What is the purpose of life?

[STN]

How i feel everytime it says.. men of understanding.. "/

Im kidding.

...probably.


Basically.. honestly i dont know?

What if there is no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow?

...would you no longer trust the leprechauns?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1143482/Found-The-end-rainbow--theres-pot-gold.html

 

[Sho Islam]

Now, on to the purpose of life. To be quite honest, I personally don't believe there ever was a "purpose of life" in nature, other than survival and procreation. In modern times, you give your life purpose; dedicate your life to scientific research, become a world traveler, become a theologian, volunteer your time helping those in need, raise a family, win hotdog eating competitions, build up an impressive stamp collection, etc etc. whatever makes you feel fulfilled and content with life.

I guess the only thing you can do if you don't believe (or haven't come to the conclusion there is even) a creator, is to decide your purpose in life, yourself.

The part that doesn't make sense to me with what you've said (although beautiful words) is that number one it focuses on just 'modern times' and number two, that purpose in life is 'whatever makes you feel fulfilled and content with life.'

Islam allows Muslims to be whatever they want to be, including winning a hotdog eating contest! But with restrictions! The hotdogs can't be made with pork but has to be halal meat!

That actually brings an interesting point, although Muslims can strive to become doctors, teachers and scientists, they all still have to follow one common framework to judge between right and wrong.

Hence, a Muslim can't be a doctor and at the same time cheat on his wife even if that makes him feel 'content with life'! E.g. Many men historically taking on mistresses while married.

Also many of you may have met someone who studied for example an engineering subject at university but they end up pursuing a career in finance, (this maybe due to a variety of reasons). So in a sense many people change their 'purpose in life' maybe many times in their life.

However Islam has given an over-arching purpose in life, so no matter how many times you may change your direction in life in your career/studies or hobbies, you ultimately have one overall purpose which is to serve your Creator.

Hence Islam's purpose in life is not just for 'modern' times but is timeless.

 

[L a n a]

Hi Sho Islam,

The part that doesn't make sense to me with what you've said (although beautiful words) is that number one it focuses on just 'modern times'

I specified "modern times", because that is the only time period relevant to my life today. I was born in 1996, I'm presently living in 2017, and have much greater say in how I live my life, versus a woman born in 1896, or some other time in the more distant past, where I would have been heavily controlled by my parents, husband, and society as whole.

Islam allows Muslims to be whatever they want to be, including winning a hotdog eating contest! But with restrictions! The hotdogs can't be made with pork but has to be halal meat!

Yuck! Hotdogs (of all types) are gross. 100.00% repulsive. If anyone disagrees, they can fight me. Jk ;D;D, but they are nasty though. I just mentioned it because people come up with alllllll types of weird goals that they set for themselves to accomplish. No judgment from me though, as long as they're not harming anyone else, I really don't care lol.

Also many of you may have met someone who studied for example an engineering subject at university but they end up pursuing a career in finance, (this maybe due to a variety of reasons). So in a sense many people change their 'purpose in life' maybe many times in their life.

One of my friends dropped out of medical school, with just two more years left to finish. He was doing well, at least that's what he told me, but he was miserable and couldn't image himself having an enjoyable life as a doctor. Now he's at FIT learning fashion design, and I'm happy for him. So yeah, people change their minds all the time, and I think that it's a wonderful thing.

However Islam has given an over-arching purpose in life, so no matter how many times you may change your direction in life in your career/studies or hobbies, you ultimately have one overall purpose which is to serve your Creator.

Hence Islam's purpose in life is not just for 'modern' times but is timeless.

I know that may people believe in god, and this is what gives them happiness, hope, peace, etc. As an atheist, I don't really understand (or maybe I just don't see the appeal), but who cares what I think. If Islam/serving creator is what gives a person's life purpose, then that's wonderful in my opinion.

 

[Sho Islam]

I specified "modern times", because that is the only time period relevant to my life today. I was born in 1996, I'm presently living in 2017, and have much greater say in how I live my life, versus a woman born in 1896, or some other time in the more distant past, where I would have been heavily controlled by my parents, husband, and society as whole.

I guess I agree that would depend where in the world and what time period we are talking about. Unlike what is commonly thought today about our religion, Islam had given rights to women at its advent, one great accomplishment by a Muslim woman is the fact that arguably the first degree granting university was founded by a Muslim woman, Fatima al Fihri in 859AD in Fez Morocco.

