meaning of life – Harmonia Philosophica

Cowards… Seeking meaning in life…

Over the last three decades, meaning in life has emerged as an important question in medical research, especially in the context of an aging population. A recent study by researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine found that the presence of and search for meaning in life are important for health and well-being, though the relationships differ in adults younger and older than age 60.

“Many think about the meaning and purpose in life from a philosophical perspective, but meaning in life is associated with better health, wellness and perhaps longevity,” said senior author Dilip V. Jeste, MD, senior associate dean for the Center of Healthy Aging and Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Neurosciences at UC San Diego School of Medicine. “Those with meaning in life are happier and healthier than those without it.” (1)

Find meaning in life.

And you will live a longer life.

But you will have missed its meaning.

For the meaning of life is not pleasure.

For the meaning of existence is pain.

And Being is full of it.

Search your soul.

Coward!

Yes, you seek life.

But only because it entails death…

Gods. Playing…

Humans trying to find the meaning of life.

Humans trying to understand existence.

Trying to decipher being.

Philosophers trying to understand change.

Physicists trying to define time.

Biologists trying to know life.

We were kids.
Trying to play.

But the game is no longer a game.
Angered by our failures to know.
Insisting to know more and more…

And understand.

And explain.

Failing to see our failures as answers as we did before…
About life and its meaning.
About existence and being.
About time and change.
There is nothing to know, but what we already knew.

Kids playing.

What reason is there to play?
No meaning.
No being.
No existence.
No time.
No change.
What reason is there to play?

Dear God.
Have I ever seen you pray?
Now I see.

(I am you)

Trying to understand.
Trying to know more.

Go on.

Ask the child.

How could you play with something that is not yours?

Explanatory note: We are the child. Not part of God, but God himself. Trying to play with the cosmos. Only because the cosmos is ours in the first place…

Worms… Deep below…

Photo by **MOHAMED ABDELSADIG** from **Pexels**

The sea bed in the deep ocean during the Cambrian period was thought to have been inhospitable to animal life because it lacked enough oxygen to sustain it.

But research published in the scientific journal Geology reveals the existence of fossilized worm tunnels dating back to the Cambrian period – 270 million years before the evolution of dinosaurs.

The discovery, by USask professor Brian Pratt, suggested that animal life in the sediment at that time was more widespread than previously thought.

The worm tunnels – borrows where worms lived and munched through the sediment – are invisible to the naked eye. But Pratt “had a hunch” and sliced the rocks and scanned them to see whether they revealed signs of ancient life. Pratt digitally enhanced images of the rock surfaces so he could examine them more closely. Only then did the hidden ‘superhighway’ of burrows made by several different sizes and types of prehistoric worm emerge in the rock. (1)

Under every rock you will find something.

Even when nothing is to be seen.

Worms, bacteria, microbes, viruses…

The cosmos is full of life.

We are not here as its culmination.

But as agents of death.

We are not standing at the peak of existence.

But we bear news of its end.

For only through death can the meaning of existence be revealed.

And it is our mission to reveal its meaning to anyone not able to grasp it.

Look at those bacteria.

Still alive.

So dead!

Understanding… nothing?

Scientists using machine learning – a type of artificial intelligence – with data from hundreds of children who struggle at school, identified clusters of learning difficulties which did not match the previous diagnosis the children had been given. The researchers from the Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit at the University of Cambridge say this reinforces the need for children to receive detailed assessments of their cognitive skills to identify the best type of support. (1)

When we try to understand something, we should always keep in mind the most important principle governing this futile process: that only the similar can understand the similar. There is nothing to see. Except a mirror.

Only humans can understand humans.

Only machines can understand machines.

Only a soulful being can truly grasp the meaning of the cosmos. Only a void human can ever give credit to what the void (an inanimate machine crunching meaningless data) has to say.

As Will Emerson said, most people do not stand on the edge of the balcony not because they might fall. But because they might jump…

Insignificant specks…

Photo by **Elina Sazonova** from **Pexels**

Vast universe.

Huge planet.

Look.

In the desert.

Insignificant specks.

In the forest.

Smiling.

Walking down the road.

(Good morning Madam!)

Crying.

Playing on the street.

(Do you remember yourself as a child?)

Cherries.

Look.

Feel the cold water.

In a million years…

We will not be here.

Insignificant specks.

Die.

And the cosmos will laugh.

Die.

Light breeze.

A gentle whisper…

Petty cosmos!

You never really understood!

(Can something not be?)

Born.

And on an empty shore.

Beyond the forest clearing.

Under those cherries.

A cry.

We are still here!

(Insignificant cosmos…)