Meaning of Life

Meaning of Life

I recently wrote a piece, a semi-fictionalized story actually, about redemption in which I expressed an opinion that if a person did/is doing something that thousands /millions of other humans have done/are doing that, that person has no real compelling reasons to be proud of himself. He isn't anybody special, not a trailblazer, not a shining star to dispel the darkness of the night. He just exists, begets, and dies as an unknown, having exerted no special impacts on his tribe/country. In fact, a preponderance of humans live their lives exactly like that, sadly to say. Their lives are exactly no different from those of lower forms of life. Of course, they know that. They don't need me to remind them of that stark, sad fact. They don't want me to. They already know that. They are human beings, after all, the most evolved organisms on this planet, equipped with a high degree of consciousness, a remarkable adaptability, and an unquenchable thirst for immortality. But since they are not talented enough to make a name for themselves while being alive and for posterity, how can they reconcile themselves with the gap between desire and actuality, between the recognition of the banality of their existence and their inability and/or unwillingness to really make something out of their lives, other than just eating, sleeping, having sex, having children, and then eventually getting sick and kicking the bucket---no differently than what lower forms of life on this planet do?

The answer is that they resort to lies, of course, the lies supplied to them by the priests of their choice, and the lies supplied by themselves. The priests (mind controllers) told them stories of immortality, afterlife, salvation, eternal life, reincarnation and other fantastical, nonsensical, unverifiable tales and assertions, while they (the sheep/mental and emotional slaves) furnish themselves with delusions of significance and even grandeur. 

We can see evidence of human desire for recognition and leaving traces behind in carving of names on cacti leaves and rocks, on paintings and carving on rocks, on monuments and constructions commissioned by powerful men. 

Fortunately for the human race, not all men are content to live like animals and then listen to tales peddled by mind controllers or engage in acts of self-deception, like the two midgets I happened to know (more about them later). There are rare, special, and beautiful human specimens who are driven by a burning desire to know. They want to know just about everything: who are they? why and how different are they from other fauna on this planet? where are they? why are they here and where will they "go" after they die? is death inevitable? and many other existential questions. The artistically inclined among them express themselves via arts and in the process, if they are very good, ensure their "immortality". Having spiritual "children" is always more satisfying than having children in the flesh and blood, because self-actualization is harder than mere fornication. In the human world, a thing of  value usually lies in its scarcity. 

When I first meet a person and have to interact with him, three things I want to know about the person:

First, I want to know if he is honest and kind, that is, if his brain normally developed and he was properly brought up.
Second, if he is intellectually brave. Can he think for himself or is he the type who blindly accepts what he is told to be "true"? 
Third, if he is emotionally strong and can withstand the ostracism practiced by the weak-minded, stupid, and emotionally fragile sheep and slaves, who are afraid of nonconformity and originality? 

I sadly report that most people I have run into are sheep and cowards and liars and cheapskates, but they never admit themselves being so, not publicly, not with me. I do maintain one can only lie to themselves for so long and that one must have a modicum of self-respect, but I could be wrong. I no longer under-estimate human capacity for stupidity, self-deception and cruelty, not since the two midget ex-girlfriends of mine turned on me with a vengeance. They are much worse than I expected. I am so glad I walked away from them in due time. I am so glad I am made of finer stuff. If I were made like them, I would kill myself out of shame and humiliation. Life to me would be a dreary, endless stretch of boredom and incomprehension, as it must appear to them. I must ask them one day their secret of keeping on going, and not putting an end to their miserable, mediocre, unaccomplished life. It must be hard to be a nobody. 

Now, as I am in the twilight of my life, I really want to know who I really am and what am I doing here on this planet. 

I had an inking I was no ordinary human when at the age eleven, I saw the absurdity of the belief in an omniscient, omnipotent God who would watch over the affairs of earthlings and to Whom earthlings would pray for favors. I had a crude but very brave (because I was confident) test of the absurdity of that belief. One day I openly challenged the so-called God to strike me dead if he was indeed omniscient and omnipotent. Nothing has happened to me from God since then. It is the human animals and beasts that I must be on guard against. I went on to think that God didn't make Man in his own image as some stupid religion would like me to believe. It is Man who made God in his own image. I then developed (and still do) a contempt for those who believe in a Personal God, the Judeo-Christian kind. I think they are intellectually and emotionally weak and full of feeble excuses. I firmly think the universe came from the Big Bang, but why the Big Bang occurred, nobody knows yet, but certainly not caused by God, because the next logical question would be who made God. Something must come from something, not just from nothing. The First Cause argument about the existence of God is for the stupid and ignorant folks, and not for me. Never. 

This disbelief in God acted as a foundation for my quest of knowledge. I read (about) cosmology, history, psychology, sociology, anthropology, and philosophy in addition to the required subjects such as physics, chemistry, biology, geography, geology, literature, maths, economics, political science, management, accounting, English, French, and Spanish that I had to study in high school and college. The more I read and think, the more I realize that all fields of knowledge are interrelated. We just divide them up into specialized fields for ease of study and further specialization. I fancy I know what's going on in the world generally. I try to keep up. I have a healthy interest in knowledge for knowledge's sake. 

Then it dawned on me that true education is not necessarily to train people for a job, though it does help. The aim of education is to train people how to think critically. That was when I realized that most college graduates with whom I interacted couldn't think in a logical, fact-based manner. They committed so many fallacies in thinking. Because they couldn't think properly, they couldn't reason and hold their own in a debate. I knew then I was smarter than most humans around me. My vanity grew while my social skills deteriorated. It was hard not to show contempt to fools and ignoramuses, especially those who refused to admit that they were fools and ignoramuses despite clear evidence. These demented and benighted "humans" had to argue until they were blue in their face that they were somebodies while they were absolute nobodies. I had to patiently list all the reasons and arguments and marshaled all the facts to show to these simpletons that yes, they were indeed inferior specimens of the human race. I had to do that to the midgets to shut them up. 

Because all individual humans (like all other creatures) on this planet have to die eventually, that led me to question what was the purpose of my existence here on this planet. I turned to philosophy for an answer. Precisely Death is an endgame in my individual life, Life ironically has both meaning and no meaning. If there is no Death, then nobody would appreciate Life. Death thus brings meaning to Life in an an abstract sense. The individual human has to create his own meaning for his life.  He has to fill in the blanks of his life. Untalented folks, like the midgets, only know how to do so by having sex and having children and are inordinately proud of that fact without realizing all other sub-humans do exactly the same. In other words, their lives are no different from those of barnyard animals or wild beasts. More talented folks know better and can do better. They do things that sub-humans and ordinary humans cannot do. They invent things, make music, paint, draw, sculpture, write stories and poems. More caring humans devote their time to help the disadvantaged and/or ensure the their own countries or even the planet will be  around for future generations. 

So, to sum up, on this planet, essentially there are two types of humans. The first type is in a great majority of which the midgets are prime examples.These "humans" live like beasts, totally driven and consumed by biological drives (food, shelter, and sex) and social needs (congregation, power, and respect). That's all they care to do and can do. The second type is far fewer in number because they are more evolved and developed. These fine folks are creative and or caring for sentient beings even outside their family and tribe. If they have power, they know how to use it wisely, not for their own benefits, but for society and the human race. Their sense of respect derives primarily from within. They don't need validation from outside. These folks know how to live as true humans. They also know the real meaning of life.

Ask yourself a hard question and answer it honestly: which type of humans are you? Don't lie, now.

Wissai
November 2, 2013.