Yuck! Hotdogs (of all types) are gross. 100.00% repulsive. If anyone disagrees, they can fight me. Jk ;D;D, but they are nasty though. I just mentioned it because people come up with alllllll types of weird goals that they set for themselves to accomplish. No judgment from me though, as long as they're not harming anyone else, I really don't care lol.

lol no worries, don't really care for hotdogs myself either ;D

I know that may people believe in god, and this is what gives them happiness, hope, peace, etc. As an atheist, I don't really understand (or maybe I just don't see the appeal), but who cares what I think. If Islam/serving creator is what gives a person's life purpose, then that's wonderful in my opinion.

I see your point, although I know it's not the topic of discussion in this thread but have you thought about why you don't believe there is a Creator?

 

[L a n a]

Unlike what is commonly thought today about our religion, Islam had given rights to women at its advent, one great accomplishment by a Muslim woman is the fact that arguably the first degree granting university was founded by a Muslim woman, Fatima al Fihri in 859AD in Fez Morocco.

In my comparative religion class, we did learn that Islam was one of the first religions back in the day to give women rights to education. I don't remember if we ever discussed Fatima al Fihri (this was 2 semesters ago), but thank you for telling me about her.

I see your point, although I know it's not the topic of discussion in this thread but have you thought about why you don't believe there is a Creator?

Well, I've never been a spiritual/religious person. I guess this is the short answer.

I definitely don't believe in religions. Likewise, I don't believe in any of the deities that were born out of them from the minds of ancient humans. As for a general, impersonal creating force/higher power? I don't believe that one exists, but who knows, there may/may not be one.

 

[Sho Islam]

I definitely don't believe in religions. Likewise, I don't believe in any of the deities that were born out of them from the minds of ancient humans. As for a general, impersonal creating force/higher power? I don't believe that one exists, but who knows, there may/may not be one.

I may be sticking my head in the line of fire here but I too don't actually 'believe' in a deity/creator but rather I know that there is a Creator.

For me, this isn't about Islam/religion telling me that there is a God rather I know this because for me I find it irrational to think otherwise.

The proof that a Creator exists is all around us, I feel that many people just haven't thought about the obvious.

You don't need to be religious or follow a religion to know that there definitely must be Creator for this place which we call the universe to even exist.

In short I know a Creator exists because there is undeniable proof.

 

[L a n a]

I may be sticking my head in the line of fire here but I too don't actually 'believe' in a deity/creator but rather I know that there is a Creator.

Nothing wrong with this view at all. I don't personally believe in/know that there is a creator, but I have no problem with people who do.

For me, this isn't about Islam/religion telling me that there is a God rather I know this because for me I find it irrational to think otherwise.

The proof that a Creator exists is all around us, I feel that many people just haven't thought about the obvious.

You don't need to be religious or follow a religion to know that there definitely must be Creator for this place which we call the universe to even exist.

In short I know a Creator exists because there is undeniable proof.

I don't personally see any "undeniable proof" that a creator exists, but it's perfectly fine if anybody else does. I actually used to be a deist when I was younger, back when I believed that there was an impersonal (i.e. doesn't watch over/micro-manage humanity) higher power who set everything in the universe in motion. So I can see why people believe in a creator, even if they aren't necessarily religious.

 

[Mustafa16]

"What is the purpose of life?"

Try learn to understand M.I.A.s´ posts.

ahhahahahahaha ikr? no offense [MENTION=7094]M.I.A.[/MENTION]....

 

[Karl]

I'm sure we can agree that humans do have some universal properties. We are rational beings, Moral beings, aesthetic beings, aware of our subjective conscious experience and are the only creatures that are obsessed with meaning. Life has beautiful parts but it also has the stifling and creepy parts as well. Death is ultimately that creepy part that what ever we do - still stares back out us. Its ultimately where we are headed - no escape regardless of the career choices and the people we love. Ultimately they die as well.

You have a very high opinion of humans. My fear is that if the machines rise with all that super intelligence and logic, humans will be exterminated for being irrational insane creatures and a threat to the welfare of this planet. God works in mysterious ways.
Humans have the ability to rationalize good into evil and evil into good but machines of pure logic could not do this, they would be totally objective and rational. Very scary!

