So, really...what is the point of life?

So now you see why religion is so important both throughout history and to the individual man who seeks to find out why he's put on Earth.

We'll figure out the answers to those questions in due time. In the mean time though, religion fills the void and makes man feel content with his circumstances.

My personal opinion sides with String Theory. The clashing of Branes populates the area of contact with energy/matter and the cooling of the area then causes the contraction and re-contact over and over again.

I believe that life originated one of two ways. It either originated here on Earth within pools of proto-amino acids OR it originated on Mars and was subsequently transported to the life-supporting pools here on Earth. Mars then "died" and proceeded to become desolate leaving Earth as the sole life bearing planet.

I also have a hunch that life exists under the ice of Europa. I believe chemotrophes live around thermal vents on the sea floor of the moon. These vents are powered by the volcanic activity in the moon's core caused by the great tidal forces it feels from the gravity of Jupiter's pull. I believe it's very likely we aren't alone even in our own solar system.

 

The point of life is determined by the indavidual. YOU decide why you are here on earth. YOU choose you reason for being and YOU make it all happen. Sure its a little scary but that is life.
As for how we got here science has a lot of good theories but none that are complete.

 

Point of life is to enjoy it

Simple!

 

Wanking, silly. Everyone knows that.

 

It's fascinating isn't it? Considering it all? At the end of the day though. Who knows. We all have our beliefs. In my opinion religious beliefs are absurd and embarrassing. The notion of belief I find ridiculous altogether though.

Although I'll discuss this very topic with friends it is futile. Comparatively, our lives are done in the blink of an eye. What happens when we're given an answer? Chances are it won't effect the way I live and die (according to my beliefs).

Seriously though. How can we possibly figure it out? Where did EVERYTHING come from? What if in a few hundred years we make a time machine to go back and see the beginning and it turns out that it was man travelling back in time that introduced matter to the universe?

It doesn't work though. It's a paradox. In my opinion we will NEVER know.

That isn't an answer though. Where did everything come from before the Big Bang? Or what can before god?

 

Though pond scum and jellyfish aren't exciting to most people, I am INCREDIBLY fascinated by them and I'd probably piss my pants if we found ANY form of life anywhere in the universe. Frankly, I'd be excited if we found an organism with a 6 base DNA structure compared to our 4 base system. "Aliens" might live among us right here on Earth. It's just that they landed before humans evolved and have lived among us ever since, on the ocean floor perhaps.

If life WAS originally from Mars and what brought here by a Martian rock (ejected by an asteroid impact) it was most likely nothing more complicated than simple bacteria or even short strands of RNA or DNA. If only a small colony of simple proto-life or life organisms were to survive the ride to Earth, the seed would be planted and life could take root here. It sounds crazy, but Mars was actually more in the Goldilocks zone then Earth was back then, and the atmosphere had much less O2 then it does today.

I am religious, but not to a fanatical degree. I believe in God, but keep my science and my faith separated. I don't see anything wrong with putting science first and foremost, but having faith to fall back on in trying situations or in times of doubt. Having the thought of an all loving God watching over you really is comforting if you have hit a rough patch in life. I don't know what happened before the big bang. I don't know what happenes after I die. I don't know what happens when the universe stops expanding. That's quite alright. Most questions in science start with "I don't know" and end in magnificent discoveries.

 

I agree, I'm not religious but I don't think science is incompatible with religion.

 

One of the more radical parts of the Bible; Ecclesiastes, sums up an answer pretty nicely...

Here is an example:

Bible / Ecclesiastes / Chapter 1 / Verse 14
Ecclesiastes 1:14

I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

I have seen all the works that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity, a striving after the wind and a feeding on wind.

I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit

These might be interpreted as a recipe for depression, but the text goes on to say that mankind is here to enjoy himself, to find pleasure in God's creation. Seemingly hedonistic but, what else is there really? Money ("a rich man cannot sleep"), fame (distorts as it magnifies), love (what is love? Is it something you achieve or something that needs to be renewed constantly?), big goals and ideals are to a great extent "striving after the wind".

The Eastern Zen masters have an approach very similar to that of Ecclesiastes, that every moment counts, that the way is more important than the destination.

 

We apparently hold a similar thought process on this particular matter

---------- Post added 6th Jan 2014 at 08:05 AM ----------

I'm an atheist so I don't have any faith to fall back on personally, but I don't really need it either

I don't think there is a purpose to our existence. I don't think we were born with some sort of plan attached to us. I think we were born with a unique gift though, and that gift is intelligence.

We are the only creature ( besides maybe dolphins ) with this intelligence and as a result we also have the ability to take meaningless things ( the universe, our planet, and our lives ) and add meaning/purpose to them. Which to me is so much better than someone else planning out meaning :3

 

In a sense there is no point. We are given existence, then it is taken away. One day the entire Earth will not be able to support life. Stars will burn out. New stars will stop being made. Galaxies will grow cold and distant, and eventually the universe will die and existence will essentially be snuffed out. So I guess the takeaway is that whatever the reason you are here, you are not alone. :icon_wink

 

I was thinking about this the other day actually, when you think about life in the big scale of things it is pretty much meaningless... Its really an odd and complex thing to understand.

 

The point of life is to please the almighty kitty gods by sacrificing your enemies blood to them.

 

Well I see two options. Either our lives are actually for the amusement of some vindictive deities who want to watch us slaughter and oppress each other in new and cruel ways.

Or we do it of our own free will.

 

The meaning of life is to give life meaning.

 

this is what i think everyday. but i have a proven answer.i will explain. for enjoyment and love. the only thing i dont understand is that my enjoying to the full extent we are damaging the world and will one day wipe out all humans like this but anyway.
ask yourself this; why do you work?
my answer-for money
so;why do you want money?
my answer-so that i can buy what i need to live
so; why do you want to live then?
my answer-because i like living.

the key word here is like. i like living i enjoy living. others who dont may have comitted suicide because the meaning of life is enjoyment so why to live if they dont enjoy? in the long run, everything everybody does is so that they can ejoy, love and like.

 

I was going to say fucking, but not all of us are gifted enough to get that far.