Humans often wonder what their purpose is. All things that have a purpose have a purpose in reference to something else. The purpose of a hammer is to drive nails. The purpose of a nail is to secure wood together.
But, what is the purpose of something not artificial? The sun, for instance, has no purpose, although it certainly can be said that the sun serves a purpose for life on Earth. Things with a purpose are created to be used by the creator. If there is a god that created humans, then we can only have purpose in relation to it. And, god, then, would not have a purpose unless it, too was created by a god creating god. And so on, forever.
But, if we rephrase the question of human purpose in the context of evolution, then the answer could be that our purpose is to pass on our genetic material, and, hence, replicate our form of being and remain through time. Purpose can be self-created as in "Our purpose as humans is to explore the universe".
Perhaps those beings that are not created, but are self-conscious, are those special cases of beings that can create their own purpose as if they had created themselves. And, in a sense, we are self-creating in that we have the ability to influence our own education and evolution through the use of intelligence and technology. Humans therefore, do have a purpose in reference to something else, namely, themselves.
Self-referencing consciousness, or the awareness of being aware, makes humans, unlike animals and non-artificial objects, capable of having a purpose that transcends non-reflexive purposes such as those of biology. The purpose of the universe, then, may be similar to the purpose of humans in that it is here in order that it may see itself in infinite ways.
Religion, in all of its forms, is the creation of purpose using the artistic imagination and sentiments of human beings. Purpose is the end, the goal of our lives. Some believe that our purpose is to get into heaven, a utopian place where we exist eternally.
Others believe that we are supposed to achieve the end of Nirvana, a utopian state of mind that is in harmony with nature. And, there are those who believe it is our purpose to be reincarnated in the form of other people or life forms, destined to live in some way forever.
But, without using our imagination, without using our artistic talents, can we find purpose? I do not think we can. Biology shows us something very interesting about the purpose of life in general. It seems as though life came from non-life, and this initial life is more mechanical than we think of ourselves in terms of thought or motive.
So, if the virus is a primitive form of life, what is it's purpose? What is the motive of the virus? Why does it want to reproduce, to continue it's species? It seems as though the only reason for the actions of the virus come from its structural design.
And, all life since the fading of non-life into life, has never had any more biological purpose than the lowly virus- to reproduce and continue the species. Namely, survival as the most basic purpose of all life. But why survive? Why continue the species? What biological end is there in the natural world?
I would like to assert that there actually is no purpose in terms of biology. To reproduce is futile, we keep ourselves, as a race, here on Earth for as long as we can for what end? What is the end of humans? Also, to create purpose from a lack of purpose (religion) leaves us miserable once we determine that our formerly held purpose is actually no more than well written fiction.
So, if we should not think of purpose in terms of biology and in terms of artistic creation, then what purpose should we attribute to our existence? I have just answered my own question. Existence is the purpose.
The fact is, that as Human beings, we are capable of perception, we think we have free will, we think we can learn, understand and do a number of other things. We can love, we can feel, we can see and write and hate. Our complex and organized matter is capable of things that the very same matter will not be able to do once it deteriorates when we die.
So, purpose becomes an appreciation of existence, of being able to think, of being. We can only exist for a limited time, because our perception of existence is finite, maybe about 100 years at most.
We should appreciate this time, cherish it, because it may be the only time we have. We accept the nothingness, and we look it directly in the eyes, and tell it to fuck off. We are all here together, trying to figure things out... it is hard not to fall into the abyss when you walk on its edges, so we must steady our sense of balance, and look down with courage.