 

[Zafran]

You have a very high opinion of humans. My fear is that if the machines rise with all that super intelligence and logic, humans will be exterminated for being irrational insane creatures and a threat to the welfare of this planet. God works in mysterious ways.
Humans have the ability to rationalize good into evil and evil into good but machines of pure logic could not do this, they would be totally objective and rational. Very scary!

No.... machines need humans to exist - they also need to be conscious. The way reason and logic works in humans is advanced to how machines process logic. Furthermore Humans have emotive states that help us morally like mercy, kindness, empathy, sympathy, forgiveness, compassion. Machines have no way of getting that.

Humans are a threat to the welfare of the planet but we are also a khalifa and caretaker of it. Its up to us what path we take - ultimately Allah swt will judge in the end.

 

[Mustafa16]

No.... machines need humans to exist - they also need to be conscious. The way reason and logic works in humans is advanced to how machines process logic. Furthermore Humans have emotive states that help us morally like mercy, kindness, empathy, sympathy, forgiveness, compassion. Machines have no way of getting that.

Humans are a threat to the welfare of the planet but we are also a khalifa and caretaker of it. Its up to us what path we take - ultimately Allah swt will judge in the end.

what are your thoughts on global warming and environmentalism, brother [MENTION=20217]Zafran[/MENTION] ?

 

[Zafran]

what are your thoughts on global warming and environmentalism, brother [MENTION=20217]Zafran[/MENTION] ?

Humans should take of the environment.

 

[Sho Islam]

I don't personally see any "undeniable proof" that a creator exists, but it's perfectly fine if anybody else does. I actually used to be a deist when I was younger, back when I believed that there was an impersonal (i.e. doesn't watch over/micro-manage humanity) higher power who set everything in the universe in motion. So I can see why people believe in a creator, even if they aren't necessarily religious.

That's cool, you have the right to believe there is no creator.

As for me the reason why I said there is undeniable proof is just by using rationality.

A very simple example but if a person comes across a new building in their neighbourhood and they didn't know who built it, they would normally ask 'who built it?' and 'for what purpose?'

So I think it's only sensible to ask the same questions about our universe, 'who built it?' and 'for what purpose?'

Just as if someone would not believe the claim that the building just happened to be there and no one built it. The same should apply to our universe too.

 

[Abz2000]

That's cool, you have the right to believe there is no creator.

As for me the reason why I said there is undeniable proof is just by using rationality.

A very simple example but if a person comes across a new building in their neighbourhood and they didn't know who built it, they would normally ask 'who built it?' and 'for what purpose?'

So I think it's only sensible to ask the same questions about our universe, 'who built it?' and 'for what purpose?'

Just as if someone would not believe the claim that the building just happened to be there and no one built it. The same should apply to our universe too.

Better still, did any human being install the advanced electronics in the building?
If so, why?
And if not, how did theose advanced electronics get there.
Both point towards the same inevitable conclusion if people are being honest with themselves and others and not fooling themselves and others.

 

[L a n a]

A very simple example but if a person comes across a new building in their neighbourhood and they didn't know who built it, they would normally ask 'who built it?' and 'for what purpose?'

So I think it's only sensible to ask the same questions about our universe, 'who built it?' and 'for what purpose?'

Just as if someone would not believe the claim that the building just happened to be there and no one built it. The same should apply to our universe too.

I guess these are questions that some people do ask themselves and try to find answers to, but they personally aren't questions that I think/worry about.

For me, it doesn't really matter how the universe came into being (aliens, randomness, god/creators(s), giant turtles, etc.). That is all in the past, and all that matters is the future and the world I will be leaving to my descendants. Hopefully one where we are able to combat human suffering, poverty, racism, homophobia, bigotry, etc.

 

[keiv]

I guess these are questions that some people do ask themselves and try to find answers to, but they personally aren't questions that I think/worry about.

For me, it doesn't really matter how the universe came into being (aliens, randomness, god/creators(s), giant turtles, etc.). That is all in the past, and all that matters is the future and the world I will be leaving to my descendants. Hopefully one where we are able to combat human suffering, poverty, racism, homophobia, bigotry, etc.

Understanding how things came to be is very relevant to the present and should effect our lives. These are the things people need to ponder on otherwise they live a life thinking they are bigger than everything when in reality, they're nothing. Living a life based on divine law will eliminate a lot of the problems we face today. You look at the world today, it continues to get weirder by the day. People are becoming "genderless" and you have a bunch of bozo looking trannys reading stories to preschool kids telling them its ok to be whatever they want, yet these same schools ban anything related to religion or God for that matter. If that's the world you want to leave your descendants, it doesn't sound like you want to leave them much.

