| Life stance | Main purpose |
|---|---|
| Buddhism | To help sentient beings end their suffering (see The Four Noble Truths) with Karma and Dharma methods. |
| Christianity | Love God, Love others. The Great Comission |
| Hinduism | To worship work (Karma) according to law (Dharma) without any thought of result, as said in the Bhagavad Gita. |
| Humanism | To promote human flourishing. |
| Islam | The Arabic word Islam means peace, submission and obedience to God's will. |
| Judaism | To serve God[9] and to prepare for the world to come[10] ("Olam Haba").[11] |
| Postmodernism | To create complex structures and interactions with purpose of joy and understanding. |
Sunday, June 26, 2011
To propose a purpose...
The purpose in life has different explanations from different life stances. It may differ substantially within the communities of each life stance, but the examples below are the purposes that are generally accepted as the main for each life stance.
Life...
Life (cf. biota) is a characteristic that distinguishes objects that have signaling and self-sustaining processes (i. e., living organisms) from those that do not,[1][2] either because such functions have ceased (death), or else because they lack such functions and are classified as inanimate.[3][4] Biology is the science concerned with the study of life.
Living organisms undergo metabolism, maintain homeostasis, possess a capacity to grow, respond to stimuli, reproduce and, through natural selection, adapt to their environment in successive generations. More complex living organisms can communicate through various means.[1][5] A diverse array of living organisms (life forms) can be found in the biosphere on Earth, and the properties common to these organisms—plants, animals, fungi, protists, archaea, and bacteria—are a carbon- and water-based cellular form with complex organization and heritable genetic information.
In philosophy and religion, the conception of life and its nature varies. Both offer interpretations as to how life relates to existence and consciousness, and both touch on many related issues, including life stance, purpose, conception of a god or gods, a soul or an afterlife.
Living organisms undergo metabolism, maintain homeostasis, possess a capacity to grow, respond to stimuli, reproduce and, through natural selection, adapt to their environment in successive generations. More complex living organisms can communicate through various means.[1][5] A diverse array of living organisms (life forms) can be found in the biosphere on Earth, and the properties common to these organisms—plants, animals, fungi, protists, archaea, and bacteria—are a carbon- and water-based cellular form with complex organization and heritable genetic information.
In philosophy and religion, the conception of life and its nature varies. Both offer interpretations as to how life relates to existence and consciousness, and both touch on many related issues, including life stance, purpose, conception of a god or gods, a soul or an afterlife.
On the origin of Life...
Theory of Chemical Evolution
Back to TopThis theory is also known as Materialistic Theory or Physico-chemical Theory. According this theory, Origin of life on earth is the result of a slow and gradual process of chemical evolution that probably occurred about 3.8 billion years ago. This theory was proposed independently by two scientists - A.I.Oparin, a Russian scientist in 1923 and J.B.S Haldane, an English scientist, in 1928.
According to this theory,
- Spontaneous generation of life, under the present environmental conditions is not possible.
- Earth's surface and atmosphere during the first billion years of existence, were radically different from that of today's conditions.
- The primitive earth's atmosphere was a reducing type of atmosphere and not oxidising type.
- The first life arose from a collection of chemical substances through a progressive series of chemical reactions.
- Solar radiation, heat radiated by earth and lighting must have been the chief energy source for these chemical reactions.
Theory of Spontaneous Generation
This theory assumed that living organisms could arise suddenly and spontaneously from any kind of non-living matter. One of the firm believers in spontaneous generation was Aristotle, the Greek philosopher (384-322 BC).
He believed that dead leaves falling from a tree into a pond would transform into fishes and those falling on soil would transform into worms and insects. He also held that some insects develop from morning dew and rotting manure. Egyptians believed that mud of the Nile river could spontaneously give rise to many forms of life. The idea of spontaneous generation was popular almost till seventeenth century. Many scientists like Descartes, Galileo and Helmont supported this idea. In fact, Von Helmont went to the extent stating that he had prepared a 'soup' from which he could spontaneously generate rats! The 'soup' consisted of a dirty cloth soaked in water with a handful of wheat grains. Helmont stated that if human sweat is added as an 'active principle' to this, in just 17 days, it could generate rats!
