When first considering this notion of “who am I” and “what is my purpose in life”, I believe there is an original answer to this question that is staged within the human psyche with a general innate sense or intuition that plainly pleads to our primal conscience concerning the true nature of our being or existence. This epistemology naturally emerges and then through the sophistication of sophistry is conveniently and selfishly altered by posing various deceptive theories which can be religious in nature as stating that all of reality as we know it is just an illusionary experience while on the other end of spectrum the scientific community strives to merely offer a naturalistic explanation as a substitution as doubting a persons immaterial being or soul. So instead of following their first instincts towards a divine omnipotent origin many times those who are of a different persuasion of self-preservation would rather erect their own idol to worship as bowing down in devotion to the false god of a materialistic ontology. However a question that science can not effectively answer nor offer a sound solution to is to why does anything exist at all since the universe has no will or power to act and why are we as humans seemingly and selectively singled out to cognizantly rationalize through self-awareness conjoined with the ability to reasonably understand and consider as if to discover the grand wonders of our universe as privileged individuals with such foresight and intelligence in having the endowment to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Ironically in spite of all of this the dilemma remains that even with such wit comes the abuse of fallible people to have the propensity to be hostilely predisposed against a Creator God as suppressing their knowledge by creating their own counterfeit worldview as deliberately limiting their potentiality as distorting a tangible reality as extended towards that of the infinite and limitless power in displaying the undeniable greatness of God’s glory. I have written more about this design (teleological) model and I welcome you to discover the Supreme Intelligence apart from the impersonal random chance hypothesis.
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Romans 1:18-25
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
To begin with Nietzsche is an example of this fomented and rebellious rage towards killing God as he is emotionally driven to pontificate his philosophy as to indoctrinate his parishioners into believing a salvation of liberation with a speech of self motivation towards a rugged individualism that mankind must devise his own way of life and yet with such self-determination his seemingly powerful words became no more than an empty message of quotable rhetoric that lacks objectivity as just another round of reactionary statements in taking a subjective blind leap of faith and whose legacy of strength is weakened with such irony as succumbing to the epitome of human frailty and weakness as suffering an untimely death.
Another character to take over the pulpit would be Jean-Paul Sartre who preaches an existentialism that life is absurd, and if people’s lives are to have any purpose then a person must conjure up that meaning for themselves. That mankind is autonomous and has absolute freedom and that they determine their own essence by their personal choices as defining their character as to evolve into what they are becoming. Thus mankind is enveloped in subjectivity and must authenticate themselves as they are truly alone. All of this is given as the solution towards meaning and commitment, yet many have left this idealism as finding it unsatisfying including Sartre himself.
Perhaps as Sartre meditated on the nihilistic values of a meaningless life maybe he came to the reality of his own woeful and dreadful end as facing his demise and mortality as doubting Heidegger’s devotional on angst and death. With such brevity of time it often produces truthful and honest reflection as if to regain a sense of confidence in rationality towards theism when facing actuality, not propositions, as the triumphal exit led Sartre to finally confess upon his deathbed with a summarative quote, though not popularized, as stating “I do not feel that I am a product of chance, a speck of dust in the universe, but someone who was expected, prepared, and prefigured. In short, a being whom only a Creator could put here: and this idea of a creating hand refers to God.”
This thought is carried forward by the summation of Solomon’s wisdom and life after having “seen and done it all” in concluding that
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14
13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.
In point Nietzsche, though intellectual, died a crazed mad man and Sartre, though blind, came to see the “good faith” as recanting his previous commitment towards what he termed to be “bad faith” as leaving the revolution as a militant atheist in dropping his defensive right to bear arms as laying down his weaponry to recognize that all along he was fighting the wrong enemy.
Thus these self-made supermen and trailblazers of atheism have attempted to clear a path as joining others to themselves, as the blind leads the blind, away from God and while traversing this path some have lost their minds as ending up disillusioned, confused, lost, and disfranchised in this jungle of life as leading to nowhere. While others have humbly turned back as realizing that they were only headed towards the dead-end of a cliff in concluding that such avoidance is inevitably unavoidable and run back as if to concede or embrace the One to whom they willfully hated and rejected without a rightful cause.
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In closing I would like to offer an antidotal analogy to help think through this vital question of personhood by challenging the idea of independently defining self as simply saying that if you were deathly sick in respect to this crisis would you look for a real cure even if it seemed unpleasant at first to treat your disease or would you be equally satisfied as privately treating the ailment with the pleasantry of a sugar pill in hopes that the sweetness of a placebo effect would somehow miraculously have the curative powers to heal you of this fatal identity crisis? Not on your life, unless of course you were a diabetic, and yet people who are faced with this dilemma arrogantly think that they can competently treat themselves as having a PhD with the diagnostic ability of “knowing it all” when in reality they are pseudo malpractitioners and quacks as they prescribe and self medicate themselves with a preferential philosophy or religion of choice as stating it doesn’t really matter anyway as it’s all relative, as what really matters is what fulfills or satisfies you as giving you personal meaning and value in life and though this all sounds warm, fuzzy and accepting; the truth of the matter is that is may prove to be a bitter pill to swallow as realizing that your cure may really be poison.
Finally I apologize if I seem sarcastic or antagonistic with my statements its just I want to get you to seriously and critically realize that your identity is not a relativistic “free for all” as origins can carry a sense of responsibility and accountability which needs a positive and true identification not a playful or wishful ruse as with the pretentious immortalized men and gurus of the past, who have misused their charisma and talent to thrill and mesmerize their audiences as they are caught up in the passion of the moment as being hypnotically entertained with a sense of believability as accredited to their wondrous performance when in reality they are only pretending as staging themselves in a role by which they have personally casted themselves within the drama of a human production. Unfortunately many have failed to realize that the show is over and that the final curtain has fallen as the star of the show has left the stage and that no final standing ovation will ever bring them back again. My question to you is are you willing to vacate the theater or are you just looking for a replay or the next best show in town?
Anyway a true seeker should be willing to pursue reality and truth wherever it will take or lead them even if it is contrary to where at first they want to go. After all, therein, will be the answer to who you really are by which I reasonably believe is definable by the living eternal God rather than some dead mortal philosopher. Therefore in closing I would just like to encourage you, as a starting point, on this quest to research the Bible which states that trusting in the Lord is the beginning of this wisdom as reciprocated in a personal relationship with God by which you are perfectly matched as ultimately filling the void and emptiness as being properly identified by a Heavenly Father who orderly created you for His glory with the DNA of ultimate purpose.
Jeremiah 29:11
11For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
How to know God
Atheist and Agnostic Resources
English Articles on Atheism and Agnosticism
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®)
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