wat is our (humans) purpose?

Question

i always think about this stuff but have never found an answer. everything around us is there for a reason, trees to make oxygen and food, water to drink and keep us hydrated...wats our purpose? when ever i think about this i cant help but realise that humans are the centre of the world, evrything is for us...so why do we exist, is god playing with us, enjoying the show, of what goes on this earth??

Answer 1

I know the answer to this question, and yes, humans do have a purpose. However it's a logical fallacy to think that philosophy, religion or spirituality can provide the answer. This question can only be answered definitively by science.

All other attempts are mere opinions, many of which border on the rediculous! Once you read what I provided below, you will realize that.

THE ANSWER IS...not just yet. Please review the next few sentences for more background information...

As life evolved on the earth, natural selection allowed better and more intelligent life forms to come into existence, eventually leading to mankind. What most people don't realize, though, is that there is another side to this equation.

It has to do with the inherent opportunities there are/were in nature and the environment which offered the "niche" for a particular species to evolve into. For example, there was this prehistoric aquatic mammal which learned to dive down and catch fish to eat.
As it evolved over the centuries, its legs got smaller and smaller until it no longer had legs. During that same passage of time, its eyes grew larger and larger so that it could still see as it dived deeper and deeper into the deep dark ocean searching for food. See, what was happening was that the beast was evolving in order to refine its ability to survive in a particular ecological niche which was part of the complex natural environment offered on the face of the earth.

As the many and varied species of creatures expanded and evolved across the horizon, they did so as a way to capitalize on as many of the available ecological niches as possible. That is the other side of the equation. If an ecological niche does not exist, it is impossible for a creature to evolve in a direction that would need that non-existing niche.

NOW FOR THE ANSWER:
OUR PURPOSE IS, WAS AND WILL ALWAYS BE TO FILL THE HIGHEST AND BEST ECOLOGICAL NICHE THE EARTH HAS TO OFFER.

Another interesting side note is that we did not evolve simply & casually into this position of control and dominance over the world around us. Homosapiens competed with many other non homosapiens humans (such as the Neanderthals) for about a million years in a fight for survival. Bestowed upon the winning species would be the glittering prize...final control of this incredible ecological niche, and defacto control of the entire planet eventually.

This situation, which most people naively take for granted, has only been the case for about a hundred thousand years...when the last of the Neanderthals died out as a result of the smothering effects caused by the more well bred homosapiens.

BTW, it has been more recently discovered, due to our advanced technology, that there was very little in-breeding (if any) between the many species of people who shared our ecological niche over those million years. This means that the other species truly did just die out, they did not get absorbed by interbreeding their kind into the singularity of humanity which is represented by us today.

Once people realize what I've just told you, they will then be able to see why it's a logical fallacy to try and answer this question with philosophy, religion or spirituality.

However, you can pick up from here and ask questions like, "Do we have any resposibilities and / or obligations due to this powerful PURPOSE we've acquired in nature?" These are the types of questions which belong to philosophy, et al.

Answer 2

There is no purpose for humans, just as there is no purpose for the trees and water that you are attributing purpose to. We exist solely because evolution favors things that can efficiently make copies of themselves.

For over 100 million years, dinosaur philosophers could have said "everything was here for the dinosaurs." Then some random rock from space crashed into the earth and the dinosaurs were destroyed, long before any humans existed. If that rock had not destroyed the dinosaurs, mammals could not have evolved further and there would never have been humans.

To think that "everything is here for us" is the height of egotism. We are insignificant creatures on an insignificant tiny planet, orbiting a very ordinary star, lost among 200 billion stars in our ordinary galaxy, which is one of billions of such galaxies scattered through unimaginably large space.

Answer 3

not a day goes by and i do not ask myself the same question. im not religious but - we seem like mechanical phenomenons when you look at the complexity of our species - and all species on this planet for that matter. we are amazingly rare for all we know. im in the works of writing a massive essay on SETI and the search for other earth like worlds. but the truth of it all is - we will never find any other species or world anything like us. what we do know - we are not specificly in the center of the universe and not even close to being the center of the solar system - so reflect what that means about us.. that reflects we are competely random... i could go back and forth between thinking we are too unique to be not engineered by some higher being and thinking we are one in a bazilliontrillionetc etc random act of NATURE. so what is nature? where did it come from? what is light for that matter? where did light come from? there is some kind of god and i dont think he realized what he was doing when he created us.
ok i mightve said too much.

Answer 4

Purpose is a human concept. It is defined by humans, not by some external source.

You seem to be equating purpose and function. Our function is the sum total of human activity across all times. Your function may vary as a subset of this function.

Humans are not the center of the world. Everything does not exist for us. It is purely anthropocentric folly to think this way.

