where did we come from, why are we here, where are we going?

Correspondence between me and my auntie ____ (9 feb. 2009).

From my auntie:

Markii, I was thinking about you over the week end.  I have 3 questions I’d like to ask you and am looking forward to hearing from you!

One.  With your new knowledge I was wondering
.  What do you believe you were doing or where were you before your sojourn on earth.

2.  What is your purpose on earth?

3.  Where do you believe or think the human race will go when we die?

Thanks  love you so much.  Auntie ____

My response…

thanks for the e-mail, ____.  i’ll do my best to answer below…

One.  With your new knowledge I was wondering
.  What do you believe you were doing or where were you before your sojourn on earth.

that’s a great question!  many people have tried to solve it, but i think it’s unsolvable.  i do not know where i was before my sojourn to earth.  i don’t know if i even “was”, or existed.  it is possible that our consciousness we now enjoy only recently matured and came to be as our minds physically developed during childhood.  i find this to sound more plausible than the idea that we are hundreds or thousands of years old human beings with that many years of learning and education behind us and yet here we only know that which we learn here.  is our older and wiser self sitting dormant in our mind while the two-year old biological self now learns to eat food and drools applesauce out of his mouth/nose?  and a middle-aged person who was mentally fine can have a car accident or disease in the brain and lose many motor and thinking skills, and many times even having a complete change in their personality and habits [click link to left, and ‘save as’, to hear mp3 on this] as a result?  a car accident or mental disease affects the tissue and neurons in the brain which then change how a thousand year-old sentient behaves/acts?  to me it seems more logical that there is a machine, but no “ghost in the machine”.

yes, i could be wrong, but there is no evidence (according to what i personally would accept as evidence- not subjective feelings but tangible evidences re-producible between other people and groups of people- feelings do not meet that level of criteria which would merit a belief, for me).  so the answer, once again in my opinion is that no one can know, no one does know, and to assert some exclusive access to knowledge about something unanswerable like this could be somewhere between being dishonest or deluded.

a classic bumper sticker comes to mind:  I don’t know and you don’t either.

[i’ll stop right here and clear up that the things that i write are not to offend but simply to answer the questions you raised- they are loaded questions and these are my heart-felt honest replies.  it might be fair to remember that the LDS response to these same questions would offend a non-believer, as well.]

2.  What is your purpose on earth?

i think that everyone has a different purpose but we should all strive to be ethical people not only doing unto others as you would have them do to you, but to do unto others how they would have you do to them (since everyone is different).  most people on earth (unless they are uneducated/misguided or have mental imbalances strive to “do what is right unto others”.  it has been a common theme amongst all successful groups of people in the history of the human race (a community of people who do not uphold “thou shalt not kill/murder/lie/cheat” as commonly-held tenets amongst them would not last very long.  it is not likely that the 10 commandments shocked the people as being highly innovative and new social rules for the group, when received from Moses.

below is a chart showing this main moral idea taught throughout history.

my purpose on earth (and this is not the same for the next person, just for me personally), is to care for my daughter, love my wife, provide support for them, provide food, entertainment and love for them.  educate and be educated.  be fair and honest.  live my life fully and not prolong my day of enjoying the things this life has to offer in sports, museums, events, nature, music, hobbies, talents, etc.  i may not know if there is “life after death”, but i do believe in life before death.  and i’m certain of this life- i hope and strive that i won’t waste it.  my purpose on earth is to show empathy for others and understanding.  like i said, that is basically it for me, but if the guy next to me has a purpose in life to love college football and be fanatical about it, then if that makes him happy (and he doesn’t hurt others or impede others’ progress along the way) than that is fine for him.  maybe the lady with 20 cats who isn’t hurting anyone and is even caring for some creatures in need is fulfilling her purpose in life.  man is that he might have joy.

3.  Where do you believe or think the human race will go when we die?

i would respond with the same reply that i gave in the first question.

hope that helps!  talk to you soon!

love,

markii marchaeopteryx  😉

[her reply to my response (she really is the bomb)]:

Thank you so much for sharing your heartfelt response Markii.  As far as human beings go, you are in the upper eschelon.  I was just curious.  Now I know.  Hope to see you soon.  ____.