Are we accidental or essential?

Question

accidental meaning we're just a result of evolution with no meaning to us being here. Just a random set of events with no meaning whatsoever.

essential meaning we a part of existence n our lives are connected and we're here for a purpose. Not essential in a big ego sense but more of we're extensions of existence and our growth or whatever matters in the bigger scheme of things.

I respect people's beliefs but I'm not really looking for any religious quotes or bible or god quotes. Just your own insights please. :))

thanks.

Answer 1

we are inevitable:)

we are expressions of life's desires...

life expresses itself through us...

I do not believe that life has a purpose, coz if it did, it wouldn't be constantly evolving...

life is a phenomenon and not an invention...its an endless discovery...independent of any pre defined purpose or meanings...

what we see as the world is nothing more than the web of conditioning...

what is to prove that a wall really exists? the resistance is in our own minds... there is no wall:)!!!!!!!!!

its our frozen consciousness ...

what are miracles but a natural expression of the supernatural...

magic is nothing but a breaking of the conditioning that our minds are so accustomed to!

what are humans but the microcosmic expressions of the macrocosmic spirit...

every expression of life comes together and forms the symphony...of its own melody...

we are inevitable because life is...

Answer 2

I truly beleive the creation of the universe isn't some big dumb explosion, void and meaningless,......neither it is too obviously meaningful either. Human tend to fall into two hugely opposing categories, the ones who are on the quest for truth and the ones watching Jerry springer. Just the fact that many are intrigued by the mystery says a lot about the possibility of meanings or something bigger than ourselves. Our souls are crying out loud for the "light". The emptiness of being purely an accidental species of homo sapiens doesn't hold water simply by recognising the fact that it is quite a nice planet we live in, if it is utterly a meaningless existence,..why are we all so hooked on this thing called life?. I think that the spiritual journey you dare to embrace, throwing caution to the wind could be the most beautiful meaning we choose to give ourselves.

We are not mere specks of dust lying around the planet,.....small purposes are in fact shattered pieces of the bigger and ultimately wondrous puzzle just begging to be put cohesively together.....though i don't have a frikkin clue what that is !!Good question!

Answer 3

I think Kant's view on this subject is rather interesting. He said that nature had selected reason as that which governs our will as opposed to instinct like most creatures. He said that instinct was a much better way to ensure survival and hapiness. That reason is what governs the human will implies nature has something for us beyond hapiness and survival. So if evolution is the product of selecting phenotypes based on likelihood of survival I say humanity is not accidental, we do have some purpose. Hard to say what that purpose might be though...If everyone truly acted with reason all the time maybe that purpose would become apparent.

Answer 4

To my knowledge, no one has been able to prove that our esistence is either accidental or essential. We are born, we live, and we die.

What we "mean" in the "scheme of things" depends upon choices we make when we reach an age when we are capable of making choices and altering the "scheme of things".

Are human beings capable of altering every event: Can we alter a hurricane, an earthquake, a tsunami? NO. Could someone have altered the Holocaust? YES. Could someone have altered the inhumane treatment, including massacre, of Native American Indians? YES.

Some events are random, some are meticulously planned and executed. Accept those events that are random, and work diligently to prevent the heinous events that are not.

Answer 5

Our species came about as a result of evolution--the evidence is overwhelmingly clear on this. I hesitate to call it an accident though, as even natural selection is subject to various physical laws & predictable selection pressures.

I don't quite understand why it bothers people so much that we were not created by some higher being for some mysterious purpose. We DO have a purpose, namely, that purpose which we create for ourselves. Even if you believe we were created by some deity, either way we are sovereign individuals with free will. And either way, we either have or were given the ability to make our own destinies and purpose.

Answer 6

Regardless of my religious beliefs (which frankly, I'm not sure of), I think every living thing on this earth is essential. Look at our ecosystem and the food chain. Every plant, insect, and worm has a purpose and a place in the system. It's pretty cool, though I still can't decide if it's just a scientific balance or something more.

Answer 7

I think we were initially an accidental creation due to natural phenomena and evolution through time. However, as we evolved and became the species we are now, with the ability to produce thought and act upon it, we have made ourselves an essential element to the natural world. If for any reason, we are here to undue any damages we have done in the past to the natural world.

Answer 8

Accidental.

What's wrong with Accidental? I never understood why it is often presumed there must be an external purpose/plan for individuals to feel important or to seek to work together for the "good" (for lack of a better word).

Answer 9

maybe both. who can say why we are here truly
the thing is we maybe either of them or none but it doesn't really mAtter, now that we are here in this junkyard we have to do our best and tell everyone that evolution was necessary cause without evolution we would have not been here and the world, the nature would have missed something importont and worthwhile :)

Answer 10

Currently we (humanity) are the highest order of "soul" processing to "spirit" in this world chain (The Earth chain) ... and in that since we are presently essential to Gaiia(Earth's) breathing souls into the stellar ...

We have no guarantee we will keep this place .. If we self extinguish ... something will process souls from here in our place .. perhaps insects .. if this happens .. our souls will be in them ...

semantics filtering from things .. but this is pretty much my own ..