Answer 5

Well.... you know that we, and everything else on the planet, are part of a science experiment by some other race. The "other" race has figured out how to modify DNA and they are creating different creatures to see what happens. The dinosaurs were a mess. They ate too much, they were cold blooded, so the "other" race got rid of them and started over. Soon they will realize that humans are overwhelming the other animals on the planet and remove us. Or maybe they will introduce a new creature that will eat the humans.

Answer 6

This question is going to follow with highly opionated and biased answers. It all depends on ones own perception and personal views on things that determine there "purpose." For some there religion may be there purpose, living a good life or living according to a certain doctorine in order to return to there deity or whatever it may be. For others it may be being as succesful as possible in whatever they choose, just furthering themselves in life. For some it may be making the world a better place through personal beliefs such as enviromental protection or introducing and fighting for philosophys they believe in. Others it may be to achieve ultimate and highest happyness in life whatever that may take. As i've shown there is no one main purpose that everyone should have to conform to. For me my purpose in life right now is to find out what the purpose of life is.

Answer 7

The purpose is to go forth and multiply. The path we walk is a matter of our will to survive. In order to survive we invent. The club, the arrow, the gun. Each invention preserves our children's survival. This will go on until we are no more. Space is a frontier and the inventions we make will allow us to expand in numbers to other worlds.

Answer 8

Could you let me know when you find out.
Been trying to figure it out myself.
This world is nothing but aches and pains.
The rich get richer the pooor get poorer.

Have you noticed no matter what any one does to try and improve the earth. Nothing is working.

Seems as tough its coming to its end, mudslides, volcanos, earthquakes, tornados, hurricanes, Aids, The common cold killing people, Staff infections that there is no cure for, you just die.

Let me know.

Answer 9

Ok, here is an interesting perspective that comes from Jewish oral tradition.

God wishing to be know, created a vessel (man). God loves his vessel and bestows on it nothing but love an goodness. This is in the form of light and energy. After a while the vessel while basking in the light of God, begins to take on characteristics of God and the vessel wants to bestow good as God does. God in his infinite love and compassion devises a plan to give the vessel what it desires.

God breaks the light, energy and vessel in to countless sparks (the big bang) and tells man to put it all back together again. But in order to do so man must learn how to bestow the ultimate good.

The structure is like this. Every man is fed consciousness by the tree of life, fount of all being, the light that lights every man that comes into the world, which is the divine light of love. Our consciousness is light and energy. When an e k g is done it shows consciousness as light and energy as red, yellow and green lights on a display and is how doctors look at brain activity. .Consciousness is defined by science as an electrical charge between two point in the brain. So consciousness is light and energy.

All that surrounds you is light and energy. You do not hear anything except that the source of sound vibrates and sends this vibration through the air and your ears pick up in that frequency of vibration.. You do not see anything except by light. Light either reflects off the object you are looking at or it is a light source itself.

It is kind of like this, we are but drops of light and energy in the infinite ocean of Gods love and Light. Gods love shines all around us. The system we live in is a system of loving guidance that will ultimately lead us to the state of consciousness where we can reveal the ultimate good.

Ok so within our being is the perfect light of love and life that comes from God. Our outward reality is also the light of divine love. These two lights connect in perfection. So what gives? Why isn't everyone happy? Why do we kill each other? Why wars? There is a filter or veil that exist between the light of life and the light of creation. This filter or veil is what makes our reality take on the form we experience. Guess what this veil / filter is? It is our consciousness. Our reality is reflected back to us in such a way as to lead us to the state of consciousness where we can reveal the ultimate good. To realize the divine love that permeates us and all things.

To realize the indwelling spirit of Christ, the Buddha, The Brahaman, the perfect alignment of the 10 lights of the serirot or God consciousness being attained to faith. It is about being reborn into that spirit. It is already in you. Otherwise, you would not be here. We just have to realize it.

Your purpose is to love God with all your heart and all your soul. Like he loves you. Unconditionally! How do you do this you ask? Where is he? How do I show him love? My brother, God is in everyone you meet and see. He is in everything around you. EVERYTHING!

Love all, Serve all and you will begin to find the purpose you seek. It is in giving, not getting. It is in love, not hate. It is in forgiveness so you may be forgiven, It is in peace, not war. It is not in judging others for if you judge you will be judged. It is not in hoarding material things for the more you have the more you are a prisoner to those things.

Your purpose is simply in love. In a love that is about giving.

To quote Jesus, when he was asked what the most important commandment is he said:

"Love your God with all your heart and all your soul." And the second part is almost just like the first. "Love your neighbor as you love yourself. Because the light of God shines in your neighbor just like it shines in you.

Blessings and peace to all,
All in all,
B

Answer 10

How do you know we are the center of the world and that everything was created for us? I don't see it that way. I think that we just happened to be the species that evolved to fit the environment the best. Who knows what else is out there, maybe we were made for something else...o.o