In an earlier post I made the bold and seemingly outrageous statement that \u201c\u2026 it will become apparent to us that our true (human) significance and destiny are entirely tied up with the meaning and purpose of the universe \u201c, and I promised to get back to that point to see if I could actually make some sense of that idea. So here goes at least some of it.<\/p>\n
The first point I would like to make is that it is unimaginable to me that we see the meaning of the event of ourselves as something over and above the event of the cosmos.\u00a0 As such, the cosmos is intrinsic to our being, and vice versa \u2013 we cannot be separated.<\/p>\n
It follows too that – while it may have taken the world some time to bring us on to the scene \u2013 we have always been here, in principle, from the very start, as a potential event that was eventually realized as an expression in physical matter.<\/p>\n
Secondly, the incidence of our physical existence is not a function of when, where or how, but of why<\/em> we are here. I know this notion flies in the face of those who believe that everything that exists beyond the most elementary particle of matter is strictly a function of the random action of such particles, with no rhyme or reason in mind \u2013 other than of course the seemingly innate ability of matter to organize themselves into progressively more organized structures which \u2013 in its most complex formation \u2013 are able to exhibit life, prescience and consciousness as new properties not seen before. This is of course a bit of a problem for the random motion folks who\u2019s fear of metaphysics \u2013 the \u201cwhy?\u201d beyond the mere matter of cause and effect\u00a0 – must be a product of random thoughts as opposed some kind of structured logical thinking.<\/p>\n I think that the reason why we are here is the same reason as to why the world is here \u2013 or, for that matter \u2013 why there is anything here at all. Well, at least it means we have only one why<\/em> to worry about \u2026<\/p>\n It is easy to be intimidated by the sheer scope of the physical universe, it age and its size, but as incomprehensible as that may be\u00a0 \u2013 it would be wrong to attach a significance to that beyond the fact that it simply is what it is. Its true meaning will be completely independent from and over and above its physical attributes, in the sense that it will be larger than the sum of its parts.<\/p>\n This makes our experience of the physical aspects of our existence less relevant, and that beyond the point of being able to survive them, we can\u00a0 – to a certain degree – take them for granted, i.e., we wouldn’t be what, how and where we are without them.<\/p>\n Thus, what we will conclude about ourselves is not going to be strictly a function of our physical interaction with the world, but what we discover about ourselves as we interact with our environment and, more importantly, with each other, i.e.,\u00a0 what we mean to each other, how we treat each other, or are able to work together towards common goals, and how we arrive at such goals. And \u2013 ultimately – from what we want from life in terms of accomplishments during the short time that we are here as members of the human species, as well as what our history will show us about ourselves as a species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In an earlier post I made the bold and seemingly outrageous statement that \u201c\u2026 it will become apparent to us that our true (human) significance and destiny are entirely tied up with the meaning and purpose of the universe \u201c, … Continue reading