I've often pondered the meaning of existence. For me, this is a layered question, and some of the layers are beyond my comprehension.
The first and most basic layer is why am I here, the individual. My conclusion is that this is decided by the individual. We are given the ability to choose, our choices throughout life heavily influence who we become. When we try to shift the responsibility of assigning meaning to us, we are also assigning blame. If we took no responsibility for our actions, then the ability choose would have no value, and in turn our lives would have no value. We would be merely organic machines.
What should the purpose of life be? To produce good actions. This is more complex and when I start to reach the limits of what I comprehend. The way I break it down is chaos and evil consumes, goodness creates. Another observation is that evil confuses, while good enlightens.
I could go on for hours with metaphors and still not pinpoint it, but there are good actions, evil actions and neutral actions. This is where my logic collides with traditional philosophy and religions. I think of a rock. I don't think it could be considered good or evil, simply neutral. Some actions can't be labeled good or evil, but I wonder if it's a dangerous places to spend time, where you stand between two strong opposing forces, they may both draw their line between you and them.
Why should we be good? I don't think fear should be a reason. Fear that the all powerful God will thrust us into eternal pain and suffering for not being good. Sounds like a pretty good reason, but if the reason is fear of consequences, to me the decision has little value. It is mere self preservation to concede. Are we so blind to the universal benefits that we need this threat? Does the gratification offered from evil deeds outweigh our will to be of value? Being good should be done because of a comprehension of their cosmic effect and a desire to create instead of consume.
What put us here? An UnEarthly force. Something ancient and powerful. Something that comprehends the universe far more completely than we might ever. I believe we humans may have been created for a few different reasons. One may have been simply to create intelligent life on this planet, which was teaming with primal creatures. Or maybe they saw value in the unique way the primates were developing. Maybe they saw and appreciated the family units, and the emotions developing, and wanted to integrate high functioning intelligence. And not just creating us and walking away, guiding our evolution.
When God Flooded the earth(which is a belief not limited to Christianity) he did so to cleanse the evil from it. I can only imagine the route some humanity had taken. Intelligent, cruel, stubborn, and they were all destroyed on a massive scale to clear the path for righteous generations to come.
I also believe that's what the apocalypse will be. Where the most valuable life on this planet is collected and protected, and a great deal is left to perish.
And my point isn't to create fear, just applying logic to the situation.
So that is where I'm at for the most part. I welcome enlightenment. If you see flaws in my logic please let me know. If you agree I'd love to hear it. If something seems wobbly I'm all ears. Thanks for reading this.
