Why are we here?

What if the answer to this question is that there is no answer, or no answer worthy of realizing? What if the "whole point" is that we can define our own existance on our own terms?

Everyone has their own personal view on why we're here. No two people's view on life philosophy (emotionally based subjects) is exactly the same. This is a very interesting data point! Our philosophical "realities" are constructed on perception and relativity alone. Our personal realities are as unique as we are. Of course, religions dictate the status quo, the past, and the future. It is said that many paths lead to God, and that if you do not know where you are going, any road will take you there, etc, etc.

What if there is no right or wrong and no absolute moral consequence? What if reality is an illusion, a fake impregnation of lies, deception, and control? Why do we think we are in control? Better yet, why do we convince ourselves that we are? Do we create God or gods out of necessity, to feel that we are in control? What if time is already written, and what we perceive as the past, present, and future is merely an illusion? Our perspective is limited to the human form. Our minds synchronize the time-space divide; however, only the present really "exists", yet it can't easily be defined. We evolved in a way that allows us to store memories, experience sensory input, and forecast the future. This does not mean that time exists in the way we see it. For example, do colors really exist, or are they simply the side effect of our evolved vision, a tool for processing input? Then why do we assign silly values to colors? Survival. Yet, we forget easily and still give "absolute value" to non-existant variances. What if time is the same, and our experience of it is merely a survival mechanism for interacting with one's environment? We assign so much "value" to things that have no basis.

Why is time needed in the first place? If God knows all, sees the past, present, and future, then why does he have us wasting our time here? He knows everything we have or will ever do. So why does time exist? For shits and giggles? The only significant reason I can conceive is so that something simple can evolve into something complex. Reverse entropy. That's the "value" life provides. We convince ourselves that time exists so that we can make choices (free will); however, then how can God know the future if our choices have not yet been made? (see Mike's blog on fate vs. free will) This logical paradox really gums up the works of most religions. Because if God doesn't know the future (because we are here to make choices in an effort to grow close to him), then is he really the God described in holy texts? Ouchies.

The only philosophical conclusion I'm comfortable with is that certain lifeforms are becomming more complex over cycles of time, on the macro level. This defies laws of science, as over time systems break down or become more simple, unless energy is added, of course. Organic life is the only substance that disobeys this fundamental law. Or does it? What energy is manipluating the force of life? Life is continously becomming more advanced and complex, gaining complexity through randomness and chance. It's simplistic but clever at the same time. There is no intelligent guidance that we can detect or prove; however, it appears some form of energy is propelling it forward in an orderly way (although we can't measure this energy). Enter God (Roman trumpets sounding). We explain this great mystery away with magic and superstition. But then again, we have the right to define our own existance, right? And what a glorious right it is.

Without God and religion, we could not have War, Hate, Love, Evil, Control; the list of goodies goes on. Without a God-like figure, nature could not pit humans against each other to ensure the system continues to evolve by forcing us to fight each other for limited resources and adapt in order to survive. Hasn't the very God that we think loves us been the cause for the majority of major conflicts throughout the world? Or have we just been using him as an excuse to empower our greed (or is greed part of God's hand)? Are we sure the devil does not rule the universe? Every force of nature is cold, cruel, effective, and efficient. It appears that nature has no emotion, only one objective: to become more complex. If God is perfect, then why is his world so imperfect? Or is it really perfect; however, we are so limited by our emotions and failed intelligence, that we don't even notice the perfection. What if evolution is God's "magical wand" used to ensure the continual realization of a more complex and capable life form? The stakes are high if this is the case. War then becomes a heavenly hand to force innovation and the survival of superior tools and superior civilizations, ensuring forward complexity.

What pattern do we see forming over the last 50,000 years? Previously, life evolved into individual specimens capable of simple awareness in order to manipulate the environment to survive. Through natural selection, more complex forms arose, until finally a champion surpassed the rest. Finally, a specimen worthy of complex tools and intelligence. The energy investment of billions of years finally paying off. These humans, a ruthless and cunning lot capable of deception, murder, and uncontrolled selfishness took the prize. They rose above the food chain and over the course of centuries started forming more complex social units, until finally ammassing small civilizations. Once they took control of their environment, they convinced themselves through superstition and religion that they were close to God, a chosen and special life-form! Little did they know, the force of life would find a way to turn this arrogance into a perfect form of perpetual evolution.

With increasing populations, it was only a matter of time before culture, religion, and ideas manipulated men into fighting over the limited resources of the Earth. It's indeed a constant battle of give and take, as men attempt to stay one step ahead of nature by devising new methods to deal with limited resources and the mental prison of arrogance. Either way, nature wins. We exploded into a new era of super civilizations and thought we conquered nature. Instead of only evolving physically, we began evolving culturely at a much faster pace. We created a new form of life: The "Super-organism" (see Howard Bloom's works). Instead of men being the individual life forms, we are now being transformed into the cells of super-organisms. Again, life's goal is to become more complex. Not all of humanity has evolved at this alarming pace throughout the world...yet.

What is our individual function right now; for example in the United States? We are citizens in a nation, simple cells in a superorganism. Some of us are more important than others. Some of us are part of the brain, some of us part of the anus, lol. We have a particular purpose. The cognitive and intellect of the super-organism is the government. It dictates instructions for the entire system. The highways and interstates are like veins feeding the organism and allowing transportation of vital goods and resources. A country's national defense protects the super-organism much like our individual immune systems. The comparisons go on and on. What most of us don't realize is that we've contructed a replica of ourselves in monstrous proportions. The work of nature controlling us, or pure accident on our part? Again, life wants to become more complex. We have failed to look around to realize that we are simply pawns in a grand scheme. We give credit for everything good to God, and blame everything bad on the Devil. Why are we so naive? Is God orchestrating evolution of the overall system, or is nature really in control, equiping us with the ability to believe in a higher power only to provide us with a reason to live, excuse to kill, and motivation to procreate? Or are God and Nature one and the same?

The law of life is that it wants to become more complex. Similar to flowing water wanting to find the lowest ground due to gravity, except that the energy of life seems to flow into more complex regions instead of simpler ones.