Butterflies

First off, I need to try writing one of these outside of philosophy class.

Anyway, butterflies, and animals in general, have such boring and fleeting lives. They exist to eat, mate, and die. Why do we exist? What purpose do we serve except to eat(survive), mate(continue our bloodline), and die(let the next generation take over)? I mean, yes, we do a little more than animals. The main part of that being that we can think; we can rationalize(or try to rationalize) our own existence. But is there something more, something of substance that we contribute to the world?

I don't think so. Not to this world. All we have done thus far is pollute and mess up the Earth. Even now we're trying to stem to destructive tide of human behavior; the results of this tide being: Global Warming(more or less), loss of species(both plant and animal), loss of resource/energy, and due to nuclear weaponry, loss of land. In a physical sense, our existence is detrimental to the existence of other things, and nothing we can do can fully change that.

However, on a spiritual level, for those who believe in the spiritual realm of existence, perhaps there is more for us there. If you believe that you were created by a supreme being, God, and that He gifted you with the breath of life, then you must believe that you have a spiritual existence. The rational part of our mind is the manifestation of the breath of life(so I believe), and this rationality stems from the spirit(or soul). So under the belief that we have a soul/spirit, then we must have some purpose to fulfill spiritually. According to the Bible, this purpose would be to follow after and worship God, our Creator, and give Him glory. So in that sense, we have a purpose. And if we believe that we have this purpose, then we can add a purpose to our physical lives, and that would manifest itself in the form of evangelism. Because if we believe that it is our purpose to glorify God, then naturally it would be our desire to enlighten others to this purpose, so that they too can glorify God.

For someone who does not believe in God, or does not believe they have a spirit/soul, I don't see how they could substantiate their existence. And if you can't substantiate your own existence, why should you continue to exist? If there is no purpose for you in life, why live? This is why I find it hard to believe people who say that there is no purpose in life. If they truly believed that, I mean really believed it, I think they would kill themselves.

So the question I would like to leave you with is this: Do you believe you are a butterfly?