A Global Forum for the Discussion of the Ultimate Purpose of Human Life
God . Meaning of Life . Purpose of the Universe . Purpose of Humankind . World Peace . Good Government . Good Will . Trust . Honesty . Honor . Harmony . Absence of Malice . Peace . Francis Bacon . Thomas Jefferson . Benjamin Franklin . Abraham Lincoln . Walt Whitman . Johann von Gäethe . Aristotle . Cicero . Ovid . Voltaire . David . Solomon . Isaiah . Malachi . Jesus (Joshua) . Buddha . Confucius . Monotheism . Judaism . Christianity . Islam
All people become brothers where your gentle wings rest.
Do you sense your creator, world?
Alle Menschen werden Brüder wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt.
Ahnest du den Schöpfer, Weld?
tous les hommes sont frères là où s'arrête ton aile légère.
Pressens-tu le Créateur, monde?
Johann von Shiller . Ode to Joy . circa 1780 CE
Dedicated on this 14th day of November 1996 to the memory of Joseph Bernardin.
"We are all dependent upon one another, every soul on Earth."
George Bernard Shaw, c. 1910
"Only that day dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star. These may be but the spring months in the life of the race."
HENRY DAVID THOREAU, C. 1880 CE
Please note that this document is presented in draft form for review but that it is currently under construction. You are visitor number
"APRI LA MENTEA QUE CHE TI PALESO..."
"Open thy mind to that which I unfold..."
Dante Alighieri, c. 1300 CE
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Web Site Mission Statement
Our goal is to create a world forum in which we can attempt to fuse science, logic, religious documents and religious faith to define some conclusions with regard to the organization of a hierarchical set of goals for individuals and society. Our purpose here is to define a very precise set of guidelines for our daily lives, our lifetime, and for human society as a whole. We operate under the assumption that the global dangers associated with the rapid evolution of technology and expansion of human population in the 20th century will require that we more urgently apply or even build upon the cumulative wisdom of the past.All peoples of the world are welcome to share here in this sampling of the accumulated wisdom of the world as passed down from generation to generation in the hope that we may continue to more completely apply this knowledge across the face of the globe to more firmly and simultaneously establish peace, freedom, justice, mercy, abundance, and harmony for all people without exception. Knowing that such is the long term trend of the evolution of human civilization but that the rate at which history will allow it to be introduced is limited, we must endeavor to be prepared to speak to that time frame which the world itself will choose. History will look kindly upon those who scatter wisdom widely so that it may be admired and adopted by those capable of adapting it to the temporal world. Where human frailty is limited, human love and faith in or focus upon an ultimate purpose can lead people of all economic and educational classes to strive toward those higher ends. It is these ends which will lead to the achievement of the ultimate purpose of human kind. And this ultimate purpose is but one of many goals through which the ultimate purpose of the universe, of creation, may be achieved. One possible practical conclusion we hope this essay may support is that, as the human population increases, so does its cumulative capacity for good and evil. Technology, in the form of such things as knives, guns, nuclear weapons, bandages and relief aid transports simply afford us the opportunity to magnify our individual or communal capacity to implement good or evil deeds. Some technologies, such as automobiles and fire may be employed for both good and evil purposes. Therefore, with the advent of both a population surge of unheard of proportions in conjunction with the availability of technology, it is increasingly imperative that humankind engage in deliberate efforts to foster good on both a societal and an individual basis. The world has often seen heros, saints, and geniuses, but now it is in more dire need of great masses of people who wish to and possess the capacity to learn from and apply the good on a daily basis, and as a group, therefore, on a massive basis. In order to achieve this, concrete goals must be known and understood. Such goals may be derived from the most profound teachings from all of the worlds religions, from all of those sources world-wide which may constitute fragments of hints of that greater purpose for which we and the universe exist. Yet, at the same time all those who aspire to these goals must be preserved and protected from those who might do harm to the non-violent and honest.
"Respect each other and refrain from disputes. You should not, like oil and water, repel each other, but should like milk and water, mingle together. Study together, learn together, practice the teachings together. Do not waste your mind and your time in idleness and quarreling."
