Not_Now.Soon, For me it is more than the search for God, but the life lived in God that has meaning. God is a purity and moral spirit, creative, humble giving blessing to the needs of others. Purpose comes from a core world view that values the human spirit made in the image of God and lives out those core values and attitudes.

So much of our Western culture places its highest values on thing external to the heart and mind of a person. While the external is there to contribute to the physical life, it is not the life. Care and love your children and educate them in the values of the spirit, they are the future.

Posted by Not_Now.Soon, Wednesday, 20 May 2020 8:14:09 AM

Question 1- To Canum Malum. You've put a lot of thought into the idea for purpose of life, and while I thank you for that, I guess I was asking for a more practical answer. Some people have stated a purpose or even a need for a purpose, and that's a fine answer for what makes life worth living.

Answer 1- Thought and Action/ Vision and Strength/ Meaning and Purpose- Simple answer- Well... I read what others say- the great ones- and try to see things through their eyes- to see if it has meaning for me and my hierarchy- Confucius scholars talk about the hierarchy as being individual, family, village, state, nation, world.

The meaning that you ascribe to things defines both yourself and your place in things- in the universe- but this is influenced by concentric circles moving out from yourself. In some ways your journey teaches much- but in the end you arrive at the beginning and realise that you have more questions than when you started- at first you think- what was the point- but then you look back and see that you are not the same person as in the previous cycle- but you are glad you made the journey.

A practical answer- Well I try to read a little everyday, to live simply be self sufficient and to grow, to contribute to those around me in a mutually supporting way- enlightened self interest, protect the vulnerable in my hierarchy- as you can't help everyone.


Question 2- However I want to ask you for your thoughts on what makes life worth living. Is it family, and relationships? Is it satisfaction of living a full life and doing a job well done. Is it a purpose, any purpose, so that we don't drop into nihilistic downers and question our place in the world?

Answer 2- Relationships and Achievements are important- Maslow's Hierarchy see link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs

Without meaning and purpose we're dead- we just don't know it yet. The universe needs to make sense.

Question 3- Or do you think of a certain purpose, such as seeking God and finding Him. You've put a lot of thought into it, and I thank you for that interesting read. So I just want your answer in case that helps anyone else reading it, what helps you keep going and make it worth while to live on.

Answer 3- God well this can give meaning and purpose and it has cultural value. I don't claim to be an expert on God. I'm somewhat of a secular Christian. I am somewhat torn by this paradigm as perhaps you've surmised. My background is in the sciences but there are scientists that value the concept of God. Practically on a daily basis I would say I'm philosophical.

Question 4- As for what is life. Another way to put it is what is alive, as opposed to what isn't alive. I've a bit more of a spiritual view then the views you've shared, so for me the question of things unseen also being alive and aware has entered into my thoughts. Angels and unseen forces, but also a quote that In Ephesians saying that people aren't the enemy, (flesh and blood aren't the enemy), but that we fight against spiritual forces.

Answer 4- This sounds like "the biggest enemy is your own mind".

Question 5- Give me the wondering thought of how alive is culture, or differing ways of thinking acting like opposing creatures, one against the other, or also how some philosophies work well side by side and are not tossing for dominance over the other. Just a strange idea that the ideas we hold as a group are bigger then the individuals who hold those ideas. (Consider the wars fought just between systems of communism or Democracy as an example of wearing ideas acting like a creature itself fighting another philosophical creature. Does that count as alive?)

Answer 5- Yes ideas and processes can take on a life of their own independent of the individuals that operate their levers- this is the type of thing that Stephen Wolfram discusses with Cellular Automata- that is not to say that these entities don't have a soul. But as for dominance- I believe that you have a greater duty to the ideas of your own culture than those of others- it's a sort of nihilism to deny your own culture- and nihilism to allow this cancer to develop within your house.

There is a belief called Panpsychism that believes that the universe is conscious- if everything in the universe has the property of consciousness- and conscious properties interact- known as Property Interactionism- and these given that we don't really understand consciousness who are we to say that this isn't "reality"- then perhaps there is a God or God's. There are others that use Okham's Razor to good effect...

Hasbeen,

That is interesting to hear about you running second at Sandown in the 1968 F1 Gold Star.

That means you are Chris Amon the Ferrari driver from New Zealand who passed away in 2016 aged 73.