Purpose of life

[wd40]

Not sure if we have discussed this ultimate philosophical topic, what is the purpose of life?
Until we are not financially independent, the purpose is just only one thing and that is making money.
Our entire routine revolves around this purpose. The city we stay, the time we wake up, the people we spend our time with, the food we eat, the school our kids go to etc.
Our job is the centre and everything else in our life revolves around it.

For people who love their job or people are unable to become financially independent, for them life is very straightforward, they just keep doing their job.

But people who hate their job and become financially independent to get away from working, now suddenly this puts everything up in the air.
We dont need to stay in any particular city due to job, we dont need to wake up at a particular time etc
Suddenly there is no one guiding force determining our life.
This is a bit like a prisoner who was in jail for 22 years is suddenly free, but now doesnt know what to do with his freedom.

I have tried to find answer to what is purpose in life and some points I have arrived at:
1)There is no ultimate purpose of life.
2)We cannot elongate our life, our life duration is fixed, no matter how rich or poor we are how miserable or happy we are, the duration is fixed and time moves. Thanks God for that, atleast it is not like time has come to standstill. So our only purpose is to some how fill up that remaining time we have.
3)People who are driven or have some hobbies or interests can trick their mind towards something for example I have seen people do crochet to kill time, other people do reading to kill time.
4)Basically, you must be dumb enough to find something to kill your time and make your mind believe that you are "enjoying" that activity, whether it is travelling or reading etc
5)If you are smart and aware very soon, you will end up getting bored with anything you choose on your own, it is just a matter of time and because nobody is enforcing it, it is easy to give up.

I wonder if anyone has been able to solve this equation.

[r2somewhere]

The answer is simple - purpose is to maximize marginal utility.

What does this mean? Simply put - maximize personal pleasure and minimize pain. However, too much of a good thing is bad. And pleasure diminishes as we get more of it - for eg, we get used to the pleasure of flying business class after the 10th time.

So we must look for a new source of pleasure.

Pleasures also conflict. I love a french pastry. But I also love being praised for my physique. Need to balance the two.

Life is about tricking your brain into thinking that you happened to chance upon these pleasures. Why? Its because humans evolved in the wild like all animals, where these good things were a matter of
pure luck and few and far between.

Human brain is not suited to constantly and easily receiving these pleasures as and when we want. Which is why gluttony and prostitution/porn are considered bad.

Which is why most 'high achievers' as you call them, seemingly deprive themselves of tasty food instead of gorging daily. Which is also why people's first preference to find a mate is always on their own and through luck rather than a planned transaction. The former feels more like what our brains evolved for.

[loyalindian]

@wd40

I am not sure if the singular or main purpose of life for everyone is to make money until Financial independence is achieved.
For me, the main purpose in life is to help other people and coach them to succeed. I have spent a lot of my spare time over the last 25 years on this cause. While the children were younger, my spare time was limited. Over the last few years, I have used my spare time doing lots of volunteering and travel.

[cnu]

Great topic and thanks for starting.

I agree with most of the things mentioned.

My objective (and I pray to achieve this) is..

* Re-live my childhood: Fly kites, burst fireworks, engage in small engineering works like make a table/fix a ch air, I love unix (I used to hate it) do some scripting, engage in intellectual minds across the world
* Get close to God: Used to be very 'Dharmic'. Western world robbed it way, will try to reset.
* Meet all the people who helped me but I never had chance to say thanks
* Eat my childhood delicacies
* Watch my childhood movies with my loved ones
* Sleep, Sleep, Sleep!
* Long walks, chat with strangers


I may get nothing out of the above (which is completely fine) or I may end up finding the real purpose (which I don't care as it never happened so far).


I think what will happen is, I will start realizing the ultimate truth 'God!'

[satish1961]

I don't really want to think deeply here (irrespective of intelligent design of this universe or not). My purpose is somewhat selfish, try to maximize my and my families happiness/well-being, while at same time try to help other life forms (at least not harm them) as secondary goal. We have only one life and do what ever makes it meaningful/happy.

[desi4ever]

Not sure if we have discussed this ultimate philosophical topic, what is the purpose of life?
Until we are not financially independent, the purpose is just only one thing and that is making money.

You kinda touched upon the concept of Dharma-Artha-Kama-( Moksha - nah beyond this forum I guess ). But you are right. There is no purpose in life and making money is so important in today's world and in todays times its getting increasingly complex and you spend half or 3/4ths your life toiling and even if you are smart enough to FIRE you have lost half or more of your time left in the world. So yeah, better love your job and colleagues because it will help lighten and you know some people I see are like "I love my work so much that they pay me to do what I enjoy doing"

[SAPPORO]

- Do No harm
- Do care about family and friends that you know
- Do keep spending to help the livelihood of thousands that you don't know
- DON'T worry about the purpose of life

[Razz R]

-42

[JINSAKAI]

-42

Probably people get wiser after 42

https://www.amazon.com/Mad-Design-Meani ... B07PDS6NPF

[Razz R]

-42

Probably people get wiser after 42

https://www.amazon.com/Mad-Design-Meani ... B07PDS6NPF

The number 42 is, in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, the "Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything", calculated by an enormous supercomputer named Deep Thought ( hope there is no confusion with deep seek) over a period of 7.5 million years. Unfortunately, no one knows what the question is.