Why don’t you have a purpose?
So today, I got my first Quora A2A :D.
While it was for an unexpected question, I sure did want to answer it.
Here’s the answer on the original question: http://qr.ae/vrIoa
Here’s a transcript.
Q: God made me, gave me my family, gave me life that I may enjoy all things, but why didn’t he give me a purpose?
A: Let’s imagine this from the viewpoint of God.
He creates the world. He creates the flora and fauna. They are sentient, but it’s not really exciting. He knows that this bird is going to eat that worm, that bird is going to be eaten by this animal, that animal is going to die, and then the worms are going to eat him again. He does this for ages and ages. But he’s bored. He stirs up his creative juices, and creates dinosaurs. This is gonna be interesting, he thinks. And for a while, he is entertained. Those humungous beasts, with razor sharp claws and scythes for teeth, all of them fighting for survival. The special effects are amazing. But like all games with graphics and no game-play, it is only interesting for a while. He’s bored again. Though the dance of the dinosaurs is so much cooler, they’re essentially doing the same thing as before. They just eat, sleep, and reproduce.
In a fit of brilliance, he injects some of his consciousness and intelligence and creates man. He makes them puny as compared to the dinosaurs, but he makes them social animals. He gives the handful men that exist a purpose, and then watches them. And likes it at first. The new ones are interesting. They walk on only two legs, and their use of the hands is so much fun! They make tools. They make weapons. They discover fire, and how to make it on their own. God is surprised at the speed of their machinations. They invent a way to properly express ideas amongst each other without ambiguity! They have invented a language! God wonders whether these new players aren’t too strong. They know their purpose, and are advancing in the game too fast! To balance it out, he yanks out their purpose-programming, leaving a void where it used to stay.
Man feels this sudden void inside of him when he awakens the next day. Man is stumped at feeling so incomplete, where once he knew what needed to be done, and could advance down a definite path, he now has to think for himself about his future. He does not have that stern, unbending voice inside him guiding him to God’s purpose. Instead, Man is confused. God loves this. It’s a twist in the tale. It’s something new. He now waits with bated breath to see what Man will do.
Man, meanwhile, turns inwards. The intelligent ones understand what is missing. They study their thoughts. They study life. They know that they don’t have a divine purpose anymore. They tell the rest of the Men that you are now free to do what you want to do. Your chains have been cut off, and you can be the creators of magic. But Men didn’t understand. They are used to knowing what exactly to do, and are left in disarray. Some of them, see an opportunity. They rise up to the mantle of the leaders, and give the rest a purpose. They create nations. They wage wars. They promote philosophy and science. They create goals, and sell them to the rest of the Men. And Men become slaves again. For the rest of the story, read history.
God meanwhile, has invented popcorn. He sits and watches from his pedestal about the variety which he has brought about by this one change. He congratulates himself. And he relaxes after this long hard day to reap the harvest of his efforts. His popcorn has just the right amount of salt, and his humans are just hungry enough that he doesn’t need to make changes. And he lives happily ever after.
P.S. Because you don’t have an ingrained purpose, you have the power to choose! You can become an artist, a scientist, a gamer, a humanitarian. All avenues lie open at your feet. Can you imagine how dull life would be if you knew what you had to do in life? You’d just be grinding away all day, everyday at the same thing. You can do whatever you want. Whatever pleases you. You are god’s final creation, and have the freedom to become something which you will like and respect.
But please, make it interesting. Don’t let God get bored.