“Here we have our present age… bent on the extermination of myth. Man today, stripped of myth, stands famished among all his pasts and must dig frantically for roots.” – Friedrich Nietzsche (philosopher, 1844−1900), The Birth of Tragedy
Take a look at the world today, and you might find it hard to be optimistic. When you see the contempt and ignorance so widespread, or the destruction of our natural environment, you might feel rather powerless. Humanity seems divided beyond any hope of the healing and unity that we so desperately need. We can cast a ballot, march in protest, or complain on social media, but there isn’t much else we can do about our dissatisfaction with the world, or the existential threats we face. If you’re religious, you might find hope in some divine intervention. But as a realist, it might seem easier to give up, to despair at humanity and grow indifferent towards life. I felt this same sense of discouragement when I left the Christian faith. Nonetheless, I couldn’t shake the thought that life was somehow sacred, nor help but wonder if there was more to our existence. With deep discontent, I searched for hope when it seemed like there was none. And I found, from my fascination with nature, a hope unlike any other.
“To me what we really need right now in this increasingly divisive world is a new unifying myth. I mean ‘myth’ as a story that defines a culture. So, what is the myth that will define the culture of the 21st century?” – Marcelo Gleiser, theoretical physicist, in an interview with Scientific American (2019)
If there exists an idea that might change the world, some “myth” that might unify our species, then what would it look like? In this discussion, I present a perspective that might inspire, from our seeming brokenness, a compassion that is global and a vision that brings us to the stars. This logic defines a reason for our existence, a purpose that might satisfy our search for significance, and its conclusions have drawn Christians and atheists alike. But as compelling as it seems, as irresistible as this reality may be, all minds are predisposed to find meaningful patterns where there are none. Thus, my philosophy is not fixed, but changing with trial and error. This worldview is not complete, but evolving with evidence and knowledge. As Charles Darwin said, “freedom of thought is best promoted by the gradual illumination of men’s minds which follows from the advance of science.”
Above is a fluorescent micrograph of the neurons in a mouse’s hippocampus, a part of the mammalian brain that is critical for emotion and memory.
Consider for a moment: your mind is the result of nearly 100 billion neurons communicating over 100 trillion synapses. Your body is not just one entity, but tens of trillions of cells that continue your collective being. At each moment, these cells involve a multitude of chemical reactions that result in the beating of your heart or the creation of your next conscious thought. A person is just a bunch of atoms that are making and breaking electric bonds. We are nothing but particles following the same laws as those of an exploding supernova.
When a massive star expends its fuel, its core collapses into a dense object and sends the rest of its gas outward in an event called a supernova. The heavier atoms that are necessary for biological life (carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, etc.) were formed in the cores of these dying stars. Above is a mosaic image of the Crab Nebula, the remnant of a supernova recorded by Chinese astronomers in the year 1054 AD.
“We humans… who embody the local eyes and ears and thoughts and feelings of the Cosmos, have begun to wonder about our origins. [We are] starstuff pondering the stars; organized assemblages of ten billion billion billion atoms considering the evolution of atoms; tracing the long journey by which, here at last, consciousness arose. We are a way for the Cosmos to know itself.” – Carl Sagan (astronomer, 1934−1996), Cosmos
Now think about life and its evolution: a few living cells, four billion years ago, have grown into a system that blankets the planet from the highest peak to the deepest trench—a system with minds so powerful that it can harness the energy from an atom’s nucleus, and so aware that it knows its age and beholds its place in the cosmos. We, the human species, represent an order that has become conscious of itself, an existence that can discover its own laws, explore its own depths, and admire its own magnificence.
But why? Why is there something rather than nothing? How do we make sense of our reality—of the Universe, of the mind, and of human nature? Perhaps you think we exist in a multiverse, and everything is chance. Or maybe you’re like me when I believed that Christ would return and rule the Earth within my lifetime. Whatever your preconceptions may be, my goal is not to change your mind, but to open your mind. My greatest hope is not that you think I’m right, but that you think, for yourself, about your existence. Because as I see it, here’s the reality: the progress of humankind is now dependent on our ability to put aside our frustration and bitterness, to look past our short-sightedness, and to engage ourselves with the broader picture of what it means to be human—if it means anything at all.
“Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature. And that is because, in the last analysis, we ourselves are part of nature and therefore part of the mystery that we are trying to solve.” ―
Given human nature, this is an idea that might unify humankind. This is the most sensible meaning to be found in our small and fragile existence, the most logical worldview that satisfies our religious intuitions, which so adamantly claim that we are more than some vain cosmic accident. This is a reason to think that we are part of something worth loving—that our existence is something worth preserving. And this is a reality that every intelligent being must realize, if its being is to be continued beyond a pale blue dot.
This is the truth, if such a truth exists.
Below is a 10,000-word summary of Part 1: If Truth Exists. For my philosophy in its entirety, please see Contents. While my audience is primarily academic, this discussion remains a work that is far from the standards of academic philosophy, and the concepts I present may take several lifetimes to explicate. Nonetheless, my logic is more accessible in its current form, and so is its message of purpose and hope. You don’t have to be a trained philosopher to understand what I’m trying to say.
The following section is summarized from: A Pale Blue Dot.
Pale Blue Dot is the most distant photograph ever taken of the Earth, a tiny speck caught in a beam of scattered sunlight. At the request of astronomer Carl Sagan, it was captured by NASA’s Voyager 1 from 4 billion miles away. Sagan reflected on this image in a lecture at Cornell University: “In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.”
How do we comfort the migrant who fears for her safety, or the father who can’t feed his family? How do we stop the moral decline of a world led by greed and dishonesty, or the intellectual regress of a post-truth society? The distrust and the despair are widespread. Across the globe, we see a species that is anxious, addicted, and depressed. We see divisions of class and culture that seem irreparable, and imbalances of wealth and education that threaten the stability of nations poor and prosperous. And with our economic growth fueled by a dying planet, the status quo is surely unsustainable. If our societal troubles don’t spell the end of civilization, then a collapsed ecosystem certainly will. We have become like a cancer, a malignancy that destroys the systems from which it evolved.
