'Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them.'

The 14th Dalai Lama

I posted this quote to start a philosophical discussion. What do you think the prime purpose of this life is? I believe that being useful and helping others gives meaning to life.

Good topic hitest, and a well chosen starting quote.

I agree that doing that which is good for others gives a singularly strong meaning to life.

Since the beginnings of recorded history, this principle has been recognized and expressed in various ways among various cultures. It derives from natural law and is the analog of Newton's third law operating in interactions among sentient beings. It is stated in different ways, here is a simple one:

Some call it karma, others say "You reap what you sow", or "You get what you give", or "What goes around, comes around", and others. All are recognition that this is how the universe works whether we like it or not, as opposed to merely being part of some belief system.

Given that this is a natural law, like the laws of motion or gravitation, we can then obtain a desired outcome from our interactions by thoughtfully directing our "input".

Beginning from the proposition that we all want that which is "good" for ourselves, then we may maximize our own "good" by extending those very things to all others, frequently stated as the Golden Rule in pre-apocalyptic western cultures:

Given a chance to operate, it is the very definition of the "good" equillibrium state for every individual, and therefore for human societies.

"As yourself", the natural relationship of each of us to all others, in all things. The definition of "greater good", deviations from which are the source of all that is not good, or "bad".

We find satisfaction in feeding the hungry, healing the sick, or satisfying the needs of others because we can see ourselves in their place. We hurt when others hurt, so we also feel all that is good when we share it with others - it is a force of nature.

When it comes to discussing the purpose of life, it is pretty clear that there is going to be an enormous gulf between religious people of all faiths and non-religious/humanist/atheist people. We already have a religious thread, so I'll try not to hijack this one for religious purposes, but it should be pretty obvious that if you have a religion, pleasing and serving God is going to trump anything else. You may approve, you may not, but that's how religion works psychologically.

Fortunately, all respectable religions put some form of Jesus's Golden Rule or Hillel's Silver Rule (Don't do to others what you would not like them to do to you) in second place. Religious people treat this as a commandment from God. I don't know how irreligious people explain the dominant position they give to it other than that it makes life a lot more tolerable for everybody if we all agree to behave like this. But I'm not sure that this very sensible and civilised agreement constitutes a "purpose of life".

@astrogeek: It would be very nice if the universe did indeed arrange that the wicked always get punished but, as Job sourly pointed out centuries ago, the reality is different. The wicked often get rich, have lots of children to inherit their wealth and die comfortably in their beds. And get praised at their funerals for their philanthropy too!

for me its "being happy".

i am happy of little things, like new parts for my computer etc.
i bought liquid cooling for my main box and i can say "i am happy" xD

sounds stupid but thats my opinion

Hi,

I like this one;

It's not stupid at all. All subhuman animals and most people spend most of their lives trying to achieve a reasonable degree of comfort and avoid pain. That's the force that drives evolution. But we humans do seem to be different in that some people will deliberately do things that they know will lead them to suffering and even death because they believe it is their duty to act in a certain way. And the rest of us, who would probably not go that far, nevertheless admire those people.

Hi,

Sadly, society is mostly led by visible dominant personalities who most times do not have a moral compass thus leading a lot of the society in their direction. Current days with social media some are followers and not free thinkers who can decide for themselves. Some of this can be due to the family structures that are not led by a strong moral character.

In the USA our school system has misled our children in ways that do undermine the family with their moral uncertainty. Just look at the liberals that are within our communities that support the deterioration of our society.

Heck, I found out that my grandchildren do not even know how to write cursive let alone read it. Schools don't even teach civics let alone honest history. The whole school curriculum is no where near what I was taught. Our reading and math scores are below normal. Some blame it on COVID but I blame the poor teaching and parental involvement. I learned how to read from my Immigrant Norwegian Paternal Grandfather, he taught me my numbers and alphabet and to read. My parents would drop me off in the mornings and he would read the newspaper with me on his lap and when he found a word he did not understand then look it up and pronounce it along with the definition along with sentence providing a thorough understanding. He made sure that I did not parrot but understand.

