Core Purpose of Life

This is an exploratory venture on the topic.

Objective
Is there an ultimate purpose of life?

There is a wide range of definitions of the purpose of life. These variations had contributed to divisiveness, violence and are a serious constraint to humanity's progress. What we need is to establish a common universal definition that will enable all humans to work on and avoid confrontations.

Why the Quest for the Ultimate Purpose of Life?
Ultimate in this case, meant an absolute final purpose of life for all humans. In the post Meaning of Life, it is noted that there are a lot of questions that had been raised by humans on what is the purpose of life. There are many views from different philosophies, religions and spiritual practices. Abrahamic religions insist that the ultimate purpose of life is the one proclaimed by God and delivered by assigned prophets. Hinduism states that one must go through various lives till one reaches perfection. There various theists' and atheists' views. Some do bother about the question and just live. So, who is right in defining the ultimate purpose of life.

The Neuroscience of the Ultimate Purpose of Life
Despite written differences for the purpose of life, all humans has a common brain. Is there a neural basis or neural program that activate humans to establish the ultimate purpose of their life? Yes, because we are a neural being, every activity and thought can be traced to some neural activity in our brain. The primary neural circuits that drive the quest for the purpose of life,
are the The Survival Instinct follow by the The Primordial Fear of Mortality.

What is the Ultimate Purpose of Life?
With so many views expounded by various people and groups and the fact that there can be no absolute, and nothing can be proven with certainty, it is unlikely that humans can agree on one standard definition for an ultimate purpose of life. Despite this difficulty, there are commonalities that exist in the human life cycle and eventualities.


The Reality of Life
In my opinion (IMO), the most realistic (not absolute) approach to understand the ultimate purpose of life is to put aside the quest in finding an absolute purpose and look for a practical definition from the reality of life.

Humans may have a wide range of definitions for the purpose of life, but we cannot escape the common reality of what is actually happening and existing as listed below;

. Humans has a life cycle -born, live and die.
. Humans are mortal -cannot escape physical death

. Humans are programmed to fear death
. Humans are wary of death yearns for immortality
. Survival at all costs
. Existence of threats to human survival
. Humans, global, & galactical Threats,
. Humans has survival strategies
. Humans strive to maximize happiness
. All human activities are brain and neural-based
. Humans (not all) are hardwired to reproduce the next generation
. Continuation and preservation of the human specie

. Programmed for continuous improvements and evolution

. Maintenance and sustaining psychological homeostasis.
. ? others

Reproduction and Preservation of Specie

Nature works on the principle of large numbers with reference to the preservation of the specie. As such, the majority of humans would have been programed for to take on the role of reproducing the next generation.

There would be a small percentage of human beings who do not have reproduction capabilities for various reasons and there should not any pressure on them to follow the majority.

Those who not adopt any reproductive functions would contribute to the preservation of the specie in other ways.

Infering Universal Purpose of Life
From the above realities, we can infer a common core purpose of life. The above are the only realities of human life that we can be quite certain, as obtained through evidences and experiences that can be agreeable by all humans. Since the above are all agreeable by all humans, we should be able to conceptualize a universal purpose of for human life based on these realities.

The common thread arising from the individual's core purpose of life is the survival and preservation of the human specie. One feature of this purpose is the large number of human population. In the event of any catastrophe, e.g. shipwreck and limited options of survival, woman, mothers and children are given priority over the adult male and the elderly.

The core purpose of the life operate at the unconscious level. At the conscious level, some humans do use their discretion and make exceptions to the instinctual core purpose of life.

Certain theists proclaim that their purpose of life is to live a God's defined life, to go to heaven and have eternal life. However, this concept cannot be universal, because not everybody agree to that. Besides, these claims are based on faith (proof not required) and are questionable when subject to rational verification.

Theists should be able to accept a common core universal purpose of life, top it up with their specific purpose of life and confine it within their own group. Preferably they should be spiritually matured and not insist that their's is the only absolute purpose of life.

Meantime, those who hold extreme views with a high degree of deviation from the universal purpose of life should understand their own human nature and find reasons (if any) for their different views. Note, nothing can be proven with certainty and the absolute do not exists.

The Inferred Universal Purpose of Life
From the above observable realities, the universal purpose of human life can be inferred as follows;

The purpose of human life is to live the human life-cycle optimally, acknowledge mortality, maximize happiness, eliminate threats, reproduce, and ensuring the preservation of the human specie.

(this definition is tentative and kiv for revision)

The above is one universal definition of the purpose of life that can be acceptable to all human beings. This will form the core purpose of life for humanity. When humans deliberate on the issues of the purpose of human life, they must have an awareness of the core purpose of life in the structure of their definition.

The structure of the definition is make up of;

1. Core purpose - basic, foundational, universal
2. Specific to individual or group

The core purpose is not the ultimate. Certain groups may claim that theirs is the ultimate purpose of life, however they should agree that their ultimate purpose also has a core purpose that is universal to all humans. For example, one may claim eternal life in heaven, or reincarnation, but one must to incorporate the universal reality of physical death within the core purpose.

Thus for those who insist heaven exists, their definition of the purpose of life should incorporate the core purpose and may be defined as follows;

The purpose of human life is to live the human life cycle optimally, in accordance to God's plan, acknowledge mortality, maximize happiness, eliminate threats, reproduce, ensuring the preservation of the human specie, and ultimately achieving eternal life in heaven.

The basic requirements are to understand human nature, 'know thyself', and what is being human, to enable one to achieve the core purpose of life optimally. This are the main bases to anchor one's life to avoid being tossed violently by the chaotic forces of nature and the universe.

This post is Work-in-Progress

Related Posts:
Nothing Can Be Proven with Certainty
Meaning of Life

Notes and Related References

1. Optimally - optimum, living to the 'maximum' best based on one's specific conditions, potential and limitations.