What is the purpose of our life?

Tags

The meaning of life is sleep., What is the meaning of human life?, What is the meaning of life?, What is the purpose of our life?

The first purpose of all living things is to avoid destruction. The warnings of risk are built into sensate beings, and if those fail pain is experienced to encourage struggles to survive the immediate situation. That purpose is designed into every living being’s DNA or it won’t survive long enough to reproduce.

We humans have some other purposes we strive toward beyond simple survival and built-in reproductive urges. If we observe what we spend most of our time, effort, and money on, that is a good proxy for what we value. There is a considerable discussion of higher values but unless it includes a substantial dollop of those three valued things it is probably idle talk.

What if we approach the question from a spatial point of view?…

What does the whole Universe ask of us living beings? Or our Milky Way galaxy, or our Sun’s system, or our Earth, our locality, our property, or where we are right now?

What do our animal bodies demand of us? And of our various parts, like our skin, our eyes, our hands and feet, our lungs and heart, our bladder, etc. Every cell of our bodies has its preferred environment, and if it isn’t getting what it needs it will make itself known somehow, via pain or failure to produce its product, which causes misery elsewhere.

We briefly hit on the potential needs of the Universe, the personal human needs, the animal organs, and cellular needs. So what are we to discuss when we ask, “What is the meaning of life?”

A Google search gave this result from www.reddit.com:

I guess the meaning of life must be defined by how much time we sleep and how much money we spend sleeping.

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How to climb the staircase to heaven.

Tags

Beatitude, Beatitudes, Jesus, Sermon on the Moun, Staircase to Heaven, The Sermon on the Mount

The Sermon on the Mount was given by Jesus after a short walk from the town of Capernaum to a site above the Sea of Galilee. The sermon begins with a staircase starting from a lowly place and going to a heavenly one. It then gives many illustrations along the path to heaven and then a general procedure for walking along that path and up those stairs. Jesus offers his Golden Rule, and it is a bit different in words from what are usually translated as the Golden Rule, but it is absolutely different in its meaning and power. Observe that each beatitude is an inner state, linked to a response and that they are an upward progression toward a heavenly condition.

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Matthew 5 King James Version (KJV)

5 And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him:

2 And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,

3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

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Matthew 7 King James Version (KJV)

11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

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The Beatitudes are the staircase to heaven, and Jesus’ form of the Golden Rule, which includes the word “should,” creates the thoughts and actions that train your inner-self habits with the abilities needed for the ascent.
The word “should” is often translated as “would” because “would” is easier to understand as it is on everyone’s level and easier to do because it demands little of the person; just be nice to others.

The word “should” challenges you to strive to reach the next level of being.

I have some half baked ideas that need more baking.

Tags

Baking new ideas takes time, Big ideas, Half baked ideas

The Sermon on the Mount needs an upgrade to make it relevant again. I have been associated with several groups with some Christians in them and they discuss wanting to live a pure and meaningful life like Jesus, but when they talk about those ideas they refer to Paul and they never refer to Jesus’ Sermon. I tell them about that sermon being a stairway to a better life and how it works, but it needs a carefully written post and I never seem to have the time, or lately the energy. That is getting better now that my radiation treatments have ended and I am healing.

Another idea that needs a thorough backing is an exposition on the steps needed to bring robotic life into existence so the Universe can move on to its next level of being and probably beyond. Only we can do the necessary work to get that next level into existence. Once it is up and operating, a thoughtful evolutionary process using projective forethought can move that “life-form” forward much more quickly than  Darwinian evolution.

Another post needs to be written that gives humans the motivation to create this new life-form while they have the opportunity. If we get it started in the bountiful direction of helping the Universe to self-actualize its potential, some wonderful things would almost certainly come into existence. It would probably be an existence that we humans would approve of and greatly enjoy.

Another ongoing quest is to investigate some new directions in a visual exploration of our common environment. There have been posted a few “lines and shadows” photos, and a few “disappearing objects” ideas that gave people a moment of thought.

Even with my plethora of false beliefs that need cleaning up, I am enjoying my life of attempting to find solutions to its realities.

I’m tired of radiation treatments.

Tags

Prostate cancer, Prostate cancer is tiring, Radiation treatments

Last Friday I finished with my forty-fourth radiation treatment for prostate cancer. At my age of eighty-three, there is an eighty percent chance of having prostate cancer, so I’m nothing special. I was informed, even before starting the treatments, that I would probably feel fatigued for about six weeks after finishing, as my body clears out the dead cancer cells and flushes them away. It was also mentioned that I would probably feel depressed for a few weeks. Both of those turned out to be accurate.