When I went to kindergarten, the teacher said that she would read a book to us before nap time. I raised my hand and said "I can read that". I remember her saying 'no way", I insisted that I could. I remember her bring the book to me and I read it out loud to the class. I looked up to her and saw the smirk turn into a smile. Some great childhood memories because of a strong moral Norwegian Grandfather that had the means to help his first born spoiled grandson. I learned a lot from him and my uncles with a strong family structure.
Sadly he passed that same year. I didn't fully understand death until it was spelled out to me by my Sunday school teacher.

Family structure and support is very important for a healthy developing child. Sadly that most families structure are separated because of a transitional family who move due to work or other means of separation.

I can state that I was very involved with my family and did support my daughters and their children. Great memories of the grandchildren being at the farm. Helping in their development. I'm proud of all the kids!

I see parents put an unruly child on a phone to entertain or distract in order to change the current situation instead of proper parenting. Just opening and leading to a worst case situation by giving a child a device to distract thus leading to a problem later in the child's life. Lazy parents who do not realize the problem they are opening the child too.
I could go on but you should get my point here.

Apparently that's a common problem nowadays and not only in the USA. University history departments are having to deal with students who can't read original documents because they are in cursive script.
That's not just an American problem. We have exactly the same thing over here.
Child? We're talking about babies! Babies in prams. It's a nightmare.

sorry, ill delete my post.

Hi,
I go out to dinner at times and I have witnessed children 3 and up that throw fits and the parent will put a phone with a game or movie to settled the child down. I've seen families who are dining together and everyone is looking at a phone! Whenever my Grand kids came to dinner at our house they had to give up the phones to us. Absolutely no phone use and they always had a good time conversing with us and sharing personal times.

I've been to Japan and their society is totally different. Respect and honor with communications between members. So I think it is a country bound habit and social media driven. FOMO is inbred by the devices and media.

My grandson was a Marine and all written communication had to be block print. He can type but no cursive reading or writing. Very Intelligent young man but not properly educated by the school system.

Hi //////,

I am not going to discuss any form of politics since jeremy states for <General>;and more moderation to be done.

This is not at all new, parents have been using objects to distract babies since time immemorial. Baby rattles have been found that date back to long prehistoric times. Rattles, balls, mobiles above cribs, all sorts of things have been, and are still being, used. If this hurts children, then your generation, and mine, and indeed almost all humans in history have been harmed. I can't buy it.

onebuck,

I was an elementary school teacher up here in Canada for 32 years; I happily retired in January 2016. Cursive handwriting was a skill that I really enjoyed teaching to my students. Sadly, cursive writing was dropped as a mandatory part of the English curriculum.
Civility does indeed begin in the home. Parents are critical for the social development of children.

Hi,
I come from University academia and found it too was a challenge. Social misfits that thought they were blessed and expected to be served no matter the proper considerate sense for others. Sure, I had a lot of great students but even more spoiled ones. We are a private University and would get all kinds from all over the country and world.
It was hard at times because of social barriers and inter-relationships between students. I do appreciate some of the times spent with students but I don't miss the University environment since the stress almost killed me.

Hi,
I won't disagree with your statement but will add that babies are one problem but when a 3 year old or older throws a fit by screaming and the only thing a parent does is to flip a phone in front of the child to distract is not proper parenting in my experience(s) over the years with my children or my grand kids. I do remember one time where my wife decided to just get up and leave with the kid in tow. I would graciously explain we were leaving to correct the kid in private. The child was old enough to realize that the outing was over thus no special treatment done or given because of the improper actions on their part.

They were taught to understand proper actions on their part was expected. And if they acted out then that too brought our actions to result in their correction privately thus missing out on any eating out or treats.

It didn't take long for the kid to realize that acting out or burst of fits resulted in no meals out or treats period.