Why are we here?

[FearlessLeader2]

This is a question that has been dominating my thoughts recently. Why is the universe here, why are we here, just plain why?

Mind you, I don't care in the slightest anymore HOW we got here. Something caused the Big Bangs, doesn't matter what or who. What matters is WHY. Something caused life to appear and diversify on earth, doesn't matter what or who, doesn't matter how, all that matters is WHY.

If there is no why, then what do I do about that? The Bible is silent on the question of why God made the universe and everything in it from Jesus to that kid that was just born as you read this. The Blind Watchmaker defaults to 'There is no why.'

All of the questions about this universe gain their meaning from Why. Without it, everything else is meaningless speculation about something that may or may not matter.

Do any of you have any idea as to why the universe exists, why it was created, or why it came to be?

I don't, and the implications of that fact have landed hard and squarely on me. If God made us to be friends to talk to, then that basically means He doesn't know why He is here either. If there is no why, then all moral philosophies are irrelevant twaddle, and hedonism is the only moral philosophy that has any logical support.

If God doesn't know why we're here, or even worse, not only doesn't know why but hopes we'll figure it out for Him, then the only differences He can offer us are a short and limited hedonism as we can have it now, or an eternal and limitless hedonism via immortality and a universe to spend it in.

I don't find either of those options particularly appealing.

 

[WickedSmurf]

Why bother? Carpe diem.

 

[Stapel]

There is a difference between 'The Cause' and 'The Reason'.

Which of them do you mean?

 

[FearlessLeader2]

The Reason.

 

[MaisseArsouye]

The Reason.

There's no reason. The universe has no meaning, no goal, it just exists. So, let's live our lifes the best way we can. Carpe Diem...

 

[aneeshm]

There is none . Rather difficult to accept the pointlessness of our existence , but there is no reason we were created , because we were not created , we are results of random chance .

The assumption is that there is an entity who created us , because creation implies a creator , and creation also implies a reason of creation , which points to that same creator or god . Reject the idea of god as creator , and of creation with a specific purpose , and you won't need to seek answers to such questions . If you can't accept that , then keep looking . You won't find anything if you do . If you accept the how , you won't ask the why .

 

[WS78]

It is here because it has a destination/purpose. We are just the hapless ants stuck on this mudball.

 

[FearlessLeader2]

I am very poorly suited to a life pursuing nihilistic hedonism. I would much rather die. Is there anyone out there who thinks they do know why?

 

[Vilati Timmadar]

"Even the longest way begins with the first step." ----- old chinese saying

Don't start with thinking about the "WHY" of the universe or mankind. Start thinking about yourself.

In my opinion, the question "Why am I here" equals "What can I do".

What can I do...
...to improve my life?
...to improve the situation of others?
...to solve problems?
...
...and many more questions.

If you can answer that, then you can start to think about the purpose of humanity. And after that about the purpose of the universe.

Don't start thinking about the whole thing, start with a piece.

 

[warmonger]

I've been thinking about this a lot lately and my conclusion is the same as aneeshm;

there is no reason or purpose. The more I learn about science and biochemistry and DNA etc (almost 30 years now) the harder it is to escape the conlcusion that all life, all interaction, you me and the person next door are the result of infintisimally small probabalities that, through so many rolls of the die, over 15 billion years or so got us to here.

I now believe that I am no more than a random collection of chemicals kept in place by the entropy provided by the food that I eat and the air that I breathe.

I'm comfortable wirh this conclusion but I can see why any religion was created - because the end result of my conclusion is that we are but ants on the mudball to use someone ele's expression. Very few people can cope with this rather depressing view so a purpose was invented.

 

[Mise]

I didn't think God needed a reason.

 

[NateDawgNY]

Out of all the posts so far, Vilati Timmadar, put it the best, and as a matter of general priciple, I agree with him here.

 

[Stapel]

I am very poorly suited to a life pursuing nihilistic hedonism. I would much rather die. Is there anyone out there who thinks they do know why?

I also think there is no peculiar reason why we are here. The maelstrom of endless time, endless matter and endless energy can have a gazillion different outcomes. Our earth and its wonderful life is just one of them. Simply based on pure chance. People might argue this chance is so tiny, so close to zero, that it is in fact zero. But our universe is big and old. Unbiased scientists think it is 23billion years old iirc.

And in time and in space, there might be a gazillion more universes. Just imagine our known universe as a volleyball, right in front of you. Now look 6 yard to your right: there might be another volleyball. The numbers are endless! And in one of thode universes, somewhere in the timeline, there is a solar system with a planet in it with intelligent life on it. That's us!


But, does this mean we should be persuing nihilistic hedonism? No way!

We should just accept that we are here. Just because. That doesn't mean things happen for nothing. We observe, conclude, act or act not, by our own reason!

 

[carlosMM]

there is no reason. Just random chance.

 

[MaisseArsouye]

I am very poorly suited to a life pursuing nihilistic hedonism.

Atheist doesn't mean nihilist and "carpe diem" is not only for hedonists. Epicurism, as an exemple, is a good "atheist but non-nihilist" philosophy and a nice way of life. It's just that it doesn't need a god or reason to the world to make people happy and nice persons. It's just another way to look at things

 

[Hitro]

there is no reason. Just random chance.

Yeah. Kind of sad but we really aren't more than the sum of our parts...

 

[aneeshm]

Even if you don't accept nihilism ( even I don't) , there are other standards . Such as man's life and happiness , now that he has come into existence .

For further reading , try Ayn Rand's "The Objectivist Ethics" in her book , "The virtue of selfishness" . Or you can sign up here , and hear the lecture by Gary Hull (five hour seminar) .

 

[WS78]

I don't believe in chance. It happens or it doesn't.

 

[IglooDame]

My answer to the question "Why?" differs depending on my mood and whether I've taken my meds.

1) This is all truly a test by an extremely powerful yet not-omniscient Creator, who is using humanity as a lab experiment as surely as scientists use little mice in their experiments. The answer to "Why?" is "Ask that guy outside the maze wearing the lab coat."

2) We're here because the dice landed the right way over and over again in this particular chunk of the Milky Way. The answer to "Why?" is just a shrug.

3) This is all a "real" version of the Truman Show, except I'm the only entity I know that is sentient and everything else (including CFC) is either a construct of my mind, or of someone else's. The answer to "Why?" is "Because I said so."

I think 2) is the most likely among three choices that I will likely never have any real evidence to choose between other than a healthy dose of Occam's Razor. But why do I act the way I do? Because my conscience will beat the hell outta me if I don't.

 

[deeno]

2) We're here because the dice landed the right way over and over again in this particular chunk of the Milky Way. The answer to "Why?" is just a shrug.

I agree, but just as the dice rolled so did our DNA and it said our goal was survival. Yet we don't have to obide the rules of instinct (caused from DNA) because we have sentient minds. We can make our own rules. And this very same thing is what caused us to hope for something better then us, guiding us (god) but yet it is not so, as science shall and will give us all the answers we need. Thanks to our sentient minds we do not obide laws of instinct and therefore it would be best for the entire race of us to work together. And thus answer our final question. How and why did we came here and with that answer we shall gain the answer to ''how and why'' does the universe work the way like it does.

It doesn't really matter why you live, as long as you live happily (we have a sentient mind and therefore we can)