The theory of Spontaneous Generation was disproved in the course of time due to the experiment conducted by Fransisco Redi, (1665), Spallanzani (1765) and later by Louis Pasteur (1864) in his famous Swan neck experiment. This theory was disapproved, as scientists gave definite proof that life comes from pre-existing life.
This denial makes sense when it is stated as I just did, as an attack on this old Greek assumption. But they did not state it like that, and the results reverbarate to this day. It resulted in what some like to call the paradox or religion within science; the concept of 'something from nothing'.
To pursue scientific truths we require proof, seeks to explain the events of nature in a reproducible way, and to use these findings to make useful predictions. These scientific predictions are based on 'something from something'. This excludes the notion of 'something from nothing' as real, thus falsifialble. The religious paradox the secular scientific atheist lives in is its own explanation of how our universe began. The Big Bang theory in itself is the ultimate story of creation arising from nothing.
So it is with the origin of life, todays secular scientific thought will dismiss Aristotles theory with contempt , just to replace it with exactely the same theory, only reduced to 'one single critical moment' and 'just the right conditions' for Life to 'spontaneously generate' out of non-living matter.
On the origin of Life...
Theory of Catastrophism
It is simply a modification of the theory of Special Creation. It states that there have been several creations of life by God, each preceded by a catastrophe resulting from some kind of geological disturbance. According to this theory, since each catastrophe completely destroyed the existing life, each new creation consisted of life form different from that of previous ones.If the god Cuvier talks about here is the Abrahamic god, all powerful, all knowing and according to Christianity, all loving, why is it 'God' has to deal with 'Catastrophes'? Of course the god in this context is Life, dealing with her enviroment, adapting, surviving.
Metabolism is the result of our feeding. Hunger forces us to...
Metabolism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 | Look up metabolism in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
Metabolism (from Greek μεταβολισμός (metabochode'), "outthrow") is the set of chemical reactions that happen in living organisms to maintain life. These processes allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments. Metabolism is usually divided into two categories. Catabolism breaks down organic matter, for example to harvest energy in cellular respiration. Anabolism uses energy to construct components of cells such as proteins and nucleic acids.
The chemical reactions of metabolism are organized into metabolic pathways, in which one chemical is transformed through a series of steps into another chemical, by a sequence of enzymes. Enzymes are crucial to metabolism because they allow organisms to drive desirable reactions that require energy and will not occur by themselves, by coupling them to spontaneous reactions that release energy. As enzymes act as catalysts they allow these reactions to proceed quickly and efficiently. Enzymes also allow the regulation of metabolic pathways in response to changes in the cell's environment or signals from other cells.
The metabolism of an organism determines which substances it will find nutritious and which it will find poisonous. For example, some prokaryotes use hydrogen sulfide as a nutrient, yet this gas is poisonous to animals.[1] The speed of metabolism, the metabolic rate, also influences how much food an organism will require.
## within this scientific explanation we found another great paradox within the materialistic mechanical scientific explanation of life's origin; the inevetable antropomorphizing qualities of our existence. 'The organism determines' and 'which substances it will find nutritious'. These aren't qualifications of matter but of consciousness. ##
Alan Watts...
"...A thing is a think!'
or:
Whatever we believe is real, we've experienced. Our consciousness is based on the experience of differences within our own being. These differences are echo's of the original duality of our being. The duality of the opposites, crystalized in Pain and Pleasure and the Fear of Pain. The Yin-Yang of our being, the trinity of our consciousness. The original opposites of Pain and Pleasure first experienced as Hunger and Lust resulted in the first ever action taken by Life; feeding.
or:
Whatever we believe is real, we've experienced. Our consciousness is based on the experience of differences within our own being. These differences are echo's of the original duality of our being. The duality of the opposites, crystalized in Pain and Pleasure and the Fear of Pain. The Yin-Yang of our being, the trinity of our consciousness. The original opposites of Pain and Pleasure first experienced as Hunger and Lust resulted in the first ever action taken by Life; feeding.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Radical Empiricism
"In its most radical forms, empiricism holds that all of our knowledge is derived from the senses. This position leads naturally to the verificationist principle that the meaning of statements is inextrically tied to the experiences that would confirm them. According to this principle, it is only if it is possible to empirically test a claim that the claim has meaning. As all of our information comes from our senses, it is impossible for us to talk about that which we have not experienced. Statements that are not tied to our experiences are therefore meaningless.
