrary, I find that it makes this life the most precious thing we have, to be used and enjoyed NOW, to the fullest. It's your hundred-dollar bill. It's your two weeks in London. It's your life. It's up to you to decide how you can use it best. You have to give it a "purpose" yourself, because, until you do, it has no purpose at all.

I don't think we are any different than other animals. Their purpose in nature is to take care of their loved ones and enjoy themselves. In addition I would say the purpose of a human life is to include a component of conscious giving in a lot of what we do. Other animals have evolutionary pressures forcing them to give back to nature, we on the other hand need to be a little more conscious about it.

So I think purpose is simple. Find something you have to give and give it well.