Monday, September 13, 2010

The Reason for Life, the Universe, and Everything (part 1)

I've mentioned before that I have a Reason for Life, the Universe, and Everything.

More than that, to be truly universal, it can't be something restricted to humanity. Additionally, it must be inescapable. If it is the reason for everything, then it makes sense that it would be something that is unavoidable -- everything always does does it regardless of personal inclination or desire.

Quite simply, I believe the purpose of everything is to experience and to be experienced.

This is inescapable: We say that something exists when it can be experienced. If something can not be experienced in any way then few would doubt that the thing does not exist.

This is universal: Nothing about this is unique to life, let alone humanity.

It is unavoidable: Neither the hardest rocks nor the folks crippled by anxiety and stuck at home can avoid experiencing and being experienced. It isn't like death and most folks avoid it most days, though they know that one day their time will come.

Are you going to fill your life with the regularity of the tides? Are you going to fill it with new and unusual experiences? In the end both are equivalent. You, like everything else, collect experiences until at last you die. Some of us have a better memory of our experiences, but we all experience and are experienced.

This reason for existence seems self-evident upon reflection, what with some religions believing that the universe exists as such specifically to experience itself. If differentiation happened specifically for self-experience, then of course the reason for existence is so that we can experience and be experienced.

I suspect the only thing that prevented it from being self-evident was my Western upbringing, and the thing that gets a lot of people: Wanting the search, but not wanting the answer. It isn't particularly an uplifting reason for existence. It is easy to see where a person might over-think the question in an attempt to find a happier (or otherwise "better") answer.

(In the next part, I'll mention where debauchery comes in.)

2 comments:

  1. See, I think debauchery is related to the meaning of life. That's why I'm a fan of hedonism! Ok, I have nothing too deep to say at this point but perhaps it is that simple, as you state. I used to over-think life but I don't anymore. I just try to have fun and, of course, try not to hurt anyone in the process!

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  2. I've been delaying responding to this comment. (Mostly due to the post I have going out tonight.) I see ethical hedonism as being radically different than self-centered debauchery. Sure, they may look outwardly similar, but debauchery seems all about finding that common moral/ethical bar and going below it, while ethical hedonism is about having a good time and trying not to hurt anyone.

    As I said, I talk more about it in the upcoming post. I don't see debauchery as a good thing -- I see it as something even hedonists may complain about.

    An example: Someone ends a relationship and needs a shoulder to cry on. They have two friends, both of which would provide an ear, and both have expressed interest in the past. One is an ethical hedonist, and the other is in to debauchery. Both would bring good food, good wine, and a good movie. The one that is in to debauchery is trying to set things up to get lucky that night. The one in to ethical hedonism just wants to help spread the joy and knows that jumping in to the sack early doesn't usually lead to that in the long term.

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