This principle, which was associated with a now unpopular position called logical positivism, renders religious and ethical claims literally nonsensical. No observations could confirm religious or ethical claims, therefore those claims are meaningless. Radical empiricism thus requires the abandonment of religious and ethical discourse, let alone belief." - http://www.theoryofknowledge.info/empiricism.html
"No observations could confirm religious or ethical claims, therefore those claims are meaningless"
Only when you forget about life's herstory on this planet; religious thought from Abrahamic origin tells us an All powerful God is up there. He has the capability to 'punish' us (comets, tectonic upheaval) but also It's what was allready there when we became aware of Him, It, it... whatever. We know we arose from this universe and we know it'll kill us if we do not adapt. That's what lies at the core of the three Abrahamic religions; Judaism, Christianity and Islam.... Now pair each one of them up with the one of the life forces.
Hunger or suffering is basic to the jewish story. Roaming the desert for 40 years, in search of the land of milk and honey. Judaism is the personifacation of hunger.
Look at Christianity, the protector of modern capitalism, the agent of lust. Don't get me started on all those pedophile priests. Christianity has sexuallity at his core, mostly fear thereof.
Islam. For both jews and christians today and in memory Islam equals fear.
I know this hasn't to do with anything factual and scientific. I know that all people within all religions experience all three force and none of them experience their religion as a metaphor for any thing, let alone a life force, it's still a remarkable coincidense when you find out the more eastern way of thinking about life and reduce their thoughts to the trinity of our consciousness;
Buddha tells us:
1. The original suffering is not to be able to feed: hunger
2. Attachment is to cling. It is the other side of the coin, pleasure or lust. You'll first experience lust for food, then pain.
3. Cessation of suffering is in a real sense loosing your appitite. Fear does that to you...
4. well, its a guide to not suffering, a thing all life forms go for. For us it's more difficult... hence religion.
When we apply the 'Theory of Reduction' to our consciousness (senses as described above) and we incorporate this with the 'Theory of Evolution', starting out as single-celled microbes we arrive at the most logical, rational, foundational, coherent and reliable conclusion; hunger & lust is/are the life force. The third force, completing the trinity, is the Buddha's Third Noble Truth: Cessation of suffering. (suffering is Buddha's first Noble Truth, i.e. Hunger, second is desire, i.e. Lust. It all describes our Original Consciousness) What is it that keeps us from suffering? It’s our Fear of suffering. It’s all over the place, we’ve known it all along; pain, pleasure, fear… It’s in all our metaphors, all our superlatives. Lust for this, Hunger for that, fear for this and fear for that. Freedom means doing what you want, desire. Pain is failing to do what you want. The origin of suffering is desire, 2nd noble truth.
We are the ‘free’ to influence our own destiny, making choices. These choices are either based on one of the three life-forces, hunger, lust or fear. Or they are based on the hard-laboured new and inescapable force; Love. Not romantic love, not abstract emotions making us cry-kind-a-love, but practical love. Love that kept us alive.
This love, I’ve written about extensively in my blog “Hidden in plain view: Hunger is the Life Force” is the original love; mother-love.
At this moment we are deprived of the knowledge, gnosis, from which we came. Soon we’ll have to accept that for life to survive, we humans, created in the image of our creator, are ourselves creators and victims of our senses, our consciousness. Without us, life will not be able to create her/our next phase in life. By cannibalising on the consciousness of others, we created the extreme opposites within our consciousness, her, life’s experience.
The simple fact is that life eventually will have to leave this planet. For her to leave this planet she needs near-perfect Sophia’s. The near perfect woman. To experience the selfish atrocities together with the, less well known, deeds of altruism, she’ll be able to keep the good and discard the bad.
Out there in space we have no planet to fall back on, no save haven. We’ll be completely depending on and other. Depending on the other. Your neighbour. You don’t have to even like your neighbour, but you must love him. Whenever required, you’ll save his ass when you can. Don’t cause Hunger, don’t cause Pain, don’t cause fear. And when in Lust, refrain.
