The Meaning of Life

Humans are interesting creatures. We share 95% percent of our DNA with chimpanzees, but what differentiates us from other animals is something that (at least, as of yet) cannot be measured biologically. We are different from other animals because of our vast and complicated system of communication. This system extends beyond other complex communications such as "the honey is this way" (bees) or "hey, let's mate" (most animals). Although the search for food and other needs is primary among humans (and some people never go beyond their primary needs), humans have developed a system not only to discuss things, but to discuss ideas.

I was contemplating this while looking at a fruit fly today. Fruit flies make excellent guinea pigs in the lab because of the fact that they multiply so quickly, and live very short lives. Looking at this fruit fly, I wondered if it knew that its life was so short, and if it contemplated this at all, the way us humans do.

We obsess over the meaning of life because of the one thing that scares us the most, that dark void that surrounds us all. One day, no matter what we do, we will all die. We can exercise and eat well to our heart's content, but tomorrow a car could take us out on our morning jog. We all know people who smoke like chimneys and live to be 100, and those whose lives are taken from them at young ages from various diseases. No one, at any age, is immune to death, and none of us know when we will go.

Do dogs and cats work as furiously as we do to discover life's meaning before they go? We are only here for a short time, so we who can must wonder why. Interesting, isn't it, that humans have such consciousness and pursue this elusive meaning so hard. It's as Voltaire said, "If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him." What is God anyway, but the biggest 'meaning' people can give life?

We struggle to create meaning before we die, clinging to a belief system. Atheists and theists alike, all of us with at least one commonality besides our humanity, we all will die, and we all need some kind of reassurance of meaning, whether it's the meaning we create or the meaning we get from organised religion. Wars are fought, whether on real battlegrounds or intellectual ones, on who has the monopoly on truth. And if you think about it, it is a big deal. Each person has only a small length of time to figure out what is true and to live their lives according to that truth that we are risking a lot by letting each figure out their own. But then again, perhaps that is the only way it can be.

"As you struggle with the mystery of your death, you will discover the meaning of your life." M. Scott Peck [Further Down the Road Less Traveled]