Hi E.
I liked your questions. I don't know how useful you'll find my answers. I'm afraid they may appear terribly "trite" and "Christianese", as if I'd answered how I'm supposed to answer, but not as I truly feel.
But rest assured, my friend, that these answers are as true as the blue sky. If it makes me a freak, that I believe what I'm supposed to and know why I believe it, then a freak I'll glady be. :o)
Q : Where do you find your meaning?
A : Pleasure is pointless, pain is pointless, happiness is pointless, sadness is pointless, being good to others is pointless, being mean to others is pointless, LIFE is pointless, DEATH is pointless, except that The Unchanging One finds pleasure in us, and except that our souls are eternal and the effects of our actions now will echo in our ears forever.
Q : What do you find fulfillment in, purpose in, a reason for living in?
A : Bringing a smile to God's heart. And teaching others to do the same.
Q : What gets you up in the morning and keeps you going throughout the day?
A : The knowledge that what I'm doing is significant, not because it will merely transcend my lifetime, but because it will have good effects that last for eternity.
In contrast, Humanists can gain some mild level of satisfaction in knowing that some good they do to another will transcend their lifetime, but Humanism is ultimately a religion of despair, for no matter how advanced Humanity becomes, it will ultimately die in the inescapable Big Collapse that, by the laws of physics, must eventually follow a Big Bang. That kind of 'legacy', which transcends one's lifetime but ultimately comes to nothing, is pointless.
What keeps me going is the knowledge that the good I do won't be eventually obliterated in an inescapable cosmic smash-up, but will actually endure without cessation. I am not writing in chalk on a chalkboard that will be wiped clean in a few billion years; I am etching in stone that will last forever. And I have learned from the Supreme Artist how to etch well.
Q : What gives you hope?
A : Eternal perpetuity of our souls and of the consequences of our works is a depressing thought if our souls are miserable and our works reprehensible.
HOPE comes not from understanding eternity, but from knowing that The Unchanging One has adopted my soul and cradles it in His love, and so orchestrates my circumstances as to help me grow and cause me good.
Q : What makes you grin like an idiot?
A : When my attempts at subtlety are foiled. The Great One dealt me a scant measure of subtlety, the which I rarely employ, and when I do, it's usually to disastrous consequence! :o)
I could give numerous humorous examples, but it's irrelevant to the questionnaire and my time, like my subtlety, is scant. :o)
And yes, I can see how this question applies to "meaning & purpose" for some folk, but I don't think it does for me.
Q : Where do you find your meaning and purpose?
A : "Meaning" I've already answered. "Purpose" - perhaps my three life goals are relevant. In order of importance, most important first, my three life goals, with me from the cradle to my grave, are as follows :
1) To delight God.
2) To obtain wisdom.
3) To lay up treasure in Heaven.
So, what answers would you have given? I'm curious to know - drop a line or leave a comment! :o)
