It’s a question that has haunted humanity since the beginning of our existence. I myself have spent countless hours laying awake at night pondering it: What is the meaning of life?
Yet the way I see it, that simply isn’t a good question. Plenty of humans have come to a similar conclusion. One of the most famous, being Dr. Frank Victor. He explores the question of purpose and meaning at a core level in his all time classic ‘Mans search for meaning’. He appears to come to the conclusion that every individual must come to their own answer. That there is not a one size fits all approach. In some sense, his answer makes sense. Life is what you make of it. You find purpose through your own intuition. Yet in another he only addresses the question on a personal, individual level.
What if we back up and try to address the question of meaning on a bigger scale. What is humanity’s purpose? How can our collective species find meaning? Maybe this answer is clear: We don’t have one.
Let me explain my reasoning. How different would you say a human and a squirrel are? Probably pretty different. We do share a couple similarities yet they are not nearly as complex as we are. We know for almost complete certainty, a squirrel has never asked itself why it was here or questioned the meaning of life.
Ok… what about a human and a chimp. Obviously a lot closer. Now, ask yourself again, but instead of looking through your own personal lens as a human, try to analyze the question as if you were an alien zoologist. One from a species that is far more advanced than humans. More advanced culturally, technologically, even biologically. For example’s sake, say this alien race was as advanced to us as we are to chimps.
I cannot say with 100% certainty, but there is a high probability that this alien species would find us and Chimps almost indistinguishable. Now before you call me crazy, this is not a new idea. In fact it’s stolen from a book called “The Third Chimpanzee” by Jared Diamond. Say what you will about Diamond, but he makes a very solid point. Chimps and Humans share an estimated 98.8% of our DNA. Now there are some complexities to this value. Not all DNA is actually coding valuable information in the sense that it is directly responsible for a gene that is expressed.
Yet the point stands. Chimps and humans are extremely closely related. We share a common ancestor some 6 to 7 million years ago. Which may seem like a long time, but geologically speaking, that’s a blink.
Now back to our alien zoologist. The human species would be seen as an advanced ape. One that just like it’s more simple cousin, has an obsession with violence and pleasure. Now let’s zoom out even further. Regardless of your stance on the presence of an omnipresent being, for the sake of this argument let’s pretend there was one. One that oversaw our entire universe, which for the record is an estimated 13.8 billion years old as well as the possible multiverse which could include an infinite number of universes just like our own. That god would have watched Humans as simply another species of many that had existed before it and many that will exist after. It would have seen the creation of the earth as just another planet. It would have watched life on earth flourish as just another planet with life.
Many today have come to this conclusion. We are a tiny tiny insignificant piece of a benevolvet universe. So how could we have a different purpose than a chimp, or even for arguments sake, a squirrel? Because we have a hell of a lot in common with all mammals when you look through the lens of a God that has seen the whole universe.
The question in and of itself is flawed. It is based in our deep self obsession. It assumes that we as individuals are valuable.That ‘I’ am valuable. When analyzed through our aliens lens, that is simply not the case. At most, our species as a whole is notable, but not an individual. And when looked through the lens of a God. Life on earth may be notable (maybe, actually probably, not) but individual species come and go like the weather. Some would say that we are special because of our extreme intelligence. Or maybe because of our dominance on this planet. Shit we’ve even traveled off our own planet. But remember, through the eyes of a God. This likely means nothing.
Now the argument that we are humans so we should look through our own lens to answer the question of our own meaning does make some sense on a surface level. But this again is a reflection of our ego telling us that our lens is more important than the others. If our goal is to see reality as it really is and dig to the true ‘meaning of life’, then we must consider all the perspectives and facts available. Which undoubtedly points to a single answer. ‘What is the meaning of life?’ is a stupid question that has never and will never have an answer.
Well I suppose that there could be an answer somewhere if we mean life on a grand scale, but our simple minds will never be able to comprehend let alone find an answer to that question.
In conclusion, fuck it, go ask that girl on a date.