“The natural environment we treat with such unnecessary ignorance and recklessness was our cradle and nursery, and remains our one and only home. To its special conditions we are intimately adapted in every one of the bodily fibers and biochemical transactions that gives us life.” – E. O. Wilson, biologist
Whether it be healthcare or climate change or systemic racism, we often isolate our issues as individual problems to be solved. But really they reflect a more serious condition: a lack of awareness. In the words of Leonardo da Vinci, we must “learn to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else.” We can no longer approach our separate problems with narrow solutions, because the issues we face are no longer just about our everyday comforts and freedoms. They are now about the survival of our species—the extinction of our children and grandchildren. Just consider: we have 15,000 nuclear warheads between nine countries. In our blissful ignorance, we may have begun the sixth mass extinction since life evolved on land. And here we are, a society driven by self-interest but devoid of significance; a generation without purpose, lost in a mess created by our forefathers but without a hope of cleaning it up. Before us lies the heavy task of saving humanity from self-destruction. So unfortunately, the fix won’t be as simple as reducing emissions or making the rich pay more taxes. The solution will take more than a public policy or a piece of technology. It will take the shift of a global mindset, the transformation of a culture broken by apathy and despair. It will take an idea unlike any other.
“Extinction is the rule.
Survival is the exception.”
– Carl Sagan
Sooner or later, our existence will be threatened. And amid our panic, we might wonder, Did we come this far just to destroy ourselves? Or is there a reason to cherish the life we deem so precious? Despite the chaos, we might have to pause and ponder the nature of our reality, and reconsider all that we hold true, from the hopeful claims of religion to our scientific assumptions. Because it seems that we cannot save ourselves until we find ourselves worth saving. If we should continue our existence, then we must have a reason to care about it. And what would such a reason look like?
The following is summarized from: The Whole First.
Whether it be a cell or a civilization, every *living system depends on the coordination of its components. As the survival of the body depends on trillions of cells, the survival of the human species will require the cooperation of several billion minds. In the words of Jesus Christ and Abraham Lincoln, “a house divided against itself cannot stand.” Or, as Carl Sagan said, “An organism at war with itself is doomed. We are one planet.” But how on Earth do we get eight billion people to work together?
*Throughout this discussion, “living system” refers to any physical system whose perpetuation is dependent on the perpetuation of biological organisms. It could be a virus in a cell, the ecosystems of our biosphere, or the human economy. “Living systems” must involve, but are not limited to, entities considered to be biologically alive (i.e. cellular organisms, though the definition of biological life is still up for debate).
Presently, our world is run largely by politicians and financiers, many of whom manipulate society without much regard for its citizens. But though they stand atop society, it is innovation that feeds the roots of every industry, and science that upholds every facet of our civilization. Clearly, the true potential of our species remains not with the short-sighted ends of the selfish, but with the thinkers who work for the broader visions of humanity. Should there be an ideological revolution, a global cooperation, then it must begin with those who are capable of seeing a greater perspective.
“For peace to reign on Earth, humans must evolve into new beings who have learned to see the whole first.” – Immanuel Kant
Nebula NGC 6357 (8,000 l.y. away)
“The power [of science] forces on all of us, including politicians, a new responsibility—more attention to long-term consequences, a global and trans-generational perspective, an incentive to avoid easy appeals to nationalism and chauvinism. Mistakes are becoming too expensive.” – Carl Sagan
While some of us dream of colonizing Mars or achieving AI supremacy, others claim that the Earth is flat or that homosexuals cause hurricanes. Sure, we’ve always had a diversity of ideologies, but never have we seen such a divide between our awareness and our ignorance. Just as we begin to realize our capacity for growth and exploration, we find ourselves on the verge of self-destruction. If humanity is to survive, then we must mobilize the intellectual community to take its place as the head of the human system. We need an agreement among the thinkers who will ultimately guide the future of our species.
Perhaps best known for its discovery of the Higgs boson, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Switzerland has been critical in advancing our knowledge of quantum physics. It is the world’s largest machine, built in collaboration with over 10,000 scientists and engineers from more than 100 countries.
“Science is international but its success is based on institutions, which are owned by nations. If we wish to promote culture, we have to combine and organize institutions with our own power and means.” – Albert Einstein
The ALMA array in Chile is a collection of 66 antennas that has provided unprecedented insight into planet and star formation, and helped capture our first ever image of a black hole. This array forms the world’s most complex telescope, built in collaboration with the scientific communities of Asia, Europe and North America. Photo by ESO/José Francisco Salgado.
“Science knows no country, because knowledge belongs to humanity, and is the torch which illuminates the world.” – Louis Pasteur
In this age of technoscientific advance, intellectual reasoning seems necessary for human progress, but more important are the broader ideological contexts in which reason is exercised. After all, scientific thought is relevant in only some worldviews, and not all scientific worldviews might be considered “good” or “moral.” And evidently, cultures of ignorance and oppression thrive in even the most advanced, democratic societies. Our cooperation and progress now call for a shared ideological framework that grounds our morals and aligns our values. World peace, or whatever your notion of enduring social cohesion, requires a liberty and justice that works for everyone. So what does it mean to be good and moral, or to be free and fair? This philosophy offers an answer, and it does even more. Imagine a cultural movement that revives the compassion and altruism potentiated by every major faith. But unlike other spiritual awakenings, this one begins with the intellectual mind.
“I believe, indeed, that overemphasis on the purely intellectual attitude… has led directly to the impairment of ethical values. Without ‘ethical culture,’ there is no salvation for humanity… A new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to survive and move toward higher levels.” – Albert Einstein, from “The Need for Ethical Culture,” 75th Anniversary of the Ethical Culture Society, January 1951; and “Atomic Education Urged by Einstein,” New York Times, May 25, 1946)
The following is summarized from: The Sentient Mind.
How on Earth do we get seven billion people to work together? To the realist, humanity might seem hopelessly delusional. Whether it be neo-Nazis or anti-vaxxers or climate change deniers, we are a species persuaded by meaning rather than by evidence. We are short-sighted, too worried about our comfort to care about our survival. We seem innately selfish, and cooperation seems impossible. But though we may despair, there is a solution that many have overlooked: *human nature, as hopeless as it seems, is our only hope.
*In this discussion, the term “human nature” refers to the broad patterns of perception, cognition, emotion, and motivation displayed by human minds, and the resultant patterns of human behavior. The premise of my philosophy is this: Human nature is a given. If it’s not something we can change, then it’s something we must use. The axioms of this philosophy are assumed based on both their logical plausibility and their practical utility for the survival and flourishing of our species. The following logic is meant to motivate an emotional and behavioral response that might effectively advance **human progress.
