Philosophical claptrap
Oct. 10th, 2006 05:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Depending on who you ask, people are here for at least one of two commonly cited reasons. The religious will point at their particular religious traditions and beliefs, and say that people are here to worship whatever deity or deities they happen to favor. The scientific will point at the biological imperative, and say that people are here to make more people.
But for many -- myself included -- this is unsatisfying. Both systems imply that all people are fungible. Humans as a species don't much care if it's me making more humans, so long as sufficiently more humans get made to continue the species. And the deity (or deities) doesn't much care which people are worshiping -- if you worship, you're good, and if you don't, you're bad. There's no individuality in either system.
I've often wondered what I am here for. Neither religion nor biology can answer the question at the individual level. I have neither any idea what the answer to that question is, nor how to go about finding it out. I've felt for most of my life that I'm waiting to find out whatever it is I'm supposed to be doing here, so I can go about doing it. But just waiting for it to fall on my head is frustrating, and often feels pointless.
I've often heard about people getting a calling to do something or another. While that is a great thing for them, I've not had it happen myself, much as I'd like it to.
Does anyone here have any insight about divining an individual purpose? Or is the whole idea of searching for a purpose yet another exercise in pointless wankery, suitable only for late-night undergraduate bull sessions and mid-life crises?
But for many -- myself included -- this is unsatisfying. Both systems imply that all people are fungible. Humans as a species don't much care if it's me making more humans, so long as sufficiently more humans get made to continue the species. And the deity (or deities) doesn't much care which people are worshiping -- if you worship, you're good, and if you don't, you're bad. There's no individuality in either system.
I've often wondered what I am here for. Neither religion nor biology can answer the question at the individual level. I have neither any idea what the answer to that question is, nor how to go about finding it out. I've felt for most of my life that I'm waiting to find out whatever it is I'm supposed to be doing here, so I can go about doing it. But just waiting for it to fall on my head is frustrating, and often feels pointless.
I've often heard about people getting a calling to do something or another. While that is a great thing for them, I've not had it happen myself, much as I'd like it to.
Does anyone here have any insight about divining an individual purpose? Or is the whole idea of searching for a purpose yet another exercise in pointless wankery, suitable only for late-night undergraduate bull sessions and mid-life crises?
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Date: 2006-10-10 08:32 am (UTC)You want to read What Should I Do With My Life? by Po Bronson.
Here's something important from an essay by him, the one the above passage is from, about lessons learned from writing the book:
[continued]
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Date: 2006-10-11 08:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-10 08:33 am (UTC)I have a rather lot more to say on the topic; I'll try to get back to this tomorrow.
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Date: 2006-10-10 08:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-11 08:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-11 08:13 pm (UTC)Admittedly, for rather different reasons that these, but, hey, fine....
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Date: 2006-10-11 08:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-11 09:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-11 09:52 pm (UTC)Your purpose is to entertain... me!
Date: 2006-10-10 12:42 pm (UTC)You are all here for my personal entertainment.
(evil maniacal laugh)
Re: Your purpose is to entertain... me!
Date: 2006-10-11 08:11 pm (UTC)Re: Your purpose is to entertain... me!
Date: 2006-10-15 12:12 pm (UTC)What about philosophy?
Date: 2006-10-10 12:49 pm (UTC)How we define ourselves becomes a key basis for any philosphy exploration on the issue - and I think that how we define ourselves changes as we grow, get older, shrink, and change...
In some philosophies we are all parts of a much larger organism. Sometimes effective and useful parts, sometimes troubled and problematic parts. Scientifically this makes some sense to me, and even religiously it generally does (though specific religions make seeing how we are all inter-connected much more difficult).
Those predestination believers have it easy - they never need to worry about this, because it was all decided for them long ago (grin).
Reduced to a simple level I have found some personal happiness by deciding that I like people, I like to help people, and by taking action to help people. It's rewarding. Is it all part of the grand design? Who knows; but it is fun.
All things in moderation, eh?
Re: What about philosophy?
Date: 2006-10-11 08:13 pm (UTC)Predestination is a logical contortion that I cannot wrap my head around.
All things in moderation, eh?
Including moderation!
Fun digression
Date: 2006-10-11 09:33 pm (UTC)Actually, apparently, no they don't! This is actually tackled in Bronson's first chapter, which I expect you can read on Amazon. It starts with the question: Wouldn't it be so much easier if you had a letter from God telling you what you are supposed to do in this life? If you ever got confused or lost, you could pull it out from your pocket, unfold it, re-read it and refresh your memory.
Turns out, (he argues) it doesn't help. He knows this because... he knows someone with a letter from God. Well, the Dalai Lama, which is pretty much the same thing. This guy got a letter from the Dalai Lama explaining that he (the guy) had been indentified as a reincarnated saint, and was to report to the nearest monestary to resume his work as a saint. So he did. And, well, for the rest, read the book. ;)
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Date: 2006-10-10 12:55 pm (UTC)I guess you could call me a secular humanist. Wikipedia describes the world view of a secular humanist to include the tenets:
How's that work for you?
