Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] [RELIGION] creation myths

[Stephen Montgomery-Smith <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

Mike Miller wrote:
> On Thu, 1 Dec 2005, Jason Youngquist wrote:
>
> > > If you want to know why people exist, I think there is a fairly 
> > > obvious answer:  Other people made us.  Have you ever heard this 
> > > riddle:  What is it that elephants can do that no other animals can 
> > > do?  You're supposed to puzzle over that one thinking of various 
> > > feats of strength but give up when you realize that humans can do all 
> > > of those things using machines. The answer is:  Make more elephants.  
> > > As far as we can tell, as biologists, that's all every life form is 
> > > here for:  To make more.
> > >
> > > If you are looking for meaning in life, try raising some children.  
> > > They will clue you in:  They are the reason you are here.
> >
> >
> > If this is so, then what's so "special" about having and raising 
> > children?
>
>
>
> I thought I just explained it.  The purpose of life is to make more life.

I think you are confusing function and purpose.

For example, when I tell most people the story of William Wilberforce - 
he was the Englishman who devoted most of his life to the abolishment of 
the slave trade in England, and after exhausting his fortune and health, 
heard on his death bed that the anti-slavery Act had finally passed 
through Parliament - most people, whatever their religious background, 
simply exclaim "That was a life worth living."

There is a deep inner innate altrusism in most human beings (I think 
that the most wicked humans simply bury these desires) that goes beyond 
mere propagation of life.

Stephen

--

Stephen Montgomery-Smith
EMAIL:PROTECTED
http://www.math.missouri.edu/~stephen

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