**The concept of “human progress” implies that there is movement towards some destination or objective, an ideal state of flourishing that is good and worthy of being pursued. But everyone has a different idea of what “progress” and “flourishing” look like, and many of them are fundamentally incompatible and incapable of coexisting. Thus, unifying the human species calls for a unifying concept of human progress, a striving towards an end that all humanity finds worthy of pursuit.
Perhaps the most flawed aspect of human nature is that we all have distorted perceptions of reality. Every mind is patterned to think in ways that produce inaccurate judgments and irrational behaviors. In the last six decades, more than a hundred cognitive and motivational biases have been identified from research on human judgment and behavior. And among them is evidence confirming a well-known observation: for the mass majority, emotion guides reason—not the other way around.
Despite differences in culture and language, research indicates that both the neural encoding and physical experience of our emotions are remarkably consistent across different populations. Shown above, feelings increase (yellow) or decrease (blue) sensation in different areas of the body. Nonetheless, people exhibit a wide range in the extent to which these emotions are aroused and processed. On the low end of the spectrum are those with psychopathic traits (about 1-4% of the general population). These individuals have a higher threshold for autonomic arousal, and diminished feelings of fear, guilt and emotional empathy. At the opposite end of the spectrum are those with highly sensitive personalities (about 15-20% of the population). They are more easily aroused and experience emotions more strongly, increasing their capacity for emotional empathy. Additionally, about 10% of the population has alexithymia, a trait marked by a reduced ability to identify and describe one’s emotions. Because this philosophy attempts to appeal as widely as possible, where you fall on this spectrum may affect your response to different parts of this discussion.
“Human beings have a demonstrated talent for self-deception when their emotions are stirred.” – Carl Sagan
Emotion is how the mind assigns meaning and value to every conscious experience. Emotion drives our most pronounced behaviors and sustains our most powerful beliefs. Emotion alters our perception of reality and the scope of our morality. Human nature suggests that human harmony must involve a shared affective state. A global unity might involve a love that diminishes hate, a pride and happiness that includes everyone on Earth. And, looking at social movements throughout history, a widespread sharing of emotions generally involves a shared sense of purpose. The greater this sense of purpose, the more powerful the solidarity. This principle of human nature is perhaps best demonstrated by the religious mind and its craving for relevance.
“The deepest principle in human nature
is the craving to be appreciated.”
– William James
“[Regarding religion], one is generally agreed that it deals with goals and evaluations and with the emotional foundation of human thinking and acting.” – Albert Einstein
While reflecting on my religious upbringing, I realized that the mind is a system that can be reset* by ideas, especially by ideas that align our emotions towards a shared purpose. Whether it be the love of Jesus Christ or the pride of Nazi Germany, we want to be part of something relevant. We want to belong, and we define ourselves by the groups we belong to. As one former neo-Nazi realized, people are drawn to extremist ideologies “because they’re searching for three very fundamental human needs: identity, community, and a sense of purpose.” (Christian Picciolini, NPR)
*It’s not a perfect analogy, but if the brain was the hardware of a computer, and the mind was its software, then certain ideologies are programs capable of “resetting” the operating system – the ideological framework that determines the cognitive, affective, and motivational functions of the mind.
What would it take to bring the world together? In this day and age, unifying the human species would require an idea that is, for all intents and purposes, irresistible. It would require an ideology that is both intuitively rational and universally meaningful, both scientifically sound and intuitively profound. This idea should reveal a truth that is bigger than any political platform, economic incentive, or religious belief. It must define a purpose towards which all emotions are aligned, and satisfy, once and for all, our longing for “identity, community, and a sense of purpose.”
Presently, our world is run largely by politicians and financiers, many of whom exhibit traits of psychopathy and narcissism. But even the masked psychopath has a desire to belong. Like everyone else, he wants to exist, and he certainly doesn’t want to exist alone. Though his love may be limited, he is still prone to care for his closest companions. The vast majority of us have, in some degree, a mutual respect for our shared existence. For those who are less empathic, this circle of loyalty is small, and it narrows with power or wealth. But if this circle can’t be widened through compassion, then perhaps it can be widened through reason.
“The only thing that will redeem mankind is cooperation.”
– Bertrand Russell
“[Our] history can be viewed as a slowly dawning awareness that we are members of a larger group. Initially our loyalties were to ourselves and family; next, to bands of hunter-gatherers; then to tribes, settlements, and nations. We have broadened the circle of those we love. But if we are to survive, our loyalties must be broadened further, to include the whole human community, the entire planet Earth.” – Carl Sagan
Our morality is limited by the extent of our emotion, and our unity by the scope of our purpose. If there is any optimism for mankind, any chance of unifying our species, then it remains in the possibility that our existence is, in fact, bound with a greater purpose. If we are to survive, then we must find an aim that is above ourselves and beyond our lifespans. Because human nature, as hopeless as it seems, is our only hope.
The following is summarized from: Two Trillion Galaxies.
The Hubble Ultra-Deep Field is an image of a region of space that is just one thirteen-millionth of the total area of the sky (smaller than a 1 mm by 1 mm square held 1 meter away). An estimated 10,000 galaxies are visible, out of an estimated 2,000,000,000,000 (2 trillion) galaxies in the observable universe.
Physicists and cosmologists agree that the Universe seems “fine-tuned” for life. The laws of science contain many fundamental numbers, like the size of an electron’s charge or the constant of the gravitational force. And the conditions that allow for life can only occur when these numbers lie within a very narrow range. If any of them were only slightly different, the universe would be unlikely to support the development of galaxies, stars, atoms, and life as we know it.
But many dismiss the significance of this fine-tuning with the weak anthropic principle: the universe must be as we observe it to be, because otherwise we wouldn’t be here to observe it. Our universe, assuming it is one in an infinite multiverse, just happened to have the laws that support the existence of sapient life. Likewise, many academics assume that nature has no inherent purpose (see scientific materialism and existential nihilism). From life’s complexity to the mind’s awareness, everything can be explained by a coincidental sequence of physical interactions between particles and waves. There is no design or meaning, and we are completely irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.
The galaxies in our observable universe are clustered along filaments of dark matter (invisible sources of gravity), and these filaments are connected in a cosmic web.
The weak anthropic principle is plausible, but it hinges on a hypothetical multiverse that is currently *unverifiable. And while the reality of other universes might be interesting to ponder, there is a reality that we cannot ignore: the healthy mind is inclined to consider itself relevant, and its vitality is rooted in purpose. We all want to exist, but no one wants a meaningless existence. So what if a sense of relevance isn’t entirely unfounded? What if religion’s search for meaning isn’t all that vain? While nobody can prove that we matter, nobody can prove that we don’t matter. Not even the atheist can claim with absolute certainty that our existence is meaningless, and that our intuitions are completely mistaken.
