Why are we here?

Why are we here?

Why are we here?

Why are we here?

Why are we here ?

Think we're all arguing philosophising about four different questions.

Whatever

Sorry, Hollydaze, I hadn't realised that I was only supposed to read a poem and not get out of it what I wanted to get out of it. Whoever wrote it and published it wanted others to read it, and see what they want in it.
I spent years teaching secondary English and asking kids to analyse poetry for exam purposes. I'd rather take a simpler route now, thanks.

Might be a woman rose quartz? Seems to have been an awful lot of conjecture previously to hypothetical question. Also a good mixing of metaphors being tied up in knots up your own a***e, whist someone else is washing up in a wealthy household with nothing better to do. A good scenario for pondering the meaning of life.

Mishap Whilst these guys are tying themselves in knots and vanishing up their own a****s addressing hypothetical questions, who is doing the washing up?!

These guys must be fairly well-off (family wealth?) to be able to spend so much time philosophising; if they were not they would be far too busy trying to scratch a living with no time to think about the meaning of life.

Oh, I so agree with you roses!

If you start thinking too much about the meaning of life the universe and everything, it becomes mind boggling.Then you need to go off and eat a cheese and ham toastie, watch 3 episodes of The West Wing [or Downton, or whatever pleases you]this is a nice way to fill the few years that you have left on this little planet.

I like that tombstone, too.

I think I agree with the words on the tombstone.

#littleliferoundedbyasleep

Each to their own

Written on a tombstone just outside Rome 2000 years ago were the words "I was not, I was, I am not". There is nothing new as they say. However my own personal belief is very strange and I do believe we exist for a purpose. My beliefs are strange but are shared by more than 2 billion people. I believe that there is a God, that he created this vast universe and from what we know loved his creation so much that he came here in person and was crucified and proved his claim 3 days later by rising from the dead. I believe that those who witnessed this were telling the truth and that it means that it is relevant through all ages and to all people. I agree there are many unanswered questions, but personally I must try and work them out on the basis that this is the truth. Very strange indeed, but true?

Because we're here!

We're here because we're here because we're here.

Why should there be a reason for our existence? We are here as a the biological result of copulation by our parents.

^I can take it literally or metaphorically, Hollydaze.Cold dead stars sounds even worse. I look at the stars every night because my grandson believes his granddad is on one of those stars, so we have to decide which one. They are not cold and dead to us, as that would make him cry.
That's why that phrase stands out.^

But the poem wasn't written from your perspective durhamjen but from the perspective of someone who feels alone in the universe and worries that there is no 'greater being' out there keeping it all under control and giving us purpose to exist from day to day. Wouldn't that lead to a feeling of desperation and seeing things in a different light?

(I love a star-studded sky - we see that quite a lot (Milky Way is often clearly visible here) due to very little diffracted (I think that's the right word) light - I think it is one of nature's most beautiful sights.)

Is that the reason for my existence? To clean the grate?

I always used to think that about Jane Austen, Mishap. I'd be the one cleaning the grate.

We know the answer anyway, mishap hypothetical or not - it is Mrs Philosopher.

That's a hypothetical question by the way.

I have to declare a deep irritation with philosophy - read a bit as a module at uni and it nearly drove me nuts!

Whilst these guys are tying themselves in knots and vanishing up their own a****s addressing hypothetical questions, who is doing the washing up?!

I can take it literally or metaphorically, Hollydaze.
Cold dead stars sounds even worse.
I look at the stars every night because my grandson believes his granddad is on one of those stars, so we have to decide which one.
They are not cold and dead to us, as that would make him cry.
That's why that phrase stands out.

Hang on feetle, don't dismiss your personal contribution so lightly. Your bodily constituents must go back at the very least to the the origins of the universe, so your bits, if you'll pardon the expression, have been roaming round the planets for aeons contributing to that glorious universal Grans-network of which we are all part, and will continue to be for ever. And we haven't even considered yet the genetic consequences of things like quantum mechanics in all its mini-micro-complexity and glory. So, in the meantime, well done all, we're probably going on forever in one form or another. So let that be our legacy!

Now, as regards the accidental nature of creation and evolution. I note that, as far as we know, even the very simplest forms of life and everything else, conform to the known laws of physics and chemistry. This does seem to me to confirm that there is a grand plan or scheme of things (which may, of course, have nothing to do with religion). I just don't know what it is or who is behind it, but I suspect that if we were clever enough to know we would be able to the see the guiding of Gransnet hovering over all!

@Elegran - ooh yes, I remember applauding to save Tinkerbell! And Peter was played by Margaret Lockwood...

It's the fallacious idea of 'positive thinking' really, isn't it?

I remember questioning my (devout catholic) grandma about the existence of "her god" when I was a child. I might have been 9-10 years old. I always wondered why, if there was such a man or woman (grandma insists it is a man) would he let some people have happy, healthy lives and others be sad, ill, starving etc. this is a question I continue to ask myself and is often the beginning of some very interesting arguments discussions with my grandma even to is day.

According to J M Barrie's Tinkerbell in "Peter Pan", for fairies to exist, people have to believe on them. Every time a child grows up enough to say out loud "I don't believe in fairies" a fairy dies. In the play, the only way to save Tinkerbell is for the audience to all join in and shout that they believe.