How can we understand purpose?
Following on from the previous discussion...
But how do we know that the phone being used as a desk paperweight was a waste? How do we know that its purpose was not to be a paperweight one may argue? Even if it was an expensive one !? Maybe the owner wanted to use it for that and it is fulfilling a purpose, is it not? Most people may not actually use it for the purpose of calling anyone but for other functions such as texting, internet etc. There is nothing intrinsic within the phone to tell us what its purpose is and so how will we know? As there is nothing intrinsic or internal from the phone that tells us what its purpose is then one may try to figure it out using its design and function. But even that is not definite- an object such as this smartphone may be able to carry out many functions (such as a paperweight). There is no way from examining the object to tell its purpose. Purpose must therefore come from outside of the object. Purpose has to be defined by the maker of that object- it is the reason that the object was made for. Only the maker would be able to tell us the intention behind his/her invention.
Similarly, we may think that just because I can do such and such then this is my purpose. We may even try to find purpose from within ourselves internally- through introspection or soul-searching or some fashionable lifestyle guru who guides us to find our purpose. Just because I can enjoy to eat and drink, to reproduce, to read and write , working, playing sport, listening to music- does not mean that my purpose is any of those things that I am capable of or even enjoy. Purpose is not an internal/intrinsic feature of any object including human beings. Purpose is defined by the maker of the object- why did they make it? So the human must ask why was he made from his maker- if such a maker exists!
There is another aspect of your nature that pushes you to look for this creator of man if it exists or not. Alongwith the need to understand your purpose of your life, there is also a need to sanctify and revere within human nature. This is innate and can be seen throughout the ages where man has worshipped many things including the sun, stars, nature, God, gods. Even in secular and godless societies this innate need finds itself manifested in the celebrity worship of film stars, athletes and music idols. It is not uncommon in these atheistic and secular societies for helplines to be opened for helping the distraught teenage souls when their favourite pop band has split up. Even when believing in communist ideas, societies that denied the existence of religion this innate reverence instinct was manifested in the deep respect for their leaders as they would perform pilgrimage to the embalmed bodies of Lenin and the graveyard of Marx, and the recitation of the words from the red book of Chairman Mao. Therefore there is an instinct of reverence that should be directed to the highest being that exists otherwise our action of reverence will not be correct. As mentioned previously, if you cannot perform actions that solve your problems correctly then you will suffer the consequences of your wrong actions. Similar to an engineer who wants to build a bridge and uses the wrong formula to calculate the strength of the force that is needed to keep the bridge standing- it will collapse. Similar to the student who uses the wrong formula to solve his mathematics problem- he will get the wrong answer.
Out of all the questions that exist, this is the gravest most important question though as its answer will lead to great ramifications. Knowing who the creator is does not lead you to just fulfil your need for reverence correctly but it also has costly implications for the rest of your life. For if this being is greater than you, is it also not greater than you in knowledge about how to solve your problems in life, about guidance in living life? It is not just greater in its deserving to be prayed to in fulfilling your spiritual needs. It would be greater than you in the knowledge about how to live as it manufactured you. Similar to if your phone were to encounter a problem then where would you send it to get it fixed? Wouldn’t you trust that the manufacturer of your phone would be more capable of solving its problem than your hair- dresser, than your neighbour, than another phone manufacturer, than yourself?
This question is also linked to the reality of death- if there is a creator of life and this universe and everything in it and has knowledge of this universe and life that it created, then only it would be in the position to tell us about the reality of death as it is out of our sensible reality to form a judgement upon; no human has ever come back from any post-death/post-Earth existence with any definite proof about its reality. I do not refer to people who are clinically dead for a few hours because their heart stops and a few hours later their hearts beat again and regain consciousness. I also do not mean those who are in comas for months or years before regaining consciousness- in this case the body still shows the signs of life even though the mind is not conscious- as if in a deep sleep. Because no-one has been able to come back to life after death then it would only be within the realm of the creator of life to inform us of the reality of its end.
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