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Uncertainty
Forum Master
Joined: 23 Oct 2005
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 Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2006 11:11 am Post subject: |
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| Moloth wrote: | | Uncertainty wrote: | Help I'm ODing on cheesy jokes  |
oh, don't worry.. i've got some Gouda ones, too. |
I knew you were going to make a cheese joke out of that. |
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ChrissyFos
Lobal Dominatrix
Joined: 08 Dec 2005
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| Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2006 11:13 am Post subject: |
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| Moloth wrote: | | Flipper? i don't even KNOW her! |
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Moloth
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| Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2006 11:15 am Post subject: |
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*sigh* welp, my work here is done. 
/bows out, George Costanza style
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Last edited by Moloth on Tue Feb 30, 2026 13:61 am; edited 426 times in total |
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rock
Forum Master
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| Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2006 12:40 pm Post subject: |
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| Uncertainty wrote: | | Can some people give me examples of their "purpose"? Not religious people, I mean atheists. Because I don't really get what someone would make that as, the only thing I can think of is "live and be happy" or constantly changing it with new long or short term goals. |
My purpose in life is to be. It's quite elementary really, just like my purpose in death is to not be.
Really though my purpose in life isn't to spend to much time thinking of what my purpose is or should be, but to just do my purpose if you will. You know whether or not I have a purpose in life is irrelevant to me, I enjoy my life and at the end of the day thats all that matters.
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Moloth
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| Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2006 12:45 pm Post subject: |
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my problem is that the generic purpose of life, to pass on genetic material, holds no real appeal to me. that leaves me completely adrift.
I am currently questing for a purpose for my life... one of my own design. I have no family, almost no responsibilities and noting tying me down (except for some financial debt, but that is slowly being chipped away). Once i have my financial freedom, i'll NO reason to be anywhere, do anything or act in any certain way. The world will be wide open to me. NYC, Japan, Seattle... i have no idea where i'll end up.
I have no path, no destiny to fulfill in this life. Its complete freedom... but its also very lonely and can be occasionally scary. I want to find/create something that i can devote my life to, something to give it meaning, something to give me a sense of purpose and reason to wake up every day.
right now, i don't have that.. at least not in any sort if fulfilling way.
Perhaps one day i WILL have a purpose... but, right now, i'm operating under the sole hope that i will find/create one at a later date.
is that sad.. or awesome? i can't tell.
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-=The Believer is Happy; the Skeptic is Wise=-
www.Moloth.com
Last edited by Moloth on Tue Feb 30, 2026 13:61 am; edited 426 times in total |
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ChrissyFos
Lobal Dominatrix
Joined: 08 Dec 2005
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| Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2006 12:57 pm Post subject: |
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I think a lot of people, mainly believers, mistake obligations for purpose. They create the reality they live in then try to doll it up with fancy words like purpose or meaning. It would do them no good to sit around and wish they had chosen another path, so they must delude themselves into thinking that the decisions they've made or the path they've chosen (i.e. having enough children to create a football team) is meant to be or part of some master plan.
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This space is reserved for inarticulate meat puppets who have no true perspective outside the refuge of quotation marks.
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kmisho
Stochastic
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| Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2006 1:18 pm Post subject: |
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| Yellow_Number_Five wrote: | That's my problem, I don't think we have purposes, I don't think God gives them to us, I don't think we create them for ourselves, I think the word "pupose" is a bogus word we're somehow conditioned to attatch to a finite existence.
Stop worrying about what your purpose is (you don't have one), and live your life.
Meh, it's in the link I posted. |
To me it all boils down to a desire to feel special in some awesome cosmic sense. When it's true that this entire solar system exploding would hardly affect the nearest star, religious people have a hard time constructing a case FOR purpose. As I often say: relative to the totality of the known universe, humanity, for all proactical purposes, does not exist.
I think the desire to feel special, then, stems from a fear of not being special, a fear of worthlessness. As with most things religious, it reduces to fantasies meant to stave off fears.
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K Michau
Now this religion happens to prevail/Until by that one it is overthrown/Because men dare not live with men alone/But always with another fairy tale.
al-Ma'arri, Syrian Poet, died 1057
You deny the existence of 999 alleged Gods. I merely deny one more - yours.
