The Purpose of Life (Blog)

[Savage]

Use this thread to discuss the following entry from Steve Pavlina's blog:

The Purpose of Life

[songwriter]

well, I'll never forget Carlos Santana answering what is needed to play the guitar well. "Cabeza, corazón y cojones" Brains, heart and balls. I thought that was for anything in life too.

I don't understand what is the connection between creativity and power... of course I agree truth leads wisdom (even the "sad truths"), and love leads to joy (and hate to the oppossite), but I don't see why creativity leads to power/strength. Courage should lead to strenght and power.

[songwriter]

Originally Posted by songwriter

I don't understand what is the connection between creativity and power... of course I agree truth leads wisdom (even the "sad truths"), and love leads to joy (and hate to the oppossite), but I don't see why creativity leads to power/strength. Courage should lead to strenght and power.

Okey, I'm gonna answer myself.

courage is needed for everything, for loving, for looking for the truth and for creating, but it's expressing your creativity what will give your true power.

Also you need wisdom to love... and creativity too. And for expressing your creativity you need wisdom and love.

Well, I think I understand better with Brave, Wise and Kind, or the Santana saying (hey I'm an outsider!), but we are meaning the same thing.

[Bruce Achterberg]

Originally Posted by songwriter

I don't understand what is the connection between creativity and power... of course I agree truth leads wisdom (even the "sad truths"), and love leads to joy (and hate to the oppossite), but I don't see why creativity leads to power/strength. Courage should lead to strenght and power.

I think Steve uses "strength" in the same sense that Marcus Buckingham might use it. Only those who are strong and well aligned with their creativity (which you could say comes from their talents, among other things) will be able to realistically sustain power in this world and have a significant, Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Steve Pavlina ()-style impact.

Edit: Ok, apparently you beat me to it. But oh well. Self wisdom is great, isn't it?

[impaul99]

For me, this post seemed very disconnected from the "real Steve". Almost like he's putting on a different pair of glasses again to try something else.

"If there is an after afterlife"? Uhhhh... doesn't your wife talk to people in the "Afterlife" everyday Steve?

This post seemed like you're trying to write something mainstream. Much different "Steve" than the one who says you should never have a job or a religion.

Just my 2 cents.

[Ari Koinuma]

Well, I don't disagree with Steve at all, but I have a different take on this.

The purpose of life:

It is to be at peace with how you lived your life, at the moment of your death.

Yes, I am aware that we may not have a moment to reflect on life right before you die -- it may come so suddenly that you probably don't know what hit you. (I'm guessing here, since I haven't experienced it yet myself. )

When many people talk about "living a life you don't regret" they talk from an accomplishment-based view. You know how we often talk about things we want to do before we die.

Well, that sets a trap, as we don't know when we're going to die. To have a list of do-before-death list risks things remaining unfinished, which gets in the way of you feeling good/proud/at peace with your life.

It's not about what you did in your life, it's how you live. If you haven't done so, you better identify your core values and start living according to it, because making decisions based on or in pursuit of anything else get you in the danger zone with life-with-regret.

I'm not saying don't compile a do-before-die list. Actually, do assemble it and aspire to check them off. But just don't make any accomplishments/achievements a part of your life's mission. Your mission is to live on the way to get there and do them.



ari

[carenkh]

This article made me even more excited about your book!

I have never consciously made the connection between creativity and power before, but as soon as I read it, I thought: Of course!!

For me, it has to do with the energy I feel coursing through me as I'm in my creative "zone"... it is very, very powerful, and I can tell I'm having an impact on the world through it.

[CannibalSmith]

Write more like this! Less is more!

[songwriter]

Originally Posted by Bruce Achterberg

I think Steve uses "strength" in the same sense that Marcus Buckingham might use it. Only those who are strong and well aligned with their creativity (which you could say comes from their talents, among other things) will be able to realistically sustain power in this world and have a significant, Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Steve Pavlina ()-style impact.

Edit: Ok, apparently you beat me to it. But oh well. Self wisdom is great, isn't it?

Well, thank you. What happens sometimes is that when you write something, you can think about it better... I remember Steve said something similar in some blog...
Instead of "strength" I would say "money". But that doesn't sounds much "PD"...

[Tigerlilly]

Originally Posted by songwriter

"Cabeza, corazón y cojones" Brains, heart and balls.

Sums up what you need to make the most of life rather nicely in my book as well. But that doesn't make it the purpose of life to have them, does it?

That'd be like saying to get the most out of something, you need soandso, so the purpose of that something is to gain soandso.

And then I tend to see it like this: Once I'm dead I have once again my full access to the knowledge that now lies hidden beyond the shroud of illusion that comes with physical life and the rules of the game. So I don't need to go hunting for truth down here, cause I'll know truth automatically once the shroud has been lifted.

I'll be once more that totally whole, knowing, perfect soul or energy entity I was before I choose to become wrapped up in a body on the physical plane. So how can the purpose of life be a hunt for truth, love and strength? That'd be like looking for what you have already on another plane right now.

If there's a purpose to life in the old-fashioned sense then to me it must be something that can only be achieved or done on the physical plane. So if you'd ask me right now what my purpose in being born was, I'd say it was to come to grips with being in a body and on a physical plane and all the challenges that come along with that, and to express what my soul loves and longs for on this plane, and thus adding to it in a creative way.

[jamestl2]

Heh... that post didn't even have 2,000 characters, let alone 2,000 words.

