The Purpose of Life... part I

I'm taking a break here from the alphabet of virtues...as something has been on my mind. This is a two-parter as I started with one thought and ended on another on accident.

Lots of people ask themselves: "What is the purpose of life?"

Honestly, it is an eternal question that has bothered all people for centuries, whether they believe in a Supreme Being or not. There are, in fact, so many different ways to see the universe. So it begs the question: "What is the answer to life, the universe and everything?"

To which a computer named Deep Thought answered: 42

That's the gag from the book "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", in case you didn't know.

But really, the question is "Who are we?" "Why are we here?" and "Where are we going?" Every religion tries to answer that question -  including atheism.

Whatever -theism you believe in, I think at the core of all of them leans in the same direction. The purpose of life is to become like the god you worship. That is to say, life's purpose is to emulate what we admire most whether it be a philosophy or a person. But I'd like to add that you ought to admire most what is the truth. And every side of this argument insists that they have the truth.

Most religions teach with this, whether inwardly or outwardly.

For example, Buddhists strive to become like Buddha who showed the path toward enlightenment. Taoists teach the Way of harmony, which all enlightened followers seek to be one with the Tao. In becoming enlightened or becoming one with the Tao, one must change behavior and heart to become like the thing they are striving towards - even if they may not worship an anthropomorphic 'god'. And though many mainstream Christians believe like the Islamists, that God is something different from man, they do encourage exemplifying godly traits such as cleanliness and forgiveness. After all, why say: "cleanliness is next to godliness" and "to err is human, to forgive divine" if they were not expected to be adopted as habits?

Fact is, most people exemplify their gods whether they mean to or not. So let's look at the gods we worship.

Let's take the Greek Gods first.

I think they are funny, and yet they exemplify all the extremes of humanity. If they were worshipped today, imagine how people would see them.

In Islam, Allah is a stern God that is distant, yet also close. The adherents are taught not so much to emulate Allah as to obey him as it will lead to Paradise in the afterlife.
In Trinitarian Christianity, their God can be harsh and yet also incredibly giving. Obedience to God's commandments leads to Heaven...though even the adherents to Christianity differ on their idea of what that is.
The Jewish God is not unlike the Christian God or Allah in action, motive and behavior towards its adherents.

The point is, each religion has a standard which they either obey, copy, or merge with. Including atheism.

Now, you might be screaming: "Atheism is not a religion!!!"

Actually, if you look at my earlier blogs, you'll see that any 'theism' has its tenants and teachings. They even have their own prophets, such as Richard Dawkins, Karl Marx, Nietzsche, and Charles Darwin. And they have their priests. Want me to list them? There's lists online of people who devote their time to teaching atheism. And here is their literature that promotes atheism. And even scripture which they hold sacred... such as The Origin of Species, The Communist Manifesto, The God Delusion, The Theory of Everything, and The Antichrist. Fact is, as a theism, they are organized and politicized. I mean, it is one thing to choose not to believe in God, and quite another to preach there is no God.

Anyway, Atheists believe life has no purpose. Or if it does, it is to promote the harmony of desires, as this one blogger claims. Because to atheists there is no sin, as there is no god to declare what is good and bad. All things are relative in the atheist theology - otherwise known as existentialism or relativism.

But to me it seems that a lot of atheists also have their gods. And a lot of people who are of a faith worship other gods besides the one they profess. These gods are polytheistic, actually. Like the Greeks, their gods are many with lots of passions, actions, and random fickle consequences. For example, the god known as Money with it's beloved son Economy. They may not have human forms, but they are demanding gods that require a lot to their worship. Often people devote their lives to the god of Money. Then there is the god of Pleasure. This god has its weapons, such as the beasts of Addiction and Advertising. Its priests and priestesses fill most of the entertainment media. The Pleasure god in the end requires human sacrifices, as many die in pursuit of emulating this god. There are War gods and gods of Power in atheism. There are minor gods as well, depending on what you choose to emulate...for your god is what you worship in the end. Whether they be gods of stone, bodily urge, food, a livelihood, or a philosophical idea.

But this all aside.....

This still has not answered the fundamental question about the purpose of life. The big question is not what is 6 x 7?

And the ultimate answer is not 42.

The true question of all theisms is: "What is the truth?"
Every religion insists they have it... including the atheists. So...

What is the purpose of life?

To find the truth and follow it.

Next blog will be what I believe "the truth" is.