I was sitting through my first Astronomy class today and in the midst of the new "beginning of the year" lecture the professor decides to ask us the almighty question: What is man's purpose in life? Scientifically speaking.
I wrote some corny answer like always. One reason was because there was no way I'd get my answer into one sentence and two I really did not agree with the question in general. Here's what I think:
I think that it's a question we should stop asking ourselves. The question "what is man's purpose?" gives us the idea that there is a universal purpose... that everyone is here for the same reason and that makes some people or groups of people think that they've discovered everyone's purpose and that everyone else should follow said group's purpose and strive for it just like they do. That creates controversy. I don't believe in that. I think the question should be "what do I want my purpose to be?" and to stop worrying about what big plans the universe gave the human race and what everyone should be doing. Personally, I think we should focus on what we think our own individual purpose in life is and not worry about what everyone else believes.
Think of it this way, humans have been trying to find out what man's purpose is for an untold amount of years. They've looked towards religion and science to find out why everyone is here... and in the end all of them have died still wondering it and possibly more confused then ever. It creates wars and anger. Religious cultures fight each other over who really knows what everyone's purpose is. Scientists argue with religious cultures and nobody gets anywhere. And the miraculous thing is that even though humans still don't know why they are all here or how they got here and nobody seems to agree with each other... humans are still alive and happy! The world continues to turn.
Instead, why don't we stop trying to figure out "man's" purpose and decide our own instead? Why can't each of us decide a specific goal in our life and just go for it? Why can't each person have their own beliefs and not have everyone else try to change them? If a person believes God or Buddha put him here, then let him have his beliefs. Stop trying to change him. If a person loves the ocean or tigers or art, let them focus on that. Don't think that they're crazy for caring about the environment. Stop worrying about what you think everyone else should be working for and focus on what you as individual can do that makes you happy.
