Why Are We Here?

[Parche]

Have you ever wondered why we are here, where we came from, and where we go to?
What is life? :shrug:

[Beer Snob-50]

1. we are here because

god loves us and wants us to love him in return. that is why we are here.

[Deep13]

10. Sorry.

That's an often repeated sentiment, but it has no basis in fact. We may want that to be true, but that does not make it so.

[Critters2]

49. No speculation as to why we're here has any basis in "fact".

So why pick out this post to bark at?

[Deep13]

58. Woof! woof, woof, woof. Arf, arf. Grrrr. *pant-pant-pant*

I was not barking. I just don't think religious beliefs are entitled to the deference that believers (and nonbelievers) have always assumed they were.

You are asserting the NOMA argument (non over-lapping majesteria). This means that religion (or spirituality if you prefer) and science concern completely different subject matters that have nothing to do with each other.

That is not true. The existence and properties of god is a scientific question. Either god exists or he/she/it/they does not exist. A god of any consequence, one capable of creating the universe, for example, would have observable consequences. As it is, what we observe shows a complete lack of planning, design or direction. No miracle in the true sense of the word has ever been reliably observed.

"Why we are here?" is a solved problem. We know the answer. The answer is it just turned out that way. Since our existence is a precondition of asking that question, we should not be surprised by the fact that we are here.

[Critters2]

69. Fascinating.

And welcome to my ignore list.

[Deep13]

76. Hmm. Nice way to insure you get the last word.

I don't believe in being insulated from other people's ideas just because I may be offended or proven wrong. Cutting off debate and dissent historically been the avenue of totalitarian authority, especially religious authority. A common theme running through Christian (for example) thought through the centuries has been an admonition for people not to be too smart or to allow science or reason to challenge faith. "Quit your stinkin' thinkin'" is what 12-steppers would say. I will never do that. If something is a lie, then it needs to be exposed as such no matter how many people accept it. In the real world, bad information is dangerous. Real information is only dangerous to those invested (psychologically or in terms of power) in the lie.

No one, not even you, is on my ignore list.

[SammyWinstonJack]

88. ...

:thumbsup:

[WritingIsMyReligion]

90. Very nicely done.

:thumbsup:

[asdjrocky]

94. Agreed. A mind should not be closed to new or different ideas.

[Beer Snob-50]

78. i only gave that answer

because that was the pat answer from my days of catholic education.

[Deep13]

80. I see. Thankfully, I was spared that.

On the other hand, academically, the area Catholic schools were a lot better than the public school I did attend.

[Beer Snob-50]

81. i got a catholic eduation

because my mommy and daddy loved me. :sarcasm:

[EstimatedProphet]

2. That pic looks like Walt Disney's head exploding.

[lost-in-nj]

3. I am here

to haunt you Bin Laden



:rofl: :rofl:


:hi:


lost

[NightWatcher]

4. the answer is......."42"

[Deep13]

11. Damn. I wish I had written my answer in pencil. n/t

[BOSSHOG]

5. To answer that unanswered question - Who is Navin Johnson?

[Generic Brad]

40. I know the answer to your question

EXCUUUUSE ME!

[BOSSHOG]

54. The brilliant inventor of the Opti-Grab

[Fire Walk With Me]

6. If you're being serious,

For God to share everything God knows with us, out of excitement and ever-new joy. And to experience itself through us, always learning more, and guiding us back to the source.

The world really doesn't have to be as awful as it is, but we choose for it to be. We are fully responsible for our own actions, and how those actions effect the overall energetic exchange system.

I'm an addict in recovery, I've got a touch of experience there, and the tales of desire, anger, fear, and ignorance being root poisons are all true. And that we move up and down the polarity depending upon the energy we act out and intend. Focus upon positive energies such as gratitude and joy, and you will be lifted up into it. It's a good habit to cultivate. Doing for others is root.

...

If you're not being serious,

To collect as much pron as is possible. Whoever dies with the largest hard disk/zip'd DVD collection wins!

[Deep13]

12. "For God to share everything God knows with us,...."

That won't take long.

