Palus

hello!
I used to be a die hard calvinist christian (in fact i wrote several messages expressing my views on christianity) but several months ago i rejected the christian faith... i'm now a very confused agnostic (theist). I wanted to hear anyones answers (and reasons) to the following questions regardless of belief...

1) Where do you believe we came from?

2) What is our human nature?(i.e. totally depraved, naturally good, clean slate, etc.)

3) What is the purpose of one's existence?

4) How should one live? (basically asking... what is a moral life... and should one live a moral life?)

5) Where happens after death?

thankyou! This really is a "earch for truth" question. I do not wish to needlessly offend any, i've just been wrestling with these questions and wanted to see some intelligent ideas! thanks again!

Mecha_Dude

Well, everyone on this board is a bit different, but here's what I think:
1. We came here by evolving from earlier primates.
2. Damned if I know
3. Ok, here it is- with sugar on top: We are meaningless insignicigant specks in an enormous universe so incredibly huge that were you to see how tiny and insignifigant you were, you're brain would implode (Not really)
4. Morals, hmm... Well I don't really believe in good and evil, just the emotions of happiness and sadness, and the label "Good" goes onto actions making the majority of the affected people happy, whereas, the label "Evil" is commonly affixed to actions that make the majority of those involved sad.
5. Worm food. Really, humans have a big ego assuming they have some sort of "Soul".

Now, keep in mind that everyone here has different ideas, there's no "Big book of Atheist/Agnostic stuff you NEED to know".

Viti

Hi there confused person...I don't know nothin bout nothin but I'll give my thoughts

1) What do you mean exactly? If you are asking the origin of life I don't know but some hypothoses of abiogenesis work for me

2) I don't think there is a basic human nature...too many factors affect each individual differently....so I guess on the whole I think we're neutral

3) There is no real purpose...we add meaning to life as individuals...its all about filling time with things and people you enjoy

4) One should live according to one's conscience and personal ethics

5) There is nothing after death, we simply cease

Autonemesis

The union of our parent's gametes.

First to survive, second (for most of us) to reproduce. I think everything else is up to us. At present, there is no one else to judge us but ourselves. Even if there was someone else, they should mind their own business.

Whatever you want it to be. Pick something.

Use reason, empathy and your imagination. It's really not too hard. Start with the reality that this life, whatever it is, seems to be the only one you'll ever have. I don't know about you, but egoist that I am, in the big scheme of things, that makes it a precious thing to me. I imagine others who think like me believe the same. In many cases, I don't have to imagine because I talk or write back and forth, and they say that they value their lives highly as I do mine. So we seem to have a common interest in protecting our own skins. Do you think that could be a basis for forming a society, mutual protection from those who value life and limb much less than we do?

*shrugs*

[ June 20, 2002: Message edited by: Kind Bud ]</p>

The Messiah

Palpus,

1) Where do you believe we come from.

From what I understand of modern science and technology we arose from a process of evolution. Which, given, time I'm sure we will replicate and understand in its entirity. However, this is only part of the story, the universe in which we live seems to have rules which the fabric complies with giving rise to particles and time which leads to interactions of a complex nature that utilmately lead to us. The more we study the rules the more beautiful and simple the basis of the universe seems to become but the feeling I get is that no matter how far we go we will still be searching for a reason why all this stuff is here. This suggests that even if we find the Theory of Everything, a much desired goal in theoretical physics, we will still be at a loss for an explanation for why the rules exist even if they derive from the simplest rule, i.e. the answer to life the universe and everything, to quote Douglas Adams, may well turn out to be something as ridiculous as 42, a quotient in an equation for example. The key is that whatever this 'first cause' or 'necessary premise' is, we have no reason to believe that it is a person or being. What do have though, is a manual, an explanation for how everything works, and we happen to be living in it, all we have to do is look. This is a difficult and time consuming process to which many thousands of people are now dedicated to. Like belief in a Religion one must have faith, but no a misguided faith based on ignorance and fear, a faith based on optimism, grounded in stoicism. All the tools to create heaven on earth are right in front of us and we have the capacity to deliver it. We demonstrate, on daily basis, that we can transcend our natures and we may very soon have the ability to rewrite our natures to suit our own purposes. It is only through this course of action can we hope to understand where we come from and more importantly why. If this is too ambitions then we could merely concentrate on eradicating the things that piss us off, like death.