*In recent decades, physicists have put forth speculations that cannot be ruled out by experiment, as their predictions involve energies higher than what modern instruments can achieve. As a result, ideas like multiverse realities and string theories cannot be proven nor disproven, and many have begun to question their value. In an opinion piece for Nature (2014), cosmologist George Ellis and astrophysicist Joseph Silk write that “as we see it, theoretical physics risks becoming a no-man’s-land between mathematics, physics and philosophy that does not truly meet the requirements of any.” An idea might be called a science by one but a pseudoscience by another. Likewise, the phenomenon of consciousness is deemed an illusion by some and a fundamental property by others. As far as science has come, our understanding of the physical world remains compatible with many metaphysical perspectives and leaves open numerous doors of inquiry.
“If there is any optimism for mankind, any chance of unifying our species, then it remains in the possibility that our existence is, in fact, bound with a greater purpose.” Because of human nature and its inclination towards *teleological motivations, our cooperation will require a shared sense of purpose, and concepts that impart an existential objective will be the most useful for the preservation of humankind. In this view, the purposeless assumptions of materialism and nihilism seem rather detrimental to our species’ odds of survival.
*Teleological: exhibiting or relating to design or purpose especially in nature. (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)
“We must mobilize the intellectual community to take its place as the head of the human system. We need an agreement among the thinkers who will ultimately guide the future of our species.” So we must consider the possibility that we exist for a reason, because intellectuals and imbeciles alike are bound to this principle of human nature: cooperation requires a unifying objective. Scientists and psychopaths, like everyone else, will not work together without a reason to. And since we cannot prove the absence of purpose, it would be wise for us to assume a purpose that agrees with both our logic and our intuition.
“[We are] starstuff pondering the stars; organized assemblages of ten billion billion billion atoms considering the evolution of atoms; tracing the long journey by which, here at last, consciousness arose. We are a way for the Cosmos to know itself.” – Carl Sagan
Even if we exist in a multiverse, the weak anthropic principle does not preclude the possibility that our universe has become aware for a reason. Just because our existence is lucky does not mean it is necessarily trivial. And while the human species is coincidental, human nature may represent a universal tendency found in the evolution of all sentient beings. Maybe any self-awareness that arises will tend to consider its own existence meaningful, and its intelligence will be bound with an emotional purpose. And perhaps our intuition tells us we matter because we do, in fact, matter. In the interest of our survival, this is certainly worth considering.
The following is summarized from: The Religious Mind.
Seemingly hardwired in our brains, our religious behavior likely began as intentional burials over 100,000 years ago. As cognitive scientist Philip Lieberman suggests, burials signify a “concern for the dead that transcends daily life.” However, new evidence might indicate that our propensity for such behavior is more deeply seeded in our evolutionary past. Even more, we may not be the only species with a concept of mortality—death “rituals” have been observed in elephants, dolphins, primates, and birds. These animals also demonstrate the greatest capacity for cognition, emotion, and complex social and moral behavior.
“On July 7, 2012, a prominent international group of cognitive neuroscientists, neuropharmacologists, neurophysiologists, neuroanatomists and computational neuroscientists gathered at The University of Cambridge to reassess the neurobiological substrates of conscious experience and related behaviors in human and non-human animals.” From the Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness: “The absence of a neocortex does not appear to preclude an organism from experiencing affective states. Consequently, the weight of evidence indicates that humans are not unique in possessing the neurological substrates that generate consciousness. Nonhuman animals, including all mammals and birds, and many other creatures, including octopuses, also possess these neurological substrates.”
Consciousness has developed independently in different branches of the evolutionary tree. In particular, birds appear to offer a striking case of parallel evolution in their behavior, neurophysiology, and neuroanatomy. Although the lineages of birds and mammals diverged about 320 million years ago, “mammalian and avian emotional networks and cognitive microcircuitries appear to be far more homologous than previously thought. Moreover, certain species of birds have been found to exhibit neural sleep patterns similar to those of mammals, including REM sleep.”
Fairness, reciprocity, empathy, cooperation—caring about the well-being of others seems uniquely human. But behavioral research confirms that we share many of these moral traits with primates and other mammals. Other studies suggest that birds get jealous, rats have empathy, dolphins show compassion, and dogs feel guilt. On the darker side of human nature, antisocial traits and immoral behaviors are also found throughout the animal kingdom.
“Human nature may represent a universal tendency found in the evolution of all sentient beings. Maybe any self-awareness that arises will tend to consider its own existence meaningful, and its intelligence will be bound with an emotional purpose.”
If human nature reflects the general nature of sentient awareness, then our spiritual tendencies might also reflect a general aspect of higher consciousness. In this case, our beliefs in angels and ghosts are indicative of something more than complete nonsense. By creating the most compelling *distortions of reality, our spiritual views reveal the most powerful dispositions of the mind. And while these views reflect subjective truths and *delusions of all sorts, their underlying parallels may uncover something real about the nature of consciousness. Supposing the mind has any purpose, perhaps there is some truth in what the mind believes its purpose to be. So what makes our spiritual beliefs so captivating? What makes faith so powerful?
*Because reality is subjective to some extent, whether a belief is a “distortion of reality” or a “delusion” depends on the cultural and ideological context of the person. From the perspective of a materialist, the existence of angels and ghosts are incompatible with reality and thus might be labeled distortions or delusions.
Most obviously, we find comfort in some form of *immortality, a continuation of the mind through reincarnation or an afterlife. And maybe this hope of existing indefinitely, this wish for permanence, is but a natural extension of our biological drive to survive. As species evolve towards self-awareness, the mind develops a concept of its own existence, and a fear of its nonexistence. Our aversion to death explains, at least in part, our beliefs in heaven and hell, spirits and souls, gods and ghosts. The mind wants to be, so it considers itself an eternal being. Indeed, most of the world dreams of continuing beyond the physical, spacetime boundaries of the Universe. And while some might call this fanciful imagination, many more consider this their fate. The mind is inevitably drawn to the idea that its being is part of a never-ending sequence. Simply put, we crave eternal relevance. And to understand this phenomenon, we should examine its supposed beginning: the origin of life.
*Most of the world’s sacred religious texts make reference to some form of existence after death. One exception is the Jewish Torah, though most adherents of Judaism believe in an afterlife.
