One of the big questions, which at some point begins to itch at every incarnate soul, is WHY ARE WE HERE? Is there a higher purpose to this life? And, of course, there most certainly is. That's why eventually, the question plagues the mind of an incarnate soul. Because deep down, it knows there is, but has simply forgotten the reasons.

A Multifaceted Answer

Of course, the question "Why are we here?" doesn't have a simple singular answer. Like many spiritual metaphysics subjects, the answer is multi-layered and multifaceted. I won't explore every angle of this question in this article but I will focus on what I consider the two of the most important points. But before we dive into my understanding of why we are here, let's take a quick look at what others have thought about this question.  

The Meaning and Purpose of Life?

The meaning and purpose of life has been pondered by many throughout the ages. Some believe that we are here by complete happenstance. That life arose in the universe by a long process of random chance and hence there is no real meaning or purpose to any of it — it just is.  And this point of view is okay because we can always choose our own purpose.  We can decide for ourselves why we are here and proceed accordingly. There's nothing wrong with that.        

But is it possible that there's a deeper meaning to all of this? Is it possible that there's something else going on behind the scenes? From our superficial observations of our world and our universe, it certainly seems like what we're seeing is all there is. If there's something deeper or bigger going on, it isn't readily apparent. So, I think it's perfectly reasonable to decide that what we see is all that is. And that it arose merely by virtue of the physical laws and is not by design, and hence doesn't have any inherent purpose or meaning.        

Yet many people believe there is something bigger going on and that it all has a profound purpose.  And if you study the ancient cultures of the world, you'll find that most of them shared this belief.  And even though I've been an atheist for most of my life, I've now come to believe that there is indeed something going on behind the scenes and that it definitely has a profound purpose. I've also come to believe that this bigger purpose has a direct relationship to why we are here having a human experience. The human experience is not an accident — it's by design.        

To understand the purpose of the human experience and the purpose of each soul's journey through those experiences, you'll need to understand the bigger picture.  So, let's start there.        

The Bigger Picture

In a nutshell the bigger picture is this, we are all parts of one consciousness (sometimes called Source consciousness), and this consciousness is all that is (there is nothing but consciousness), and our reality (and all other realities) are grand illusions created within this consciousness (much like a lucid dream or virtual reality game), and last but not least, Source consciousness is playing all the parts (all the characters) in these realities through us and as us. Because, in fact, we are it and it is us.

So now we can reframe our question in this broader context of understanding. The question “why are we here?” then becomes — why did Source decide to create our reality?  And why is it playing all the parts in the game? This fact is one of the big esoteric secrets of existence. Every single soul playing a character in this game/reality (or any other game) is a piece or part or thread of source consciousness!  We are all Source — ultimately, there is only one playing this game. And this is not the only game it (we) created !        

So why is it creating multitudes of realities and worlds and then diving in and playing within them? The answer to this question is both simple and somewhat surprising — there is nothing else to do!        

Let me explain.        

The Only Game in Town

Since all there is is consciousness, and since the only thing consciousness can do is "perceive and think," without creating virtual realities to have experiences in, all it could do would be to contemplate itself. But that wouldn't be very interesting because all it is conscious awareness empty of content. But having experiences by creating worlds to play in is very interesting and produces a lot of content to contemplate. So when it discovered that it could create and experience "physical" realities within its own mind, there was no question that this would become its primary mode of operation. So now Source could experience itself as individualized "physical" beings within so-called "physical" worlds, which it undoubtedly found fascinating.

Real Experiences In Virtual Worlds

So it turns out the world you are experiencing is nowhere as "real" as you assumed; in fact, it's virtual. It's simply an information construct being perceived by consciousness that responds to the intent of consciousness. This is conceptually similar to how our virtual reality games work but far more sophisticated. And it turns out that "virtual" experiences are just as good as "real" experiences. In fact, the experiences are real even if the worlds that they happen in are not. What makes any experiences "real" is that they are formative to consciousness — which they most definitely are. And by "formative to consciousness," I mean they drive the expansion and evolution of consciousness, which is the whole point.

Experiencing Manyness

Another important aspect of creating and experiencing "realities" is that Source consciousness could experience manyness rather than oneness. In a sense, Source started out alone, as a singular monolithic all encompassing consciousness. But early on, it discovered that it could subdivide its consciousness into as many individualized threads of consciousness as it likes, each with its own perceptual channel. This allowed it to carry out many different tasks simultaneously — including designing and generating multitudes of virtual realities and playing all the parts in them! It could experience manyness rather than just oneness, which is quite interesting.  
       
And the fun part is that in this reality (and many others like it), it carefully hid from itself the fact that it's playing all the characters, creating the ultimate experience of individuality and separation. This is something that is impossible for it to experience in its native ground state. It's playing a multi-player game with itself, but within the game, the characters don't realize it! Wow! That's incredible!    

The One is the Many, and the Many Are the One

We (all of us) are all individualized parts of Source consciousness. Even though it is the one and only consciousness in existence, it is not monolithic. If it were, none of us would exist. Source consciousness is a composite, a multiplex, a network. It has many parts that are all connected together into one larger consciousness. And we (our consciousness) are all those parts.    

The threads of consciousness that dedicate themselves to playing parts in and experiencing the so-called "physical" realities have been called Souls. Souls are parts of Source that are many levels of subdivision removed from the root of the source consciousness system.

So that's the big pictures as I understand it, and now we're ready to explore to explore the question of “why are we here” from the perspective of the soul.        

The Journey of Souls

Everything a soul experiences, while playing parts in various realities, contributes not only to its own learning and growth, but to that of Source as a whole. All experience, and all knowledge and wisdom derived from that experience, trickles up through the network of consciousness to the root. It all accumulates at the top — it all accumulates in Source itself.        

From the perspective of the souls playing parts in this reality, we call it learning, we call it growth, but what we're really talking about, is the expansion and evolution of our consciousness. And because our consciousness is part of a composite consciousness (that is, Source), our expansion contributes to its expansion, and our evolution contributes to its evolution.        

Hence, ultimately, we are here to contribute to the expansion and evolution of source consciousness. And having experiences within virtual realities does that in a big way. The respected contemporary spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle echoed this point when he said...

You are here to enable the divine purpose of the Universe to unfold. That is how important you are!    — Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now        

The Individual Souls Journey

Yet within this context of our larger purpose, each and every soul has its own specific reasons and purpose why it plays the game of being human over and over again. Each thread of consciousness, each soul is on an extended journey of human experiences, gradually learning, growing, and expanding and evolving its consciousness. It's like a school with many grades or a game with many levels. And at every step of the way, it's choosing the themes it wants to experience, and the potential lessons it wants to learn. It's going through a progression of learning and growth that is specific to it, but helpful to the whole.        

The earth game and the human experience (like all realities) are chosen both because it is fun and interesting and because it's formative to our consciousness. In a sense, its both an entertainment game and an educational game. So, the soul does desire to have fun, but it's also trying to learn and grow. And here's the thing, challenge and adversity are powerful drivers of learning and growth. These experiences where not meant to be easy, they where meant to be challenging and exciting. Which makes them a fast track for the evolution of the soul, that's why souls can't wait to get into this game. Every experience ultimately serves this higher purpose. So, remember that, and you won't complain so much — after all, you did sign up for this.

There is so much more I could say about the journey of souls, but for now this is enough.        

The Bottom Line

The bottom line is that Source is expanding and evolving as us and through us and our experiences!  And Source is accumulating vast amounts of experience and derived knowledge and wisdom through this process that we are integral parts of.  

This is our divine purpose and the magnificent truth of what we are and why we're here!