Why do we have to create meaning for our existence? At what point in the evolutionary process did we develop this human condition and what purpose does it serve?
Why do we have to create meaning for our existence?
by mankkeli 5 Replies latest watchtower bible
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Qcmbr
I think we create meaning once we have time and the mental capaity to do so coupled with a set of choices that need to be evaluated. The reasons are many but I'd suggest a driver is the need for a heuristic to make decisons in a world of seemingly infinite options. The brain uses mental shortcuts all the time to save time and energy (so a chess player uses the evolved ability to use little patterns to shortcut the decision tree rather than hours and hours plotting each move by brute force evaluation.) I suspect 'meaning' is an outward expression of one or more inner heuristics. Take religion, it's much easier to evaluate a moral choice when backed by a scripture (especially when the option ends up being socially immoral!)
As society has afforded more and more freetime and options a perceived void appears and an angst that reflects the inability of previous heuristics to deal with new information. For example:The western social designation of female homemaker / male breadwinner has been shaken by gay rights, women's lib and the decline of the patriarchal churches - this new set of options (especially for women) has created a desire for new meanings, new heuristics and you can see the debate splashed on every women's magazine and day time chat shows.
Religion, seen as a set of heuristics, is in crisis since it hasn't had to deal with evolution, skepticism and social equal rights and so finds itself unable to deal with the flood of new information. This has led to schisms in previously established religions over issues such as female bishops or gay priests. Ithas also seen a rise in the power of evangelicals who have given themselves over to an ecstatic form of validation, a kind of 'spiritual' drunkeness that avoids facing the obvious.
imo.
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sizemik
At what point in the evolutionary process did we develop this human condition
Hard to say that one for sure. I would expect from a paleantological perspective it would correspond with a period when increase in brain size and capacity gave rise to the rudimentary beginnings of language. Having communicative and descriptive skills gives rise to the exchange of ideas and the formation of abstract concepts over and above simple survival. It also facilitates the retention of abstract ideas for further development . . . some beneficial, some not.
I'm not convinced the current need to have "meaning" in our lives is necessarily fulfilling any survivalist or evolutionary purpose . . . but may simply be an aberrant but inert by-product of gradually increasing neurological complexity.
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designs
Somewhere in the shift from being Hunters and Gatherers to Agrarian Cultures taking care of the land became important as the building block to the family unit and the tribe, 'meaning' naturally followed.
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trueblue
I may have to do some upgrading to get video, see what happens...
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jaguarbass
As I got older, I started wondering what is the purpose of all this, our existence.
So I started googling it and reading books about it, the meaning of our existence.
In my 30's I started thinking the reason for my existence was to make money for my boss, and money for my government.
Michael Tillinger and Zechariah Sitchin have written books that say we are here as slaves of the Gods.
The Gods are spacemen.
The first civilization to record history, Sumer is where they get this information from.
I think culture tells us to question everything, as well as to question nothing and be a drone.
I'm one who questions.
I have read many answers to the meaning of our existence, they all have holes, none of them hold water as far as I
am concerned.
My favorite meaning to my existence which is as leaky as anybody elses seive like explanation is that
we are God, and we are having material experiences.
We were bored in the spirit realm so we come here or someplace like here to experiece the drama of being material.
We are all wired back to our central self where our experieces are digested, processed and enjoyed. We are the source of our own
entertainment.