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What's the purpose of our existence? :)

Religions say that without the made-up gods humans have no purpose to live. Is meeting your maker the ultimate reason to live?

Alex
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  • Welcome! While definitely an interesting problem, is there any chance I might be able to persuade you to improve and develop the question a little bit further? For instance, you might tell us about your context and motivations -- what might you be studying or reading that has made this concern an urgent or important one for you? What else might you have found out so far? (Keep in mind great questions ask about really specific things.) – Joseph Weissman Jan 04 '12 at 01:28
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    I would also hasten to add "We expect answers to generally involve facts, references, or specific expertise; this question will likely solicit opinion, debate, arguments, polling, or extended discussion." – Michael Dorfman Jan 04 '12 at 14:18
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    When you get an answer to this, let me know. :) – stoicfury Jan 05 '12 at 00:19
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    Interesting fact: the site says that this question has been viewed 42 times so far. Your second paragraph is a serious mischaracterization of every religion, which is a true accomplishment. No need for strawmen: just tell us what you (or better yet, some great philosopher) thinks the answer might be. – Jon Ericson Jan 05 '12 at 01:20
  • You know... to reproduce. – Sean Jan 05 '12 at 02:20
  • Jon: Christianity for example tells you that your purpose is to meet god in heaven. So why are you saying that is a mischaracterization ? Many religious people I've talked to, claim that I have no purpose to live if I don't believe in their god... – Alex Jan 05 '12 at 12:21
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    @Alex: I think Jon (and many of us in general here) would prefer statements be more carefully qualified whenever possible. I.E., "Religions say..." can be read as "[All] religions say...", whereas based on your comment it might be more appropriate to say "Christianity says... (with some relevant citation)" or "Christianity—as I understand it—says..." or "Some religions say...", etc. On Phil.SE these distinctions are particularly important, and while they may seem trivial to you they can be a vast difference for us. Even just one word difference can radically alter a question... ^_^ – stoicfury Jan 05 '12 at 18:14
  • @Alex: Historically Christianity has said that God created us in order to glorify Himself and so we can enjoy Him forever. Occasionally Christians have expressed something along the lines of what you suggest as our ultimate purpose (Charles Dickens comes to mind), but they are either wrong or not careful enough with their words. I agree with stoicfury: it's important to use precise formulations whenever possible when asking philosophical questions. (Only he said it more diplomatically than I did.) – Jon Ericson Jan 05 '12 at 22:43
  • The mean of life is pass our DNA to next generation! – Rodrigo Apr 04 '12 at 20:06

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What's the purpose of our existence?

Unless I am wrong, this is one of the main questions that philosophers for thousands of years have been trying to answer.

Religions say that without the made-up gods humans have no purpose to live

This is a strange observation since the phrase made-up can be misinterpretted related to your actual motives of your question.

I will ignore it and just say the following:
There are philosophical schools of thought that try to explain the world and man's existense without including a God in the manner you seem to imply.
For example Epicuros which tried to focus his philosophy on the "pleasures" of life.
One of his quotes was that God is not to be feared since godlike can not be harmful and death is not to worry about since there is no life after death.

So you could look into the various school of thoughts to see which answer your questions in a more sensible/fulfilling manner to you (for starters).
IMHO this is all you can do

Jim
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