Philosophical claptrap

[sauergeek]

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?

Comments

[also-huey.livejournal.com]

I don't think people exist in general for biological or religious reasons: I think that everybody pretty much has to find their own reason, although that reason probably ought to have some relevance to broader humanity: I see "your life has no purpose" as a pretty harsh insult, and "my life has no purpose" as a cry for help and potentially an indicator of suicidal thoughts. People, like border collies, need a reason, a purpose, something to do, but it's also important that this purpose isn't "I'm going to be hedonistic until I die in a car accident, or overdose". Constructive. Useful.

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?

[sauergeek.livejournal.com]

People, like border collies, need a reason, a purpose, something to do, but it's also important that this purpose isn't "I'm going to be hedonistic until I die in a car accident, or overdose". Constructive. Useful.

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.

[also-huey.livejournal.com]

Well, you've reduced the question from "What is the meaning of life?" to "What do I want to be when I grow up?", a question which is every bit as hard to answer, but a lot less frightening on a macroscopic scale.

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.