Prelude
Welcome to this page, where I will definitively explain the meaning of life.
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One thing to note first. The meaning of life is in relation to a conscious entity. This is because it is our conscious selves that ask questions such as "What is the meaning of life?". Our consciousness assigns meaning to objects of the mind. Our minds cannot live comfortably without meaning because that's the way we are wired: to determine the meaning of every stimulus that enters our consciousness. From the time we are babies, we seek the meaning of the eyes looking back at us and determine the origin and meaning of sounds that enter our awareness.
Understanding meaning is important to survival. Our ability to find food and shelter and to protect ourselves hinges on successful determination of meaning of stimuli and events. Our ability to navigate through and communicate in the world relies on our ability to identify meaning.
The common error
I believe that most people go through life thinking that their mind is the most important part of their body, and it’s true that we wouldn’t be the same animals if it weren’t for the advanced software our brain has developed which we call our ‘mind’ or ‘self’ or ‘consciousness’.
However what people may not realize is that consciousness or mind is not permanent. We lose it when we go to sleep, or get put under for an operation, or get knocked out somehow, or die.
While people may think that their mind is in charge of their body, and the body is there to do the mind’s bidding, I feel it is the opposite. The mind exists solely to help not just the body survive, but each cell survive, for the body is a vast collection of individual cells.
Which came first the cell or the mind?
This is an easy question to answer. From conception a human starts from a single cell which multiplies into (ultimately) trillions of cells that constitute our body. Thanks to the information coded into our DNA via evolution we will develop organs, one of which is our brain. The brain contains neural cells which collectively work together to form thoughts and consciousness. We know this is true because alterations to the brain, such as those done in brain surgery or attained through accidents, can cause lack of consciousness or changes in our thoughts, memories and even personalities. So we see that consciousness is dependent on our cells.
In fact, cells were the first life to evolve. In that time, there was no consciousness. As cells organized into organisms, and organisms developed central nervous systems, consciousness will have gradually developed in more advanced animals.
Cells organized into organisms, because an organism helps the cell survive and reproduce. Organisms developed consciousness because consciousness helps the organism and thus the cells survive and reproduce. So if the cells came first are they the most important thing in our bodies?
What is the meaning of a cell?
The purpose of a cell lies in its functionality. These functions include reproduction, metabolizing food for the creation of energy, eliminating waste, self defense from invaders, providing shelter, communication, locomotion and others. Additionally and without knowing it, cells support the function of other cells.
The interesting thing about this is that the functions of our cells align very closely with our own desires and impulses. They would have to, in order to survive natural selection.
At the heart of a cell’s meaning, we can infer that the chemistry of the universe is expressing itself through the natural creative forces therein.
and therefore the meaning of life is...
The meaning of life is to provide for and reflect the will of our cells and thus expand the creative influence of our chemical foundation.
We could also say that the meaning of consciousness is to express and fulfill the will of our cells. Our mind reflects the functionality of our cells: all of our motives can be traced back to cell function. All of human activity is a reflection of our cells desires including eating, reproducing, building structures, collecting, nurturing society, communicating, regulating the environment and really, anything else I can think of.
Seeing that we are based upon chemistry, as cells are ultimately just chemical reactions and chemical entities, we can conclude that we are a part of an awesome legacy of chemistry and evolution. We have the ability to alter the face of our universe with (or without) the aid of consciousness and to continue that creative legacy. This ability to alter our universe extends to the ability to create artificial intelligence, and perhaps one day, artificial consciousness. Remember that software is always designed to fulfill a human’s wishes, thus a set of cells.
turn our thinking upside down...and relax.
Our conscious selves are not as important as the cells in our bodies. The wonderful revelation in all of this is that it is much more easy to attain meaning in life just by looking at what is meaningful to our cells. This can provide a profound sense of relief and relaxation in that we are doing all that we are meant to do in life.
Our ability to express and fulfill the will of our cells has perhaps grown far beyond what is strictly necessary for that purpose...although perhaps that growth was absolutely necessary in the field of ever growing competition for survival.
Like other animals, we also have developed a ‘super-organism’, which we call society. Like cells in an organism, people benefit from a healthy society. The balancing act of give and take in a society helps to assure the survival of all individuals. Nurturing a healthy society helps the individual organism, which in turn benefits the cell.
Our purpose or mandate, which is patterned after that of our cells, is easier than ever to achieve in our modern societies as the basics of life such as food, shelter, etc are relatively abundant thanks to developments in technology. Once achieved, we can put our conscious selves aside from time to time and relax confidently in a job well done.