Meanings of Life

Ben Yu asks, "What do you live for?" (HT: Karin)

A brief summary: Yu subscribes to Absurdism and sees life as fundamentally meaningless given the random nature of evolution, as well as the size and age of the universe compared with our mortality and that of our species. If life is meaningless, then what do (or should) any of us live for? So he crowd sourced the question and got some interesting responses. I thought I'd give it a shot. Even though he asked for answers in email, I'm so late composing my thoughts that I thought I'd use it as a chance to blog.

So, what do I live for? More often than not, I find a sense meaning in meeting my own needs. I don't think this is the larger sense of meaning that Yu is looking for (though I suppose this fits with Absurdism), but let's start at the shallow end of the pool. Meeting needs is a very temporary and superficial form of meaning, but I think it's meaning nonetheless. When I'm hungry, I live for food; when I'm thirsty, I live for drink, however temporarily. Then I start to live for companionship, intimacy, occupation, comfort, work, friendship - however you rank them, much of my life revolves around fulfilling my needs in various contexts with different levels of urgency. I choose to live, because I want these things. It's not the big picture, but there's not much time to think about the big picture when your body tells you that you really need a drink of water. Besides, Wu's post implies that next our lives must be absurd when compared to the size and age of the universe. On that scale, our own need-meeting is not much smaller than say, dedicating body and soul to human progress.

It's once I get to my family where I find myself living for other people. I write this with a delightful three-year-old in the room behind me. I've been interrupted to help color and sniff a candle that smells like strawberries. I'm keeping an eye on her so that my wife can fill a another part of her soul - keeping our garden. I got to observe this kind of behavior most of my, coming from a good family where my family seemed to answer Wu's question with, "you." And when I can move on, follow my families example, I live for them, and when I'm at my best, I live for those who I can come across, those who I'm close enough to effectively help. My neighbor.

We're still small and finite, but I don't see why meaning should be intimidated by humanity's relative smallness and finitude. Sure, we're small. How important is that really? Mountains are teensy compared to the size of the world, which is teensy compared to the Solar System, which is which is teensy compared to the Milky Way, etc... In my eyes, mountains are something regal, and their royal beauty is something self evident, and while I can't wrap it in any sort of reason, I walk away from such an experience with a deeper.

These are some of the reasons my faith is Christianity. Christianity offers a deeper sort of meaning that touches not only the unimaginable breadth of the universe(s), but the little meanings we give ourselves, love and altruism, through work and art, down to familial care and meeting our own needs. This implies that there is a God beyond our vast universe(s), who's taken interest in this tiny planet to the point that he became one of us, to be with us.

I'm alerted to God's presence in many ways, not in the least of which is the knowledge of our own smallness in the light of everything science has been teaching us about time and space, past and future. However, he seldom dwells where he can be prodded and studied, but stays where he can be followed with trust, a trust that knows that he is and has lived out the ultimate source of love. If he exists, then he dances like some sort of woodland fairy, unmeasurable, supplying us with love for him and love for others. I find it immensely comforting that, while he remains beyond our measuring devices, he's never beyond basic human intimacy. Can there be more meaning than this?

Christianity reveals a God beyond all measure who was willing to live and die as we do that he may be with us. For those of us who have trusted in him, he becomes our partner as we meet our needs, love our neighbors, and, if all works out, make the world a better place. It attaches me to a community of Christians, locally and internationally, throughout our species (short) time here. It's an amazing gift, and the offer is there. It's meaning, yes. But it's also life and joy and love.

PS: If you like a think, read Yu's blog.