After my husband died of a 13 year illness I spent a lot of time reading, meditating, doing yoga, hiking, etc and here's what I learned; life is purposeless and meaningless. When we die it is over unless there was something huge we did. My husband was a brilliant NASA engineer, but his work is not "his", it belongs to NASA. We live then we die and it does not matter one little bit what we do in that time. It would be nice to think we would at least aspire to be moral and ethical, but greed and stuff are what is lauded and that is another reason humans and their lives do not matter.I feel for her and I understand why she and so many others feel this way. Her sentiment is due to the underlying message that our culture is giving us -- namely that we are biological machines with no set purpose apart from living this one life. The Universe just is, there's no meaning behind it, there's no reason for it. We live our very brief lives, and that's it.
But I think she is very wrong. I feel that our lives and the Universe are ultimately mysterious, and we are all on this adventure. That perhaps part of the mystery will be revealed when we die. I feel that life is exciting and even though it may appear to be dreary and monotonous, that this is illusory. We get a brief glimpse of how things truly are during moments like mystical experiences.
I can see why you would say that those mystical experiences would reveal a greater truth hidden, after all, they invoke feeling nearly never felt. I've had a few of these on either side, extreme irrational fear to the point I started seeing and hearing things and great joy that gave me a warm feeling long after it had subsided. But these things are things any human could feel, they could happen to anyone, anywhere. A feeling of great wonder is in no matter proof of that same great wonder. You feel the universe is mysterious, but that in no way is proof it is. It is possible many things could happen, things like an afterlife, a reincarnation, space travel, an infinite wandering soul. But for every possible reality, there are an infinite amount we will never experience. And from what I can find about the world and the universe, it certainly doesn't seem that special.
ReplyDeleteI never claimed my feeling constitutes a proof, nor evidence come to that.
DeleteThe issue is that people have effectively been brainwashed via a scientific education into believing that our lives and the Universe are innately without meaning. That there is no afterlife, no free will etc. I have many reasons to dispute this belief that I have outlined in various blog posts.
I would submit it to you that thinking of particular aspects of reality, imagined or otherwise, as "special" or not isn't really helpful here.
DeleteFor the sake of argument, let's assume that an afterlife does exist and that our families and our beloved pets are all there waiting for us w/ smiles on their faces. We'll all die someday and go to meet them w/ open arms w/ an entirely new world to explore. Sounds pretty awesome, right?
But at that point the afterlife just becomes another part of your life, as natural a thing as waking up and eating breakfast. Once you experience it enough it gradually loses its luster, kinda like that new car feeling that eventually wears off. You know what I mean?
What can change all of that seemingly inevitable boredom and lack of meaning, frankly, is you. If you are a happy person that finds joy in just existing and loving the person that you are, then even the most mundane things in the world can be a pleasure to behold.
My point in saying all that is not to expect things to be special. You have to find it in yourself to find the joy in everything.
I never used the word "special", but the way we are, our psychological states, are hugely influenced by our environment and everything that ever happens to us or that we experience. Our feelings don't just spontaneously form in a vacuum. So, it's not just up to us.
DeleteRe Afterlife realm. We have no idea of the influences on our mental states in a completely different type of realm or existence. Why would an afterlife just be a continuation of our present mental states? Even as children, we felt completely different about the world. And none of people's experiences during mystical states, NDEs, psychedelic trips and what have you, remotely suggest we will find an afterlife, or existence in other realities, boring or lacklustre. So, I see no reason to suppose what you say would be true. I never got bored anyway, not even in this world.