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Date: 2006-10-11 08:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-15 12:14 pm (UTC)(grinning ducking and running)
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Date: 2006-10-10 02:04 pm (UTC)If you haven't already, read Voltaire's "Candide" (listening to the record of the broadway show doesn't count). It's both a good work of philosophy on the precise question you're asking, and also a belly-laugh of a good read.
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Date: 2006-10-11 08:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-10 02:20 pm (UTC)My impression is that it's only partly a matter of figuring out or discerning purpose. While there's certainly insight involved, there's also creation - choosing what one is here for, making purpose.
(And no, not at all pointless wankery, but something that can be extraordinarily relevant to one's life - both in what one does with it, and how one views it.)
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Date: 2006-10-11 08:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-10 03:25 pm (UTC)On the other hand, perhaps that is biological or religious. You increase the success of the species if you make a useful contribution to society, even if you don't actually produce offspring. And most religions include some exhortation along the lines of at least "How about trying to be fucking nice to each other every now and then, hrm?". Peace, harmony, getting along - not contributing to any of those things if you're just a user, a burden, a purposeless life, a drain on society - you need to add something. You need to improve the lives of those around you. You need to be a force against entropy, not one for it.
Two of the wisest people I've ever met both cherished their place in the universe. One had a very clear sense of wanting to be the best assistant manager of a McDonalds that he could be, the other the best bricklayer that he could be. Neither one of them will ever save the world, but both of them have made my life better. In turn, I will make other peoples' lives better, and so on, and eventually somebody whose life has been so improved will reproduce, or have some spirituality. ...but those things are side-effects that only occur at the scale of macroscopic society - as an individual, you still need to figure out what the hell your life is for- if you're gonna be a friend and McDonalds assistant manager, or a bricklayer, husband, and father.
I design software, I try to be a good friend, fix things, fight entropy, and and I wear my underwear on my head as I rant into my keyboard. It is my purpose. Why are you here? What do you do?
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Date: 2006-10-11 08:19 pm (UTC)Fortunately, unlike a border collie, I do not end up shredding the furniture out of boredom. Instead, I am much neater in my boredom: I play computer games and read books.
Why are you here? What do you do?
See, that's the whole question I'm trying to answer. The answers I have are not satisfactory.
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Date: 2006-10-12 12:29 am (UTC)There's a buncha ways to go at that: the communist way ("What does society need more of?"), the socialist way ("What are you good at?"), the individualist way ("What feels right?"), the capitalist way ("What's gonna make you the most money?") and so on. Some people quickly find a really excellent confluence of all of those things, other folks change jobs a lot while they're lookin'.
The best advice I ever got was from the Army Career Alumni Program counselor that did my outplacement interview when I left the Army: "If you ever wake up in the morning and don't feel like going to work: don't. Life's too short to work at something you don't enjoy." It's served me well for most of the time since: I get paid pretty well to do interesting stuff. And as time passes, the person that I am is getting closer and closer to the person that I think it's my purpose to be.
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Date: 2006-10-10 03:38 pm (UTC)So during the warm months, I come home and see flowers! Marigolds and cosmos and violas and on and on, all yawning up into the sun or perhaps snoozing in the twilight.
Why are they here?
That particular flower there: why is it there? It's not even sentient, and yet, it's alive, right? Shouldn't it have a purpose? Is it just here to make more of its own kind? I'm not being sarcastic (text sucks); I'm being 100% serious.
The answer is, to me, obvious. Biologically, it's here to make more flowers. But at a bigger/higher level, it brings beauty to the world, and it makes me happy. It makes alyse happy. It makes random passer-bys happy. (Each spring, alyse gets random compliments from not only neighbors, but also friends who drive by our house.)
It makes me and others happy. Let me repeat: it makes lots of people happy. How cool is that?
Why am I here?
I'm not here to win a Nobel Prize. I'm not here to make some major breakthrough that will help my species. It'd be cool if I could, but I don't have the right kind of focused personality for that. I also am not talented enough for that.
But I do have this connection with my friends. I make people happy. I'm not a comedian, no; Chris Rock, I am not. But just as I miss the flowers, not that it's turning to fall, I know that I would be missed by my friends were I to get hit by a dump truck today.
I make people happy. Not just alyse, not just my close friends up here in Boston.
To me, this really really fails to suck.
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Date: 2006-10-10 05:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-11 09:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-10 10:51 pm (UTC)For you specifically, I think that if you pay a lot more attention to your intuition and a lot less attention to your logic, you'd find out some very interesting things about what your purpose is. Don't be afraid of your intuition. While it isn't concrete in the same way logic is, it is still as accurate.
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Date: 2006-10-11 12:06 am (UTC)