John MacKinnon Robertson, "Godism" 1896
"Never is a long time." Robert Fripp, 1998
Poetry, Art, Music |
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Moloth
Coin Operated Boy
Joined: 27 Aug 2003
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Location: Warner Robins, GA
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| Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2006 1:41 pm Post subject: |
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| ChrissyFos wrote: | | I think a lot of people, mainly believers, mistake obligations for purpose. They create the reality they live in then try to doll it up with fancy words like purpose or meaning. It would do them no good to sit around and wish they had chosen another path, so they must delude themselves into thinking that the decisions they've made or the path they've chosen (i.e. having enough children to create a football team) is meant to be or part of some master plan. |
well said. i agree.
| kmisho wrote: | | Yellow_Number_Five wrote: | That's my problem, I don't think we have purposes, I don't think God gives them to us, I don't think we create them for ourselves, I think the word "pupose" is a bogus word we're somehow conditioned to attatch to a finite existence.
Stop worrying about what your purpose is (you don't have one), and live your life.
Meh, it's in the link I posted. |
To me it all boils down to a desire to feel special in some awesome cosmic sense. When it's true that this entire solar system exploding would hardly affect the nearest star, religious people have a hard time constructing a case FOR purpose. As I often say: relative to the totality of the known universe, humanity, for all proactical purposes, does not exist.
I think the desire to feel special, then, stems from a fear of not being special, a fear of worthlessness. As with most things religious, it reduces to fantasies meant to stave off fears. |
Oh, i can agree with this as well. i am looking for a meaning, for WORTH to the world and society in which i inhabit... as much i'd like to be an island unto myself, I am a Homo Sapien and as such, i am a social mammal... i need to connect with others of my species. i need recognition. i need love and attention. i need praise. i need confirmation.
i wish i could live without those things... i really, really do.
_________________
-=The Believer is Happy; the Skeptic is Wise=-
www.Moloth.com
Last edited by Moloth on Tue Feb 30, 2026 13:61 am; edited 426 times in total |
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Uncertainty
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Joined: 23 Oct 2005
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| Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2006 1:53 pm Post subject: |
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| rock wrote: | | Uncertainty wrote: | | Can some people give me examples of their "purpose"? Not religious people, I mean atheists. Because I don't really get what someone would make that as, the only thing I can think of is "live and be happy" or constantly changing it with new long or short term goals. |
My purpose in life is to be. It's quite elementary really, just like my purpose in death is to not be.
Really though my purpose in life isn't to spend to much time thinking of what my purpose is or should be, but to just do my purpose if you will. You know whether or not I have a purpose in life is irrelevant to me, I enjoy my life and at the end of the day thats all that matters. |
I still don't really get what someone would make their "purpose"  . I don't know the whole word just jumbles my head up and I can't even think about how to say what I mean . It must be Jesus trying to get to me. |
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rock
Forum Master
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| Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2006 2:14 pm Post subject: |
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I still don't really get what someone would make their "purpose" Razz. I don't know the whole word just jumbles my head up and I can't even think about how to say what I mean Razz. It must be Jesus trying to get to me.
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Well maybe thats the problem. How do you define purpose and how much value do you give to it?
Like the way I define purpose is no where near the way the people in ChrissyFos's example would define it.
_________________
We got the wall of D.C. to remind us all
That you can't trust freedom
When it's not in your hands
When everybody's fightin'
For their promised lands |
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CET
The Spiritual Atheist
Joined: 02 Apr 2003
Posts: 12842
Local time: 4:58 PM
Location: SoCal, USA
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| Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2006 6:05 pm Post subject: |
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In my experience, individuals who are happy, successful and fulfilled can almost always recite their purpose in life at the drop of a hate. Individuals who are unhappy, unsuccessful and unfulfilled almost always stumble and stammer when asked what their purpose is.
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Namaste,
CET 
The Spiritual Atheist
"Much of the suffering in the world comes from the delusion that we are separate from one another." - Gautama Buddha
"Those who dance are considered insane by those who can't hear the music." - George Carlin |
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CET
The Spiritual Atheist
Joined: 02 Apr 2003
Posts: 12842
Local time: 4:58 PM
Location: SoCal, USA
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| Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2006 6:07 pm Post subject: |
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| Moloth wrote: | my problem is that the generic purpose of life, to pass on genetic material, holds no real appeal to me. that leaves me completely adrift.
