Contemplating the purpose of life.

Well one must way one's immediate destination in order to figure out ones trajectory for the long haul.

What are you studying at University (and where)?

Do you live for yourself or for others?
Are you looking for some kind of idealistic place in the world? Or trying to survive, prosper, and live as long as you can?

Oh... and welcome to a2k. Your first post is definitely an ambitious one at that....

Welcome to A2K, ibaseball06.

The meaning of life is different for everyone, but can basically, in my opinion, be boiled to down to the very simple "Be Happy."

That's all. Do what makes you happy. What are your favorite classes? Your area of study? Why did you choose it? Have you taken any classes outside of your degree field that you really enjoyed?

When was the last time you were happy? What were you doing? What about it made you content?

I don't think we ever stop learning or that education is ever a waste. However, if you aren't enthused by your current degree track it might be a good time to explore what field does get you excited and change course before you invest further.

Did you choose your name here for a reason?

I am at the University of Central Florida. I am about to declare major in Spanish. I do not have a concrete reason for studying this. I do not see myself teaching nor translating. But this is the only thing I am passionate about and could see myself studying.

I would like to think I would like to live for others, help others progress, especially the less fortunate. I do have the desire to be successful as a person as well because like the rest of the material world, I like nice things. Does this help?

I love Spanish classes, after 3 years of contemplation I finally am going to declare spanish as my major. I have taken courses all over the board, psychology, business, education, economics, and I hated them all. I think a lot of my happiness comes from ideas that get me excited, like helping people. The happiness does not seem to last long though, always putting back in the state of mind you find me in now.

The name I chose has no relevance, I have used this for everything in the past since I played baseball in high school.

Any ideas?

Well I assume you have plenty of time left in your life to determine a fair path. The problem is since we can't time travel there is no way to hit the rewind button and choose another option from the Choose Your Own Adventure book of your own life.

Making mistakes at this point for the most part will lead only to temporary woes (unless they are behemoth level errors in judgement which are to be avoided at all costs if they can be avoided at all).

I bet if you finish your degree in Spanish, through experiment and arbitrary luck, some kind of life epiphany could steer you to a most thrilling and rewarding life.

So, no interest in playing baseball now? Coaching?

It's good to want to do for others, but in the end it's about you. Even Mother Theresa and Gandhi got something personal (satisfaction? Happiness? Joy?) from their work. So, while helping others is a nice thought and goal, it isn't something people do without some form of payback.

What ideas have you had for helping people that got you enthused? How did you start thinking about those ideas? Within those ideas, what did you picture yourself doing? (You don't have to share all of that, it's about putting your finger on the process and following it through.)

BTW, I'd guess 99% of the students in university right now have felt the same way. There is a lot of demand to know what you are going to do with your life starting in junior high, and when one still doesn't have it all figured out by 19, it can be a bit depressing. Don't be hard on yourself. Most all of us have been through through this and you aren't alone in feeling this way now.

I don't believe that there is any inherent meaning to our lives and that we have to create meaning for ourselves. Helping the less fortunate seems like a good start.

Oh here come's MonaLeeza! Or shall I say MsKillJoy??

Why don't you confide in him that Santa Claus doesn't really exist?!

is for that form of being to survive

unfortunately a thinking being , Us , wants something more

it isn't going to happen

either we find value in Human survival , without god or we don't

we are on our own people

now survive

The first thing one needs to do is to make a statement that says exactly what you mean. The purpose of life, is an anthropomorphism.
One's purpose in life, is set by definition and is the same for any creature. The only remaining question is "How are we to furfill our given purpose."
An environmental acquisition system of a living organism is that system of the organism which must acquire something from the environment and process that which it has acquired in order to maintain and promote its life.
The mind is one such system.
Or in mystic terms, every environmental acquisition system is "to have life and to have it more abundantly."

Since we learn (to fulfill our function) by experience, or in other terms, perception determines conception conception determines will,
All depends on the availability of a suitable environment and the intellect to take advantage of it.

In my case, I tested with a very high IQ, too high some might say. If I chose an intellectual life, there would be conflict--serious conflict--so I chose a life of labor and I simply post for free the results of my investigations on the internet. I learned later in life, this was not an original solution.

its been a long time since i logged in......... in this fast paced world even a month or more, seems like a long time.

Anyway, i find your post interesting, in the sense that it deals with a fundamental philosophical question. Whats the purpose of life?

Well, the straight retort is - whats your purpose in life, no one knows except you? Only you can decide that, and obviously you can't and you seek help. Thats humble enough.

