Why are we here?

I don't disbelieve in it, hilda, and have heard of similar accounts.

Do any of you believe in a spirit world? I ask because of an experience I had shortly after starting on nightshift in the last nursing home I worked in before retiring. A carer I didn't know very well entered the staff room where I was sitting. She said "Hilda there is a man standing behind you". She went on to describe my late Grandfather, even down to the age he was when his hair turned white. (This I confirmed by asking my mother). The carer said he is often with me. I was not aware that this carer could communicate with spirits, and was a little unsettled but reassured none the less. I think we all have a place in the world and make of our lives what we will. We are here to learn, and our lives can be repeated over and over until we have learned to be the very best that we can be. I know my life isn't prefect. I have made mistakes and taken decisions which I will regret to the end of my life, but at the end I hope there will be forgiveness and acceptance. I believe in God or a supreme being, as did all my family before me. I hope I don't come across as all preachy. I don't go to church. (was put off completely by a Minister but that's another story). Rather long post, and probably not what this thread is all about but that's how I feel anyway.

By 'we' I meant mankind in general. I can't think of any other creature that brings about the demise of other inhabitants of the planet. Which made the von Daniken theory make sense to me all those years ago [not saying it does now, though]. Even viruses aren't silly enough to kill everything.

Thank you for that poem stansgran it absolutely sums up the way I think about my late grandad (and my grandma too). I am hopeless with words but this is lovely. I am printing it out and taking it to read to my grandma.

We don't ALL do that, it just feels like it when we switch on the news.

I think we are here by accident. We are all just chemical mutations. But since we do exist (or do we???) we have to make the best of it and get along with each other.

Unfortunately, that part seems to be missing from some peoples' DNA coding to varying degrees. Some are just pains in the butt, others are murderous pains in the butt.

Being a gardener, I think we are all just highly evolved seedlings, growing and maturing into mobile plants that eventually die once they have gone to seed. I find that explanation the easiest for my mind to accept, and have thought it ever since I was young. And have been laughed at too.

We're here to procreate and then, as we get older, pass on our knowledge. What I don't understand is that all other creatures on the planet seem to pass on important knowledge [where to find good food; what dangerous foods/other animals/situations to avoid etc] whereas we just go on making stupid mistakes and having wars .

All's clear now then.

For Gillybob .one of my favourite poems.a bit long and starts with an idea from a Spanish poet /philosopher.

So many different lengths of time
15 April 2011
How long does a man live after all?
A thousand days or only one?
One week or a few centuries?
How long does a man spend living or dying
and what do we mean when we say gone forever?

Adrift in such preoccupations, we seek clarification.
We can go to the philosophers
but they will weary of our questions.
We can go to the priests and rabbis
but they might be busy with administrations.

So, how long does a man live after all?
And how much does he live while he lives?
We fret and ask so many questions –
then when it comes to us
the answer is so simple after all.

A man lives for as long as we carry him inside us,
for as long as we carry the harvest of his dreams,
for as long as we ourselves live,
holding memories in common, a man lives.

His lover will carry his man’s scent, his touch:
his children will carry the weight of his love.
one friend will carry his arguments,
another will hum his favourite tunes,
another will still share his terrors.

And the days will pass with baffled faces,
then the weeks, then the months,
then there will be a day when no question is asked,
and the knots of grief will loosen in the stomach
and the puffed faces will calm.
And on that day he will not have ceased
but will have ceased to be separated by death.

How long does a man live after all?
A man lives so may different lengths of time.

Brian Patten
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I think the only "life after" is the memory of life that we leave others suebailey1. I simply cannot believe in a magical place in the clouds where we all wear angel wings and play the harp. If however the thought brings comfort to some people then that can only be a good thing.

Oh dear this question strikes at the root of my anxiety - are we here? why am I here. DH says its the will of God and we must strive to learn here for the life to come. I waver about on this all the time. Science tells us there is no proof of life after death and yet millions still believe. When I'm in church I believe it and then yet. I believe its my duty to be a good citizen of the world and to help others- doesn't stop being being a nasty old bag at times though.

I think that ideally the aim of our existence should be to have a good time and enhance the lives of others.

I think that ideally the aim of our existence should be to have a good time and enhance the lives of others.

Well this is all getting very deep isn't it?

I don't believe in god, never have. I do however believe that it is the memory we leave behind that matters nothing else.

If we have tried to do good in our lives, maybe not managed all of the time, but never knowingly set out to do harm.
If, when others talk about us they tend to say more good things than bad.
If our memories make others smile.
If the people we leave behind are genuinly sad that we have left them

Then surely we have made the world a better place.

My grandad and grandma were/are the most important people in my life. When my grandad passed away I can honestly say that the world was a worse place for me and for all of those whose life he touched. He could not have been or felt any more loved. I can and still do cry for him. My grandma and I talk about him almost every day and whilst he was no saint, he was the goodest person I have ever known and his reward for this is his lasting memory.

Yes we are always striving to do more or do better Marelli I think its human nature but what more can we do that love and be loved? It isn't about what you do, how much you earn, how big your house is. It is all about the good memory that we leave behind. I stopped asking myself "what I was for?" a long time ago as the list got too long and it was wearing me out.

If you believe in any kind of afterlife, could we just be a source of energy for some reason, after our death?

Does there have to be a reason? Apart from chocolate and GN obviously

I find the whole thing far to difficult to contemplate so just go on doing the best I can - getting it wrong mainly!

That brings us back to Gilly's experiment theory.

Yes there is a point in going on day after day Galen and as jingl says "what's the alternative?"

I honestly think that if we look hard enough we can all try and find "the reason". It might be that someone needs us, or someone might need us in the future. It might be that your expertise or knowledge helps to make the world a better place ( I think this applies to you in particular Galen)or it might be something much simpler than that, I don't know.

A few weeks ago when my gran was particularly poorly she said that she didn't want to go on any longer and I could understand her as her quality of life was so limited it was almost non existant. A few weeks on she is back doing her crosswords and puzzles, eating good food(her favourite pastime) and receiving various visitors. She still moans and groans for England but that way we know she is her "old self".

Agree with you there, when. And chocolate is definitely a reason for 'being', jings.

I don't know what the purpose of my life is, as I have received no instructions (no mysterious being out there, as far as I'm concerned) so I have got a mental manual of values like trying to leave my bit of the world better when I go than when I got here.

And anyway, why shouldn't you go on day after day? It's your right to be here and to find happiness where you can. Just simple things will do.

Eat some chocolate.

The amoeba thing was taught to me by my science teacher when I was twelve! Good remembering eh?!

If that is the case though, gillybob, do you think that there's something that oversees what sort of job we make of it? We're always striving, aren't we? Not always to 'better' ourselves, but working toward something that would (or could) make things better for ourselves or those dear to us. I can understand what Sewsilver means when she says she stopped asking herself what she was 'for'.

What is the alternative?

And yes. Just find a nice book and something good to eat. Be good to yourself.

jing incorrect according to current evolutionary theory. It was some sort of fish.
Though actually I think it was the FSM!

Seriously, is there any point to going on day after day?

and here is the little chap's picture

Why should there have to be a reason?

(there was this little amoeba, and one day he crawled out of the water.....)