THE BUDDHA, C. 600 BCE
"Have we not all one father? Did not one God create us? How then can we deal treacherously each man with his brother...?"
MALACHI, C. 450 BCE
"The purpose of the Laws of the Torah...is to bring mercy, loving-kindness and peace upon the world."
MOSHE MAIMONIDES, MISHNAH TORAH, LAWS OF THE SABBATH, C. 1150 CE
" 'The time is coming,' declares the Lord, ; when I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel.... It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers. I will put my law in their minds and write it upon their souls...no longer will a man teach his neighbor because they will all know me from the least of them to the greatest!' "
JEREMIAH, C. 625 BCE
"Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your father in heaven. He causes his sum to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? ... And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others."
JESUS (Y'SHUA) OF NAZARETH, C. 28 CE
"The rapid progress true science now makes occasions my regretting that I was born so soon. It is impossible to imagine the height to which may be carried in a thousand years, the power of man over matter - Oh, that moral science were in as fair a way of improvement that men would cease to be wolves to one another and that human beings would at length learn what they now improperly call humanity."
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, C. 1780 CE
"That age will be rich indeed when those relics which we call classics, and the still older and more than classic but even less known scriptures of the nations, shall have still further accumulated, when the vaticans shall be filled with Vedas and Zendavestas and Bibles, with Homers and Dantes and Shakespeares, and all of the centuries to come shall have deposited their trophies in the forum of the world. By such a pile we may hope to scale heaven at last."
HENRY DAVID THOREAU, C. 1880 CE
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The Existence of a Creator - God
We begin with a primary assumption that a supreme being, or creator exists - that the universe came into being in an explosive event some 15 billion years ago as indicated by 20th century astronomical observations. We adopt the Platonic argument in which theism is assumed for pragmatic purposes in the absence of affirmative or exclusive evidence. In other words, given a 50% / 50% chance that a creator exists, we shall assume that no single ultimate purpose would be likely in the absence of a supreme being, creator and that in such a situation, the hierarchy and nature of human goals, from the mundane to the profound, would not be relevant to goals beyond the temporal and physical reach of human civilization. If, on the other hand, a creator exists. then we can logically assume that an ultimate purpose exists for the human species (life on Earth in general) and that this ultimate purpose fits within the hierarchy and scope of goals which proceed towards or facilitate the ultimate purpose of the creator. We liken this form of assumption to those which we engage in our daily lives; these include what we shall refer to as the urban intersection assumption set where we often presume that all vehicular and pedestrian traffic will know the traffic laws, will see the traffic signals, their breaks will function, they will desire to stop when signals demand it. In this common analogy, our very lives are at risk and we depend on quite a astounding series of assumptions. Given that most persons consider such mundane yet mortal assumptions necessary, we suggest that the simple Platonic argument for the existence of a creator is not unreasonable.
"Live simply, God is among us."
KARL LINNAEUS, C. 1740 CE
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The Nature of God and Good
We shall begin by assuming no divine attributes. We will refer to the creator of the Universe as God and by definition as the supreme being in the universe. If we assume that God is a non-corporeal, or spiritual, being and that only God existed prior to the creation of the universe, then we will conclude that the physical, observable elements of the universe, particle electromagnetic wave, subatomic forces, and gravity are parts of, or manifestations, of God. We will assume that scientific investigation and skepticism has and will continue to reveal elements of these aspects of the nature of the Creator. With regard to other elements of God's nature, we may speculate. For example, we could presume, omnipresence, omniscience and omnipotence and what human beings may define as goodness. For our purposes, we shall define good as all those acts and thoughts which do not interfere with the ultimate purpose of the universe and which ideally contribute to the achievement of this purpose.
