Letters to the Editor
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We are not meant to be here; we insist on being here
"For many of us it seems, it is inconceivable that the miracle of human existence is a random accident. For some reason, the randomness, the accidental-ness (if I can say that), negates meaning for these poor unimaginative souls"
Meaning and purpose are human categories that have evolved to help us survive. Man can intend to go to the moon, but the moon does not intend to go around earth. To say "we are meant to be here" implies that something outside humans - "God" or "the laws of the universe" wanted to create us. Man creates meaning and purpose as survival tools. Man created God as a survival tool. But no God or law of the universe "wants" us to exist - our will to exist comes from ourselves. Life started accidentally, but we are the product of millions of years of evolution, in which organisms have the sole purpose of surviving to pass on their genes. What started accidentally has now been shaped by millions of years of purpose-driven evolution. Meaning is therefore founded on meaninglessness, like the painting of the church floating hundreds of feet above solid rock. That meaning is, at root, meaningless in no way detracts from its value. In fact, it leaves us free to construct whatever meaning we wish for human life. If it were not this way, we would be slaves to some God or some non-human purpose.