While I grant that many people may want a legacy, I have yet to hear why that means everyone - without exception - must desire it as their primary purpose. I'm not asking why a lot of people might feel that way, or why it's really important to many, I'm asking why you think that it is an objective property of people (i.e. a rule that is beyond free will), not a subjective property.
I am still deeply convinced, that we are all immortal and that materialism is a wrong approach. Only with such opinion it makes real sense to talk about the purpose of life. I know it is almost impossible to convince people, who have already another fixed world view. But people, who are still looking for a believable belief, may find some ideas at rational-weltanschauung.blogspot.com and in the book from William Buhlman "Adventures in the Afterlife". The first part of this book gives a detailed description of the afterlife. If you read this open-minded it will become a real eye-opener!
I'm interested in the so called afterlife but really don't have time to chase after reading Adventures in the Afterlife However I would be appreciative, since you appear to have detailed knowledge of the book, if you might answer a few questions How did the author get to the afterlife? How long did author spend there? How did the author return to the before the afterlife life? Thanks Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
William Buhlman is one of the rare people, who is able to OBE (Out of Body Experience), which he can initiate by himself. He does this since 40 years. He could travel in the afterlife over hours and could always return easily just by thinking of his body. After he has been diagnosed of cancer some years ago, he has spent most of his time during OBE in order to find out, what happens with most people after death. He has put all his experience in a story of a fictive character for better understanding.
Oh so he wasn't dead. Got it. Con artist making money from make up stuff Along the lines of bullshit artist Joseph Smith who I reckon would have been great selling books in the current climate Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
I wonder if Carlos Castaneda had after-life experiences or if he was just a stoner. Personally I go with just a stoner
IMO, an out-of-body-experience is impossible. By definition it is only the body, the physical object which can "experience" change, from quantum mechanics to physical (brained) thought. As Anil Seth observed, humans can only make "best guesses" of reality to begin with, and that still requires a brain. https://www.ted.com/talks/anil_seth_how_your_brain_hallucinates_your_conscious_reality Stuart Hameroff goes even deeper and proposes that awareness of change itself is a quantum function of the micro tubulins in the body of most organisms. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuart_Hameroff
Turns out he wasn't really dead He made himself have a Out of Body experience In today's parlance fake death Slipped the ferryman a few $s Oh wait that's Hades Seems he sipped past StPeter a few times Looked around Came back Put his body back on Wrote a book - as you do in situations like that I'm guessing StPeter would be pissed off with ol Bill coming and going as if he owned the place Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Our purpose in life is procreation, same as for all living organisms. Darwinian Evolution and Natural Selection are founded on that simple Imperative.
Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Depends, procreation can be a very difficult task that requires hard work and great care. I am coming from the standpoint that all living organisms have the innate Imperative to procreate. This imperative can already be found in viruses, which are not even considered to be alive. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virus I would say this is the first parasitic organism.
In the western world, a lot of people are putting off procreation until later in life. After all, procreation is more than just laying the eggs and fertilising them. It's also important to make sure that the offspring have a decent chance at survival.
Insects are exempt from this. They procreate in overwhelming numbers which would soon overtake all food sources if it were not for a very high death rate to keep the population in check. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/nature/being-queen.html An army ant queen is unable to walk and is dragged by the royal escort and her legs just wear down to little stumps. Not a very luxurious life......Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
So what do you say to all those of us who have chosen paths other than procreation? We are qualitatively different from other animals in that we can look at ourselves, know we are mortal, and decide what we wish to do with the time we have. In many parts of the world, people are putting off procreation completely.
Which does not seem to make sense if catholic priest / nuns not allowed to marry (the sanctioned way to procreate) But does make sense to ban condoms Shift the burden of churning out believers. Let the minions carry the cost of raising the next batch of executives while keeping the current executives in luxury Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!