EVOLUTIONARY DISMISSAL

For the unspiritual, life isn’t two-hold, it’s one-fold. This life is the only one. For believers in spirituality, or specifically in Jesus, life and death have depth to them based on the understanding that we are more than our corporeal bodies existing as matter within other matter (the atmosphere). There is weight and reason to why we exist, which has an impact on the way we view what it is we do with our existence. If existence really is just bodily, then how we think and act really are pretty insignificant. Everything considered offensive and wrong is normal because nothing really matters. But if you ask if that’s true to someone who doesn’t believe in anything, they won’t be too excited to tell you you’re right, and will likely beat around the bush because there is nothing pretty left to say if the extent to our reason in being on this planet is strictly reduced to biology and physics, or “evolution”.

ARGUMENT FOR MEANINGFUL EXISTENCE… POINTLESS?

On the other hand, if we are only to view life with complexity because we can’t bring ourselves to tolerate the morbid truth that life is nothing more special than we’d like, that really reduces the significance of our capacity to sense there is more to life than mere existence. Think about this for a moment. If we are the most sophisticated species on Earth, and we question the legitimacy of believing life here is only corporeal, then is our act of questioning the purpose of meaningful existence not a reference to the significance of its relevance? In other words, for a species capable of free will (not just repetition), and intelligent enough for more complex tasks such as the comprehension of morality, philosophy—of building empires, nations, politics and governments—is our questioning of purposeful existence a signal that we have serious work to do with what we have? Or, is our questioning this very notion, in itself, completely useless regardless of the fact that we have come so far as a species? Put differently, do we believe our progression in meaningful existence to be no further along than it was, simply because our furthest admission of human development is that all of its existence and expansion was prematurely and absolutely pointless?

What an argument.

COUNTER ARGUMENT

The argument for meaningful existence, for those who don’t believe in anything spiritual, can come across as redundant. The thought might be, “Why concern ourselves over something so unchangeable, so dead in the water?” And my previous thought is the counter argument: If it is so unchangeable, so dead, then what is it about our human nature that causes us to question whether there is more? C.S. Lewis stated the same sentiment in his writings. What about us questioning this does not point to there being something to be brought to light? If there was nothing to be found, would there even be a curiosity about it all? In other words, if we were not created for more than elemental existence, would we even have a curiosity for more?

A FIREPLACE: NICE PRESENTATION, OR DESIGN FOR SOMETHING PURPOSEFUL?

Now, the question of whether there is more, isn’t an answer in itself. That isn’t the argument. The questioning is a reference. A strong one. A human has the capacity to consider ideas any other species wouldn’t be able to consider in the first place. If you can recall, there was nothing else on Earth created after humanity. This is cause for a hint at a larger angle of life to be explored.

Take an example for context. What is a fireplace for? Fire, heat, warmth; survival. But what if it’s just a fireplace? Just a setup. It’s just for your glancing pleasure, nothing more. It has nice presentation and it has the capacity for more than just being viewed, but… that’s all it does. Nothing more. Human beings, with all of our capacity (FAR exceeding the limited example of a FIREPLACE), are just here bodily, with no reason at all? We can design rocket ships and visit other planets, start world religions and cause wars over pride and arrogance, but everything is pointless because we are only here biologically due to the way the cosmos was elementally formed?

PURPOSELESS ARGUMENT FOR A PURPOSELESS EXISTENCE

Does that argument give anyone a sense that waking up each morning has any worth? Is it just to drink coffee and keep busy enough to make it to bedtime again? I don’t understand.

The argument for a meaningful existence not only makes more sense, it is inspiring and motivating. It’s not as though the argument itself need be used as a self-help reference, but it just doesn’t seem like we are feeding our psychology the food it requires by telling ourselves we aren’t here for anything purposeful at all. We’re being told, argumentatively, that we’re breathing blobs of universal elements. It makes me shake my head. What are we to do with that, tell ourselves that everything we’re capable of and desire to make of ourselves is absolute goulash and we should just sit around waiting for an asteroid to take Earth out?

HAPPENSTANCE IS THE COUNTER ARGUMENT FOR A MEANINGFUL LIFE?

Or, we could believe in something bigger than ourselves. Not because I said so, and not because some PH.D writer said so, but because our belief in meaningful existence is legitimate, valid, and more true than any other argument, and the proof is in the way we treat the life we have with love, dignity, intention, authenticity, and purpose. We treat each other in ways no other species can; with compassion, understanding, and support. Are these worthless too? Just happenstance instances that really pretty elements formed out of nothing, FOR nothing? Really?

IS THERE LEGITIMACY IN BELIEVING IN LESS RATHER THAN MORE?

What good is the argument for a lack of meaningful existence? If the purpose of that argument is to “open our eyes to the reality that we’re not here for more than bodily functions”, what clarity is that meant to bring the way we treat and view the remainder of our lives? It’s not chicken soup for anyone’s soul to be told that, and it isn’t something that makes me want to do something amazing with my life. So, what really is the impetus of such a void argument? There is no weight to it, it sucks the life out of the conversation altogether to argue that we are here for nothing. It’s not even that it makes me “feel” bad, it’s that it makes less sense of everything ELSE around it. A legitimate argument should MAKE sense of everything around it, correct? It should connect dots and provide clarity. The argument for a pointless existence does none of that. It does the polar opposite. That, to me, makes it completely unreliable.

MEANINGFUL LIFE IS ALL THERE IS, BUT YOU DIDN’T HEAR IT FROM ME

Jesus didn’t create the universe so we could believe it to be purely science and unrelated to anything that has to do with His plan for something bigger, something we can’t understand yet but can ponder. It’s a gift, and so are we. How do I know? Jesus came down and did what He did because that’s how valuable we are to Him. We aren’t worthless, life does have a meaning, and it’s the one He assigned specifically to each one of us. The Creator Himself says so.

God bless.