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I was talking to a guy on Gaia forums and he said that the purpose of our lives is to simply reproduce and survive, and that's it. I said that it was true to an extent, meaning that for animals and every other creature, it's very true. But I believe that we humans have the ability to make and define ourselves and give ourselves purpose if we want to. We can do this because we can reason, think, philosophize (yes, that is spelled right, no matter how weird it looks). We can give ourselves purpose, like I have given myself a purpose to dance, to help the world, to make my mom proud, to make my friends happy, to be happy myself, etc. I chose to do it, I want to do it, and so therefore I have made purpose(s) for myself.
I don't believe that humans are just meant to survive and reproduce. If that was true, we'd kill each other for food and have sex wtih everyone, forsaking our integrity and honor. We have the ability to love, we have morals. These are what separate us from the "survive and reproduce" instinct. Ideas, comments, questions, people?

Meaning...soul-wise? BTW, what is the difference between a soul and a spirit, in accordance with Christianity or any other religion that believes that exist?

Soul wise..yes. So our spirits can be with him in the after life. I honestly can't say I know of a difference between a soul and spirit. Although I think what they mean by soul is a persons spirit after they have become of the world and their mind was kinda, wiped clean of the previous life. I think that spirit refers to the perfect version of the spirit when it lived with heavenly father.

@Amy: I'm just going by what I generally see ok? I'm not saying that all people are like that...but generally, yes.
And I just bump in the exchange when I get bored. I do quite a bit of exchanging there as well.

Ya sure xp but that wasnt any kind of k.o.

But the question was not whether or not there is more to life. It is whether or not our purpose in life is to live and reproduce. What is your definition of purpose? What in life is there more of than our own personal goals?

What?! question Oh, Jebus. Jebus, Jebus, Jebus. *shakes head* They have forsaken you for their precious "Jesus". Psh.

I AM A CHATTERBOX MONKEY. The chatterbox literates are far more literate than the general discussion literates... GD literates actually become better in grammar and spelling once they hit certain threads on the CB ("Lupig's MPT yo!").

-------- Back on topic --------

Blarg... I should make a "What is the meaning of life?" thread and give everyone the cold, dead truth.

(Within the following explaination, "purpose," "meaning," and sometimes "reason" are used in the same context.)

The question of "What is the meaning/purpose of life?" is generally the same as "What is the meaning/purpose of a rock?"

There IS no purpose to a rock, and life has no purpose. Why is that?

Meaning or purpose, implies that you have created whatever you had created in order for it to have meaning/purpose. If you had not created an item, and it was not created by someone/thing with characteristics similar to your own, you can not and will not be able to find purpose to the said item. You can also create things that don't have any purpose, but creating objects without purpose requires that you not think about it.

Example A: Water has no purpose. It has a use, but no purpose or meaning. It was created without any intelligent thought process put into it.

Example B: A chair has a purpose. It was created intentionally and with thought. It's purpose is to be sat on.

Example C: A mound of sand made by a child seems to have no purpose, but it was made intentionally. The purpose of the mound of sand was to entertain the child who made it.

A creation caused by an accident initially serves no purpose whatsoever unless two conditions can be met:

1) The creator finds a way to use the accidental creation
2) The creator knows how to create and/or reproduce the creation

If only conditon 1 is met, the item can be deemed useful for a purpose, but the item in question has no purpose. If only condition 2 is met, the item is not deemed useful and has no purpose. If both conditons 1 and 2 are met, the item is useful for a purpose and can have a given purpose.

What is the meaning of life? There is no meaning. It was created accidentally. If you believed in a god or gods, they created life and given it purpose. What their purpose is would depend on what god your religion is under.

Now, if we get more personal: What is the meaning of 's life?

To other people, it would not be correct as they try to give a thoughtful meaning to a persons life but not give a correct purpose. Yet, a person cannot give meaning to their own life, because he/she wasn't able to create him or herself. Now how could a person have a purpose?

Parents. They have children for purposes. Whether it be to have extra hands on the farm, for taking care of them, to pass on the family name, et cetera, et cetera. These children satisfy conditions 1 and 2 of above.

Sometimes a child can be born without a purpose. This children are born purely by accident and have no purpose. They are created, but for no reason. They can satisfy either condition 1 or 2 of the above but not both. Note that if a child is born under condition 1, they would most likely lead entirely different lives of children born under condition 2.

So yeah... I can possibly go on and on about this and say that everything means nothing. Chris had gotten a nice taste of this. It makes sense to me.

I would've probably gotten a different answer if I tried to use reason to get the answer instead of answering the question and finding the reason >.>

I think god will end the world once all nations are united and they make everyone watch a live brodcast of church to the world.