This principle, which was associated with a now unpopular position called logical positivism, renders religious and ethical claims literally nonsensical. No observations could confirm religious or ethical claims, therefore those claims are meaningless. Radical empiricism thus requires the abandonment of religious and ethical discourse, let alone belief." - http://www.theoryofknowledge.info/empiricism.html
"No observations could confirm religious or ethical claims, therefore those claims are meaningless"
Only when you forget about life's herstory on this planet; religious thought from Abrahamic origin tells us an All powerful God is up there. He has the capability to 'punish' us (comets, tectonic upheaval) but also It's what was allready there when we became aware of Him, It, it... whatever. We know we arose from this universe and we know it'll kill us if we do not adapt. That's what lies at the core of the three Abrahamic religions; Judaism, Christianity and Islam.... Now pair each one of them up with the one of the life forces.
Hunger or suffering is basic to the jewish story. Roaming the desert for 40 years, in search of the land of milk and honey. Judaism is the personifacation of hunger.
Look at Christianity, the protector of modern capitalism, the agent of lust. Don't get me started on all those pedophile priests. Christianity has sexuallity at his core, mostly fear thereof.
Islam. For both jews and christians today and in memory Islam equals fear.
I know this hasn't to do with anything factual and scientific. I know that all people within all religions experience all three force and none of them experience their religion as a metaphor for any thing, let alone a life force, it's still a remarkable coincidense when you find out the more eastern way of thinking about life and reduce their thoughts to the trinity of our consciousness;
Buddha tells us:
The Four Noble Truths Are:
1. The original suffering is not to be able to feed: hunger
2. Attachment is to cling. It is the other side of the coin, pleasure or lust. You'll first experience lust for food, then pain.
3. Cessation of suffering is in a real sense loosing your appitite. Fear does that to you...
4. well, its a guide to not suffering, a thing all life forms go for. For us it's more difficult... hence religion.
When we apply the 'Theory of Reduction' to our consciousness (senses as described above) and we incorporate this with the 'Theory of Evolution', starting out as single-celled microbes we arrive at the most logical, rational, foundational, coherent and reliable conclusion; hunger & lust is/are the life force. The third force, completing the trinity, is the Buddha's Third Noble Truth: Cessation of suffering. (suffering is Buddha's first Noble Truth, i.e. Hunger, second is desire, i.e. Lust. It all describes our Original Consciousness) What is it that keeps us from suffering? It’s our Fear of suffering. It’s all over the place, we’ve known it all along; pain, pleasure, fear… It’s in all our metaphors, all our superlatives. Lust for this, Hunger for that, fear for this and fear for that. Freedom means doing what you want, desire. Pain is failing to do what you want. The origin of suffering is desire, 2nd noble truth.
We are the ‘free’ to influence our own destiny, making choices. These choices are either based on one of the three life-forces, hunger, lust or fear. Or they are based on the hard-laboured new and inescapable force; Love. Not romantic love, not abstract emotions making us cry-kind-a-love, but practical love. Love that kept us alive.
This love, I’ve written about extensively in my blog “Hidden in plain view: Hunger is the Life Force” is the original love; mother-love.
At this moment we are deprived of the knowledge, gnosis, from which we came. Soon we’ll have to accept that for life to survive, we humans, created in the image of our creator, are ourselves creators and victims of our senses, our consciousness. Without us, life will not be able to create her/our next phase in life. By cannibalising on the consciousness of others, we created the extreme opposites within our consciousness, her, life’s experience.
The simple fact is that life eventually will have to leave this planet. For her to leave this planet she needs near-perfect Sophia’s. The near perfect woman. To experience the selfish atrocities together with the, less well known, deeds of altruism, she’ll be able to keep the good and discard the bad.
Out there in space we have no planet to fall back on, no save haven. We’ll be completely depending on and other. Depending on the other. Your neighbour. You don’t have to even like your neighbour, but you must love him. Whenever required, you’ll save his ass when you can. Don’t cause Hunger, don’t cause Pain, don’t cause fear. And when in Lust, refrain.
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