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The Purpose of the Universe
We will assume for the time being that the human mind is not sufficiently advanced to discern or even comprehend this ultimate purpose. We therefore will seek clues as to the ultimate purpose of humanity within this greater plan. We may logically argue that, just as human beings and other higher forms of life on Earth possess a greater capacity for function and thought by comparison with other life forms on Earth, more complicated beings throughout the universe would be expected to possess greater capacities than we do. God would be expected then to passes the greatest capacity and therefore the greatest variety and most extensive hierarchy of goals.
"QUI SIT FINIS, QUID EXTREMUM, QUID ULTIMUM, QUO SINT OMNIA BENE VIVENDI RECTEQUE FACIENDI CONSILIA REFERENDA?"
"What is the end, the final and ultimate aim which governs the
standard for all principles of well being and of right conduct?"
Marcus Tullius Cicero, c. 45 B.C.E,. de finibus bonorum et malorum
"Be not discouraged, keep on. There are divine things, well enveloped, I swear it. There are divine things more beautiful than words can tell... to take your lover on the road, to know the universe itself as a road, as many roads, as roads for traveling souls. All parts way for the progress of souls, all religion, all solid things, arts, governments - all that was or is apparent upon the globe falls into niches and corners before the progress of souls along the grand roads of the universe."
WALT WHITMAN, c. 1870 CE
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The Purpose of Humanity (of life on Earth)
We will also assume for the time being that the human mind is not sufficiently advanced to discern or even comprehend this ultimate purpose. We therefore will seek clues as to the ultimate purpose of humanity or the highest order purpose which is comprehensible by us; these clues may be found within nature, and including the nature of human psychology and thought. We will not discount documents which have come to be known as records of communication offered by the creator. The Scriptures of all faiths will be open to examination in this search for clues.
"Nature, in my opinion, at all events created and endowed us for higher ends."
MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO c. 45 B.C.E.
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The Possibility of Historic Communication with God
All religious documents and the records of all human thought may be examined for evidence of divine messages and clues as to the nature of higher order or even ultimate goals. To this end, we would like to present several possible criteria which one might apply to distinguishing these higher level goals from the mundane.We observe that lower forms of life on Earth possess very simple physical systems and very limited intelligence. We will define intelligence as being analogous to computer programs, except perhaps encoded at its most rudimentary level, on Earth, in quaternary language of the four nucleotide molecules of the genetic material, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA).
We will define a being as possessing intelligence where that being is:
- capable of memory, especially retention of multi-generational history, long-term planning, especially planning beyond the life span of the individual, and
- the comprehension of or adherence to higher order, long term goals which may not provide immediate benefit for the individual and which may actually harm the individual.
- We admit the possibility that even the higher order forms of intelligence may simply be manifestations of the very complex interaction of complex genetic software. However, since in the case of the human cerebrum, there are such an incredible number of permutations and combinations with regard to data storage and software storage, as well as the results of the interaction of these sets of data and software, a practically infinite variety of possible thought exists within the human mind alone. We may speculate that such capacity permits the creation of new programs, the alteration of genetically pre-programmed software and so the creation of new thought. This memory and thought capacity may also be extended via external data storage devices such as books and computers. Refer also to Back to Eden, Carl Sagan, 1974 for elaboration on cerebral capacity and evolution.
We will extend this to encompass physical-electrical systems constructed by this code or any similar code, and refer to these systems as brains. We will be aware of the possibility that some higher order manifestations of intelligence may exist either associated with physical matter, some other element in the universe, or some as yet unknown or currently incomprehensible phenomenon. The latter forms may be considered as encompassing the common notion of spirit or soul.
"When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place, what is humankind that you are mindful of us, the son of man that you care for him. You made him alittle lower than the angels and crowned him with glory and honor."
PSALM (TEHILLIM) 8, ATTRIBUTED TO KING DAVID, C. 900 BCE
"Parched earth loves the rain and high heaven, rain filled, loves to fall earthward."
EURIPIDES AS QUOTED BY ARISTOTLE - NICHOMACHEAN ETHICS, C. 350 BCE
"I know that there is hope for that which though didst mold out of dust to have consort with things eternal."
THE SCROLL AT WADI QUMRAN, THE DEAD SEA, C. 0 CE