What is your ultimate goal in life?

[coberst]

What is your ultimate goal in life?

I can remember two times in my life when I seriously asked my self the question “What are my plans for the future?”

The first time occurred about a year after high school when I decided I wanted to be an electrical engineer. I had been working as an apprentice electrician for many months and had several contacts with an engineer and this impression led me to decide to be an engineer.

I planned several proximate goals that were necessary to reach my goal of becoming an engineer. I had to go into the army so that I could go to school on the GI Bill and then I had to complete my college engineering education.

The second time that I seriously thought about a proximate goal occurred about 15 years into my career when I pondered just what I wanted for a long term goal for my self.

Life is filled with proximate goals and the decision of just what means is best followed to achieve those particular goals. Now I am pondering what my ultimate goal is. I suspect that I have always had some kind of unconscious ultimate goal but it was one that I had not consciously and seriously thought about nor consciously desired.

“What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but suffer the loss of his soul?”

I was raised as a Catholic and taught by nuns; this question was often in the fore front of much of what the nuns taught me. I suspect that this was pretty much what most Christians, Jews, and Muslims were taught. It appears that the three major religions, and perhaps most all religions, taught that the ultimate goal for all men, women, and children must be “save your soul above all else”.

Have we mixed a very dangerous cocktail here because we have developed a technology that places great power into the hands of ordinary people; many, if not most, of whom have as their ultimate goal the “saving” of their soul rather than the saving of life on this planet?

Isn’t it easy to see why many people find that their ultimate goal in life, i.e. to save their soul, fits quite satisfactorily with the ultimate desire for eternal life? Isn’t it easy to see how such individuals might find that using WMDs is not the worst thing they might do if it will help them save their soul and have eternal life?

Can our species last much longer when we have such a dangerous cocktail ready mixed for instant drinking?

My ultimate goal in life is to be a professional human being. It stems from the concept that as we sow, so shall we reap both here and in the hereafter as a continuum ... not as separate entities where one can rationalize any behavior during life for a better afterlife ... not if one claims to have the same soul throughout.

A disparity on how to accomplish life's goals arises between individuals who are personally evolved enough to recognize the existence of self evident truths and inalienable rights versus those who have to be told what to believe. The latter are naive and can be manipulated which accounts for those who can rationalize achieving their goals by any means.

Even some more evolved individuals, via their freedom of choice, will succumb to temptations and become corrupt.

While history teaches us that the naive and corrupt among us prefer means designed for short term gains that are counterproductive to long term viability of the species, history also teaches that those traits even when combined with desperation do not survive long enough in sufficient numbers of people to supplant the dominant human instinct for survival. We maintain adequate checks and balances on technology while addressing the underlying causes for naivety, corruption, and desperation. That way, we don't have to completely eliminate those causes to prevent eradication of our species. If doomsday technology became readily available to everyone, I would be more concerned about general sociopaths than religious fanatics.

I believe your first and final questions have been addressed. Are you a professional human being?

[Aliantha]

I want to know why there's two copies of this thread. At the moment, that's the ultimate goal in my life.

It was posted first here in Nothingland and then in Politics; so, perhaps coberst can't tell the difference. He may have a point!

[smoothmoniker]

My ultimate goal is to /ignore you.

And once this reply is posted, I will have achieved my life long goal. Yeah me.

[monster]

the other thread got deleted, though, and I think some of the the replies made good points. Could it not just have been locked? Or even left. Or merged with this one. It would have died like the others did. especially with coberst on hiatus. Deleting non-spam posts is a bit off imo. ymmv, just sayin'.

[Aliantha]

I could repost what I posted there. My goal hasn't changed since I wrote the response. lol

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by monster

the other thread got deleted, though, and I think some of the the replies made good points. Could it not just have been locked? Or even left. Or merged with this one. It would have died like the others did. especially with coberst on hiatus. Deleting non-spam posts is a bit off imo. ymmv, just sayin'.

If you want to respond to it it's right fucking here.
He had been warned his threads had been moved to nothingland and not to post in the politics thread again. He did it anyway, that's why it's gone and he's on vacation.

[Pie]

What is your ultimate goal in life?

To die.

Pretty sure I'll make it.

[DanaC]

To live my life in such a way that makes me happy and allows me to feel fulfilled. That's about it really.

[lumberjim]

you banned coberst for putting things in inappropriate forums?

[Undertoad]

For a month. He should be banned for spamming, but this is an attempt to reach him.

[lumberjim]

he should be tied to an anthill and covered in jelly.

this is just one of his many repositories for his deep, deep thoughts. he is merely insuring that his words are heard by many, many people by posting the same posts on several forums. he goes about it in a very workman like manner, never bothering to read replies....well, seldom...he's very busy coming up with the next gospel, after all. I wonder just how many he actually has on his list. A temporary ban of a month will probably spell the end of him, as 3 weeks generally forms a habit.

guh....I can't believe I've spent this much time thinking about it. carry on

[Clodfobble]

Originally Posted by lumberjim

A temporary ban of a month will probably spell the end of him, as 3 weeks generally forms a habit.

Don't bet on it. He was around at this same time last year, and my money is on him showing up again next July. Whatever his deal is, it involves free time in the summer.

[Shawnee123]

My goal in life is much like Dana's goal: to be happy. I don't expect this to be a grand moment of everything coming together just as I had envisioned it, but rather understanding of the small things giving me joy, possibilities recognized, and comfort in self.