What is the purpose of this community?

[Hev]

This question seeks to understand the overarching goal or mission that drives the existence of the community. It aims to uncover the core reason why the community was formed and what it aims to achieve. By asking about the purpose, individuals can gain insight into the community's focus, objectives, and the issues or interests it seeks to address. Understanding the purpose helps prospective members determine if the community aligns with their own values, interests, and goals, allowing them to make an informed decision about whether to join and participate.

[Carl Dickson]

It's in the name. Learn. Grow. Repeat. But that's probably not enough of an answer.

Our technical purpose is teaching people a philosophical approach to revealing and living in accordance with objective reality.

Our functional purpose is to bring perspective and to develop a community of people with some things in common who support each other. It's wonderful to be able to talk about the things we do with other people who get it.

A good way to think of it is that we're learning to get along with people we disagree with. Atheists and religious people can have conversations that make them better atheists and better religious people. And friends. The same is true with many other false dichotomies. Scientists and spiritualists can have conversations that make them better scientists and better spiritualists. Officer workers and people in the trades. Farmers and city folk. Etc. We give each other insights that help us along our chosen paths without forcing our paths on anyone else. And become friends doing it. That's powerful stuff.

So how do we do that? The hardest part is choosing to do it and backing it up with effort. You may find that a commitment to this changes you in unexpected ways. For example, you might experience less fear and have more confidence when you no longer default to being in conflict with others because of who they are.

Sometimes I think that the best way to change the world is to teach people who to get along without compulsion, how to separate their interpretations from what is real, and how to see things as they are. Usually I recover from this quickly and go back to not wanting to change anybody. They'll come around if they are so inclined.

We are not here to change you. But change may happen. We are not here to fix you. But you may find tools that help you fix yourself. We are not here to change The System. But you might discover how to build a better one.

And along the way you can make friends and have fun.

I plan to spend the rest of my life doing this.