The Purpose of Life
Thesis: The purpose of life is to learn and grow, so as to achieve a greater state of harmony with the Universe (which includes every other container of energy, such as other people, animals, trees, the stars, the moon, etc.), by pursuing the activities you were meant to pursue.
Premise 1: Everything is connected. Look at the subatomic level and you'll find that we're all made of the same thing. The only difference between everything in the Universe is its frequency--its energy. This difference in energy is what makes different elements and compounds, and its what causes quantitative differences in mass and matter.
Premise 2: Everything in the Universe follows laws. Chemistry: elements gain valence electrons until they become stable and balanced. Gravity: masses attract each other until the force of gravity is no longer "disrupting" their paths. Apples stop falling once they've reached the ground. Math: we can use mathematical relationships and recorded data to predict weather patterns, or test scores, or full moons, etc. Human Psychology: we can predict human behavior despite how irrational it is (emotions aren't rational, by definition, and humans, by definition, are emotional creatures). These laws cannot be violated.
Premise 3: Nothing is random. Everything follows laws, so things cannot be random. If things were truly random, we'd see apples falling upward, or humans reacting to fear with glee, water exploding in the presence of our atmosphere, or animals choosing to starve or murder mates rather than retain their goal of survival and reproduction. If randomness was an element of life, it would be limitless, and therefore absurd. If the randomness is limited, it isn't random.
Premise 4: We do not have complete control over our body. We fall ill despite our greatest efforts to eat healthy or exercise; the greatest professionals mess up despite decades of practice; we can spend our lives smoking and not ever get cancer; we can suffer a brain aneurysm, stroke, heart attack, or suddenly-onset aggressive diseases like cancer; we get hiccups; we experience emotions (try not feeling sad at losing someone you truly love or feeling disappointed when you get fired and can't find a job). If we had complete control over our body, we would be able to prevent these things. But we can't. So we don't have complete control over our body. Our control is illusory. Nature has control over our body. Nature allows us the belief that we have some control as well, but ultimately Nature can prevent our actions and even mitigate our efforts, but we cannot say the same of our impact on Nature. Therefore, if we even had some control over our body, we'd be able to overpower Nature's "inputs." Since we can't, we must conclude that we really don't have any control over our body.
Premise 5: The only thing we can control is our use of impressions--our intentions. We cannot control an accident, positive or negative, but we can control our intentions despite it. We can set out to learn to walk again after becoming disabled, or we can choose to wallow in grief for the remainder of our lives. We can set the goal of starting our own business, or we can choose to murder others callously for no reason. Remember, since we can't control our body, the only thing we can control is our intentions and how we respond to the things that happen (including the things our body does that we sometimes find it difficult to believe: 'How could I be so foolish? How did I mess up so badly?'). We can either have compassionate intentions, or vengeful ones. We can either make poor use of impressions (more on this below), or make good use of impressions.
Premise 6: 'Good' is defined as anything that is conducive toward a state of peace, rest, balance, and harmony. Look at the right-most elements of the Periodic Table and ask yourself, "What do these have in common?" (A balanced outer shell of electrons--a balance of energy). Notice how tranquil you feel when you meditate, or do yoga, do do any activity that passes the time like nothing else and ask yourself, "Why do I feel so relaxed and at peace when I forget about myself, my needs, my fears, and my desires?" This is Good.
Aside:
Impressions:
This situation appears to be overwhelming since I feel stressed, but X.
Watching porn appears to be good for me since it makes me feel good, but Y.
Losing my wife in the accident is devastating and I won't be able to recover because I feel so full of grief, but Z.
Use of Impressions:
X: "nothing here seems to be of an immediate threat and if I can do something about it, then it isn't overwhelming, since I can handle it; if I cannot do something about it, why the hell am I letting myself get so stressed about it? Just let it happen. So it appears to be overwhelming since I feel overwhelmed, but in reality, it isn't."
Y: "I notice that I need more of it and that my fetishes are gradually becoming more extreme and violent. Moreover, I find myself compulsively watching it and spending a considerable amount of my (finite and unknown) time on it, but I don't feel happy. I just feel hungry for more. It appears that porn is good since it makes my body feel good for a moment, but in reality, it's making me more depraved, perverted, and hungry. Something that leaves me wanting more and makes me desire more violent sexual behavior cannot possibly be good for me, so it isn't."
Z: "I lived without her before I met her. I understand that she returned to Nature (to the same state prior to her birth), she is no longer suffering, and I am genuinely grateful to have loved someone so passionately. She has helped me to be a better version of myself, and learning to use this grief for good will let her death be not one occurred in vain. It appears that I cannot live without her and that her death is tragic, but since I will do what I can to not let her death be in vain, then it isn't devastating--it's meaningful."
Conclusion: Since it is literally the only thing we can control, it is our job to do Good by properly using impressions and living with compassionate intentions.
What makes it unique to each person is that we each have a different set of strengths, weaknesses, knowledge, experience, and things we enjoy doing. Some people experience a state of Flow (forgetting about the time, responsibilities, or your hunger because you're so engrossed in an activity) while playing basketball, others may experience it when they study arithmetic, and others may experience it while painting.
If you are confused, depressed, or lost, figure out what matters to you (family? community? health? education?), determine your strengths and weaknesses (attention to detail? the bigger picture? communication? analyzing? recognizing patterns or relationships?), and figure out what you really enjoy doing (this usually takes trial and error and a good amount of research, discovering what that activity entails and what costs you must accept).
When you find it, dedicate your life to it. This is your only chance to do what's right and what you were literally born to do. Your time is of a finite and unknown quantity to you. It could be 10 years, 50 years, or 2 weeks. If you experience Flow with it and if it's what the Universe needs (to be compassionate and help others in some way, no matter how "small"), do it.
Live without regrets and have faith in the Universe, because after all, none of it is in your control anyway. And that's a good thing, because imagine how exhausting it would be if we had to control it all.
Edit: typo
[link] [comments]
source https://www.reddit.com/r/C_S_T/comments/ntu2ld/the_purpose_of_life/
Kommentare
Kommentar veröffentlichen