From GLOCK, in his initial post on this thread:

"What do you think? Have you defined your purpose?"

I think that before we can define our "purpose", we need to come to a reckoning of our NATURE...in other words, WHAT ARE WE??? For example, a pickup truck and a Corvette differ in "nature" because they serve different purposes. So what are we? What is our "nature"? It's the key to our purpose.

If we are simply evolved human animals who once lived in trees and one day learned to walk upright, it doesn't matter that we have emotions, build cities, create music and art, transform the face of the planet and go to the moon....we are still just animals, by nature. We are born, we live, we reproduce, we do whatever we do, and we die. Period. End of story. There is no purpose other than to "be", "do" and "die".

I personally believe (to paraphrase Pierre Teilhard de Chardin) that we are NOT human beings who have the occasional spiritual experience. We are instead SPIRITUAL beings who, from time to time, CHOOSE to have a PHYSICAL experience.

Why? Because it's one thing to know, intellectually, that "water is wet". It's another thing entirely to experience it,... to jump into a mountain stream...to walk in the rain...or in the surf...or sip a cool drink on a hot day.

The questions we should ask ourselves are "Why did I choose to have this experience? What can I learn from it? How will it help me to grow and develop?"

These are basically spiritual questions, and can only be answered within the context of our true nature.