The meaning to life, page 1

Life is a purposeless path. Objectively speaking, there is nothing to the composition of life beyond chance, entropy, chaos, and coincidence. The natural, biological, evolutionary processes which first sparked autonomy, and later sentience, are amoral, and unthinking. Simple motor-response functionality is the basis of existence. All of our actions, even in the present day, are toward the simple goal of continuation; of self and self alone.

There are those who would tell you that some kind of all-pervading force permeates the universe. They call it Chi, and Tao, and Prāna, and sometimes even love. None of these things are certainties, though.

The Tao is philosophical. It has critical thinking significance, but no practical application. It forms generalizations about people, events, actions, and motivations. Where the Tao says that the Tao can not be known, it should become clear that no conception and idealization of the Tao can be known as the True Tao. It is a fool's errand to seek contemplation of an incomprehensible thing.

Chi is meditative, it does not physically exist. When one practices Tai Chi they feel their own small-body nuclear energy; not the universal awareness. Not that meditation is a bad thing, though. I myself meditate frequently. I just have risen above the false conception that the peace, calm, quiet, and charge I feel are from anything outside of my own ego and consciousness.

Prāna is subjective. The breath of life, spirit, and other concepts are nice metaphorical composites to try and help explain why we exist. They are not rock-solid foundations upon which to base your existence though. An omniscient, omnipotent being never breathed directly into you, and you are not made of mud. You are composed primarily of water. And the breath which we inhale and exhale has origins in plant life, and is understood scientifically. Praise nature before you praise God.

Finally, love is nothing more than an action, and all actions are ultimately aimed toward continuation of the self. There is no such thing as a selfless act, regardless of how honest and true someone claims to be, some kind of motivation rests behind every movement taken. Those who espouse to have conquered the ego, overcome their earthly manifestation and now resonate at a higher frequency are often the most ego-absorbed and out-of-touch with the advancements of the species. If love is the route through which we adorn ideological blinders, and ignore the advancements—in opposition to our own beliefs—of our species, in favor of self-fulfillment and ego-stroking, then love cannot be the answer.

So where does that leave us? At the most important cross-roads of all: to the south we have chance conception, life arising from nothing, sparked by nothing more than happenstance. Ahead of us we have uncertainty, doubt, speculation, and Yogi's with their hands on backwards. To the left and right we have progression inward and outward: ego-stroking and species invoking technologies which we can either use to advance ourselves, or our race. Each and every one of us stands in the middle of this cross-roads. Life is about what we choose to do with the 4 paths presented to us.

Do we ignore the journey to this point?
Do we only see the supposed end result?
Do we turn inward (left) and seek self-fulfillment at the expense of others?
Do we turn outward (right) and seek an egalitarian nature with all fellow species?
Can we move in every direction all at once, without losing out composure?

I don't really know. What I do know, is that you won't find the answer in the Bible, or the Torah, or the Qur'an. It's not in the teachings of the Buddha or the poetry of Suffi alone, or the spinning of their Dervish brethren. It's not found in the writings of Aleister Crowley, or the Golden Dawn. Neither the Masons nor the Rosicrucian has the whole truth. The Hindus and Jains and those who practice Shinto and Voodoo only know what they wish to see. I guess the real answer is to be found in removing ourselves from the trappings of religion, spirituality, and pop-mysticism in favor of experiencing only what is real, clear, substantial, and moving.

Good luck.

~ Wandering Scribe