Posted by Helen on: 09.01.2008 /
I’m posting a comment from Bob with my response here.
Helen: Bob, I don’t have a belief that the universe came into being any particular way. It’s not something I think about. I don’t have any reason to think about it. “How the universe came into being” is not on my list of things I wonder about. So I’m not making a leap of faith because I don’t even think about it.
Bob: Wow — I always thought this one of the questions everyone ponders. I’m guessing why are we here isn’t high on your list either then? To me these are fascinating questions. However, you’ll save yourself some serious time and pondering if they don’t interest you. Does it disinterest you because it is unanswerable or because you see it as irrelevant to the here and now?
I think about things if a) they are relevant or b) they interest me.
“How did the universe come into being?” doesn’t seem relevant to my ‘here and now’. I see this as a question about process and it does interest me a little. Enough that I read easy-to-understand articles about it if I come across them. Not enough that I seek out information about it.
I consider questions about God to be unanswerable. I think “Did God create the universe?” is ultimately unanswerable and a different question from “How did it come into being?” since the scientists might fully map out a process one day and that wouldn’t establish whether a Supernatural Being is involved in the process or not.
I don’t think the question “Why are we here?” makes sense unless a Supernatural Being created us for a reason.
Since I’m not convinced of that there’s no reason for me to ask “Why are we here?”
I think about questions such as, what is the best way to spend my time? I consider that to be a subjective decision and my choice. I don’t feel a need to begin with “Why am I here?” which like I said is not a question which makes sense to me if God doesn’t exist. Which may well be the case as best I can tell.
Bob, when did you first ask “Why am we here?” and what was the answer you were given, or came up with yourself? Has your answer changed since then? What is your answer?
Am I the only one who doesn’t ask “Why are we here?”
Comment by: Jason Horton
1“How did the universe come into being?” is an interesting question for me. For a long time I believed in a determinist universe so that question was always a bothersome point.
The question “Why are we here?” is most easily answered with a pedantic response or by rhetoric that doesn’t answer it. “Why not?” or “Where else would we be?” are perfectly valid responses to such a wide ranging question. Of course it’s a variation on “What is the meaning of life?” to which the answer is clearly 42 but we still don’t know what the question is.
With very large tasks or very complex questions it is always worth trying to break them down into component parts for ease of understanding. “Why are we here?” can be broken down to a question of purpose and a question of geography whereas “Why do we exist?” is a variant that philosophers have tried to answer for an age. Breaking that down is a whole field of existential thinking that can baffle the mind as much as enlighten. How can you satisfy to yourself the question of your own existence without assuming your own existence? How can you have purpose without existence? How can purpose be given to thinking beings if they are to have free will. Does free will negate the idea of a creator? Does free will exist?
It was the question of free will and divine will that helped me to realise my own atheism so even as an unbeliever I think the question of “Why are we here?” to be an important one. Perhaps not for the answer but for the questions that it leads to.
It may not only be you who doesn’t ask these questions but I do enjoy them
Comment by: Bob
2Hi Helen — I’m not sure when I first asked or pondered it in any depth. Probably during college when I started taking philosopy courses. No one has really told me an answer, I think it’s a question each person has to answer for themselves.
Being here is an opportunity that we both appreciate (from different vantage points) as we’ve discussed before. What are the odds we’d be here at all? Since we have this rare opportunity, what might the point of it be? I still think the question can be meaningful to an atheist or anyone else.
In the case where we don’t think anyone else intended for us to be here, as with atheism, it becomes a question of personal mission. I have this unique life, what am I to do with it, what is my purpose going to be? It’s not predetermined — unless you want to argue it’s predetermined by our genetics –it’s something we come to determine in the course of our lives and answer by the time we die. Helping people, creating art, leading, learning, conquering, changing, or whatever kind of impact we want to have on the world.
For me as a christian who does believe that God intended for me to be here, it’s a similar analysis through a different lense. Instead of what do I think I should do here, it becomes what did God put me here to do? In a lot of ways it can play out the same way, a life long process of listening and learning until we find that spot. The difference being simply that instead of a self directed mission, it’s trying to determine God’s personal mission for my life. As a christian part of that goal is to become more like Christ as we go through the process of this life.
You asked if my answer had changed since I first asked the question. I think mostly it has grown. We want a simple sentence with all the answers and a singular theme but I think it’s multifaceted and grows from a singular theme. For me that theme would be God’s intention for my life but for someone else pondering it apart from god it might be the theme of their personal mission and development.
In the most general sense, here is my answer (so far) to the question of why we’re here:
To find communion with God (for those in pursuit of God)
To learn and discover.
To create and enjoy creativity.
To love and be loved.
To be changed and grow.
To leave a legacy and make a difference.
To find peace before we die.
Comment by: Helen
3Jason it sounds like you’re more interested in philosophy than me.
Bob I agree that atheists and Christians (and people in between) think about what to do with their lives in somewhat similar ways. They all make decisions based on their values. Christians look to God for what their values should be, so that’s where the differences come in.
Maybe the specific question “Why are we here?” got me off track - if that’s simply another way of saying “What should I do with my life?” then yes I do think about that.
I like this list:
I would like to do these things.
I left off the first one for obvious reasons and I left off the last because I’m not aware that I’m looking for peace so finding it wouldn’t be one of my goals.
Comment by: Bob
4Hey Helen — I slipped another one in there before the edit expired. That was about change and growth. I think that without some challenging change in our lives we don’t tend to grow as much so I added it to the list.
In terms of peace, you don’t have to look at at as a religious thing. For me at peace with God is part of it but it’s also peace with friends and loved ones, mistakes we’ve made, accomplishments and failures, and approaching the end of this life. To have that peace about yourself and where you are is a blessing at any age. I think people are looking for that peace, even though we may not realize it sometimes.
Comment by: Helen
5Bob, I’d add “to change and grow” to my list too.
And yes, I do want peace in the sense of being reconciled to how my life has gone and as far as its reasonably possible with me minimizing the number of enemies I leave behind.
Comment by: Bob
6Yes I do too, you don’t want to leave havoc for anyone or leave things unsaid. Covey talks about people not really being tired in the way they think they are, but tired from having a divided/conflicted conscience. I think if you can reconcile those things you’re happier in general.