I am just an average human being, with a less than average life. Not amazing in any way. In all my 36 years on this planet in this existence I have not experienced or seen anything that has convinced me without any doubt that there is meaning to this existence other than what we create for ourselves.
Once again Science is trumping superstition and it is quite probable the Higgs Boson has been found What does this mean to our understanding of this world? This is the third of four pieces by Lawrence Kraus, theoretical physicist and professor of physics.
I quote: "If these bold, some would say arrogant, notions derive support from the remarkable results at the Large Hadron Collider, they may reinforce two potentially uncomfortable possibilities: first, that many features of our universe, including our existence, may be accidental consequences of conditions associated with the universe’s birth; and second, that creating “stuff” from “no stuff” seems to be no problem at all—everything we see could have emerged as a purposeless quantum burp in space or perhaps a quantum burp of space itself. Humans, with their remarkable tools and their remarkable brains, may have just taken a giant step toward replacing metaphysical speculation with empirically verifiable knowledge. The Higgs particle is now arguably more relevant than God.
The last vestiges of supernatural and superstitious thinking is being disproved by hard scientific facts every day. So can we find meaning in belief in something our rational minds say is foolish fantasy? Is it okay to pretend belief in something one thinks of as foolish fantasy.
Are there other ways of finding meaning. Yes. The spectacular accident that is earthly life and consciousness, awareness and experience, in itself is meaning.
On a personal level I'm not quite there yet. I strive to get there. I know such meaning exists for many, but for now I feel like I am still drifting in a void of meaningless life. Where one foot is set in front of the other, but it is more out of necessity than any desire and inspiration.
I do blame my mental illness for that. For right now I am still searching. I once thought I had found my meaning and it was a nice warm fussy happy comfortable feeling. I hope I find that again, even though science and facts seem so hard and cold. What is truth really. What is the subjective truth of my own life. Will it all be for nothing. Ashes blown away by another wind.
In the greater scheme of things the chances are humanity will one day blow away and be ashes in the wind like the dinosaurs before us. Our time in existence is short, and already running out due to our treatment of our only current home.
So how does one find meaning in a life which is only part of a larger meaningless exercise. Stardust moving on?