The following is summarized from: So Don’t Stop.
The complexity of life is one reason why some academics attribute our existence to intelligent design. Because the processes of a cell are overwhelmingly interdependent, the origin of life remains one of the most perplexing mysteries of science. Most current theories propose a concrete sequence of events that may have led to the first cell. Some say that life began with self-replicating proteins or RNA molecules, while others think that energy metabolism or lipid protocells arose first. But in their search for these physical pathways, biologists have overlooked a metaphysical mystery in the emergence of life: a determination to exist.
The claims below will be controversial, but my logic does not violate any proven principle of nature, and the following assumption might prove to be especially prudent.
Apart from the ill, we all strive to exist—a biological tendency to sustain oneself. Arising with the first cell, this will to survive is a major distinction between living and nonliving matter. Indeed, the origin of life must involve the origin of its purpose—to live. And purpose must involve a mental aspect, because purpose implies intent, and intent demonstrates the presence of a mind, however primal it may be. That is, the very concept of survival requires a determination that can only be explained by a sense of agency. This “struggle for existence” necessitates a motivation that may constitute the very beginnings of consciousness.
But some argue that this “mind” and its “purpose” are not what they seem to be. Having evolved from nonliving matter, all biological phenomena must be derived from the mindless, purposeless laws of nature. Since life is nothing but a coincidental sequence of chemical events, mind and purpose are just confusions of molecular interactions, and the metaphysical is just an aimless byproduct of a purely physical system. In other words, your consciousness is an illusion—an illusion that loves, an illusion that laughs, an illusion so self-aware that it has realized itself to be an illusion.
For obvious reasons, this assumption remains unverifiable. Besides, its implications are demoralizing. Explaining our desire to exist as some delusion is a depressing thought, even for most stable minds. But if our survival instinct isn’t an illusion, then how real is it? Supposing that life’s striving cannot be fully reduced to its physical components, then it must be emergent from or intrinsic to its physical components. And in the latter case, our will to live may be as real as the ground beneath our feet. Our desire to exist may be fundamental to the nature of the Universe. After all, we’re made of the Universe.
Maybe the only reason we ask “why do we exist?” is because we want to exist.
Maybe the better question is, “why do we want to exist?”
Evolution may be chance, but evolution cannot occur without a replicating entity. Natural selection cannot happen without this “struggle for existence,” this self-sustaining tendency that is innate to all of life. But how do self-sustaining molecular systems evolve from interstellar dust? My theory, like any discussion on the origin of life, remains speculative. And while this is unimportant for the remainder of my philosophy, I do think it’s an idea worth exploring: Perhaps this existential drive is inherent to our concept of dark energy and the arrow of time. That is, the propagation of spacetime also perpetuates every oscillation in nature, from the spins of galaxies to the spins of electrons. When these cosmic and quantum cycles intersect, they align and resonate, producing the self-sustaining cycle of chemical energy that we call biological life. Simply put, life is the resonant frequency of the Universe.
Whether or not my theory holds, I will continue with this assumption: survival is somehow fundamental to the nature of reality. But extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. And there is no evidence more compelling than the absurdity of your very being and its desire to be. Extrapolating this motivation of life to all of nature may seem rather unscientific. But we evolved from nature, and the laws that govern the evolution of life are the same laws that govern the evolution of stars. So when you see life and its struggle for existence, it seems possible that this struggle is inherent to existing. Our survival instinct may reveal a truth greater than the outcome of any experiment: there is, underlying the laws of nature, a perpetual drive that is manifested through life and its awareness. Simply put, nature has one purpose: existence has a tendency to exist; being is bound with a will to be.
“Bottomless wonders spring from simple rules,
which are repeated without end.“
– Benoit Mandelbrot
In a sheaf of notes intended for an unfinished book, Carl Sagan printed the following quote by philosopher and mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz:
“Why does something exist rather than nothing? For ‘nothing’ is simpler than ‘something.’ Now this sufficient reason for the existence of the Universe…which has no need of any other reason…must be a necessary being, else we should not have a sufficient reason with which we could stop.”
And just beneath the typed quote,
three small handwritten words in red pen,
a message from Sagan to Leibniz and to us:
The following is summarized from: A Cosmic Purpose.
What is the purpose of life? As sentient beings, we ask this question in our search for meaning and happiness. As living beings, the answer is simple. The purpose of life has always been, and will always be, survival. If nature has any aim, then it’s to perpetuate its existence. And if we have any aim, then it’s to perpetuate ours. We exist to exist. There is no greater meaning to our being and no higher purpose for us to realize. Because any reason for existing must, at the very least, involve an existence; there can be no purpose in being without being itself.
“Since we cannot prove the absence of purpose, it would be wise for us to assume a purpose that agrees with both our logic and our intuition.” Quite beautifully, the only logical purpose in existence—to exist—also happens to satisfy our most visceral instinct—our desire to exist. If our nature reflects the nature of reality, then our struggle for existence might be part of existing. We want to be because we are meant to be. After all, our religious intuitions claim that we are meant to be forever.
“The mind wants to be, so it considers itself an eternal being. Indeed, most of the world dreams of continuing beyond the physical, spacetime boundaries of the Universe. And while some might call this fanciful imagination, many more consider this their fate. The mind is inevitably drawn to the idea that its being is one part of a never-ending sequence.” And there is only one logic that can satisfy our longing for eternal relevance. In our search for purpose, I believe that our species will come to one conclusion: we exist to exist, and we live to continue life.
Because the truth is, everything dies. You and everyone you know will die. In three billion years, life on Earth will die. In 8 billion years, the Sun will die. Our galaxy will die, and so might the Universe. But still, the mind tends to consider itself eternal—perhaps a delusion, but a sure indication that a reality beyond space and time has long been fully conceived by the human mind. And while the religious mind looks at eternity and discovers its own importance, the scientific mind looks at eternity and sees its own insignificance. But no matter your view, there is, in the religious perspective, an inescapable truth: the only alternative to extinction is eternity. And because of our intellect, a thought once incredible has now become tenable: science has presented humankind with the possibility of existing indefinitely. If we should survive, then eternity can no longer remain a religious fantasy—it must now become our cosmic vision. Because we, the created, have become the Creator.