Sorry, I know you have a right to your views. Nevertheless, that is a statement of fact that is simply not supported by the evidence. Consequently, it's not true.

[Fire Walk With Me]

19. That's telling me

:rofl:

[Deep13]

39. Huh. I guess I don't understand your comment.

Mine was not a personal attack.

Anyway there is an age old dichotomy of views on where truth or knowledge comes from. A very old school of thought holds that it comes from revelation. That is to say some divine entity decides to disclose some previously unknown fact to one or a small number of people. All the assertions of religion (a.k.a. spirituality) are based on this premise. This inludes not only the familiar examples, but things like vision quests and revelation through meditation.

What we have learned in the past few hundred years, however, is that knowledge and truth come from investigating reality directly. This method has in a short time undone most revealed truths and leaving god with a small corner of ignorance to stand on. As we add bits to the puzzle we we have discovered that the corner does no exist anymore. There is simply no way for a god of any consequence to exist and still have the universe be the way it is.

[Fire Walk With Me]

44. Thanks, I didn't take it personally.

I saw it as a closed loop, an "If-then" ideation, a sophistic rationalization.

The mind is a trap. It's a sense, not an end in itself. It lies. It wants more, always. It will create things if not stimulated.

I'm coming from the AA tradition of surrendering your life and will to the higher power (or you die, it's truly quite that simple for us, period, no possible change ever). No shred of my imagination or thought construct or placebo has saved my life, each and every day, for the last six years. I can tell when I begin to pull out of surrender. The problem is still there, and always will be.

It is not of my own capacity, that I am alive. This is empiric. This is repeatable. Surrender, stay alive. Self-will, move toward obvious death. This is not my choice either, so you know it has to be bad to cause me to pursue surrender.

Back to the mind. There is a practice in a couple of sects called the dark retreat; a student spends around 40 days in the dark, cut off from pretty much everything. It's said that visions begin. This is the mind actually generating things to keep itself interested, and more.

If you meditate, which is the empiric proof that the great teachers are right, you will find that the senses reach outward, and always wish for more. This is the trap of desire. Anger from thwarted desire. Fear. Ignorance. As an addict, it's easily visible how these things compound, and how they are taken apart. These are the things you will see in yourself as you meditate.

When you go even further into meditation, you will find an enormous, silent place. Nothing that is perceived with the outward-going senses, that is. The world found on the inside is the true world, and our home. The senses are a distraction, the body a wild horse needing to be tamed. Mindful breathing meditations are key to doing so. You literally train the aspects of yourself that grasp, to be still.

"Yoga" is the science of God-realization. By "science", it means repeatable methods of gaining a specific result, and they work. The West is just beginning to lose it's materialism (and sadly, the East is just beginning to find it's own) so this is crazy talk to all but a few.

Raise your Kundalini without utterly silencing the senses and you'll know immediately (and fearfully) what I'm talking about.

The mind will only bring you to itself. It's only a part of ego, a hungry baby that wants endless movement. Sadly, our society is based upon fulfilling desire for stimulus, but it's changing slowly.

If you do the mindful breathing meditations (with awareness upon the body, in the body), you'll see what I'm talking about within a month, if you do it a half-hour a day or so.

If you're interested in the repeatable, and in what's more than is obvious, and in the Great Answers, the tools and practices are available. I raged (even online) against religion etc. because I was angry at my own lack of power, was angry at myself. Finding spirituality doesn't make me automatically some sort of teacher or icon, just another person looking for a better thing than what's around us. I'm coming up from the collapse of my own ability to function, and am taking apart the false self I'd used to compensate (huffing and puffing to solve problems instead of admitting my own part). Self-honesty is spirituality. It's that simple at times.

Try the sixteen items, each one until after you feel something, and tell me if it improves things or not (give it the time and effort it needs). Speak each of the items in your head with both the in breath and the out breath, while paying attention to the feeling of your body. 1: Breathing in, "I am breathing in long" "I am breathing out long". You can even do this with your eyes open when stuck in traffic.

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.118.than.html

Regards.

