Questions I Have That Can't Be Answered.

I have been thinking way too much about way too many things. I have some questions.

does existence preclude purpose?

Possibly not. Existence may be gift enough of itself. Things that have existed and will exist still exist as much as I do. If time is another dimension and not just a gauge of passing sunsets, then everything that has been, is, and will be on its seemingly infinite line, from beginning to end, must be equally important. You can’t remove existence from time- they started at the same point, theoretically (the big bang), and they will cease to exist together. Every quark and every second are vital links in the chain that is time. None can be safely removed.

So this would seem like proof, then, that everything has a purpose. If time, then, is just a complex system like the Earth, then doesn’t even the tiniest mote of energy need to exist in order to fulfill its purpose of continuing that system?

So, everything that exist must exist in order to maintain, continue, and revitalize the system. But that is just a way of getting around the question. A tautological fallacy. This would seem to indelibly intertwine the two concepts, turning existence into purpose. Everything's purpose is just to exist.

Obviously, this doesn't answer the question. It finds a loophole through it, so we have to look at it from a different perspective. We have to look at it, not from a cosmological or metaphyical perspective, but from a practical one.

When it comes to inanimate objects, this makes the question simple. The existence of these things is intentional - they are created in order to fulfill a specific purpose. A toaster exists to fulfill the purpose of making toast.

but what of things whose purposes are obscured or lost? New things can always arise to take the place of old. It is feasable that those ancient things that were vital millenia ago have had their link in the system replaced by millions of others. so it is also feasible that things can lose their purpose. What happens to something, then, that exists but holds no purpose. Do they become weird aberrations that should no longer be? Do they take on some new purpose?
Does PURPOSE also preclude EXISTENCE?
is that a better question?

And how about people?
What about me? What is my purpose? Can I even know? I doubt it.
I think, though, that this is a universal question- it is something that everybody asks themselves. Why do I exist- what purpose does this existence serve (other than the purpose of existing)? am I living up to that purpose? can I ever know that purpose?

Before I continue, let me clarify something- I am asking about an OBJECTIVE purpose that all of us have in us. Some would say Michael Jordan’s purpose was to play basketball, or John Lennon’s purpose was to create musical art- it is something they were born for, and something that only they could do in the time and the space that they did it. It is not, simply, something that we want to do. I want to do a million things with my life, but that doesn’t mean that each of those things are my purpose. I would be surprised if even several of them could simultaneously be my purpose.
(could we have more than one purpose? can our purposes change?)

Now, this leads to a problem of free will, doesn't it? Free will dictates that, if existence does give us an objective purpose, we can act contrary to that purpose- like Michael Jordan choosing to never pick up a basketball, or John Lennon choosing to shun his aunt’s piano. So what of us then?
Can the decision to act contrary to our purpose ever be known? Can we ever really know that someone has acted opposite their purpose?
If not, then is everything we do our purpose?
What, then, of free will?
I see these concepts as mutually exclusive- the ability to choose any avenue from the seemingly inifinite avenues we are presented with, and the idea that we are our purpose.

It seems more logical to know that our decisions are, mostly, a result of a crushingly innumerable number of decision calculi that go on instantaneously in the computer that is our mind. Generally, we will choose the best thing presented to us, the best avenue we see ahead, even if subconsciously. This, as I see it, isn’t free will- it is just our way of surviving, of prolonging our existence. But, it MUST be admitted that people can WILLFULLY choose ANY avenue, even those not the best for us. The general rule rarely proves absolute. This, then, is the essence of free will- Someone choosing whatever avenue they want, consequences be damned, simply because it's what they want. Take, for example, two roads diverging in a yellow wood, as in the Robert Frost poem. Both forks bear signs. One sign reads “to safety,” the other, “to harm.” Even though it may put my existence, and thus, my purpose, in jeopardy, I can choose harm. So free will must exist- it's just like free speech- we can also choose not to exercise it.

So what, then, of purpose?