Almost every one agrees that there is a purpose to life, that a life, at the very least a human one, has purpose, a reason, and an altogether higher meaning, which can be achieved. Ussually it is believed that achieving this mystical purpose of life, brings peace, tranquility, joy, and all around good things. Conversely it can be argued, and most people agree, that a life, at least a human one, could fail to achieve that purpose. That is to say that, one's life could be an unfullfilled, unrealized, under-achieving, failure, and what could be worse than failing at life?
The only thing that everyone dissagrees on is what that purpose is!
The Druids
The ancient Druids (as far as anyone can tell) sought to reach, and then maintain, a personal awareness of, and balance with Nature. They were the secular teachers, relious leaders, poets, and at times ambasadors of northern Europe's various tribal people. They were so completly oblitterated and or absorbed by the Catholic Church, that very little remains known of who or what they actualy were.
A Druidic Proverb: To seek wisdom, come to the Groves, knowledge and guidance may be found there
The Wiccan "Witches" way
practice rites/cerimony to attune them-selves with the natural rhythm of life, phases of the moon. They value sex as a creative power and seek to gather magickal (sik) energy through it. They seek to live in harmony with that which is natural and the so called supernatural, And variously call apon and worship "the goddess". All appearently in hopes of gaining enlightenment, pleasure, and ultimatly fullfillment.
The Samurai creed The Samurai followed the bushido code or the way of the warrior, aspiring to Iron clad loyalty to those in authority, Honor to themselves, and inside this framework they were always ready to take any advantage to win a battle and reserved the right to take life away,
The Buddist Mantra
Daoist philosophy teaches us to empty our hearts and minds of all preconcieved Ideas, then begin study of the natural laws governing the Universe and that we should not fight with nor interfere with the natural flow of nature, no matter where or how it is manifested. A follower of Daoist philosophy would seek to live in complete peace and harmony with his environment. They also believed that the acts of naming catagorizing or seperating the world caused damage to the whole of life. Many Daoist pratice ritual sacrifice of pigs and chickens and practice a form a Alchemy focusing on magic potions.
The Islamic Ideals
Muslims strive to follow the teachings of the prophet Mohammod, in order to become more God consious, inableing them to recieve the Bounties of Allah (God), and they follow the five pillars (Articals of faith) The first being Faith in God, the last a willingness to take a (Hajj) pilgramige to Mecca .They believe that this will prepare them for entrance into Heaven, and keep them out of hell.
The Ancient Egyptians, Thought that By observing and obeying the will of the gods they would upholds Ma'at, the principle of balance which leads to order, justice and harmony, and which is necessary for existence to continue.
In ancient Egypt, the basis for the country, for society and for the individual was the maintaining of Ma'at. But Ma'at did not exist by itself, without effort. The natural tendency was for the chaotic forces outside of creation, the 'uncreated', to invade and destroy it, so a continuos counter-effort had to be made, and that could only be done by preserving Ma'at.
Hindu
The Hindu tradition encourages Hindus to seek spiritual and moral truth wherever it might be found, while acknowledging that no creed can contain such truth in its fullness and that each individual must realize this truth through his or her own systematic effort. Our experience, our reason, and our dialogue with others¡Xespecially with enlightened individuals¡Xprovide various means of testing our understanding of spiritual and moral truth.