It was mentioned that I would have trouble controlling peeing, pooing and tooting, (words for things I learned to control as a child), which has been true also, but those things seem to be easing up. I no longer have the intense and spontaneous urgency events whenever I approach the front door of my house, or the bathroom, or the toilet. It is apparent that my bladder has eyes and can spot those things from far away, and furthermore, it has the ability to look at my thoughts, and if there is even a hint of any of those actions being possible it creates an urgency event. Pee NOW! Yes, I am wearing those special diapers right now and they really do work much better than a folded towel or scrunching your face.

I discovered by talking about these problems openly with my older buddies that many, perhaps most, of them have already gone through these struggles. They have given me a few valuable tips and have offered encouragement to struggle on. This whole experience hasn’t been painful, and it hasn’t interfered much with my daily routines, but I have been noticeably more irritable. The daily frustrations of life have been more annoying but with my newer take on life when I see problems coming, I just quietly walk away. Avoiding even slight confrontations makes life easier.

When it comes to life (the unavoidable things), just do what you have to do, and pay close attention to the pleasures.

 

How can I identify and eliminate my false beliefs? 29

Some of my false beliefs have been known to me for a long time, but I haven’t made any attempt to confront them and adjust my behavior. One of them is my willingness, even eagerness, to observe closely the positive things about my life situation and to ignore the negative ones. A glaring example of this self-deception hit me last night when I checked out the Zillow.com value of my house, which I purchased in February 2011 here in Bend, Oregon.

As it happened that was the bottom of the housing market here, and the estimated value of this city’s real estate has increased a lot. I have no intention of ever moving again, and even if the value dropped to zero it wouldn’t make any difference, as I would still have a roof over my head and walls around my body and ownership of the dirt under my feet. Because I own the house, there is no rent to pay every month and no possibility of being forced to move as long as I keep up with the property taxes. I was forced to move several times while living back in Berkeley for fifty years, even though I never missed a single rent payment. (Advice to the young: buy your residence no matter how humble, and move up when you have the ready cash. Never, ever pay rent because you lose all the value of that money forever.)

My false belief has something to do with the Zillow estimate of my house value because I have observed that when the price is rising I look at their valuation almost every day, but when it is falling I only look once a month. It feels good when my monetary value is increasing so I get a little pleasure, and it feels bad when my value is falling so there is a little pain and I ignore it.

My false belief is that — if I don’t look at the bad things they don’t enter my consciousness and therefore they don’t exist. If I look at the good things they do exist and I enjoy them. When this phenomenon is stated that way it seems like a silly trick my mind is playing on me. Probably this habit obtrudes into all of my thoughts and behaviors, but there isn’t a six-figure dollar value Zillow evaluation of it every day.

How can I eliminate this inane false belief when it makes me feel better?

A walk from my car to coffee.

Tags

Crows Feet Coffee Bend Oregon, Drake Park Bend Oregon, Mirror Pond Bend Oregon

I parked my car, as usual, next to Drake Park, here in Bend, Oregon, and took a short photo-detour from my car to the Crow’s Feet Commons coffee shop.
Then back twenty steps through that cut-glass door to wonderful conversations with my artist friends.

Life is tough here in Bend but I am getting comfortable with it.

What to seek and what to avoid

Tags

ACE, Health, Honesty, PCE, Reliability, Stability, What not to do., What to do.

Let’s start with the big five personality traits – OCEAN – first developed in the 1970s by Paul Costa, Robert R. McCrae and Lewis Goldberg.

Openness to experience = Eccentricity, Magical thinking (versus) Closed-minded and Inflexible

Conscientiousness = Work that gets done, Perfection done but not on time (versus) Irresponsible, Distractable, Rash

Extraversion = Attention-seeking, Excitement-seeking (versus) Detached socially cold, Anhedonia

Agreeableness = Gullible, Submissive, Selfless (versus) Manipulative, Suspicious

Neuroticism = Shameful, Flighty, Depressed, Helpless, Insecure (versus) Fearless, Shameless

Those labels have been used and are supposed to have some observed relationship to how people behave, but they don’t seem to track my needs or feelings at present. The following ideas are not being applied to anyone I know; they are being applied to me and my ongoing quest to identify and eliminate my false beliefs.