[Deep13]

56. Well, I've expressed skepticism about the 12 steps before.

Without being inflammatory, it boils down to a few things: their atrocious success rate, the lack of any self-criticism for improvement and the idea that coincidence does not equal cause and effect. That is to say just because someone is sober while attending AA does not mean the 12 steps caused the sobriety.

Materialism has two definitions. Which one do you mean? The universe is made of one kind of stuff and it is all physical.

The brain is so complex that it is capable of imagining just about anything. For example, a small part of what we see all the time is hallicination. As you may know, the human eye is wired ass-backwards. Blood vessels and nerves run on top of the retina obstructing part of the light path. This is equivalent to running the wires of a camera over the film instead of behind it or around it. Without a sophisticated image processing "software" our vision would constantly be obstructed by a spider web of obstruction. Instead our mind fills-in the blanks by approximating what it missed. In addition to showing the powerful imaginative power of the mind, it is also supporting proof of a lack of design. Who in the animal kingdom has better eyes than people? Squid. Mollusk eyes are wired behind the retina.

Being aware of this and many other things, what is more likely: you are in touch with god or the yoga exercises are making you imagine god? This is the problem with all revealed truth, it is so subjective it has no independent veracity. When a revealed "fact" is put to any real test, it ends up being as likely as chance.

Getting back to the OP's question, these are questions with known answers. There is no need to let god fill in the blanks. And there aren't any gaps left that god can reasonably be hiding in anyway.

[Fire Walk With Me]

71. .

"That is to say just because someone is sober while attending AA does not mean the 12 steps caused the sobriety."

If you do the Steps, you will change for the better. If you do them half-heartedly and then stick around the groups, you will possibly be able to maintain sobriety for a while (even years).

There are varying degrees of effort in the programs, and you can usually tell those who have really done the work. I'm still striving to really do the work and hope to one day get there.

As someone who has gone through the process, I can say that a vast amount hinges upon doing the thing as written. AA's rate isn't low; the rate of those who do what has to be done might be the cause of the low success rate. Look to those who have truly changed and have decades of recovery. (I've seen some with decades of recovery who obviously harbor old anger. There are degrees of sobriety after "not drinking". I wish them all the fullest realization of the path.)

"Materialism has two definitions. Which one do you mean? The universe is made of one kind of stuff and it is all physical."

Materialism has two Western definitions. Have you read "The Tau of Physics"?

"The brain is so complex that it is capable of imagining just about anything."

Absolutely. That is the problem, not the answer.

Thoughts are things. We do create our own reality from our very ideas.

"you are in touch with god or the yoga exercises are making you imagine god?"

Good point. Part of me will always be sceptical but I've been researching and trying these things out for years, and I can at least tell you that there is real truth in the observations regarding negativity and positivity. Addicts are high-energy persons. I find that when I use great energy in either direction, maintaining a specific intent, that I change. If it's anger, I end up angry, and having to untie the reasons for the anger. It is very obvious. It feels like a weight lifting. When I cultivate gratitude and joy, it starts to stick and stay, and living gets better. I'm then able to help others, and answers come more easily. When I'm down in anger, life gets harder and unclear. When I detach from these energies entirely, life becomes perfect. This is the dreaded "acceptance" that is spoken of in the AA literature. This is the "one taste" spoken of in spirituality, =I think=. I'm just a beginner hoping to synthesize these aspects of spirituality.

I'm quite ready to admit if I'm wrong, and to work on changing my path if I'm wrong. I'm not crystal-gazing and flower-tossing, if that makes sense. I love science and discovery. I'm just doing it in less-known areas (regarding the West).

"When a revealed 'fact' is put to any real test, it ends up being as likely as chance."

I have been recommending that scientists put AA and surrender to the test. Brain scans of addicts before and after surrender, etc. Tests have been done on transcendental meditators, and the brain firing patterns change when they go into meditation. There is scientific truth here and I want to know more.

"Getting back to the OP's question, these are questions with known answers. There is no need to let god fill in the blanks. And there aren't any gaps left that god can reasonably be hiding in anyway."

