WHY DO YOU THINK WE ARE HERE? WHY DO WE EXIST?

[Nick_A]

How do you know there is no answer?

Where is the reason, the underlying reason, why there should even be one? If you're waiting for some internal revelation to do it as in "knowing thyself" that won't do either because everyone knows themselves differently if they bother to know at all.

I agree. The awakening power of sacred music is incredible and far surpasses what words are capable of. Words are good for explaining concepts but feeling the depth of ideas which touch the whole of oneself comes through art and especially music IMO

At least we agree on one fundamental.

Where is the reason, the underlying reason, why there should even be one? If you're waiting for some internal revelation to do it as in "knowing thyself" that won't do either because everyone knows themselves differently if they bother to know at all.

Consider the hypothesis that the universe is the body of God. How can we appreciate what it means much less verify it?

The value of pursuing the axiom to "know thyself" becomes clear when we also begin with the premise that the human organism is a mini universe. Its structure is the same as the great universe just smaller in scale.

How does our body serve our mind. What would our mind be without our body. Our mind needs our body to be complete.

The great universe as the body of God sustains the quality of consciousness beyond the limits of time and space.

We can observe how the cycles of our blood flow nourishes our body. The cycles of involution and evolution of life forces nourishes the universe or the body of God.

Consequently it is possible through the objective conscious experience of ourselves we can understand the hierarchy of intentions the great universe is structured upon and our conscious objective purpose within it as opposed to being limited to our animal purpose.

When a person is hungry they search for food. it doesn't matter if people think they are idiots, they need food. It is the same with the needs that emanate from the depth of our being. Dedicated secularists and people completely identified with the earth are closed to this need. They don't feel it. Yet others with this need strive to understand universal purpose and human purpose within it. They search for meaning. The search gives guidance and feeds the soul

[Walker]

Music can both lead to awakening or serve as a means to devolve into imagination. One of the dangers of the human condition is to confuse awakening with imagination.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge.”

Is imagination more important than "awakening?"

[Dubious]

When a person is hungry they search for food. it doesn't matter if people think they are idiots, they need food. It is the same with the needs that emanate from the depth of our being. Dedicated secularists and people completely identified with the earth are closed to this need. They don't feel it. Yet others with this need strive to understand universal purpose and human purpose within it. They search for meaning. The search gives guidance and feeds the soul

It all boils down to consciousness being a journey of discovery. I have no problem with this being true whether one feels it or not, in various degrees or at various times. In spite of it being true, equally veracious is the fact that there can never be an even close to definitive answer. That is not possible!

It has often been said, it's the journey that counts because it's in that travelog we define and refine our own variables going forward. In a sense, we extract what we need, continually and silently seeding the universe with what we hope to find. Perhaps in the future we'll see more of what those plantations have wrought by way of meaning and purpose and whether its harvest will overlap with our preconceptions.

[attofishpi]

When a person is hungry they search for food. it doesn't matter if people think they are idiots, they need food. It is the same with the needs that emanate from the depth of our being. Dedicated secularists and people completely identified with the earth are closed to this need. They don't feel it. Yet others with this need strive to understand universal purpose and human purpose within it. They search for meaning. The search gives guidance and feeds the soul

It all boils down to consciousness being a journey of discovery. I have no problem with this being true whether one feels it or not, in various degrees or at various times. In spite of it being true, equally veracious is the fact that there can never be an even close to definitive answer. That is not possible!

If there is a God\'God' then one (and many) can be made aware of its existence (btw - there is). If there is NO God\'God' then it would take knowing everything about the universe and perhaps multiverse to rule its existence out of the quest. A quest that is rather implausible, although I would agree with some atheists demanding certain definitions of such an entity before progressing upon the quest.ion, be required at the outset.

