I do believe I found the meaning of life this morning after waking up, while I was still lying in bed and watching the sun rise. Although I do believe in certain spiritual concepts, I also think that some of them obscure things more than they reveal. I also heartily dislike extremes, because I believe they are harmful in whichever way they manifest.
So people who, for example, denounce every patriarchal religion and every male god and turn to a wholly maternal religion and the divine feminine, did not really get any further in their development in my opinion. They just turned the coin around, but they didn´t get rid of the need for money!
Hence, I try not to do that. And while it has been said very often in the last decade that using the right half of your brain is so much better, and that basically all of the bad things that happen are due to the fact that people only use the left half of the brain, I believe that you need to use both in the same measure if you want to really find a solid solution to something.
So you will have to bear with me for a while, if you want to find out what the meaning of life is, because first of all, we have to lay a common ground by looking at some scientifically acknowledged definitions.
Definitions:
1. Definition of an “organism” (source: Wikipedia)
In biology, an organism is any contiguous living system (such as animal, fungus, micro-organism, or plant). In at least some form, all types of organisms are capable of response to stimuli, reproduction, growth and development, and maintenance of homeostasis as a stable whole.
2. Definition of “evolution” (source: Wikipedia)
Evolution is the change in the inherited characteristics of biological populations over successive generations.
3. Definition of “homeostasis” (source: Wikipedia)
Homeostasis (from Greek: ὅμοιος, “hómoios”, “similar”,[1] and στάσις, stásis, “standing still”[2]) is the property of a system that regulates its internal environment and tends to maintain a stable, relatively constant condition of properties such as temperature or pH.
Now, in order for you to gain insight from this article, you have to concur with, or at least consider open-mindedly a few generally accepted assumptions which are, however, not fully scientifically proven. If you can not do this, you can stop reading now and do something more useful.
Generally accepted assumptions:
1. How does this “change” (=>; evolution) in the inherited characteristics of biological populations (=>; organisms)” happen?
It happens when a organism encounters a chaotic element that threatens to destroy it.
Example: The flying fish (source: Wikipedia Flying_fish). In this example the chaotic element could have been the fact that the fish didn´t have enough food for some reason and were facing extinction, so they evolved into flying fish to add flies and other airborne organisms to their menu. Of course there is no proof of that, because it happened about 240 million years ago. But there was undoubtedly a reason for them to evolve in that way.
2. Evolution is not just a theory, it is reality and the reason why human beings have evolved to this stage.
3. The planet Earth is a living organism as per definition no. 1 above (which we will examine more closely below).
The meaning of (human) life:
It starts with the third generally accepted assumption. Without doubt, the Earth responds to stimuli, I think we can all agree on that. If you need an example, watch the news at any given time anywhere on the world!
It can maintain homeostasis as a stable whole (see definition No. 3 above).
It gets a bit more wobbly with reproduction. Of course the Earth doesn´t give birth to little baby worlds… or does it? Do we know this? How long is the pregnancy? Say, the Earth is pregnant for a few billion years and its pregnancy works different than ours, just like a sea horse has a different way to reproduce than a horse.
Can we really make judgement about it? I leave that up to you to ponder.
Now, what about growth and development?
This is where the dog bites its own tail and it is the reason I have listed it under “Generally accepted assumptions”, no. 3!
So let us assume, that we human beings are an integral part of the living organism Earth. Just like the bacteria (bacteria are micro-organisms by itself) in our stomachs are part of our own organisms and help us digest better. What would our use be for the organism Earth, if not growth and development?
At that point my cat joined me in my bed and wanted to be petted. My cat has its very own mind about when it wants to be petted and when not, so I asked myself:
“But why give us free will then? Why not make us similar to the healthy bacteria in our bellies, designed to do one thing only, which is to be born/grow/die as human beings, so that through us and our actions, planet Earth could live healthy and happy. It would be so easy! We would all just strive to live ecologically, we would all recycle, we would all pursue only what is best for us, for those around us and for the planet. There would be no destruction, no wars, only the occasional natural catastrophe to regulate our expansion and maintain a healthy cycle of life in co-existence with the animal world. In fact, that sounds a lot like the Christian concept of “Paradise”.
The answer is of course, because there would be no development, and in extension, no evolution (see “Generally accepted assumption no.1 above). The planet could exist quite happily without us, but then it wouldn´t be – as per definition – a living organism! Our free will introduces the chaotic element that the organism Earth – of which we are part of – needs, in order to not only be a live organism, but to evolve!
So what is it, that makes a cell in our body useful? What is it that makes a certain kind of bacteria in our body healthy for us? The answer is again simple: If that micro-organism fulfils its full potential and does what it was designed to do!
We, as human beings, have the free will to decide whether we choose to fulfil our potential and do what we were designed to do, or do something else. Something that earns more money for example, or something that we`ve seen others do, or something our parents or our teachers told us to do, or something we just happened to do and now are too lazy to discontinue….
If we use our free will to decide, that we do not pursue fulfilling our potential (or even finding out what it is), then we are not part of the organism Earth, we may even become a chaotic element. But the chaotic elements are crucial for the evolution of the whole organism.
I know better than you might think, that the crux in this is to find out what it is, that fulfils your unique potential and that is what you were designed to do*. I also know that every human being can find it, if they continue to pursue this knowledge!
Once you have found it, there is no stopping you! Once you work to fulfil your potential, everything around you will come to your aid, because the organism Earth recognises another cell that does what it is supposed to do and will automatically link you in with the whole and everything will work together.
This is one of the most amazing things, if not the most amazing thing that can happen to a human being and I believe it is the only way to attain complete, true happiness.
If you would like to know how this is done, then I recommend the book “The Magic” from Rhonda Byrne, bestselling author of “The Secret”.
The reason we exist as human beings, is because the organism Earth needs us for its growth and development which, in turn, makes it a life organism. And it needs us to have a free will in order to evolve, which also defines a life organism.
The meaning of life is therefore defined by the last word: Meaning of LIFE! It is no big mystery and you don´t need a religion or spiritual enlightenment or a guru in order to understand it. All you need is yourself and your free will to fulfil your potential.
All yours
Julia
Note: * I wrote about that in another of my blog posts (“What it means to be a Wolf”)
Disclaimer:
I don not presume to think, that there is only one meaning to life, nor that I am the first one who has come to this or a similar conclusion. In fact I know that there have been many great thinkers and philosophers who have voiced this idea in many different ways. Wolfgang van Beethoven, Rhonda Byrne (“The Secret”), Vincent Van Gogh and uncountable others. But I did really think of this specific way to explain it to myself this morning, while I was still lying in bed, and I used my own words to explain it. I know that every person on this wonderful Earth has a different way of understanding and perceiving things, therefore I believe that the more definitions of this concept exist, the more people will understand it and maybe profit from this understanding a little bit in their own, individual way. That is my only goal.
Julia B. Kingsley 