Science Class
Assignment: Write a paper on the purpose of man.
Rules: There must be no mention, or use of religion, or God.
The purpose of man is futile. (1-11)
With science alone, and without God or religion, life, and the purpose of man, is pointless, futile, and empty.
The lifespan of a man is short. People come and go, they live and die, and generations pass. Even those long term generations of humanity are short, compared to the cycles of nature that keep going. Something has existed long before we came on the scene, and something will exist long after humanity has died off.
The sun rises and sets, the seasons pass, winds blow, and streams of water race endlessly to the sea. They follow short cycles that we can observe, but also long cycles that would take generations of men to observe, and see how they cycle again.
Does science, or knowledge, give purpose to mankind? The craving of knowledge that men have may keep us occupied, but it’s never satisfied. The more we learn, the more we realize there’s always more we don’t understand.
Since knowledge is too vast for any one person to know it all, should we abandon it, and seek purpose in more selfish motives? Is man’s purpose in mindless pleasure? Pleasures are fun, but temporary. Desire for pleasure is never satisfied. . Can we be fulfilled in always speaking our mind, or in seeing or hearing one more brain tickling thing? Fun times are short, and soon forgotten. They quickly become boring.
What about fame, power, or notoriety? Despite any achievements made at working, people forget the deeds of those who have gone before. They ignore, or forget, and end up repeating the same mistakes that have been done.
Limited Purpose. (12-18)
The best that Science can offer is in observing our surroundings, and to keep us occupied. Things are what they are, and can’t be changed or undone.
All we can do is watch and see how things work.
We can’t control nature on demand, and the affect we can change is limited. We can’t force it to rain, or cause earthquakes. We can only take precautions against them.
We can’t really make anything new. We can only use what already exists in nature. We might build things out of it, or even blend it to make synthetic compounds, but we need something in order to make something. Now we run the risk of polluting nature with our unnatural, man-made, products.
What if we did fully apply ourselves to pursue knowledge? What then?
The more you know, the more sorrow you know. Too many inventions that were intended for peaceful, or for the good of mankind get exploited for war and damage. Science and knowledge intended for higher purpose, gets used by people of lower, and more selfish motives.
Is man’s purpose in elevating that moral character then? If so, then were does that come from? Where do we find it? How do we get it? Who gets to say what that morality and ethic is? I wish I could say, but it would go against the rules of this assignment. In risk of breaking that rule,find a bible, and refer to Ecclesiastes 1 for my source material.