“I do not make any clear distinction between mind and God. God is what mind becomes when it has passed beyond the scale of our comprehension.” – Freeman Dyson, mathematician and theoretical physicist
There is no foreseeable end to the progression of the human mind and the evolution of its intellect. The growth of our knowledge is accelerating. We predict cosmic and quantum phenomena with increasing precision, and manipulate the laws of nature in ways that are inconceivable to the ordinary mind. We expect to find and spread life beyond Earth within a few centuries. We will soon have the ability to edit our own genes and to guide our own evolution. And we will soon create machines more powerful—minds more intelligent—than ourselves. We dream of colonizing the galaxy, and of discovering the truth about our origins. As Sagan said, we are a way for the Cosmos to know itself.
“[Reason tells me of the] extreme difficulty or rather impossibility of conceiving this immense and wonderful universe, including man with his capability of looking far backwards and far into futurity, as the result of blind chance or necessity. When thus reflecting I feel compelled to look to a First Cause having an intelligent mind in some degree analogous to that of man.” – Charles Darwin
“I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God
who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect
has intended us to forgo their use.”
– Galileo Galilei
If we are a way for the Cosmos to know itself, then we may certainly be a way for the Cosmos to continue itself. Our ability to reason, to feel, and to self-reflect—maybe it’s not some aimless accident. Rather, our existence evolved to know and to value itself for the purpose of preserving itself. Awareness arose for the extension of life, in this universe or the next. For us, it might be as small as saving our habitats and remaking them on Mars. And for our descendants, it could be as awesome as the Big Bang, or as grand as expanding the cosmic web.
The Laniakea supercluster, our filament of the cosmic web, was defined by mapping the movements of 8,000 galaxies after subtracting the effects of cosmic expansion.
The Milky Way sits near the divide between the Laniakea and Perseus-Pisces Superclusters. These structures surround a vast region of empty space known as the Local Void.
“In the last few millennia we have made the most astonishing and unexpected discoveries about the Cosmos and our place within it, explorations that are exhilarating to consider. They remind us that humans have evolved to wonder, that understanding is a joy, that knowledge is prerequisite to survival. I believe our future depends powerfully on how well we understand this Cosmos in which we float like a mote of dust in the morning sky.” – Carl Sagan
“So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.”
(Genesis 1:27)
“By creating the most compelling distortions of reality, our spiritual views reveal the most powerful dispositions of the mind. And while these views reflect subjective truths, their underlying parallels may uncover something real about the nature of consciousness.”
A concept of eternity is a pivotal step in the evolution of the mind. The fact that we can comprehend a reality beyond space and time, be it an afterlife or a multiverse, or that we have the intellect to ponder the initial conditions from which our universe arose, speaks to the possibility that the mind is somehow implicated in the continuation of its reality. Perhaps higher consciousness is responsible for recreating the order from which it evolved, and our spiritual obsession with eternity isn’t some misguided delusion, but the fullest manifestation of nature’s striving for existence. That is, the mind is the highest experience of order continuing order—we are, in a functional sense, the center of our universe. Such an assumption may be necessary for the survival and evolution of a species beyond the stage at which we presently find ourselves. Such an embrace of eternity may bring the transcendence of humanity.
“If we crave some cosmic purpose,
then let us find ourselves a worthy goal.”
– Carl Sagan
“We must consider the possibility that we exist for a reason, because intellectuals and imbeciles alike are bound to this principle of human nature: cooperation requires a unifying objective. Scientists and psychopaths, like everyone else, will not work together without a reason to.” And there is only one reason that makes any sense: the purpose of life is to continue life. And if we are relevant, then our purpose is cosmic. It’s time that we, as a species, find our place in the Universe. Maybe there is a reason why humanity, confined to this pale blue dot, is so drawn to its destiny in the cosmos. As Sagan said, “the sky calls to us. If we do not destroy ourselves, we will one day venture to the stars.”
The following is summarized from: Human Harmony.
Research suggests that religious individuals suppress the brain networks used for critical reasoning in order to engage the network for social and emotional thinking. On the other hand, non-religious individuals tend to suppress their social and emotional thinking for improved critical reasoning. But both are necessary. While reason promotes knowledge, religious reasoning guides human behavior in ways that secular philosophies cannot, and an appeal to our spiritual and transcendental tendencies may prove useful for the motivation of prosocial action.
A majority of the world identifies with a faith that upholds humility, kindness, and generosity. And for everyone else, these virtues pervade our social and ethical codes of conduct. Yet we see corruption, suffering, and perversities of every kind. And with such apparent depravity in our nature, many have given up hope, or reserved their ideal of societal perfection for some heavenly notion. But if humanity is to survive on planet Earth, then the harmony of afterlife must be made manifest in this life. We need a movement “that revives the compassion and altruism potentiated by every major faith.”
So far, my philosophy has described a fundamental purpose and belonging to nature, a sense of relevance that is common to many spiritual convictions. However, the most influential beliefs stress not only our connection with nature, but also our connection with humanity. And in nearly every faith, the greatest source of human harmony is a conscious phenomenon that we call love—an alignment of emotions towards one purpose: to exist, together, forever.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
– Jesus Christ
“You will never enter paradise until you have faith,
and you will not complete your faith until you love one another.”
– Prophet Muhammad
“God is love; it is the only truth I fully accept.”
– Mahatma Gandhi
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
– Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries.
Without them humanity cannot survive.”
– Dalai Lama
Our greatest moral leaders all recognized one thing: whatever the truth is, it must involve love. If there is any reason to hope in humanity, then it’s our capacity for compassion. And if there’s any sure source of meaning, then it’s found in human connection. Through various beliefs, separate cultures have arrived at similar conclusions: love is why we live, and often why we want to live forever. For the prosocial majority, the concept of love implies a mutual survival—a “happily ever after.”
“This is my commandment,
that you love one another as I have loved you.”
– Jesus Christ
If I have learned anything from my faith, it is this: there is no phenomenon more powerful than love. Through its effect on the sentient mind, love is the single most potent sustainer of life. Fortunately, human nature allows almost everyone to feel it—all we need is a reason to. And as shown by religion, we have come up with some fantastical reasons. Nonetheless, faith underscores the possibility that human nature, with its capacity for evil, holds a greater potential for good. That feeling allows us to hate, but to love even more.
In his book Man’s Search for Meaning, psychiatrist and neurologist Viktor Frankl (1947-1997) recalls the moment when, while a prisoner of a Nazi concentration camp, he realized that his love for his wife gave him the will to survive:
“A thought transfixed me: for the first time in my life I saw the truth as it is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers. The truth—that love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire. Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love.”
