THE PURPOSE-DRIVEN LIFE? FUCK OFF Have you ever heard someone talk about humanity's purpose? It's got to be one of the stupidest ideas ever. If there were such a purpose, who could say what it was? I know how the Christians would respond. They'd offer a verse of scripture, probably something from Genesis, where Man's creation is described and God says a few words about it:
And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. (Genesis 1:28)
This sounds like we're just supposed to reproduce till the planet is filled up to the very brim, which sounds exactly like what we're doing. There is no question that we are subduing the earth. Hell, if somebody doesn't stop us we'll most likely trash the whole place. This is especially probable with Republicans in power. They don't seem to give a damn about doing anything with resources but using them. Self referencing is meaningless. If I say my purpose in life is to help people it doesn't mean a damn thing. It's only me saying it. How could I possibly say what my own purpose is? Seems like someone else would have to do that, someone more objective about it than me. But, then again, how could someone else even say it? What do they know? Nothing. What do I know? Nothing. Except what I feel, what I want. I know my desires. You know your desires and what you feel. That's all we know. Purpose is only an idea, one that, like all ideas, is closely connected to what we feel, what we desire. There is one thing especially that gets me to ranting about the whole purpose thing. It's these people who go around saying that everything happens for a reason. This has got to be one of the stupidest things that anyone says. There is only one reason that everything happens: the laws of physics. There is nothing else. If things really did happen for a reason, it would suggest that we are in effect living lives that have already been lived, that we are following a script that has already been written. Yes, it would ultimately imply that our lives have already happened, and what we are going through now is just a re-run. To believe that things happen for a reason is to believe that the game is rigged, planned out ahead of time,which means that, ultimately, we really don't have any choice (i.e., free will) about things. And that means that we are all just a bunch of puppets on a string. Talk about absurdity. The universe is wide open, not closed up in a box (the essence of a conservative mindset, by the way, to be closed up inside a box). Being wide open means that the unpredictable can -and will- happen, for no other reason than pure chance. Even the Bible supports this:
... the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all. (Ecclesiastes 9:11)
Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth (Proverbs 27:1)
Even the Bible suggests the very real possibility of unpredictability in the universe. That means that things do not happen for a reason. I just had a brainstorm about my own purpose in life: to destroy the whole idea of purpose. At least if I ever get the time. Lately I've been too busy preaching against preaching and being religious about not being religious and pointing out to everyone how evil they are for teaching their children that such a thing as evil exists.
The Irrational Urge to be Rational Where Did Everything Come From?
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