I am currently questing for a purpose for my life... one of my own design. I have no family, almost no responsibilities and noting tying me down (except for some financial debt, but that is slowly being chipped away). Once i have my financial freedom, i'll NO reason to be anywhere, do anything or act in any certain way. The world will be wide open to me. NYC, Japan, Seattle... i have no idea where i'll end up.
I have no path, no destiny to fulfill in this life. Its complete freedom... but its also very lonely and can be occasionally scary. I want to find/create something that i can devote my life to, something to give it meaning, something to give me a sense of purpose and reason to wake up every day.
right now, i don't have that.. at least not in any sort if fulfilling way.
Perhaps one day i WILL have a purpose... but, right now, i'm operating under the sole hope that i will find/create one at a later date.
is that sad.. or awesome? i can't tell. |
That's awesome! You have the sense to ask the question, even if you don't know the answer.
Here's to you Moloth! 
_________________
Namaste,
CET
The Spiritual Atheist
"Much of the suffering in the world comes from the delusion that we are separate from one another." - Gautama Buddha
"Those who dance are considered insane by those who can't hear the music." - George Carlin |
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Moloth
Coin Operated Boy
Joined: 27 Aug 2003
Posts: 23071
Local time: 7:58 PM
Location: Warner Robins, GA
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| Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2006 6:08 pm Post subject: |
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| CET wrote: | | In my experience, individuals who are happy, successful and fulfilled can almost always recite their purpose in life at the drop of a hate. Individuals who are unhappy, unsuccessful and unfulfilled almost always stumble and stammer when asked what their purpose is. |
*waves* hi! i'm the latter that wants to be the former!
_________________
-=The Believer is Happy; the Skeptic is Wise=-
www.Moloth.com
Last edited by Moloth on Tue Feb 30, 2026 13:61 am; edited 426 times in total |
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AiiA
Joined: 26 Mar 2004
Posts: 2542
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Location: Inside your head
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| Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2006 6:34 pm Post subject: |
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| CET wrote: | | In my experience, individuals who are happy, successful and fulfilled can almost always recite their purpose in life at the drop of a hate. Individuals who are unhappy, unsuccessful and unfulfilled almost always stumble and stammer when asked what their purpose is. |
Success does not mean happiness.
Unsuccessful does not mean unhappiness.
Fulfilled does not mean happiness.
Unfulfilled does not mean unhappiness.
Lack of purpose does not mean unhappiness.
Purpose does not mean happiness. |
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CET
The Spiritual Atheist
Joined: 02 Apr 2003
Posts: 12842
Local time: 4:58 PM
Location: SoCal, USA
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| Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2006 6:35 pm Post subject: |
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| CET wrote: | | In my experience, individuals who are happy, successful and fulfilled can almost always recite their purpose in life at the drop of a hate. Individuals who are unhappy, unsuccessful and unfulfilled almost always stumble and stammer when asked what their purpose is. |
| Moloth wrote: | | *waves* hi! i'm the latter that wants to be the former! |
There's a few ways to go about it, but they're all basically the same thing.
1. What do you HAVE to see happen before you die?
2. Write your obituary with your deepest desire fulfilled.
3. Sit in a quiet room with nothing but a blank notebook and a pencil (or a pen). Sit there and stare at the paper until you write something down or until 15 minutes passes. Do that every day until you write something down.
4. Do 3, but take a vacation to a solitude place for at least 24 hours. Don't take in ANY media or read ANYTHING. No TV, no books, no computer, no street signs, NOTHING.
When you realize what your purpose is and you align your life towards it, everything changes. Your diet changes, your clothes change, your body language changes, your attitudes and views change, your words change.
I discovered my purpose close to a year ago, and a lot of things went into motion at that point. I have more friends then I've ever had. I get along with my family better then ever. I've got the GF I've always wanted, and who's hopelessly and desperately in love with me. I'm working on a business plan that will express my purpose AND make me a millionaire before I'm 50 (Reggie's gettin a windfall when that happens).
_________________
Namaste,
CET
The Spiritual Atheist
"Much of the suffering in the world comes from the delusion that we are separate from one another." - Gautama Buddha
"Those who dance are considered insane by those who can't hear the music." - George Carlin |
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