“We have broadened the circle of those we love.
[But] if we are to survive, our loyalties must be broadened further,
to include the whole human community, the entire planet Earth.”
– Carl Sagan
Your mind is the result of nearly 100 billion neurons communicating over 100 trillion synapses. Your body is not just one entity, but tens of trillions of cells that continue your collective being. If such harmony can exist at the chemical level, then perhaps nature—human nature—has allowed for such harmony at the conscious level.
At the chemical level, the components of an organism seem bound together by a certain purpose: to continue their collective being. To sustain, in a delicate balance, the trace flows of energy throughout its trillions of compartments. To maintain the flux and gradient of every molecular form across every lipid membrane in its assembly. To recreate, from four nitrogenous bases, the precise passing of electrons by every enzyme from conception to death. What drives life at the chemical level manifests itself, at the conscious level, as love—an alignment of emotions towards one purpose: to exist, together, forever. To continue our collective being.
“A human being is a part of the whole…a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest—a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness.” – Albert Einstein (Source: Letter of condolence sent to Robert J. Marcus of the World Jewish Congress, February 12, 1950)
“For small creatures such as we,
the vastness is bearable only through love.”
– Carl Sagan
“If we are a way for the Cosmos to know itself, then we may certainly be a way for the Cosmos to continue itself. Our ability to reason, to feel, and to self-reflect—maybe it’s not some aimless accident. Rather, our existence evolved to know and to value itself, for the purpose of preserving itself.” That is, consciousness is the highest experience of order continuing order. And at the sentient level, this order is driven by love.
“God is love…
We love because God first loved us.”
(1 John 4:8,19)
“God is love;
it is the only truth I fully accept.”
– Mahatma Gandhi
“Consciousness is the highest experience of order continuing order. And at the sentient level, this order is driven by love.” Thus, our creation is the manifestation of our Creator’s affection. And now we, the created, have become the Creator. Such a realization must necessarily motivate a love that extends beyond ourselves and our species to the whole of nature in its beauty. Should we hope to continue our existence, then we must love our existence—its past, its present, and its future.
“Our remote descendants, safely arrayed on many worlds throughout the Solar System and beyond, will be unified by their common heritage, by their regard for their home planet, and by the knowledge that, whatever other life may be, the only humans in all the Universe come from Earth. They will gaze up and strain to find the blue dot in their skies. They will love it no less for its obscurity and fragility. They will marvel at how vulnerable the repository of all our potential once was, how perilous our infancy, how humble our beginnings, how many rivers we had to cross before we found our way.” – Carl Sagan
Humanity stands at the edge, caught between a stampede behind and an abyss below. The priest looks to the heavens, and the scientist to the stars—both believing that they have found their own hope, but neither aware that they seek the same salvation. The only alternative to extinction is eternity, and the only answer to death is love.
“If we seek nature, then love can be informed by truth
instead of being based on ignorance or self-deception.”
– Carl Sagan
When I was a child, prayer and worship often inspired a boundless love, a feeling of connectedness marked by an ineffable euphoria. As evangelist Charles Finney said about his conversion experience, “I could feel the impression, like a wave of electricity, going through and through me. Indeed it seemed to come in waves and waves of liquid love.” Even Sam Harris, an outspoken critic of religion, acknowledges such experiences in his book, Waking Up: “A phenomenon like self-transcending love does entitle us to make claims about the human mind. And this particular experience is so well attested and so readily achieved by those who devote themselves to specific [spiritual] practices or who even take the right drug (MDMA) that there is very little controversy that it exists. Facts of this kind must now be understood in a rational context.”
Galaxy NGC 2841 (46 million l.y. away)
“Everyone has a transcendent dimension, a life of the spirit. This is most directly expressed in religion and the mystic traditions, but the frequency with which people have intense feelings of bonding with groups, ideals, or anything larger and more enduring than the person is evidence of the universality of the transcendent dimension. The quality of being greater and more lasting than an individual life gives this aspect of the person its timeless dimension.” – Eric. J. Casssell, “The Nature of Suffering and the Goals of Medicine”
Throughout human history, such transcendental experiences have inspired religious and spiritual movements of global scale. And now I’ve rediscovered this experience from my past, this captivating sense of connection, but this time in a rational context. “If I have learned anything from my faith, it is this: there is no phenomenon more powerful than love. Through its effect on the sentient mind, love is the single most potent sustainer of life.” And if we wish to believe in free will, then we now have a choice. We can embrace our role as Creator, and create an existence more beautiful than the mind can comprehend. Or we can refuse our cosmic calling, and let ourselves fall into the darkness.
“The religious myth is one of man’s greatest and most significant achievements, giving him the security and inner strength not to be crushed by the monstrousness of the universe.” – Carl Jung, Symbols of Transformation
Human culture has tended to encourage an unfounded sense of self-importance. But a practical religion should inspire humility from even the self-perceived greatest. And there is nothing more humbling than seeing a larger picture of how everything might connect to everything else, and realizing that one’s relevance must involve everyone else. Indeed, you and I are nothing, and only with our species can we be something. If you seek greatness, then look up at the stars, and let them show you what it means to be truly relevant. Real significance is about creating a world that is cherished by every descendant of humanity.
The following is summarized from: The Human System.
Premise: Human nature is a given. If it’s not something we can change, then it’s something we must use. The following assumptions are based on both their logical plausibility and their practical utility for the survival and flourishing of our species: (1) The mind is a system that can be reset by ideas, especially by ideas that align our emotions towards a shared purpose. (2) Nature has one purpose: existence has a tendency to exist; the mind is the highest experience of order continuing order. And (3) at the sentient level, this order is driven by love—an alignment of emotions towards one purpose: to exist, together, forever. To continue our collective being. If we’re to continue our existence, then we must love our existence.
If you cherish your home, then you must cherish your world. We are one species, and our existence is bound to one planet. Before long, everyone will face the same reality. Should we fail to cooperate, then we might destroy ourselves. But if we work together, guided by reason and compassion, then we can do more than save the world—we can create a world that is abundant beyond measure.
Carl Sagan: “The civilization now in jeopardy is all humanity. Here we face a critical branch point in history. What we do with our world, right now, will propagate down through the centuries and powerfully affect the destiny of our descendants. It is well within our power to destroy our civilization and perhaps our species as well. If we capitulate to superstition or greed or stupidity we could plunge our world into a time of darkness. But we are also capable of using our compassion and our intelligence, our technology and our wealth to make an abundant and meaningful life for every inhabitant of this planet…[we should] consider in every nation major changes in the traditional ways of doing things, a fundamental restructuring of economic, political, social, and religious institutions.”
