Amos

Hi Keith, eternal does not mean unchanging. It just means that it pre-exists in the temporal world we, including me, recognize as existing.

Amos

No problem and I agree. The question is: do we actually realize this ourselves or did we let science prove this to us.

BigBadShrubbery

Well, MY opinion is that...

-Anything that lives and is not self-conscious, targets at survival

-Anything that lives and is self-conscious, targets and happiness

The point is that if you can think, just have fun.

Osiris

Have fun, but not at my expense.

Sattwic

Amos, what difference does it make?
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'Self' is only an illusionary consciosness of being different from all matter around.

callmejay

Back to the original post, I once heard (but can't remember where) that asking "What's the purpose of life?" is like asking "What's the purpose of a Sunday afternoon?"

Amos

Yes and because it is illusionary we are exterior to it which is good to manipulate it but good not to be at rest in it.

The difference is that the illusion motivates us to find unity and once we have achieved this we can say that the search for our identity is over. In this manner "to be" becomes equal to "not to be" because when we no longer exist in our illusion it can be said that we no longer are (. . . but Christ liveth in me"). Note, I am not preaching here but just trying to find some harmony. In this sense is our world of illusion "good for gaining wisdom, power and beauty" as found in Gen.3:6.

Amos

Sunday afternoon is designated as a special time of the day and of the week. It may just be the time I usually recover from my hangover and that will be good enough to be identified as such. Life, on the other hand, deals not with my hangover but with the me who has this hangover.

In this sense is life itself the "Ultimate" Form" and Sunday afternoon is just a "form." Could that be true?

callmejay

Amos,

Sometimes when people write things that seem to be overly abstract and metaphorical, it's because the subject matter really calls for it. Usually though, it's because what they are saying doesn't really make sense. If you can't explain what you are trying to say clearly, you probably don't understand it very well yourself.

Sunday afternoon doesn't intrinisically have the purpose of getting you over your hangover, but you can give it that purpose. If you do, it doesn't mean everyone else's Sunday has that purpose, but it can mean that yours does. So too, I believe, that if life is to have a purpose, we are the only ones who can give it one.

AnthonyAdams45

Friedrich Nietzsche The Gay Science section 109