Tuesday, April 11, 2006

For the want of purpose

Four centuries after a man was accused and imprisoned on charges of heresy for refuting geocentrism, the world is still afraid of science and those that believe in science.

Was chatting with a friend, and he gave me an impression that he was a theist because it gave him some purpose in life


(15:08:38) xyz: but in eternity, where does our 100 year life stand? whats the point of our meaningless struggles/happinesses
(15:08:50) Ishwar: nothing, there is no point to anything
(15:08:52) xyz: we can as well commit suicide
(15:09:06) Ishwar: yes, we might as well commit suicide
(15:09:14) xyz: if we dont believe in spirituality, thats the only hope of life
(15:09:17) Ishwar: the only point o f life is to propagate itself through one's own genes
(15:09:29) xyz: propagate itself and?
(15:09:33) Ishwar: that's it
(15:09:37) Ishwar: there is no purpose to life
(15:09:45) Ishwar: why should there be a purpose at all
(15:09:47) xyz: and? what significance does it have in eternity
(15:10:12) Ishwar: according to me "purpose" is the invention of a feeble human mind trying to come to terms with it's futile existence
(15:10:14) xyz: there should be a point man
(15:10:23) Ishwar: why should there be?
(15:10:57) Ishwar: because our parents told us so?
(15:11:25) Ishwar: our parents also told us that eclipses are caused by snakes swallowing each other
(15:11:36) Ishwar: not just parents, our mythology says so
(15:11:51) xyz: aaaahhhhh true though
(15:11:53) Ishwar: well, when they can be wrong there, why can't they be wrong about philosophy?

And so on..

Please note(Sundar, this is for you) that the argument is by no means deductive reasoning.

Of course, I can be wrong here. Probably there is a purpose to life. But seriously, when geocentrism is proved to be false, and when we know that earth is an insignificant little planet revolving around a yellow little sun in the outer reaches of the spiral arms of an unremarkable old galaxy in the middle of nowhere, the purpose somehow eludes me :)

P.S: Hope the friend doesn't mind my posting the conversation.

1 comment:

I said...

Cool blog!

I think the object of faith in a higher being is merely a means of external hope/motivation or a placebo, for most people. The real "purpose" of Life is self-preservance and perceived "happiness"- material & abstract. Man embraces any means that leads him to believe he'd be "happy"- short term/long term. Sex, alcohol, spirituality, charity, family, TV or whatever.

From an "eternal" perspective Life is pointless. For that matter, it's pointless wrt any meaningful external or long-term reference. People live coz death is a horrible thing to contemplate for most Men. And there is no surity that death is any better than life.

@Zero
I think no one can be a "classical Libertarian", as much as it's tempting.