Kai
New
Okay, so there are some really good minds here, and I want to throw something into a sandbox, with a few rules if I may.
As you know, I have a tendency to get upset about the often absurd, seemingly cruel and indifferent, or outright suffersome nature in life. But I get tired of my own thoughts reflecting back at me from the inside of my head all the time, which are to some extent on repeat, so I wanted to pick some other good minds on this, to see what we might be able to come up with, by way of variety. Contributions should be earnest I think, and not flippant. Perhaps it should be a Mod + I don't know. Others can advise me on that...I don't have experience with the category. Anyway, here is the problem statement.
Please assume that the idea of a spiritual purpose to life has some kind of objective reality beyond simply our own psychological responses to a meaningless existence etc. In other words, you must assume a) that we really do have some kind of "conscious existence" or "origin" somewhere that is not simply our life here and b) that we either "came" here or were "forced" to exist here for some reason. That is the rules...please do *not* comment if your comment is simply one or another version of an argument for what I have asked you to disregard.
So the basic question I pose to you, and which I want your thoughts on is...WHY WOULD WE DO THAT?? Why would we come to such a suffersome world? I'm familiar with some of the usual suspect arguments. I don't mind those showing up...but hopefully we can also go beyond them. Anyone is welcome to contribute and I would very much like to see some well thought out contributions from Arouet, Bucky, David, Max, Paul, Laird, Vault, FLS, Jay, Chris, Neil, Malf, Dominic Burrell, E. FLowers, Alkhemist etc (obviously I can't create an exhaustive list). For those of a materialist persuasion, I am asking you to step outside your assumption for this thread to ponder other possibles. Just please remember the rules. We're all intelligent folks, so we can understand those rules and I also am pretty sure that everyone named, and most others besides, must have at least thought about the issue at some point in their lives. Again, my list of names is not exhaustive, just representative of some folks I'd like to see throw their hat in the ring. Once again, please follow the rules.
WHY WOULD WE DO THAT??
Is it possible to come up with plausible answers?
*And: just as an addendum I think I should add, that if we use unusual terms, such as "spiritual evolution," we should attach some kind of specific definition to those terms.
As you know, I have a tendency to get upset about the often absurd, seemingly cruel and indifferent, or outright suffersome nature in life. But I get tired of my own thoughts reflecting back at me from the inside of my head all the time, which are to some extent on repeat, so I wanted to pick some other good minds on this, to see what we might be able to come up with, by way of variety. Contributions should be earnest I think, and not flippant. Perhaps it should be a Mod + I don't know. Others can advise me on that...I don't have experience with the category. Anyway, here is the problem statement.
Please assume that the idea of a spiritual purpose to life has some kind of objective reality beyond simply our own psychological responses to a meaningless existence etc. In other words, you must assume a) that we really do have some kind of "conscious existence" or "origin" somewhere that is not simply our life here and b) that we either "came" here or were "forced" to exist here for some reason. That is the rules...please do *not* comment if your comment is simply one or another version of an argument for what I have asked you to disregard.
So the basic question I pose to you, and which I want your thoughts on is...WHY WOULD WE DO THAT?? Why would we come to such a suffersome world? I'm familiar with some of the usual suspect arguments. I don't mind those showing up...but hopefully we can also go beyond them. Anyone is welcome to contribute and I would very much like to see some well thought out contributions from Arouet, Bucky, David, Max, Paul, Laird, Vault, FLS, Jay, Chris, Neil, Malf, Dominic Burrell, E. FLowers, Alkhemist etc (obviously I can't create an exhaustive list). For those of a materialist persuasion, I am asking you to step outside your assumption for this thread to ponder other possibles. Just please remember the rules. We're all intelligent folks, so we can understand those rules and I also am pretty sure that everyone named, and most others besides, must have at least thought about the issue at some point in their lives. Again, my list of names is not exhaustive, just representative of some folks I'd like to see throw their hat in the ring. Once again, please follow the rules.
WHY WOULD WE DO THAT??
Is it possible to come up with plausible answers?
*And: just as an addendum I think I should add, that if we use unusual terms, such as "spiritual evolution," we should attach some kind of specific definition to those terms.
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