“What is the meaning of life?”
“Why are we here?”
“What is the purpose of existence?”
These are some of the most substantial questions we have all contemplated at some point in our lives. These questions essentially pertain to the significance of existence. Our own existence and the existence of the universe. And we are confident that there must be a definitive answer to these questions. Surely the universe was created for a reason. Surely there must be a point to all of this. We feel like we need an objective purpose to give meaning to our lives and that a lack of such purpose would render our lives nonsensical.
There is no lack of prophets claiming to know the ultimate purpose to all of “creation.” But we should not seek solace in the transcendental just because we are unsure. We should not give into supernatural explanations just because we do not know where else to look. Our best approach is to trust in what we know. Trust in what science can reveal. It is dishonest to look for meaning anywhere else, especially in the dark and empty voids of the unknown.
No matter how strong our insistence upon purpose, we must own up to the fact that the notion of “purpose” has the same fate as that of “life,” “free will,” and “money” (this seems to be a recurring theme in the book). These are all human constructs that only exist in the collective world of our minds.
Purpose is not inherent in nature. It is not a fact of nature. Nature does not owe us any explanations of purpose. An animal is born. It struggles for survival. It eats, sleeps, and reproduces. Then it dies. Its offspring has the same mundane existence. This cycle continues. What is the point to all of this? All animals (including us) are mere products of evolution. We are not created for anything. There is no purpose. If anything, the function of life is the replication of DNA to ensure the survival of the genes. In the case of humans, the notions of purpose and meaning are mental constructs that we use to make sense of and navigate our complex environments to ensure the survival of our genes. As such, we strive for meaning in the meaninglessness of the universe.
In our collective mental worlds, the notion of purpose, or meaning, is real. It is as real as money. It is common to think of and talk of the purpose of things: the person making a fire does so purposefully, to warm his hands; the spider spins its web with the purpose of catching prey; the purpose of the heart is to pump blood through the body; the purpose of a traffic light is to direct traffic. Purpose in the world makes sense. It makes sense in our mental world. In our human umwelt.
Ascribing purpose and intention to others is a way of making sense of our complex environments. We attribute this notion to other people to make sense of their intentions. We attribute the notion to animals, and even to inanimate objects, like traffic lights. We are always looking for the purpose of things.
It is second nature to attribute purpose and intention. So much so that we want to find purpose in everything. Even outside our approximate world of the mental. We want to attribute purpose to the entire universe. And this is when we desperately invent omnipotent and omniscient deities and transcendental tyrants in search of an ultimate purpose.
But if we grow up and purge ourselves of supernatural explanations, what is left? Is it at all necessary to expect there to be an ultimate purpose to the universe? Should we expect a notion that developed inside the universe, inside an evolved arrangement of atoms, inside our mental world, to be applicable outside of it? To be applicable to everything—the whole universe? This is a narcissistic, human-centered delusion. Even though it feels so natural. We cannot expect the entire universe to comply to the made-up notions we use to navigate our ephemeral lives in an insignificant part of the universe. It is irrational.
We need to divorce our search for meaning from an ultimate (transcendental) purpose. Stick to the facts. Accept that the world is absurd. But life is incredible. Nay. It is unfathomably spectacular! We are lucky to be here, against all the cosmological and biological odds. We are not simply pawns in the universe. We are the universe. We are the universe that somehow emerged from the darkness. We are a specific configuration of the universe that is capable of experience. (We are just a very particular arrangement of the fundamental particles that constitute the universe—we are a moment of complexity on the palette of the universe.) We are the universe experiencing itself.
As far as we know, we are the only part of the universe capable of contemplating itself and its own existence. We are a part of the universe that ponders its beauty and wonder. We are a part of the universe that seeks to understand itself.
A dog never contemplates its existence. It never tries to understand the universe. Nor does a mountain or a galaxy. But we can. And we do. We are the universe experiencing itself. This is a truly remarkable fact. And this is something tangible that we can ground a sense of meaning in. Forget about the vague notions of some or other transcendental purpose to life. We need something we know. Something we know is true. Something we can see and know for a fact. And all we know is human experience.
Everything we know, we know through experience. Everything happens in experience. So why not make that the foundation of our meaning? The meaning of life is in our experiences. Conscious experiences. We want to maximize our range of conscious human experiences. Expand the scope and scale of human experiences. There is no purpose or goal we are working toward (no eternal life we are chasing). There is only the journey of life. And we can find meaning in the journey itself, in the experiences of everyday life. In every moment. There is meaning in every moment.