Now, seriously,...... the- purpose-of-life thought is an illusion of sorts. Whats the purpose of an ant climbing walls and blades of grass over and over again. Whats the purpose of the siberian cranes migrating thousands of miles, over continents on an annual basis. One would say to survive.

Well, Obviosuly humans have progressed so much that they do not even ponder on survival. It is taken for granted that you would survive, especially in the developed world mind-set. The human mind now indulges in mundane issues like helping others, research and inventions, contribution to human society, making name for oneself or perhaps making a fortune for oneself etc.

The age at which you are, it is not at all surprisng that you have a feeling of deja vu, or simply a feeling of emptiness. This is common and many thinking youngsters pass through such experiences. I too pondered on this very things. Believe me it is useless. The culprit is your ego. Let not it give you a feeling of self pity. One part of you wants name and fame, recognition and acceptence, fulfillment and accomplishment, the other part tells you it is all futile, useless, and unproductive. Thus leading to inaction and stressfullness.

What you need is simple things which we often take lightly. You need good friendship, you need a good girl friend perhaps, a good break in the wilderness area perhaps, a good trek perhaps, a good swim, a jolt out of the humdrum of routines............. and then you will be okay. A fresh breeze will come back and you will again find your purpose. Keep the purposes small and acheivable. For the day perhaps...... like getting yourself a date, as your culture exerts pressure on you, but if you hate such repeatabilities, or commonness, than you can try and set yourself to have tea with a spanish tourist at the beach, go join an NGO that helps people on the street, volunteer or participate in University projects, etc
In short, if you are an introvert, try being an extrovert and see if that helps.

Do whatever, but try you must. One thing you should do is stopping thinking about purpose's. My guess is that the American educational system seems to put a lot of pressure on acheiving things. This kind of culture gives rise to such questions. Life does not have any purpose. It is only to be lived by whatever means available.

Good set of sugestions you have there Jack. Glad you step by!
To keep it simple is usually something people end up learning to late in life unfortunately..I guess the problem is that we mostly aim for the great symbolic goals and although we eared it time and again minimalistic approaches always require some emotional inner wisdom development that takes a great deal of time and allot of head banging to sink in...

Thanks!
Yes, simplicity is the mantra to a fruitful life. But modern man seems to abhor it for various reasons. A young man or woman is exposed to so much of information today, may be to a factor of 10 to 50 when compared to a guy of the same age 20 or 30 years ago. This is a guess. The main point is that today the whats-the-purpose-of-life syndrome has an entirely different meaning. It is transformed into a giant monkey on your back, the burden of which is g iving the stresses.

A 18 year old young sales executive told me a couple of years back, with as much pride and arrogance, that i am 18 today and I earn 18000 Rs a month. Whereas his father who is 56 year old still does not earn half of what he gets. Perhaps in this onslaught of commercialism and the augment of post modern era in the developed world which does not allow a youngster to even know forget contemplate, about minimalistic approaches.
Small is beautiful, some one said, but how many youngsters coming out of schools and colleges know this.
Your are right. it takes a great deal of time........ 'A great deal of time', i now see...is a good phrase, indeed.

http://www.ted.com/talks/r_a_mashelkar_breakthrough_designs_for_ultra_low_cost_products.html[

I like ted lectures, Thanks Fil!

I have always told my two sons that 1) I expected them to get a college degree, and 2) to pick a career field they think will provide them with job satisfaction and be happy at their work.

Our older son joined the US Air Force after college, and stayed in for over 12-years. He made the rank of major, then resigned, and continued his education at the University of Texas in Austin. He now works for the university, and seems quite content with his job and life in Austin.

Our younger son earned his bachelors in Pscyhology (cum laude), but there's not much he can do with just a bachelors in that field. He lives alone in an apartment in our city.

If you feel that these thoughts are preventing you from living your life, then put them aside and just live your life. What's the alternative?

As far as your education is concerned, at the very least you'll get a bachelor's degree out of it and it'll expand your employment options more than if you were to have only a high school diploma.

Is he content?

I think that there are two separate questions here:
1. What is the purpose of my life?
2. What should I do with my life?

Question 1 is a toughie. We can all make suggestions, but really it comes
down to your personal values and philosophy.

Querstion 2 requires a lot of thought and apparently, you've already given
it a lot of thought. That's good. As a college student, this is a good time
to reflect on all the different fields of learning you've been exposed to.
Is there something you've really enjoyed? Like you, my son (I call him
"Nigel" here) was not at all sure what he wanted to do until he took some
psychology in college. Now he's working at a psychiatric hospital and
saving toward grad school. He's very happy with what he's doing now,
but not that long ago he was just as uncertain as you are.

I wish you luck!