I took the liberty to ask my peers what they thought the purpose of life was. Surprisingly, the answers were fairly varied. If you're offended by my responses, then exercize your right to leave me a comment about it. I will return to this subject if necessary.
To complete one's self. 21.43%
To complete one's self... and what does that mean in and of itself? Does it mean that we have to make a list of goals and achieve every one of them? Does it mean that we must become "perfect?"
It's about satisfaction. We are as complete as we percieve ourselves to be. If ignorance is bliss, then isn't it possible for our minds to trick themselves into believing that we have achieved everything that could be asked of us?
So the real question is (for those of you who answered in this manner) is this:
Are you truly seeking to complete yourself or are you waiting for the world to complete you?
To have or find purpose. 7.14%
If you answered in this way, I can assume that you don't care about the purpose of life. This is not because you find it irrelevant or pointless, but because you believe that it is different for everyone. Life is part of a greater journey, and the purpose is to find a purpose. Personally, I don't find this comforting enough, but in a way it makes sense. To me it's more of an intermittant purpose -- the kind you hold until you've found purpose, not the kind you hold forever. But maybe that's what you meant.
Not sure. 14.29%
You don't know. You haven't thought about it. Do you care?
That's not fair of me to ask, but you can't blame me for voicing it that way. Then again, if you've never thought about it then you musthave a pretty good life. I find that it is personal hardships or other obstacles which drive me to question purpose. Now, I guess it would be unfair for me to judge based on my own personal experiences. So I won't. Maybe you would just rather not think about these things. That's fine. It's just harder for me to write about.
To experience it. 14.29%
This is where I cast my vote. For me, it's art. Speaking, writing, thinking, reading, listening, creating, learning, teaching. It's all about what we can do, and how we can share it with others. This ties into the idea of community, but I believe that you can experience emotion through music without having community. Sure, you need the community to create that music or movie or whatever, but you don't need that community to experience it.
The other person who kind of hit this area had a slightly different take.
This person focused on LIVING life. Whatever you believe, you have to spend it doing something meaningful even if it's just meaningful to one person. Don't waste your time. What is the point of sight, of smell, of taste, tough, consciousness if you don't use it?
You can see why I put this response in the same category as mine.
Love and be loved. 7.14%
All you need is love... The Beatles got something right there. Now, love is not contrained to feelings between two lovers. Not at all. Love is merely the purest root of companionship, community. People bound together with the same fate. People caring for other people. But there's also tough love, and I think that's often forgotten and cast aside. That's the kind of love when you put a pet out of it's misery. The kind of love that inspires an intervention.
Get to Heaven and do God's will. 21.43%
I don't know whether to be surprised about the number of responses like this or not. On one side, it seems logical since there are a lot more religious people than non-religious people in the world, but on the other hand, we are selfish creatures by nature. But I guess 21 percent is a good middle ground for that.
The interesting insinuation about this statement is that those who answered in this manner seemt o be admitting the lack of value in life to a degree. They understand that nothing in this life is important aside from God, and in believing so they forfeit all of their own desires. Many non-religious people would call this foolish, but I call it honorable. I am slightly ashamed to know that I was not one who answered in this manner, but that is because I interpreted my own question differently. The comforting thing about the people who believe this way (myself included) is that you will always know where they stand because of their beliefs. That's not to say that other people don't have beliefs, but with a religion they are represented more strongly.
No purpose. 7.14%
This one baffles me. No purpose? If there's no purpose, then... what's the purpose? It's hard to explain. Myself, I need something to guide me. I need a goal. I need to believe that whatever I'm doing is worth something. That's why I believe no matter the purpose, there must be some sort somewhere. You can't say there's no purpose. I don't understand how you can say that.
Survival. 7.14%
All living things, all they really try to do is just survive. And I think each individual justd oes whatever they feel is the best way to survive. Thats basically what I think the root of life's purpose is. A lot of answers to what life's purpose is all kind of fall under survival.
That was the answer as sent to me. It makes a lot of sense, but it also ignores the possibilities of an afterlife or a higher power. But I guess you can't think on God if you're not surviving, right? But I think that to say this is the root purpose is kind of shallow. Not that it's wrong. None of these are wrong.
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