I guess the biggest question in Philosophy as a whole, to me anyway, is ”Why are we here?”  There is no factual answer to that in my opinion.  You ask followers of the Christian faith, they are going to say to bring people closer to Jesus.  Ask a follower of Islam?  To serve Allah, and “cleanse the impure.”  I could go on and on with tons of other religions, but I think you get my point.  Even scientists and evolutionists come into play here.  They believe we’re here to “reproduce” and keep the earth populated.  I believe this is one topic that links Philosophy and Religion.  Although some  are similar, almost every single religion has a different doctrine of belief, regarding the “purpose” of life.

Well, my question is, why isn’t there a universal reason?  There has to be.  I have got to be on this earth for more than merely to reproduce.  I can’t and won’t buy that theory.  Why is life what we perceive it to be?  Does that make sense?  The human race as a whole labels human beings the standard.  That’s one reason that generally, when you see an alien movie, they are in humanoid form.  What we are, on this small planet compared to the rest of the universe, is our perception of the “standard.”  That brings up the “perception is reality” topic.  That theory is completely and totally wrong in my opinion.  Want a perfect example?  The center of our solar system is what?  The sun, right?  What does it appear from our point-of-view (perception)?  The earth.  So, are we deceived?  Not necessarily, but from our point of view, what we know to be reality is in fact, not reality.  So, if we are deceived by something such as the sun, why not life itself?  I’m going out on a limb here, but bear with me.  Why do we think life as we see it is all there is?  No one can tell me with factual evidence that our perception of what we call reality isn’t deceiving us.  Well, the most common argument with this will be, “Well, we have solid proof that we revolve around the sun.”  Very true, but it took ages to discover that did it not?  Perhaps it takes even longer to prove what reality truly is?

Tests from God.  Do they exist?  This very question has plagued my mind for the last week or so, because of things I’ve been experiencing.  I guess the truth is, in my life as of late, the existence of God as I’ve always perceived Him, has changed a little.  I still believe in God, I just don’t know what to believe.  I don’t know how much to accept from the Bible as accurate, and I’m searching for the answer as to why I should arrogantly accept Christianity as the “right” religion.  However, I’ve had experiences in my life that help me believe.  Christians use the word “heathen” to describe religions that they believe are wrong from their own personal standpoint, or simply use it for people that do not attend church.  The thing that most Christians do not understand however, is that the word was used far before Christianity was born.  The arrogance of most Christians bothers me.  There’s a religious arrogance that some take that just gives you the vibe that they think they are right, and the rest of the world is wrong.  There are also civil disputes within sects of Christianity.  Baptists vs. Methodists vs. Catholics vs. <insert any other here>  The doctrines of beliefs sometimes vary greatly.

Does God test you to the point where you will become an Atheist?  Does that make sense?  For an example, if you know the story of Job, you know that Job got royally screwed throughout the story.  I stop and ask myself if I lost that much, would I have remained faithful to God?  I feel like my faith has been tested so much over the spring and summer.  Things that I never thought would have happened to me, actually did happen.  I think 2007 overall has been a crappy year for most people.  Is it God testing me?  Is God testing all these other people?  If so, how far is it going to go?  What else am I going to have to endure to prove that I am faithful?  If I theoretically renounced Christianity and became an Atheist or an Agnostic, and all these hardships were “tests,” is that what God wants?  Let’s philosophically twist the idea; Let’s say I fail the test.  God knew I was going to pass or fail, so why should I endure it?  Didn’t God know whether or not Job was going to remain faithful?  I get so tired of hearing the phrase that suffering builds character, etc…  Such an overused, scapegoat phrase.

I feel like I give out more in life than I receive.  I don’t really say that arrogantly, it’s just the truth.  I feel like I keep on giving and giving to people, and I am the one that gets screwed in the end.  I feel like this year has changed my outlook on a lot of things.  My trust in people for one thing.  It’s been completely and utterly destroyed.  I went to trusting almost every friend and acquaintance I know, to trusting about six people on the planet.  But, maybe that’s not such a bad thing.

*Suggested Topic by Bryan*

The suggested topic was:

The possibility of existence without purpose. Is it problematic for us as humans have no pre-ordained purpose in life?

This was an excellent suggested topic by Bryan.   I will go ahead and say out in the open, yes, I believe so.  I think that religion gives most people their purpose.  I mean, let’s be honest, if there weren’t religions that kept people straight, would the law be enough?  Definitely not.  As Marx said, religion is the opium of the people.  I don’t think religion gives everyone their purpose, but you also have to remember that statistically, atheists are more likely to be murderers than those with a chosen religion.

Regardless of whether or not we believe in destiny, we can still believe in a purpose for our life.  Don’t get me wrong, the two sometimes go hand in hand, but human beings have the ability to create purpose for their life, even if they don’t believe there is a pre-ordained calling on your life.  I know from experience, that the worst times of my life have been when I felt that I was stagnant, and unable to make a difference.  However, I don’t know if that is simply my outlook on life, or everyone feels that way?  I think to an extent, everyone feels like they need to make a difference in the world, even if it’s a small one.  Everyone in their life has at least one event where they were the “hero” so to speak, and that always feels really good.  Why does it feel good?  Because we feel like we made a difference.  We feel like we changed a life, or helped someone.  That demonstrates the need for purpose in our life.

I am reminded of the quote from Agent Smith from The Matrix Reloaded:

We are not here because we are free; we are here because we are not free. There is no denying purpose, because as we both know without purpose, we would not exist. It is purpose that created us. Purpose that connects us. Purpose that pulls us, that guides us, that drives us. It is purpose that defines, purpose that binds us.

I know I refer to The Matrix series quite a bit, but it’s a very good reference point for a lot of my statements.  Look at what Smith said, it is purpose that drives us, that connects us, etc…  He even goes to saying that without purpose we would not exist.  Does feeling as we have a purpose responsible for our creation?  Let’s break it down a little.  Think about your own life.  Do you want to get married, have children, and raise them?  If the answer is yes, then you have purpose in your life.  It’s just like Smith said; we would cease to exist without purpose.