I was truly dying and utterly unable to control anything in my life. I was watching myself kill myself and could only watch.

If you have ever known that you were dying and there was nothing you could do, that you really wanted to live, and could do nothing to stop yourself, you're ready to either die or to try something new, something else, to ask for help (after everything else has utterly failed).

I had no answers, and I searched. I found reasons in science, but no solutions. I tried psychology, studying psychology, abnormal behavior, the chemical reasons for these, etc. and found answers but it didn't do a thing to help me. The only thing that has worked for me is God. I want to have my own power, and to live my own life as I wish, at every moment. I can't. I would certainly not want God if I were to do as I wished at every moment. And I'd end up right back in the place where I had to beg for help. I have no doubt; I've seen the process within myself.

Emotions are the key here. Western science is barely touching the emotions as they are a truly uncomfortable subject to us. We are very uncomfortable regarding our selves, and how we interact with others and the pleasures and dangers of doing so. "Emotional Intelligence" is a great book that validated a lot of what I'd observed on my own, and filled in many gaps as well. The mind and the emotions aren't the same thing. People can be book smart and be emotional and social wrecks. Deny someone intimacy ala' the Wire Mother tests and you get alcoholics. We are a very young society and are in the process of discovering ourselves.

A lot of what people call mental illness is emotional distress leading to mental distress.

And you make a good point. Are we imagining God? Have the ancient masters quantified aspects of the mind and are they manipulating others with this knowledge?

Some are. A few spiritual paths are traps. Some even have the traps at the "top", after dozens of true and useful practices. I'm still learning and reserve the right to reject anything I've found dangerous.

The best test of a paths' direction is does it lead to the individual being of service to others or to themselves. Does that smile reach the eyes.

At minimum, you may learn more of the truth about the things you're interested in, if you follow the meditation practice. I've found that they've improved my life. You may as well. That's my point.

[Fire Walk With Me]

72. BTW, my blatant lack of anonymity is teaching me

that I'm just looking for attention, posting like this. It's ego-related. The ego is a wily, twisty thing and I've miles to go before I sleep.

[Deep13]

77. "...my blatant lack of anonymity ..."

I don't know who you are. We all have egos and there is nothing wrong with that. I'm in no hurry to get to "sleep."

[Fire Walk With Me]

82. Robert Frost?

[Deep13]

85. I'm afraid my literary knowledge is rather limited.

Most of my books are nonfiction.
:blush:

[Deep13]

74. We'll have to agree to disagree.

I've had this discussion about AA before and still don't agree with you.

I still think truth by revelation has been thoroughly discredited.

[Fire Walk With Me]

75. I can only share my experience and see if it connects with anything in you.

I don't fully understand your approach but I don't fault you for it.

Cheers.

[ohiosmith]

22. You collect pron too? Cool.

:thumbsup:

[Fire Walk With Me]

26. Duh!

:thumbsup:

[Arugula Latte]

83. I've always found the "God" concept far-fetched, so I think I'm screwn! nt

[EOTE]

7. GD has gotten so damned immature lately.

Thought I'd head here for a while to chat with the adults :)

[Bucky]

8. Oh, life! It's bigger. It's bigger than you and you are not me. The distance in your voice.

Oh no, I've said too much.

on edit: I haven't said enough.

[Arugula Latte]

86. Was that you in the corner?

Was that you in the spotlight?

[Deep13]

9. Well, since it's just a quick question, here it goes:

"Have you ever wondered why we are here,..."

There is no reason. That's the key to understanding natural selection. There is no planning and no working toward an end result involved. Human thinking finds it convenient to assign a subjective purpose to everything in order to understand causes and effects. That perspective becomes confused when it runs into something that really has no purpose.

"...where we came from,..."

This information is on your birth certificate. It provides a complete answer to your question except to say that humanity is indigenous to east, central Africa. While watches imply watch makers, it is only because we know watches come from watch-makers. Naturally occurring things like planets, trees and humans do not come from any great design. Simple things, given enough time and energy, can produce very complex things with no planning intelligence behind them.

"...and where we go to?"