This is what I should watch for in the application of my own behavior:

The ACE (Adverse Childhood Experiences) and my negative habits.
The PCE (Positive Childhood Experience) because this and ACE are the foundation of all of my habits.
The Stability of my emotional reactions to my self and my environment.
The Honesty of what I think, say, and do to what is actually going on inside of my conscious and unconscious mind.
The Reliability of physically doing what I say I am going to do.
The Health of my body, which is being subject to medical treatments and diseases that are locally present, like the flu. 

It’s what I physically do with what I’ve got that matters.

How can I identify and eliminate my false beliefs? 27

Tags

Changing my behavior, Evolution of my beliefs, False beliefs, Identifying false beliefs

I have been trying to identify my false beliefs in the posts under this topic heading and have had some, at least to me, unpleasant discoveries. This evening I applied one of my changes of behavior that was derived from these previous analyses of my former habits of behavior.

My new behavior was departing at first opportunity from a large lecture, whereas in the past I would have waited through the question period before leaving. The lecture topic seemed like it would be interesting to me but as it developed it wasn’t; to me it was boring. It was boring because there were no ideas being presented that I thought could be useful to my needs. It was a public policy lecture, and I am a member of the local community, but when I realized there was nothing I could do or say where I could be making a useful input, or learn something that I might find personally useful, I decided to leave. I was courteous enough to wait until the applause began before going, but I went. In the past, I would have waited.

This new behavior is a development from my new idea of quietly walking away from people and situations that will cause me stress or are of no use to me or my future actions. That doesn’t seem like much of a discovery, but in the past I would have struggled longer to try to find a deeper meaning in the ongoing presentation.

It is the change of my physical actions that make the pursuit of my false beliefs a meaningful quest.

How can I identify and eliminate my false beliefs? 21

Tags

False beliefs, Identifying false beliefs

Everyone who has tried knows that it is difficult to be conscious of how their mind is functioning. My problem is that my world is complex and I can only think about and hold a few of the contradictory things in my mind at the same time. Most of the time I just solve my problems with the first reasonable option that comes to mind, but that approach is obviously flawed because it is based on previous habits that worked in some totally different situations.

The current situation is always new and unique so it is impossible that the old habits will be precisely adapted to the current situation. Thus I must think before it becomes possible to see and react ideally to the situation that is before me. But thinking in a philosophically logical way is nearly impossible, and even thinking rationally is hard, so as a general rule I just try to do the right next thing and to avoid doing something stupid.

Most of my life it appeared that most people were doing the same thing and just trying to get their share of the good things of life without doing anything outrageously stupid that might get them hurt. Here in Bend that is no longer the case, which is peculiar, because we live in such a wonderful place with so few real threats to our well-being.

Perhaps that safe feeling is the reason people here actively seek out dangerous pastimes such as mountain climbing, wilderness biking, spelunking caves, whitewater rafting, etc. The list is endless because if someone can discover a new way to risk their lives they come to this wonderful city in the wilderness and have at it. I see many people limping and have, without intending it, grown sensitive to seeing injured people. It’s like when you have a new car and you start seeing similar ones everywhere.

I don’t have a problem with injured people walking strangely, but I do have a problem with them driving like they are racing for their lives down a street clearly marked at 25 MPH, even 20 MPH here in city center, at double that posted speed. I was talking about this violation of clearly marked traffic laws with some friends this week and all of us had seen people doing similar things, even running STOP signs and solid RED lights at 20 MPH. Two years ago this wasn’t happening here, and people were extremely law-abiding and accommodating.

I have never seen this kind of behavior happening in any other place I’ve lived. This place is going nuts. I don’t know if it is happening elsewhere, but there is now a flagrant violation of simple public laws, public trust, and treating strangers with respect. My false belief seems to be that this problem will be self-correcting, but so far it is just getting worse.

My best option is to do the next indicated right thing and avoid stupid things with negative consequences.

How can I identify and eliminate my false beliefs? 20

Tags

A RED light means STOP, Greed will ruin everyone, Running STOP signs again, STOP means STOP

Perhaps one of my key false beliefs is that people want to improve themselves. Once again in my three-mile drive across town, there were only a few opportunities for a car to enter into the thoroughfare street that I was on, but someone crossed a STOP sign at approximately twenty miles per hour.

What they did wasn’t unsafe this particular time because it was clear that there was no traffic to interfere with their progress. A couple of days ago while I was waiting at a RED light I saw a person run past me at high speed where there was another car involved. That other car had to slow and yield a little space for this violator. Once again this wasn’t particularly dangerous because there was enough space. My problem is the flagrant violation of a simple public law shows an utter disrespect not only for the public laws but of other people in the public space.

Grabbing other people’s space and property isn’t improving one’s self it is simple greed that will corrupt a person to their core.