[Nick_A]

When a person is hungry they search for food. it doesn't matter if people think they are idiots, they need food. It is the same with the needs that emanate from the depth of our being. Dedicated secularists and people completely identified with the earth are closed to this need. They don't feel it. Yet others with this need strive to understand universal purpose and human purpose within it. They search for meaning. The search gives guidance and feeds the soul

It all boils down to consciousness being a journey of discovery. I have no problem with this being true whether one feels it or not, in various degrees or at various times. In spite of it being true, equally veracious is the fact that there can never be an even close to definitive answer. That is not possible!

It has often been said, it's the journey that counts because it's in that travelog we define and refine our own variables going forward. In a sense, we extract what we need, continually and silently seeding the universe with what we hope to find. Perhaps in the future we'll see more of what those plantations have wrought by way of meaning and purpose and whether its harvest will overlap with our preconceptions.

You wrote: "It all boils down to consciousness being a journey of discovery." The journey of discovery for science reveals facts and how they relate to each other. What IYO does the conscious journey of discovery reveal and what is its value?

[Dalek Prime]

why not?

-Imp

Because there is none.

[Dalek Prime]

I note the most effective basic model [abstracted from peak performers] to understand the meaning of life in line with evolution is Maslow's hierarchy of Needs {MHN}.

That's not an answer to meaning, or why we're here. That's just an understanding of what we need since, and while, we are here.

[Dalek Prime]

By the way, why is it about we, not the individual? I'm not some we, and dont have the same reasons as everyone else.

[-1-]

Why are we here? Well, an easier question has never been asked.

We are here, because wherever we go, there we are!!!

[Dubious]

Human cognition, including the belief that they are simply divine (darling!), is an extraordinary emergence. Note that it has not happened on a young planet, but one on the verge of uninhabitability. If humans did not exist, this 3.8 billion year-old biosphere would still be close to death. It's just one billion years until all oceans have boiled off by our ageing star. Even the ocean temp increasing 5C-10C would be devastating to most sea life, so the oceans would be largely barren long before that time, a matter of mere millions of years. Life either moves to other worlds or it will disappear, and soon by cosmic time scales.

All that presupposes we don't first fry ourselves with greenhouse gases long before the sun starts misbehaving. A better solution than "moving to other worlds", which is the ultimate goal, is to build arks that can maintain themselves for generations while searching for the Promised Land. The power of technologies in the future far exceeds that of surmounting cosmic distances. What cannot be accomplished in speed must be accomplished in time which becomes the giant variable in our survival. It is, in fact, the immediate variable here and now considering a degenerating environment in both its natural and geopolitical contexts. It's truly ironic that within the latter the cold war is getting colder while in the former the world is getting hotter while in between, we possess technologies which can cause instant catastrophes.

I'm sure this not what Nietzsche meant by "living dangerously!"

[Nick_A]

I note the most effective basic model [abstracted from peak performers] to understand the meaning of life in line with evolution is Maslow's hierarchy of Needs {MHN}.

That's not an answer to meaning, or why we're here. That's just an understanding of what we need since, and while, we are here.

Amazing how dedicated we are to what we need yet completely ignore the basic philosophical questions: who am I and why am I here?

These question require far more sincerity than we are often willing to experience so becomes far easier just to condemn Trump and concentrate on what we want.

[Greta]

Human cognition, including the belief that they are simply divine (darling!), is an extraordinary emergence. Note that it has not happened on a young planet, but one on the verge of uninhabitability. If humans did not exist, this 3.8 billion year-old biosphere would still be close to death. It's just one billion years until all oceans have boiled off by our ageing star. Even the ocean temp increasing 5C-10C would be devastating to most sea life, so the oceans would be largely barren long before that time, a matter of mere millions of years. Life either moves to other worlds or it will disappear, and soon by cosmic time scales.

All that presupposes we don't first fry ourselves with greenhouse gases long before the sun starts misbehaving. A better solution than "moving to other worlds", which is the ultimate goal, is to build arks that can maintain themselves for generations while searching for the Promised Land. The power of technologies in the future far exceeds that of surmounting cosmic distances. What cannot be accomplished in speed must be accomplished in time which becomes the giant variable in our survival. It is, in fact, the immediate variable here and now considering a degenerating environment in both its natural and geopolitical contexts. It's truly ironic that within the latter the cold war is getting colder while in the former the world is getting hotter while in between, we possess technologies which can cause instant catastrophes.