But anyway relating to the post, must there really be a point to life? While each of those three things are great goals to have, I'm not quite sure how they relate to the purpose of life, maybe I'm just feeling like there's something missing from the blog entry, like there wasn't enough information or something .

[Akemi]

Well, that is the generic purpose of life -- to learn love, truth, and empowerment. In other words, to experience life. (We can learn love by what love is not . . . for instance.)

Further, I think each of us have a unique life purpose. This is the very reason why each of us are unique.

[tekomino]

Purpose of life is for you to live it.

I think that describes it. Truth, Love, Power are just man made concepts to guides us through our life journey. To be kind to each other, to realize how impermanent everything is, to explore this world and all it has to offer.

Life just is. You can't choose not to be born. You can't choose whether you are born with all mental and physical facilities functioning correctly. You just get thrown in and get to figure things on your own and perhaps help the others that come with you and after you.

[Love]

I like your using the term "empowerment," Akemi. I was kind of getting hung-up on power, because to me, it suggests dominating someone else, but empowerment, I like. It only deals with yourself.

[Neutral]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

If there is an afterlife, it’s likely that the only element of your existence you can possibly retain is your consciousness.

How would you retain your consciousness?

I'm not asking you to prove that you can, but what lead you to this belief, and how do you think this could work?

I believe that all quantities, have qualities associated with them. Qualities are, in principle, inaccessible through quantitative means. For example, brains have minds, but you can't tell that by looking at them.

This must be true of all matter.

How would consciousness come from inanimate matter? It makes no sense that consciousness wasn't inherent. All matter must be "conscious" in some kind of way. The tricky thing is defining the word.

[Jack Christopher]

Full Post Here.

Originally Posted by Neutral

How would you retain your consciousness?

I'm not asking you to prove that you can, but what lead you to this belief, and how do you think this could work?

I believe that all quantities, have qualities associated with them. Qualities are, in principle, inaccessible through quantitative means. For example, brains have minds, but you can't tell that by looking at them.

This must be true of all matter.

How would consciousness come from inanimate matter? It makes no sense that consciousness wasn't inherent. All matter must be "conscious" in some kind of way. The tricky thing is defining the word.

This interesting post got lost in the mix.

Steve, how do you think "consciousness" is retained? And what do you mean by consciousness?

[Savage]

Originally Posted by Jack Christopher

Full Post Here.

This interesting post got lost in the mix.

Steve, how do you think "consciousness" is retain? And what do you mean by consciousness?

This article covers that in detail:
Life After Death by Steve Pavlina

[Dan.Linehan]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

This article covers that in detail:
Life After Death by Steve Pavlina

Next book, "Personal Development for Smart People: Option 1 or Option 2, Which Is It Going to Be?"




So effective..

[wulph]

I personally find this writing style resonates very negatively for me. I bought 2 Seth Godin books based on glorious reviews but I didn't make it very far into the first of the two. It just seems like so much tripe, and the short paragraphs read like so much propaganda. I get the same icky feeling from this article.

That said, I do appreciate your experimentation with different styles, and though others may really like this format, I thought it was important to share another opinion.

[jack reacher]

what a bunch of crap. if you all really believe the purpose of life is centered on "self".....you will not ever discover the real purpose; which is to help others. wake up america. jr

[Angela]

what a bunch of crap...wake up america

Interestingly, if you're not aligned with joy, wisdom, and strength, your attempts to help others end up being ineffective and even repulsive.

[tekomino]

Originally Posted by Angela

Interestingly, if you're not aligned with joy, wisdom, and strength, your attempts to help others end up being ineffective and even repulsive.

I disagree, that does not hold water. People in need that need help could care less what you are aligned with...

[Angela]

Originally Posted by tekomino

I disagree, that does not hold water. People in need that need help could care less what you are aligned with...

I agree with you that maybe people who need help couldn't care less what you are aligned with, which is I think what you meant. If they could care less, then...well, never mind the language police.

What I'm talking about is the way of being for the person who wants to make a difference in the world, not the person who receives help. If you are misaligned with power, truth, or love, you're just not going to be as effective in pursuing your aim; you'll find yourself stopped. For instance, if you want to contribute but you are misaligned with power, you may never get your butt off the couch. If you're misaligned with truth, people will eventually stop trusting you and they'll be unwilling to accept what you have to offer. If you're misaligned with love, people will instinctively recoil or at least your gift will lack real connection -- you won't be able to really feel what there is to feel in giving.

One way that may show up is sincerely and generously wanting people not to fall for a load of crap, and ending up being or creating a load of crap yourself. People tend to recognize their inner truth, when they reach it.

[tekomino]

Originally Posted by jack reacher

what a bunch of crap. if you all really believe the purpose of life is centered on "self".....you will not ever discover the real purpose; which is to help others. wake up america. jr

jack, when did you get internet man? Did you, gasp, settle down? Toothbrush and army surplus clothing not enough?

[Neutral]

People are missing that Steve is not saying he knows the answer for the meaning of life. He knows that nobody can prove their answer as objectively true.

But his answer is good regardless the outcome of life. It's a great "local maximum" if you will.

Is this post really that off?

It's easy to disagree and nitpick anyone's words, but it really comes down to one question; What are you going to do about it? How will this change your actions?

[The Wise Turtle]

I'm curious, Steve, in what ways do other forms of life, such as amoebas, ants, and asparagus plants, do these things? What does "love" look like in a cabbage, for example?

Peace, Love, and Bicycles,
Turil

[The Wise Turtle]

Oh, and as for the truth, the truth is it's all an illusion!

:-)