Why are we here?

Eloethan The whole question is so unanswerable that if I thought about it too much I would be overwhelmed by the apparent pointlessness of it all.

I think that is why religion evolved. To try to explain the unexplainable. But it does not explain anything.

Joelsnan I think the Earth is greater than the sum of humans who have or will exist on it. The Earth will still be here after we have become extinct, perhaps by our own foolishness.

Would we appreciate peace and infinite happiness if we didn't have the opposite to compare it to? Maybe we've created strife for that reason or it's just a way to fill the gap left by not having to fight for survival on a daily basis ...?

So did early man just fight for survival or fight other tribes?

When did the fighting begin?

Peace and infinite happiness could get very boring after a while (a bit of it is lovely after the DGC have gone home, but not too much). Oh, that was more practical than philosophical.

Strife is inbuilt - the whole of the natural world is predicated on kill or be killed. It is amazing to me that humans are as civilised as they are.

Isn't happiness a product of existence? I was suggesting "nothingness" might be preferable.

I suppose being in a permanent state of happiness would render it meaningless because, as Tegan says, there would be no unhappiness to compare it to. It seems to me, though, that many people in the world get more than their fair share of strife and unhappiness and if that's the product of a "grand design" then I don't think much of it.

I agree with other FMs that the human race is no more significant in its existence than any other species on the planet (although I tend to liken us more to locusts than anything else). Our purpose is simply to exist and further our own species.

Isn't happiness a product of existence?

If happiness actually exists, why doesn't everyone feel happy about the same things?

Tell me again what an FM is?

I think that is why religion evolved. To try to explain the unexplainable

Summed up quite well by this poem:

The sky is deep, the sky is dark.
The light of the stars is so damn stark.
When I look up, I fill with fear,
If all we have is what lies here.
This lonely world, this troubled place,
Then cold dead stars and empty space...
Well, I see no reason to persevere,
No reason to laugh or shed a tear,
No reason to sleep and none to wake,
No promises to keep and none to make.
And so at night I still raise my eyes,
To study the clear but mysterious skies
That arch avove us, cold as stone.
Are you there God? Are we alone?”

Forum Member

What is the purpose of an egg? To become a chicken.
What is the purpose of a chicken? To lay eggs.

One of the most satisfying emotions a human can feel is love and fulfilment at the thought of children and grandchildren. In the direst situations, the first instinct is to save them. That could demonstrate that the purpose of a human being is to give life to another human being and hand on the chain of DNA.

Perhaps it is DNA that engineers us so that we preserve it and ensure its immortality. Maybe DNA is the puppet master that controls why we are here.

Oh please - no poems.

Cop out.

Yes, of course it is Elegran. That doctor bloke with the hair and moustache demonstrated that ages ago.

The question is, why bother in the first place?

Robert Winston.

Why does there have to be a reason?

Why are we here is a religious question.

Not if you don't believe in a higher being.

If you don't believe in a higher being/purpose 'why' is meaningless.

Why are we here? Why not?

If as Newist says we are a source of energy, it does not matter when we die. We are all part of the cycle of energy. We exist so that the world can exist.

All energy comes from the sun. We use that energy by living and return it when we die. That's it.

The second poem was wrong as the stars are not cold. Our sun is a star, and is definitely not cold.

Why is not meaningless.

The reason why we are here is that we evolved over billions of years.
The question is are we still evolving? If so, into what?

I sometimes visualise us as similar to ants scurrying around, busily getting on with our lives, running along tracks, stopping for a chat, building towns, cities and then wonder if there is anything out there watching us just as we watch the ants.
However, do ants fight and kill each other as we do? Do they feel love or just act on instincts?

Galen Is there a prize for the best answer? Or is there no best answer because none of us will ever know.

Why are we here? Biologically are here due to an accident of nature and evolution.
Why are we here? Do we serve a higher purpose. No.

How do you know we will not know, rose? just because nobody has come back and told us does not mean that nobody knows. Maybe it's a plot to keep us thinking.

Evolving is the how, not the why.

I meant no-one will every get the right answer - because who decides which is the right answer?

Come back from where, durhamjen?