by krainert on Thu Jul 16, 2009 10:57 pm
You're lifeless, you're born, you live, you die, you're lifeless. Humans are no more than conscious elements in the world, and it's time we accepted that. The lifespan of your consciousness, or soul if you like, is a minimal period bordering on worthlessness and yet being incomparable to death as anything but nothing itself can be compared to nothing (derived from simple math, frankly). As consciousness, the existence of the mind, is the only aspect of the universe allowing for living perception it becomes the only lasting value yet still infinitely limited by the infinity of time. The positive aspect of conscious is the positive feeling and state, happiness, or fortuna, and thus fortuna must be made the goal of our existence. Furthermore, basic understanding of the universe tells us that everything is deterministic in nature, that any event is the result of the environment, that any object or being is the result of its past. Thus, not only can no man be judged with the purpose of serving justice as justice itself is an illusion, all individuals are equal and equally deserving of fortuna; any conscious being is entitled to its share of karma but also responsible for execution of the greater good; invigoration of fortuna. One must from time to time fight the ancient urges of instinct to achieve fortuna in one's own or another's behalf. In raw theory, selflessness is the perfect state of a mind, yet this leaves consciousness with no achieving of fortuna as all are guiding the lives of others rather than living their own. Thus, fortuna requires balance in the mind, choices and actions of beings and demands that they live by the rules of their psychology; until we are capable of controlling our natures we are bound to live on the edge between selflessness and egoism - giving and taking karma.
That is pretty much my perception of life and self-made purpose. It renders religion outdated and the concept of an afterlife obsolete with it.
I'm sorry, I wrote a little more than I intended, but I'd rater have too thorough than too sparse argumentation.