What is the driver of our (continual) existence?

[thegagan]

I'm kind of new to this forum and some of the modern key philosophical questions in the heat today, but here comes my post:

What is the driver of our existence today? I've always believed that animals lived only for procreation and that was their single goal in life. Are humans at this same level or have we transcended this notion? Is our ultimate goal for happiness or is it reproduction?

Reproduction would maket he most sense biologically-- the continuation of our species, our personal service to mother nature.

Or maybe this post should have been in the religious section? Is our ultimate goal to serve god or a higher power? Would this mean that our primordial instincts to reproduce and personal goals for happiness are negated by this service? Are they achieved by this service? Maybe our happiness is defined by culture and serves no purpose in the greater picture.

Any ideas?

[Mace]

We want to continue existing for the sake of existing, consider it a biological necessity. You can't thrive while you're dead, so on a biological level we just exist.

On a philosophical level we each have our distinguished purposes. Some serve their idea of a God. Some try to help people. Some try to learn as much knowledge as possible. It just kind of blends together into a huge tapestry in my opinion.

That's the best answer I can give you, I'm sorry if it doesn't help.

[sweetiepie]

If a higher power exists, then there's a chance that you ought to do something for it. But, like you said, that's a question for a different forum.

Supposing one doesn't exist, people are driven in much the same way as animals. Animals, in seeking mates and reproducing, are also just trying to be happy. Nobody honestly cares about continuing our species, and mother nature can shove it. That is, if one is to believe modern biology, our DNA is unintentional, mother Nature acts without purpose. There's no more reason to obey her than there is to obey gravity by falling as much as possible.

I'm not so sure you can say we've transcended anything though. Some of us see the stupidity in reproducing as well as the pointlessness of the happiness, both selfless and selfish, but we don't exactly have any better ideas. My continued existence is driven by just that, a lack of any better ideas.

[thegagan]

Very well put. I've never organized a system of thought as you have just described and for me it seems the most reasonable as of yet.

[EricK]

The driver of our existence today is that we would rather be alive than dead.

Within that, the driver of our actions is that we would rather be happy than sad.

People who are only happy with a so-called "higher purpose", will find a purpose for themselves which they consider higher. People who are happy to have a job, have a family, go out with their friends once in a while and otherwise just vegetate in front the TV (i.e. the remaining 95% of the population) will do that.