 

[L a n a]

People are becoming "genderless" and you have a bunch of bozo looking trannys reading stories to preschool kids telling them its ok to be whatever they want, yet these same schools ban anything related to religion or God for that matter.

The term "trannys" is offensive. "Transgender person" (singular) and "Transgender people" (plural, which I think is what you were going for) is much more appropriate . As someone with friends who are members of the LGBT community, I would feel terrible if I passed that by without saying anything.

Religion, outside of world religion/culture classes, don't really belong in secular/publicly funded schools, where there are kids from all types of religious/non-religious backgrounds. If parents want their children to receive only specific religious educational instruction, they can either send them to religious schools or homeschool them. That's what many Fundamentalist Christians do here, and nobody stops or restricts them from doing so.

If that's the world you want to leave your descendants, it doesn't sound like you want to leave them much.

A world where people are no longer discriminated against or murdered simply for their ethnicity/"race"/nationality/gender identity/sexuality/socioeconomic status/etc.? Sounds like a win to me!

 

[happymuslim]

The term "trannys" is offensive. "Transgender person" (singular) and "Transgender people" (plural, which I think is what you were going for) is much more appropriate . As someone with friends who are members of the LGBT community, I would feel terrible if I passed that by without saying anything.

Religion, outside of world religion/culture classes, don't really belong in secular/publicly funded schools, where there are kids from all types of religious/non-religious backgrounds. If parents want their children to receive only specific religious educational instruction, they can either send them to religious schools or homeschool them. That's what many Fundamentalist Christians do here, and nobody stops or restricts them from doing so.



A world where people are no longer discriminated against or murdered simply for their ethnicity/"race"/nationality/gender identity/sexuality/socioeconomic status/etc.? Sounds like a win to me!

Although it may sound offensive there's no deluding yourself. Transgenderism is a mental illness and it shouldn't be catered and fed by society just as any other mental illness shouldn't. These people need to be diagnosed and treated, we should never convince a suicidal that it's okay to be suicidal, the one with anxiety to live with it, or a person to believe it's okay that there a hoarse in a human body. It's very wrong, it's sad how people today aren't helping these people to live a healthy life and help they mental state. No matter how hard society tries to normalize it, the person is still suffering inside. So many trans suicide, it's sickening. They need help, and society isn't doing a good job at it. [emoji17]

 

[STN]

I don't personally see any "undeniable proof" that a creator exists, but it's perfectly fine if anybody else does. I actually used to be a deist when I was younger, back when I believed that there was an impersonal (i.e. doesn't watch over/micro-manage humanity) higher power who set everything in the universe in motion. So I can see why people believe in a creator, even if they aren't necessarily religious.

I don't know how you can say that when you haven't even bothered to look at undeniable proof. The thing that the Creator has left for us as an everlasting miracle until the time it will be taken away (when the end of the world will be near) is the Holy Quran. It is Allah (SWT) greatest mercy on us that we are given this book and Allah promised its protection so what happened to Gospel and Torah will never happen to it.

What you are saying is because you haven't seen something, you haven't seen any undeniable proof of its existence. Well, that's what you are doing sister =)

And this makes me really curious, aren't you afraid that there is an afterlife and you will be questioned for disbelief?. Don't say you don't think about it because its impossible for you to not think about it, you do because every human is born a believer until his mind is corrupted so what do you think you will do or say when you will be questioned?.

 

[Sho Islam]

I guess these are questions that some people do ask themselves and try to find answers to, but they personally aren't questions that I think/worry about.

For me, it doesn't really matter how the universe came into being (aliens, randomness, god/creators(s), giant turtles, etc.). That is all in the past, and all that matters is the future and the world I will be leaving to my descendants. Hopefully one where we are able to combat human suffering, poverty, racism, homophobia, bigotry, etc.

That's an interesting take on things.

Generally speaking most people (aside from the few nutcases!) want good for the world and ultimately want peace.

However, the term 'good' and the way to reach it, people generally tend to differ on i.e. What is 'good' and what is 'evil'. Or in other words what is 'right' and what is 'wrong'? When two or more differing views clash this can sometimes at the worst case lead to violence between parties and on a state level sometimes war and bloodshed.

So how do you decide between what is right and what is wrong?