Anywhere we want as long as it is physically possible to get there. If you mean after death, "we" end with the cessation of life so there is no "we" to go anywhere. The question is prompted by a psychological perspective called dualism. The dualist perspective assumes that we are something separate from our bodies that inhabits our bodies and directs them them like a driver in an automobile. While that perspective seems to be innate, there is no biological basis for it. All of our perceptions, thoughts, feelings etc. are physically generated by our brains.

"What is life?"

Life is a chemical process where physical systems are able to reproduce themselves.

[quip]

33. Not so fast....

The dualist perspective assumes that we are something separate from our bodies that inhabits our bodies and directs them them like a driver in an automobile. While that perspective seems to be innate, there is no biological basis for it. All of our perceptions, thoughts, feelings etc. are physically generated by our brains.

This is not altogether true. In fact, research is being done to actually disprove the materialist assertion.

Here are two quick examples:

1. The placebo effect-- materialists have no plausible explanation for the placebo effect; there SHOULD be no such phenomenon whatsoever.

2. Accounts (albeit anecdotal at this point; further research is coming) of NDEs while no brain activity is present is also problematic for the materialist to explain.

So don't assume that dualism is bunk; it just might turn out to be scientifically proven. :hi:

[Deep13]

38. That's your proof?

There is an evolutionary cause for the placebo effect even if I don't know what it is. Frankly, I think someone does know.

I think there is a little duplicity in your use of the term "materialist." Of course one meaning of that term is someone who believes that there is only one kind of stuff in the universe and it is physical in nature. The other, more familiar, meaning is a greedy person who only cares about acquiring property. I think most people you use the term to describe skeptics are using the confusing over its meaning to cast us in a negative light on a personal level.

My understanding is that NDE is well understood as an oxygen deprivation to the optical center of the brain. If there were no brain activity at all, it would not be an N.D.E., but rather a D.E.

[quip]

43. Okay,

There is an evolutionary cause for the placebo effect even if I don't know what it is. Frankly, I think someone does know.

I don't even know how to begin to respond to that. It makes little if any sense.

And as far as your suspicions about duplicity: relax, and engage in debate without jumping to ad hominems. Of course I'm referring to the meaning "there is only one kind of stuff in the universe and it is physical in nature".

Now, consider the placebo effect carefully. A medicine works because it physically interacts with the body creating a physical, measurable effect. For instance, if you have a headache and I give you an aspirin, your pain will go away due to measurable, predictable effects the drug has on the human brain. It may not work in every case, but it works in enough cases, through many tests, to be used for that symptom.

Now a placebo has NO MEDICINAL VALUE whatsoever. So, in EVERY case that one is administered, it should HAVE NO EFFECT, period. But that is far from reality. The placebo effect is well documented in science. What is actually happening, if you analyze it, is that the "mind" (the non-physical) is exerting a VERY REAL effect on the body (physical). SOMETHING is creating the effects of the medicine, and it certainly ISN'T the placebo, so it can't be physical.

Does that make the argument clearer?

As far as NDEs go, we are talking about the period when a brain flat-lines (no measurable brain activity) and experiences related by the patient during this specific time period. If we are only material stuff going through chemical and electrical changes, then it should be impossible to experience anything when this activity has stopped. There are cases documented where this isn't the case.

[Deep13]

55. I understood you the first time.

I know what a placebo is.

[quip]

60. So, your refutation of my assertion is that

you know that there is some explanation, but you don't know what it is; somebody does though.

Nice skepticism. Looks to me more like faith. :shrug:

[Deep13]

63. No, it is simply that I don't believe you.

If you want to call adhereing to a system of investigation that has always worked as "faith" then it is a misuse of the term.

You are arguing from the gaps. Even if we can't explain something, god does not become the default explanation. In other words, even if I'm wrong about this, it does not mean you are right. There is a darwinian reason for the placebo effect even if I personally don't know what it is. I am not a walking library of all things Darwinian. I do know that so far everything that has been discovered (which is quite a bit) has supported natural selection.