I'm sure this not what Nietzsche meant by "living dangerously!"

The way I see it, the biosphere is working towards its reproductive form. Alas, not everyone gets to live to maturity to breed. There are, as you suggest, no guarantees.

Arks are an interesting idea but I can't see it working. Space is a horrid place for biology and especially for busy-minded humans. It would be like living permanently in a submarine or, at best, a ship. No weather, no rain, birds, crickets, frogs, no animals per se, trees, grass, blue or cloudy skies - just inky space with sparkles and humans, lots of humans, as many as can be included on the ark. I'd rather roast on the planet!

Conflicts of interest are inevitable in a world with rapidly growing population that's extracting resources and creating waste at unsustainable rates. War at some point seems hard to avoid because nations everywhere are increasingly voting for impulsive hawks.

[Veritas Aequitas]

I note the most effective basic model [abstracted from peak performers] to understand the meaning of life in line with evolution is Maslow's hierarchy of Needs {MHN}.

That's not an answer to meaning, or why we're here. That's just an understanding of what we need since, and while, we are here.

As I had stated it is very difficult to nail down 'why we're here.
The majority of people [>90%] will say, it is to follow God's WILL. One of the consequence of this is the terrible evil and violent acts committed by SOME [significant quantum] believers in God's name.

My point is, when we understand Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and align our practices [life's action] along with it toward its ideal, then it is most likely we are aligning with the purpose of 'why we're here'.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs represent and is directed towards the net-positive aspects of the well-being of the individual[s] and the collective.

Thus it would be more effective to avoid trying to find the ultimate answer to 'why we are here.'

I have often quoted Russell where he stated the value of Philosophy is not the answers but the questions that follow.

[Dubious]

Arks are an interesting idea but I can't see it working. Space is a horrid place for biology and especially for busy-minded humans. It would be like living permanently in a submarine or, at best, a ship. No weather, no rain, birds, crickets, frogs, no animals per se, trees, grass, blue or cloudy skies - just inky space with sparkles and humans, lots of humans, as many as can be included on the ark. I'd rather roast on the planet!

There seems to be a slight paradox here. If, as you maintain, we need to eventually get off this planet as unsustainable, how could that be done without building ark-like structures? Based on distances, we could only travel in tiny increments to destination. As I see it, one would need ships that are worlds in themselves to arrive where we planned to go all the while hoping and praying it will turn out as we expect. If it's just a matter of settling on Mars then obviously that kind of complexity is not required. It also isn't going to offer us much more time as the sun turns into a red giant since, as cosmic distances go, Mars is just across the street.

[Dubious]

When a person is hungry they search for food. it doesn't matter if people think they are idiots, they need food. It is the same with the needs that emanate from the depth of our being. Dedicated secularists and people completely identified with the earth are closed to this need. They don't feel it. Yet others with this need strive to understand universal purpose and human purpose within it. They search for meaning. The search gives guidance and feeds the soul

It all boils down to consciousness being a journey of discovery. I have no problem with this being true whether one feels it or not, in various degrees or at various times. In spite of it being true, equally veracious is the fact that there can never be an even close to definitive answer. That is not possible!

It has often been said, it's the journey that counts because it's in that travelog we define and refine our own variables going forward. In a sense, we extract what we need, continually and silently seeding the universe with what we hope to find. Perhaps in the future we'll see more of what those plantations have wrought by way of meaning and purpose and whether its harvest will overlap with our preconceptions.

You wrote: "It all boils down to consciousness being a journey of discovery." The journey of discovery for science reveals facts and how they relate to each other. What IYO does the conscious journey of discovery reveal and what is its value?

No one, whether collectively or individually comes back from a long pilgrimage the same as when he left.

Who knows what any journey of discovery reveals or its value? How can such even be denoted or quantified? To make any such assumptions is thoroughly naive!