There are two assumptions that I can see underlying this question: that we do have a mission in the world; and that it is the sort of thing that we can discover.
Firstly, it can be argued that we do not have a mission in the world. Some argue that the world is ultimately meaningless, a chance occurrence, and that we are also creatures of chance, with no mission. The idea of a mission seems to imply that somebody or something has set the mission. If there is no such somebody (e.g. God) then there will be no mission.
This brings me to the second point. For a mission to be discovered, it would seem that it has to be there already, waiting for us to find it. But there is an alternative. We can set our own mission for ourselves. We invent it, not discover it. This makes more sense to me. I don't mean to say that we just make it up out of nothing. It arises out of our desires and aims, all in the communities in which we live. Social institutions, our upbringing, our chosen circles of friends and so on all come into play. Within this we can make choices about what is most important to us and those we care about, and this leads to us setting up our mission.
I look forward to your comments
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Without God your mission will be self-serving and selfish
ReplyDeleteWith or without God, we make missions based on "choices about what is most important to ...those we care about"
ReplyDeleteMaking God responsible for everything includding our bad choices diminishes Him/Her. Hindhuism (Kharma.. or Dharma?) and Existentialism makes each one of us responsible for our own choices. Giving humans free will , God is truely omnipotent and omniscient, isn't?
ReplyDeleteIf God is truly omnipotent and omniscient, it could be argued that he is responsible for everything. The existence of free will, as opposed to determinism, is a philosophical dilemma that has been debated for centuries. Thanks for the Eastern viewpoint.
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