What is the reason? Why do we exist? Why are we here to advance spiritually?

[H:O:R:A:C:E]

deep forest, the "raising above" you describe sounds more like a numbing of sensation.

[Xan]

One friend said it's like going to work just so we may come home again.

I see our life here as a game of hide and seek... we hid from ourselves and from love for the joy of finding again.

There's a lot of suffering in this game of loss, so hopefully the finding part continues to increase exponentially and we can play something more fun.


Xan

Originally Posted by Xan

One friend said it's like going to work just so we may come home again.

I see our life here as a game of hide and seek... we hid from ourselves and from love for the joy of finding again.

There's a lot of suffering in this game of loss, so hopefully the finding part continues to increase exponentially and we can play something more fun.


Xan

Perhaps we started taking love for granted! It makes sense to me though, this view.

I have been thinking recently, we are all like vulnerable and innocent children that have learned to be really tough, and cover up that vulnerability, because we've been hurt along the way so much. We've learned to become a predator to avoid being the prey, but by being a predator, we are contributing to society's predatory nature. When I look at people in this light, it seems to help me cultivate compassion.

Somehow, we need to use the wisdom we have attained as adults, yet bring out our inner child, so the two can come together. Then we can be innocent once more, but know how not to be crushed by the world.

I find all too much that I still get crushed by the world, by society.

[Jyotir]

Hi DeepForest,

I posted this a while back on another thread - it might be useful in terms of answering your questions.

"All life here is a stage or a circumstance in an unfolding progressive evolution of a Spirit that has involved itself in Matter and is labouring to manifest itself in that reluctant substance. This is the whole secret of earthly existence.

But the key of that secret is not to be found in life itself or in the body; its hieroglyph is not in embryo or organism,—for these are only a physical means or base: the one significant mystery of this universe is the appearance and growth of consciousness in the vast mute unintelligence of Matter. The escape of Consciousness out of an apparent initial Inconscience,—but it was there all the time masked and latent, for the inconscience of Matter is itself only a hooded consciousness—its struggle to find itself, its reaching out to its own inherent completeness, perfection, joy, light, strength, mastery, harmony, freedom, this is the prolonged miracle and yet the natural and all-explaining phenomenon of which we are at once the observers and a part, instrument and vehicle.

A Consciousness, a Being, a Power, a Joy was here from the beginning darkly imprisoned in this apparent denial of itself, this original night, this obscurity and nescience of material Nature. That which is and was for ever, free, perfect, eternal and infinite, That which all is, That which we call God, Brahman, Spirit, has here shut itself up in its own self-created opposite. The Omniscient has plunged itself into Nescience, the All-Conscious into Inconscience, the All-Wise into perpetual Ignorance. The Omnipotent has formulated itself in a vast cosmic self-driven Inertia that by disintegration creates; the Infinite is self-expressed here in a boundless fragmentation; the All-Blissful has put on a huge insensibility out of which it struggles by pain and hunger and desire and sorrow. Elsewhere the Divine is; here in physical life, in this obscure material world, it would seem almost as if the Divine is not but is only becoming, theos ouk estin alla gignetai.

This gradual becoming of the Divine out of its own phenomenal opposites is the meaning and purpose of the terrestrial evolution."

- Sri Aurobindo, "Essays Divine and Human", The Evolution of Consciousness

The entire essay here: The Evolution of Consciousness


~ J

[Miss Hepburn]

Ok here's the answer, it's as simple as this: The Cosmic Game of Hide and Seek:


God is Love. And Love must love. And to love there must be a Beloved.
But since God is Existence infinite and eternal there is no one for Him to love but Himself as the
Beloved whom He as the Lover imagines He loves.

Beloved and Lover implies separation....

...the purpose of separation, which was that Love might experience Itself as Lover and
Beloved...

...when union is attained, the Lover knows the he himself was all along the Beloved whom
He loved and desired union with, and that all the impossible situations that he overcame
Were obstacles which he himself had placed in the path to himself.

To attain union is so impossibly difficult bec it is impossible to become what you already!
....Meher Baba from The Everything and The Nothing

[lemex]

Originally Posted by DeepForest

Why do we exist?

Some believe we are her on earth to spiritually learn things. Why? For what reason are we to learn and develop?

Why not exist without doing anything at all? Why not not exist?

Some believe we are here to help others. Why?

When (if) we return to the joyful dimension where love and acceptance is predominant, what is the point of existing there?

"Why?" on everything!

Two good separate answers are my thought. As I read the two which one is the dominate reason. I see we're here to learn and for a long time it was the dominate thought above all, more important then the rest. Someone once informed me we are to help others. I realized something, I never did. I never did. I learned that My own belief now is seeing in sides don't exist. The two answers given aren't separate they are not intended nor do they separate themselves. If we continue to see two things, and they aren't even opposites. Do you consider these things to be separate being some people are right and some people are wrong where I think they are equally balanced. I think part of the process of the answer is seeing that more of everything. The answer of how can help lead to why. If you find the why, it includes both ideas, not just one. But you want a really specific reason we'll challenge anyway... . My own belief is continue to ask but do these things mentioned, unless of course you know they are wrong. I personally think we have knowledge.

[Seawolf]

Originally Posted by DeepForest

Why do we exist?

Some believe we are her on earth to spiritually learn things. Why? For what reason are we to learn and develop?

Why not exist without doing anything at all? Why not not exist?

Some believe we are here to help others. Why?

When (if) we return to the joyful dimension where love and acceptance is predominant, what is the point of existing there?

"Why?" on everything!

For me the point is to work on myself because there is a mountain of hate and pain inside. I know because it's everywhere I look. It would be a lie to tell myself I'm 'spiritually advanced'. In my understanding that would be impossible because I'm a part of the world, not separate. Being 'one with the universe' doesn't just apply to the good feelings. I'd like to be separate from everyone but I have to be honest with myself in order to survive in my situation.

[Mr Interesting]

Why do we exist? Oh, it's a question...

What is curious for me is why you might be asking the question simply because you are existing... it's already a given.

For as long as I can remember it's been about discovering and paring that down to efficiency. Spirituality became, and is, part of that efficiency, part of the discovering... discovering what? Doesn't matter really, it'll arrive or it won't.

Big questions, quantum leaps, that kind of stuff... just feel like a waste of time, you just end up back where you started so why bother? At least for me.

What's in front of you? Deal with that.

you have to answer yourself

Why do we exist?
Some believe we are her on earth to spiritually learn things. Why? For what reason are we to learn and develop?
Some believe we are here to help others. Why?
Well, to put it simply, I think the meaning of life is what you make of it. There is no definite reason or answer to it. If you think life is about helping others, then so be it. If you think life is so that we can develop spiritually, then so be it. The reason we are here is different for everyone, you will find no real answer, which is your answer.

Why not exist without doing anything at all? Why not not exist?
This one is definitely a hard one to answer, and I can't really say for sure. I have a theory that, because in other dimensions there is no concept of time, or beginning/end of time, that there is only the infinity. Because of this, we could say we were always here all long. Existence has always existed, but with our puny human minds its a little hard to grasp. We always ask, where did god come from? Where did the universe start? I think there was never any "starting point". It just always IS. I don't know how else to explain it...


When (if) we return to the joyful dimension where love and acceptance is predominant, what is the point of existing there?
I think that is a place in which we can gather our thoughts and learn from all of our experiences and lives, and to meet with others that have passed on. In this way, we are not distracted by unpleasant things in order to grow as beings. Once we are satisfied, we can then choose to live another life to make experiences and learn new perspectives.