What is your Purpose?
An Argument on Purpose
If those of us who see the human form as an evolution of organic matter are correct, it is natural and correct for our sense of purpose to be survival, both of the species and of ourselves as the human form. Then God, that entity we have never seen or met, cannot exist, or may exist superfluous to us.
If those of us who see human life as more than our organic state, that the human mind is an entity unto itself, it is natural and correct for our sense of purpose to be beyond mere survival and toward the identification and elaboration of the mind as a real existent, one that drives the body and even functions superfluous to it. Then God may exist just as invisible as is reason and logic but to full development. We do not have to embrace or know God in order to know ourselves but as we define and build ourselves we can become closer to infinite reason and logic. And if we define that as God, we become closer to God.
This is not an argument about God but is one that attempts to define purpose. It can be a tough one so let me explain.
From the very beginning of our lives as a human species we have wondered about a property we seem to have that no other life form has. It is the property of reason. We think. We use logic to create unique responses to our ever changing world. No other life form does that. They may rely on instinct. And their instinct may even be quite elaborate. Yet instinct gives repetitive results. A spider, for instance, will build a complex web that we cannot duplicate with even the best instruments. Yet a spider of the same species will build a similar web in some remote area of the world without being taught by that other spider. It is instinct.
Logic and reason, however, are qualities that have perplexed humans from the beginning. That perplexity gave rise to spiritualism, the promotion of that property as a metaphysical existent that is distinct from our organic existence. And that gave rise to our understanding of God as the full embodiment of reason and logic. As Voltaire once commented, “If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent God.” And we did. Let’s face it; no one has ever seen God. We have logically determined God’s existence. Our logic and reason ignited our understanding of them collectively as a unique and special property or even existence.
Numerous religions have sprouted from that premise. All have one thing in common. This is that we are required to identify that unique property that is us, and build it. Of course, each one differs in the how. And THAT has separated us into different camps, initiating competitiveness, hatred, wars, and condemnations of the individual who dares to do the same thing differently.
Now we are splitting into two different camps. These are the evolutionists and the spiritualists. The former is now surpassing the latter. Without sufficient evidence for the assertion that the mind is a chemical process, we have concluded and held fast to that conclusion that our reason and logic, the activities that define the mind, are biochemical reactions. We are the body, it concludes. We, the body, drive the mind, that a healthy mind emerges from a healthy body. We have now concluded, and are holding fast to that conclusion, that our identity is defined by the body or some property of it. Skin colour, facial features, sexual function, athletic prowess, genetic predisposition, family connections, money, social or professional status, and material possessions are the factors than now define the person. We build those qualities and devote our energies toward their pursuit. And the more we do that the less effort we devote to discovering and building reason and logic.
We worship the people who have reached the peak of any of these abilities. And we derided our foolish ancestors who we accused of allowing religion that teaches the idea of spirituality to be simply the provider of opium to the masses. Yet, are we not doing the same thing, only differently? As Voltaire said it, we will invent God. This is because reason and logic need something to give it life. And if it is not a God that represents the zenith of spiritualism, it will be a god that represents the zenith of evolutionism. We humans need to be affirmed by our acceptance within a sphere that is bigger than us. And if it isn’t spiritualism derived from our use of reason and logic, it will be a goal derived from our definition of ourselves. We seek to belong to a definition that is powerful. If it is not powerful, we make it powerful Does that not seem to be the argument that we are safe in mid-air because we are standing on a scaffold, and that scaffold is safe because we are holding it up?
Neither evolutionism nor spiritualism is a condition we can truly measure. Reason and logic are qualities that will always stay within the realm of the metaphysical. For the same reason, proof of their existence as products of evolution cannot be realized. Therefore it is a choice we must make using, you guessed it, reason and logic. And we must make it, not collectively, but individually.
It is yours to make… and process.