2) Human Nature.

When most people talk about human nature I assume that they are referring to instinct. This is, fortunately, becoming better understood. Richard Dawkins and Matt Ridley have produce excellent accessible books that provide a great deal of insight into this area. My conclusion from these is that our 'natures' have put us in a very difficult position. Our behaviour leans to towards selfishness to acquire resources to protect our investment in our offspring. At the same time we promote contibutors to the common good as virtuous because this still seves our interst but it also makes us, by default, not virtuous. Because our group size really does only extend to our children or immeadiate family we have no reasonable stategy that would convince us to contribute to the common good without a hidden agenda. There are other spieces that have a reproducitive cycle that results in evolutionary stable stategies that can lead to all individuals contributing to the common good, ants for example get quite close to this, being both actualy beneficial and intellectually acceptable. I think in the next decade or two will start looking very seriously at rewriting the human genetic code to modify the human being to become a different kind of creature. Note, there are animals with pupal stages that result in complete transformations of the original creature, so the facility is there. The real question here is given a clean state what 'Human Nature' would we design?

3) What's the purpose of existence.

This is quite a difficult pill to swallow but, unfortunately yours and everyone elses' life may well be completely pointless. On the good side though, you are alive and not dead and better than that you live now and here, and not in a third world country or thousands of years ago when your life would not only be pointless it would also be cheap.

4) How should one live?

Dedicate some time to finding a moral system that will ultimately lead to yours and everyone's else happiness and promote it voraciously. Just because billions of people and thousands of years haven't come up with one yet shouldn't put you off, Einstein was started off as a patent clerk.


5) What happens after death?

No one knows. Personally I'm committed to avoiding it. We don't have to die, if there is a God and part of his plan is that we do, he hasn't made a convincing attempt to convince me of this fact. In the light of this my lights are not going to go out without a fight.

Liquidrage

It's ok to say "I don't know."
Cause no one really does.

Mr. Sammi

(1) There is not enough earthly evidence to get to pre-big-bang conditions. But like most I have a theory. What we see as our universe is like a baloon connected to another higher dimension. Over there the natural speeds are 2c and above (twice the speed of our light). The development process was achieved by a simultaneous form of evolution. We did not evolve from fish and monkeys, but had a parallel evolution. We are connected by similiarities but not by direct hierarchy. The linear plunge is too much for my intelligence to accept.

(2) Our human natures are open to personal considerations. We are basically outlined but we have to fill in the details.

(3) Purpose would be to attain the ultimate consciousness,which may be a pre-big-bang disposition.

(4) Start with the outlines and improve them.

(5) Death MAY bring the voyage "back home", to the upper dimension. The conscious mind should be developed and complete before it can withstand the energy surge needed for transport.

Sammi Na Boodie (no proof just belief)

emphryio

You ask for way too much in one post for me.

John Page

Pal:

1) Where do you believe we came from? I like the organic chemicals from space idea best

2) What is our human nature?(i.e. totally depraved, naturally good, clean slate, etc.) morally adaptable

3) What is the purpose of one's existence? Not to be not

4) How should one live? (basically asking... what is a moral life... and should one live a moral life?) There is no "should"

5) Where happens after death? Nothing. You need to be intact and passing through time for it to count as life

Cheers, John

Heading to Hell

1) Where do you believe we came from?

Evolution from organic chemicals being acted on by a process of natural selection.

2) What is our human nature?(i.e. totally depraved, naturally good, clean slate, etc.)

We have probably evolved to get along with only our immediate family and kill anybody else, so our human nature isn't very nice really. The challenge is to break free of the "instincts" which have caused so much trouble.

3) What is the purpose of one's existence?

Make your life count. It's the only one you're likely to get.

4) How should one live? (basically asking... what is a moral life... and should one live a moral life?)

You are free to choose. Just don't hurt anyone.

5) Where happens after death?

Leave the best till last, don't you? My opinion; nothing at all. You die, and know no more.

Hope this makes you marginally less confused....

[ June 21, 2002: Message edited by: Heading to Hell ]</p>