Baby steps...

"Why are we here?"

I've heard this question an awful lot in my short little life. It's an obsession for some, finding the answer to the ultimate question. Many have devoted their life to the sciences, examining every inch of our universe looking for clues as to how we came into existence. More still have devoted their life to religion, seeking divine truth through meditation and faith. I don't want to say that any of these people are wrong; in fact, I fancy myself a truth seeker as well. The problem is, I don't think the meaning of life is something we can quantify through science or qualify through faith.

Perhaps Douglas Adams was the closest to the true meaning of life after all. For those of you who aren't familiar with him, Adams is the author of the infamous Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy (in five parts) and suggested that the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything is simply 42. A nonsensical answer at best, how can all of existence be summed up in a single number? The problem with Adams' theory, of course, is that he was never able to figure out the question. I can think of many questions that have the answer of 42, however none seem to come anywhere near encapsulating the entirety of life or the universe.

To be fair, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a complete work of fiction, and to base my findings on a piece of literature that has no bearing in reality (which I shall have to define later) is probably the silliest thing I could do. However, it is not so much Douglas Adams' answer that I am interested in but more the ridiculous nature of it. You see, in my opinion, he could have chosen anything to be the answer in his fictitious universe, and I believe he was aware of that. The answer simply wasn't important to him, and fiction or not, the answer shouldn't be important to you.

Life is hard, most definitely, and many find it difficult to make it from one day to the next without the added comfort of meaning. The problem I see with this is, there is an awful lot of squabbling between the different factions of society over what exactly that meaning is. So many of us are sure that we have already found the answer, or that our way of getting to the answer is the only true way. As I see it, the answer doesn't matter. The answer is complete nonsense anyway. Any answer that any of us could possibly come up with is going to be utterly ridiculous when it's all said and done.

So what is it that we have here when we strip away the gods, the afterlife, the science, the mysticism, and all the bickering this way and that?

I think we hide in religions and scientific gibberish. I think we put too much stock in what others tell us to be true. I'm not saying that we should turn our backs on the church and burn all the scientists. These things are security blankets, and for many of us, it's all we have. What I am saying is, rather than taking all these things at face value, we should be doing our part to define meaning. Not the meaning of life, the universe, and everything, but meaning for us.

What I'm saying, my children, is that the question we should be asking is not, "Why are we here?" Instead, a question you should ask yourself every single day is, "Why am I here?" You may find, at first, that this question is a difficult one to answer. Try thinking more specifically, for instance, don't ask, "Why am I in this universe?" or, "Why am I on planet Earth?" The key to this exercise is baby steps. Let's start with, "Why am I in this city?" If you can't answer that, try something like, "Why am I in this room?" or perhaps, "Why am I reading this loser's blog?" In time, the specifics will bring meaning to the bigger picture.

Leave comments children, you know I love comments.

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