“If humanity is to survive, then we must mobilize the intellectual community to take its place as the head of the human system. We need an agreement among the thinkers who will ultimately guide the future of our species.”
Western capitalism is a failed experiment, and so is the civilization born from its influence. It’s time we begin a new experiment, with a new hypothesis: should our species persist as a living system, then it must behave as a living system. Our political and economic functions should reflect the homeostatic and metabolic processes of an organism. Only then can we hope to flourish and maximize the mental and physical wellbeing of every inhabitant of Earth. Of course, a world like this will take a transformation of culture that may seem too radical to realize. But this shift is now essential, and such a fundamental change begins with a fundamental assumption: should we survive, then we must assume, as any living system must assume, that survival is our purpose. We are one system, the human system, and we serve one function: we exist to exist, and we live to continue life.
“A new consciousness is developing which sees the earth as a single organism and recognizes that an organism at war with itself is doomed. We are one planet.” – Carl Sagan
A few living cells, four billion years ago, have grown into a system that blankets the planet from the highest peak to the deepest trench—a system with minds so powerful that it can harness the energy from an atom’s nucleus, and so aware that it knows its age and beholds its place in the cosmos. We, the human species, represent an order that has become conscious of itself, an existence that can discover its own laws, explore its own depths, and admire its own magnificence. We represent a universe that dreams of knowing the truth about its origins. Maybe we really are the creator—order continuing order in a universe of perpetual disorder.
“Our species needs, and deserves, a citizenry with minds wide awake and a basic understanding of how the world works.” – Carl Sagan
Imagine a sentient species aligned by a singular vision. Imagine an intelligent system driven by a cosmic aim. The embrace of such a reality would exalt the intellectual community and expand its innovative capacity. It would advance our pursuit of knowledge and discovery, and grow a culture of awareness that offers humanity a whole perspective and a higher purpose. It would incentivize the sustainable development of every economic market, and guide the flow of capital towards the creation of a highly adaptive civilization. And above all, it would create a harmony that is global—a cooperation that brings us to the stars.
“Exploration is in our nature. We began as wanderers, and we are wanderers still. We have lingered long enough on the shores of the cosmic ocean. We are ready at last to set sail for the stars.” – Carl Sagan
But look at the world today, and this might seem implausible. You might think my ideas are too idealistic to be realistic, and maybe they are. But what else can you expect from a philosophy that claims to have found the meaning of life? Any hope of redeeming the human species will certainly need to be optimistic. Any vision that intends to transform our myopic society into a star-faring utopia will have to be idealistic. Nonetheless, idealistic does not mean impractical. Just look at religion, which has captured our species since its dawn. Our spiritual beliefs are idealistic, but they are not so impractical, because they are certainly powerful. And there is no philosophy more practical than one that exploits our obsession with eternity to ensure the survival of humankind and the progression of the human mind. There is no idea more powerful than one that inspires a pride and happiness that is global, a love that extends beyond ourselves and our species to the entirety of our existence. We are God becoming self-aware—a grandiose thought, but certainly one that might change the world.
“Daring ideas are like chessmen moved forward; they may be beaten, but they may start a winning game.” − Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Consider the age-old question: what is the meaning of life? Think of everything that you care about—your family and friends, your education and career. Think about the times of joy you’ve shared with those you love, the sorrow of the hardships you’ve faced, or the frustration you’ve felt towards the injustice in our world. And consider all of human progress, the knowledge we’ve gained and the civilization we’ve built. It all seems rather meaningless when you see Earth in the vast emptiness of space. The cosmic perspective makes us feel small, and its implications can be quite unsettling. But I’ve presented an idea that embraces science while giving significance to every human experience. This may be a valid reality, and perhaps the only reality, that makes us a relevant part of our universe. Nonetheless, my intuitions may be misled, and my conclusions could be false, or perhaps unfalsifiable. Thus, how you receive my logic and its assumptions will depend on your own intuitions—on how strongly you feel that life is meant to be preserved, and that our existence is to be continued.
“Our loyalties are to the species and the planet. We speak for Earth. Our obligation to survive and flourish is owed not just to ourselves but also to that Cosmos, ancient and vast, from which we spring.” – Carl Sagan
In my search for meaning, I’ve found an answer: we are meant to continue the order from which we evolved. Humanity has a purpose, and it is cosmic. This is why we think and feel. This is why we are driven to discover and drawn to love. With regards to the preservation of our species, this might be the most intelligent reality to be found. But as with any existential argument, there are claims which may be difficult to accept, especially when they involve concepts as abstract as love, or as unscientific as God and purpose. So I ask you to examine my logic for yourself, and to find alternatives that have as much sense and utility as mine. As I said, my greatest hope is not that you think I’m right, but that you think, for yourself, about your existence. Maybe like me, you’ll find that it’s something worth caring about.
“Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature. And that is because, in the last analysis, we ourselves are part of nature and therefore part of the mystery that we are trying to solve.” ―
Given human nature, this is an idea that might unify humankind. This is the most sensible meaning to be found in our small and fragile existence, the most logical worldview that satisfies our religious intuitions, which so adamantly claim that we are more than some vain cosmic accident. This is a reason to think that we are part of something worth loving—that our existence is something worth preserving. And this is a reality that every intelligent being must realize, if its being is to be continued beyond a pale blue dot.
This is the truth, if such a truth exists.
You’ve reached the end of the summary for Part 1: If Truth Exists. For the entirety of Part 1, please see Contents. In the next part of my blog, I will discuss the practical implications of my philosophy, assuming it’s true, for the moral and psychosocial design of sentient civilizations, and for the political and economic structure of human societies. The human system, like any self-perpetuating, emergent system, should follow certain principles of homeostasis and growth. But regardless, this shouldn’t be a perspective that narrows. This isn’t a fixed reality, but a logic that is open to experimentation and evolution. And of course, we should still find our own meaning in life, be it in our relationships or our passions; my philosophy seeks not to replace but to solidify this meaning in the context of a greater narrative—one that embraces our humanity and sees the best in our nature. One that heals our past and ensures our future. One that brings all our narratives together. This is a story whose scope is boundless, and possibilities endless. And we have just become its Author.
“For the first time, we have the power to decide
the fate of our planet and ourselves.”
– Carl Sagan
if truth exists 