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Original Post
Is there any purpose in our existence?
Ok, I thought I would make a thread which anyone with at least some degree of common sense (please check whether you are a member of this category before posting here) could participate in.

What do you think is our purpose (in philosophical or moral terms)?

I imagine there will be two or three discussions of various levels of commitment going on at once on this thread. If you don't want to mess with super ridiculously long confusing posts arguing against you then please don't try to argue against people who make long posts. In fact just mention that it is only your opinion and you have no interest in the minutia of true moral legitimacy.

If you want to discus the nature of the true legitimacy of the concept of morals then please leave the guys addressed in the previous paragraph alone.

This thread might be a terrible idea, but I needed a distraction from feminism (see other thread) to discuss. I am going to try not to commit my viewpoint because although as a logical individual I am completely certain of my opinion, as a human being I can't comprehend, believe or accept it.
Good morning sweet princess
I'll let this quote based on your question, from Jiddu Krishnamurti, in the book Beyond Violence, pp 106-107:

Questioner: What is the ultimate reason or purpose of human existence?

Krishnamurti: Do you know any purposes? The way we live has no meaning and no purpose. We can invent a purpose, the purpose of perfection, enlightenment, reaching the highest form of sensitivity; we can invent endless theories. And we are caught in those theories, making them our problems. Our daily life has no meaning, no purpose, except to make a bit of money and lead an idiotic kind of life. One can observe all this, not in theory but actually in oneself; the endless battle in oneself, seeking a purpose, seeking enlightenment, going all over the world—specially to India or to Japan—to learn a technique of meditation. You can invent a thousand purposes but you need not go anywhere, not to the Himalayas, to a monastery, or to any ashram—which is another form of concentration camp—because everything is in you. The highest, the immeasurable, is in you, if you know how to look. Do not assume it is there; that is one of the stupid tricks we play upon ourselves: that we are God, that we are the ‘perfect’ and all the rest of that childish stuff. Yet through the illusion, through ‘what is’, through the measurable, you find something that is immeasurable; but you must begin with yourself, where you can discover for yourself how to look.

Personally, I feel that our purpose as human beings is to accomplish our personal goals. Most of the time what we do will not affect the world on a grand scale, and much less the universe. So it's pointless to reach for those heights because they will simply end in the most common inevitable failure. Our existence is based purely on perspective, thus the bigger we look, the more we want to achieve which bring about bigger failure. Our existence is our purpose which is our desire and vice versa; what we want to do is what we are meant to do.

This is like a copy and paste of a portion of my philosophy exam :L I like this topic, please don't kill this thread. I won't start anything up about morals because I want to see what other people have to say.
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Jodus your quote is just Nihilism + loads of symbolic sounding shit to try to distract people from the fact that it is Nihilism. At least try to explain the quote as it can be interpreted in more than one way subjectively.
Good morning sweet princess
I just wanna know what you think about that. Well, I didn't even know the "Nihilism" word, hm... Trying to avoid mainstream things because yea, I don't know if you even read it and understood it.
Originally Posted by protonitron View Post
Is there any purpose in our existence?

'our'

if by our you mean the general public, then i'm sorry to tell you that over half of the population contributes nothing to the planet and will ultimately make no splash in this world. as for purpose, it's all in perspective, then again, purpose is just a word fabricated by the human race to give meaning to what cannot be elucidated. i'm pretty sure the only purpose for humanity as a whole is to eat, sleep, shit, piss, and die, [use up resources] just like all other mammals. we sure do a great job in flaunting our importance as the apex beings though.

simply put, not really.
Being realistic here:

The real purpose of human existence is to reproduce, produce, consume and die when all this has been done successfully. Perpetuating our species as far as possible.

The rest is invented, making every possible life purpose a very individual thing and difficult to understand in a concrete way.
Last edited by Perl; Jan 28, 2015 at 05:11 AM.
Since 1987 being the Internet's swiss army knife.
Well, Islam, and probably a few other religions, believe that we were created by God for some purposes. Now, should I go on about it or am I not in the category of people with what you believe is "common sense"? Since I mentioned "God".
Either way I don't mind.
Parkour like you've never seen before:
http://forum.toribash.com/showthread.php?t=423045
A lot of you are close with the whole depressed simple human functions being our purpose fandango but it is an unreasonable viewpoint.

If you are going to argue that we completely lack moral purpose then our purpose is not to reproduce either, we just happen to do it out of cause and effect, in the same way that everything happens as a result of cause and effect. The word purpose when applied to something as natural as humans should be wholly meaningless for individuals who reject spirituality. That is nihilism.

I was hoping this thread could end up being anything other than soul destroying in its apt materialism, oh well, at least we have our id and our super ego right, to keep us getting out of bed and forgetting that everything we do is as morally flat a everything else on account of the lack of existence of morals.

Anyone want to argue otherwise? Sometimes I try to, for sanities sake.
Good morning sweet princess