Now you are arguing that there are two psychological effects that cannot be explained by natural selection. First, that is a pretty unimpressive demonstration of divine power. We have gone from creating the universe and humanity and rewarding or punishing that humanity with disease, bad weather and famine to being the god of placebos and hallucination. Yawn! I simply don't believe the placebo effect is that mysterious and I don't believe that a total lack of brain activity can occur and the patient still survive.

And again, even if I am wrong, it does not make you right. God does not win by default. Ever. You are stating that these things have a divine cause. The burden of proof is on you to demonstrate that, not on me to refute it.

[quip]

64. Dude, dude, dude....

What are you talking about? Show me where I made any assertion or where I even made any mention of God!

What I am presenting is evidence that refutes strict materialism. Open your mind and be a skeptic of EVERYTHING, not only what your closed mind doesn't accept.

[Deep13]

65. You are supposing a nonphysical, nonbiological cause.

By definition that leaves a supernatural cause. Most people would call that god. Whatever name you use, it does not exist.

Skepticism means accepting facts that have been established. It does not mean open-minded to any claim anyone states. Do I have to prove there is no bigfoot or Loch Ness monster? Do I have to prove that people are not abducted by space aliens? No. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

[quip]

68. I'm not "supposing", I'm looking at the data

and a physical explanation is lacking.

By definition that leaves a supernatural cause. Most people would call that god. Whatever name you use, it does not exist.

How can you make that assertion that it does not exist? At best you can be agnostic.

Skepticism means accepting facts that have been established.

I don't think it means what you think it means.

[Deep13]

73. "At best you can be agnostic."

Scientists don't like to say they are sure about anything. They know anything they discover may be disproven with another experiment. Nevertheless, in common parlance, I am sure there is no supernatural. Even though there is no specific test for it, the circumstantial evidence is overwhelming. It is clear from studying human beliefs and the history of religion (a.k.a. spirituality) that all beliefs in supernature are invented and then exploited by people who eventually became priests of various descriptions. The present beliefs people have in the supernatural are the result of that history and our worldview contiues to be colored by it.

Besides what we know about life on Earth and the nature of the universe precludes the supernatural. If god (as a generic term) exists, then he/she/it/they is hidden in such an unimportant corner as to make his existence irrelevent to anything. We would not call such a being god.

All I can do is give a brief outline of this whole thing. If you want a complete explanation, you may want to read The God Delusion or God Is Not Great. Dawkins and Hitchens explain it far better than I can.

I would be happy to be proven wrong if such evidence exists. I do not, however, have time to chase mirages. So if you have actual clinical evidence that supports your claim, I'll be happy to look at it. It would have to be pretty compelling to refute the mountain of evidence arguing against the supernatural.

[Q3JR4]

34. Ditto your response Deep13...

:thumbsup:

[Deep13]

41. Thanks, fellow skeptic.

:7

[Arugula Latte]

84. Megadittoes from me, as well, Deep13

Oh, and that tunnel of light leading to "Heaven" and ecstasy -- That's your brain experiencing oxygen deprivation. :D

[WritingIsMyReligion]

91. Beautiful and accurate.

Kudos to you.

[Dr. Strange]

13. Because we're here! Roll the Bones.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXeUXLzD3o4

[AllegroRondo]

17. Rockin!

:headbang:

[bbernardini]

57. Bah. Beat me to it. nt

[Deep13]

14. "I doubt, therefore, I think. ....

"I think, therefore, I am."

--DesCartes

I know, it ain't much of an answer.

[edbermac]

15. For the beer!

And other simple pleasures. :beer:

[edbermac]

16. dupe

And other simple pleasures. :beer:

[zanne]

18. Because two people had sex and it resulted in a pregnancy....nt

[ohiosmith]

20. For my amusement. My imagination. Where ever I send you. My gift.

[matcom]

23. i'm only here for your seed

:cry:

[ohiosmith]

25. All this, and more, will one day be yours.

[matcom]

28. you speak in tongues

x(

[mainegreen]

21. For the visual and auditory stimulation.

That, and the love.