We can expand the scope and scale of conscious experiences through art, science, and technology. There is no purpose inherent in art except for the experience it invokes in the admirer. But we know it to be meaningful. The experience itself is meaningful; it is the meaning. Furthermore, we can use technology to further enrich our experiences. The feeling of awe when looking up at the night sky is exaggerated by the knowledge that there are trillions of fiery balls of gas staring back. This is the gift of science. The gift of technology. It enables understanding. It expands the scope and wealth of experiences. But it also helps to free up time for more and richer experiences. We have more free time for leisure (and thus experiences) than any other time in human history—thanks to appliances such as dishwashers and washing machines. We have more time for a variety of experiences. And it is all about the quality and quantity of the experiences one can accumulate.
Just ponder the remarkable fact that we are the universe experiencing itself. It is almost a necessary duty to strive for more and richer experiences. Novel experiences. All types of experiences. And in the process, we will gain better understanding of the nature of the universe.
The value of experiences doesn’t necessarily depend on the circumstances of one’s life, but on one’s attitude. In Greek mythology, Sisyphus was punished by Zeus for his trickery and deceitfulness by being forced to roll an enormous boulder up a hill in the depths of the underworld. Every time Sisyphus neared the top, the boulder would simply roll back down to the bottom and he would need to go down and start the arduous task again, rolling the heavy boulder up the hill, repeating this mundanity for all eternity.
But as the philosopher Albert Camus notes, “One must imagine Sisyphus happy.” Sisyphus, like us, must find meaning and enjoyment in everyday life. In every moment. In every experience. And this can and must include discomforting experiences. It is discomfort that provokes the most vivid and lucid conscious experiences (familiar and routine experiences become automatic, unconscious). Many immensely profound and intense experiences are only found in agony and suffering. There is a realm of dark and demonic experiences that are reserved for those at the limits of despair. Some excruciatingly painful and intolerable. But there is meaning in these experiences. There is meaning in suffering. The meaning is in the intensity, lucidity, and desperateness of the agonizing experience itself. Such miserable experiences of inner torment and dark conflict can in many cases be the greatest source of inspiration for the most spectacular creativity. One can channel the darkest voids of depression into powerful art or other valuable worldly contributions. In the clutches of suffering, despair, and anxiety, there is meaning. This realization can offer temporary salvation from misery. There is meaning in every moment, in every experience.
It is important to develop the necessary capacities during childhood for complex, rich, and varied experiences. This again underscores the importance of early childhood development. Development during the foundational years determines a person’s capacity for and quality of experiences. It also determines a person’s affinity for specific experiences. We won’t all enjoy the same experiences. We are not all fond of theater. We don’t all like classical music, surrealist art, or golf. So, the question is not what is the meaning of life, but what is the meaning of my life?
We must all be free to choose our own meaning. Our own experiences. Live authentically. Be true to oneself. Find a worthwhile goal fitted to one’s own likes and preferences, and pursue it. Find something that is worth getting up for in the morning. Something that is worth the suffering and depression that inevitably accompanies life. This view presents a liberating opportunity to take responsibility for the meaning of one’s own life. One can find meaning and fulfilment in a plethora of activities such as art, music, nature, gardening, science, philosophy, generosity, relationships, love, etc. Don’t passively wait for universal or divine meaning to be discovered and presented on a silver platter. Go out and create meaningful experiences.
We can further use the meaning of experiences as the root for morality. There is no objective and universal morality. Just like there is no objective and universal purpose. Rather, the aspects of morality should be a continuous rational dialogue informed by our current understanding and science. Morality should be grounded in society’s shared goals and its common pursuit of the good life. Each person will have their own conception of the good life informed by his or her own preferred experiences and meaning. And the surest way to achieve meaning in one’s own life is as part of a community where every individual plays a valuable part.
Humans living and working together can achieve more than any individual—and this includes the attainment of richer and more varied experiences. Communities ensure that an individual can specialize according to their preference and focus on their role, enabling every individual to maximize their preferred experiences and not have to deal with all the basic needs of life. And as social animals, our enjoyment of experiences are amplified in groups, as part of a community. We can build moral systems on the back of this view of meaning if shared by all. We can make our moral systems be conducive and supportive of individual experiences by respecting individuals and their dignity, by not harming others and preventing them from creating their own meaningful experiences (given that their experiences do not infringe on others).
Humanity must cooperate in its quest for richer, deeper, and fuller experiences. This can offer individuals the freedom to be their authentic selves and find their own meaning. Meaning in every moment.
Further Reading
Internet Resources:
Stanford Philosophy – life meaning
BigThink – answers to the meaning of life
NewWorldEncyclopedia – Absurdism
Pachamama.org – the universe becoming aware of itself
Boks worth reading:
The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus
Being and Nothingness by Jean-Paul Sartre
The Ethics of Ambiguity by Simone de Beauvoir
The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are by Alan Watts
A Brief History of Thought: A Philosophical Guide to Living by Luc Ferry
