Human beings are considered as the most complex forms of life, due to the activities that we have done and we are capable of. The current world that we see around proves the fact. We have built machines that help us communicate from one end of the world within seconds, do all sorts of other complex activities like Mathematics, literature, finding out the origin of universe and so on.

Yet, there is one simple thing that we humans have great difficulty in doing it when compared to animals. According to me, it is understanding the meaninglessness of Life. It is true that many complex phenomenon make life possible. Though, we have figured out that the current state of the universe, we see is a result of events that had occurred in the past 14 billion years. A large majority of us have trouble acknowledging the fact. We make up stories suggesting this universe and Life has a creator, and we humans are obliged to follow rules of the creator. These rules bound us to do things, that we can do as a human being. But still, we follow these made up rules, and fear breaking them(I am not talking about Moral rules. I am referring to the meaninglessness rituals)

It is not just these made up rules that make life complicated. Complex emotions like pride, ego, esteem are kind of inherently part of a modern man’s life. Animals, on the other hand, I hardly wonder have such complex emotions. I don’t think they treat life as complicated as we do. Animals just live the life that they have. They eat while they are hungry, sleep while they are tired, take necessary caution to protect themselves from the dangers of external environment. Animals have developed advanced techniques mostly in the three aspects that are mentioned. But humans, have a very complex needs and desires.

In the current modern era, it takes a great deal of conscious effort to realise the meaninglessness of life. One has to step outside of the system to realise it. I guess the reason is most of us are raised that way. The great ability of questioning things with curiosity is suppressed, before we are young. As a result, we blindly follow the rules that we are asked to.

Another reason, I suspect is people are afraid to acknowledge the meaninglessness of life. People do want to have a purpose, though it is fake. People worry that on realising the meaninglessness, they loose hope on living. But, I think it is the opposite. Once you realise that meaninglessness of life, you gain immense freedom to do things that you wouldn’t do otherwise. You start understanding the importance of living in the present. It gives you the freedom and courage to do things that you love, leave things that you are forced to do.

But does that imply there is no point in doing mathematics, writing code, getting involved in literature and all things that only humans can do. As Dawkins puts it, you should do these sorts of activities because you have that kind of brain which is capable of doings such things. As Dawkins says in this video

So it’s not the mathematics itself; it’s not that doing algebra helps anybody to survive. But having the kind of big brain that incidentally proves itself capable of doing algebra – having that kind of big brain probably did improve our survival, whether because it literally made us better at – I don’t know – catching prey or finding nuts or something of that sort.

Another quality which I think only humans possess is the ability to appreciate aesthetics. When we perceive something as beautiful, we just can’t ignore it as any other sensory inputs. We appreciate the way nature works by trying to understand her secrets. A quality only human beings are capable of.

These ideas sometimes echo the concept of Spinoza’s God, which Einstein believed in. The conventional concept of God says there is a supernatural being that when worshipped brings comfort to one’s life. But the idea of Spinoza’s God is the universe and Nature itself and praying God here means to understand the law of Universe through Natural Sciences and Philosophy. Einstein famously said

“I believe in Spinoza’s god, who reveals Himself in the lawful harmony of the world, not in a god who concerns himself with the fate and the doings of mankind.”

-Einstein

There are 2 approaches to understand the meaninglessness of life - direct and indirect way. Direct way would be read the literary works of Legends like Albert Campus and Dostoevsky. A great place to start would be Albert Campus’ The Stranger. Man’s search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl is another great work, which tells us what kinds of “meaning” humans look for.

The indirect way would be to understand how the universe and Life came into existence -trying to understand why the world is the way we see it. In the process, you realise that the current state of life and universe though too complicated has come into existence because of the large time that it has taken to reach current state. The age of universe is 14 Billion Years and Life started to evolve since 3.5 billion years(The age of Earth is 4 Billion years). Though randomness play a key role in the process, we realise that it is possible to find a logical explanation of how things have come to exist with a certain degree of certainty. A great amount of experimental evidence is also available for almost all the scientific facts. A good place to start would be Stephen Hawking’s Brief History of Time and Richard Dawkins’ The Selfish Gene.

Most of the people who are happy with the facts they know or try to search for facts that make them feel comfortable. But there is a small category of people who want to understand reality. They devote a great amount of time and effort in discovering reality. They acknowledge the uncertainty and are comfortable with it. Most importantly, they are not afraid to leave behind what they had believed all their life, when they face new ground breaking truth.

Again, the most important thing in Life is Life itself. If discomforting truths cause a threat to existence, one may prefer to live with lies that are comforting.

Concluding with Dawkins’ words,

…why should the universe care about what happens to us, but we can make our own world, we can make our own purposes, our own warmth, our own affections our own loves and we can lead a life….

…for me it seems to suggest a great responsibility to make the most of it…extremely lucky to be here the odds against your your being here are far greater than the odds against your winning the lottery so be thankful and spend your time your brief time under the Sun looking at around and rejoicing and wondering and being fascinated and trying to understand everything about the universe in which you’re so fortunate to be born…