[kedrys]

24. Oh...I thought you meant

as opposed to GD... :P

[Guava Jelly]

27. The question you ask is the reason I study Genealogy

Since I don't believe I am going anywhere when I die being a soulless biological machine and all.
And not believing a cloud guy made me..I want to find out where i came from genetically.
So I study my family history

[Orsino]

29. 42.

No, that doesn't work. Carry on.

[SPKrazy]

30. We're a Duke University

Sociology experiment gone awry (the lounge that is :P )

[Critters2]

48. But I like the part where they make you wear the "dizzy glasses"!

And I can always use the course credits.

[JTG of the PRB]

31. To provide amusement for the rest of the Universe.

Sometimes, I think South park was right. Maybe we ARE just one huge galactic reality TV show.

[Fox Mulder]

32. All the f-ing time.

I still have no idea why we are even here. I have ideas, though.

[Q3JR4]

35. In the beginning the Universe was created.

This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.

- Douglas Adams



There is a theory which states that if anyone discovers just exactly what the universe is for and why we are here, that it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. Then there is a theory which states that this has already happened.

-Douglas Adams

[Xithras]

36. Dunno about you, but I'm here cuz dad convinced mom that he just wanted to "cuddle" in the back seat

:)

As for the rest, I'm a nihilist so my answers would probably depress you.

[Fire Walk With Me]

37. Why are we here?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIHBehzE5l8

[Generic Brad]

42. Because we're not over there

On the other hand, if you study physics you may come to the conclusion that we are both here and there simultaneously.

[Q3JR4]

92. I'm pretty sure

that only works on the quantum level.

[u4ic]

45. A very personal and subjective question

Everyone's answer will vary according to their experience and beliefs.

One thing is true - life's what you make of it. :hi:

[Critters2]

51. Zackly.

I don't know exactly why I'm here, but since I am, I intend to do it as well as possible--while enjoying as much of it as I can. And help others to do the same.

[Maraya1969]

46. Sometimes I think I'm a figment of my imagination and thus are all of you.

But I do believe that we can influence our live by changing our thoughts which are energy. I believe that that energy, all the way down to quarks are under our control. And the quarks in our bodies is interconnected with all the quarks in the universe. So why wouldn't the energy of thought that we create create the world?

[astral]

47. God put us here so that we could learn that we are Gods

. . . . it takes awhile.

I love that top psychedelic pic too! I usually don't like 'that kind of art' but I want a wall-sized version!

[Indi Guy]

50. I'm a Frisbyterian...

When we die, our souls get stuck on a roof & can't get down.

[krispos42]

52. Because if I was over there...

I'd be beside myself!

:-)

[Lady Freedom]

53. This is Spaghetti Monster Bait!

I am surprised that it hasn't come up yet!

[LaraMN]

59. No reason- we're just bonkin' around.

:bounce:

[SteppingRazor]

61. Why assume there's an answer to that question?

Have you considered that there is no reason behind all of this, that there is no light at the end of the tunnel, and that we are on a hunk of rock spinning through eternity in a space so mind-bogglingly vast that it all but assures that we will forever be utterly, totally alone in the universe, until such a time as our race is snuffed out by the inevitable meteor strike?


If we assume then, that there is no real answer to your question, that there is no meaning to it all, then I suppose the best answer to your question would be, to quote John Lennon, "Whatever gets you through the night."

[Shine]

62. Simple: We are here to Love and be loved.

:loveya:

[Shell Beau]

66. Never wondered it at all!

:P Teasing! Of course! We all have, right?

[av8rdave]

67. Because we're here...roll the bones (sorry...incurable Rush fan)

[PVnRT]

70. Plastics

[datasuspect]

79. to haul ass and get paid

[ElboRuum]

87. No. Easy Questions to Answer

We are here because we are not somewhere else.
We came from where we are not.
We go to where we are not.
Life is what you make of it.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

89. Sheer randomness.

Enjoy the trip!

:hi:

[jeff30997]

93. God! God!

It't's all about God!:silly:

[asdjrocky]

95. Wow,

You people really know how to take the fun out of a question.