As kids we’re raised with a toy model of the world. Study hard, and you’ll be successful. Don’t cry randomly and disturb the peace! Ssshh! Be nice to everybody. As we grow up and interact with the world, cracks in the toy model appear. People who work hard languish, others who had neither talent nor industry succeed . No one is nice all the time, in fact some people are just jerks all the bloody time.
The toy model melts away in our brain and we ask the deeper questions that have been asked since the dawn of humanity. Why am I here? What am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to behave? What are the real rules? What does it all mean? Until very recently the answer to these questions was God. “Do whatever God said” was the instructional manual of life. The religion model was a good replacement for the toy model . We didn’t have to change much about our habits or our thought processes, we just had to replace “Do what Mum said” with “Do what God said” and go on with our lives.
As science has progressed and some truths about nature have revealed themselves, we now live in a world where God is Dead. There is scant evidence of a judgemental bearded man eager to throw lightning bolts sitting above the sky . But God is not dead dead, more like half dead. Science today explains some things but not everything. There are still scores of areas of knowledge where asking a highly knowledgeable scientist “How does that work?” will elicit a “We dunno actually” . It’s got hordes of holes. Science killed God but so far has given us speculation about how we came to be, ignoring the more pressing question of why we came to be.
A relatively new life philosophy that embraces this giant question floating above our entire species, civilisation and world is nihilism. It tells us that life is meaningless . There is no grand design; we’re evolved monkeys, who are evolved bacteria, who are evolved jiggling pools of chemicals, who are an evolved residue from the big bang . Beyond the laws of physics that constrain how the little particles may dance about, there is no grand order to our lives, no grand symphony providing the backdrop to universe, no bearded man watching over you lovingly ready to smite your enemy . All the rules around you were made up. You’re on your own.
This scares the bejesus out of most people. Because it’s fundamentally different that the first leap from parent to God. You don’t have to follow new rules, you must accept the vacuous truth that there no rules . Human order is a convenient veneer over the empty vacuum that is the universe’s existence.
“The most terrifying fact about the universe is not that it is hostile but that it is indifferent, but if we can come to terms with this indifference, then our existence as a species can have genuine meaning. However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light.” ― Stanley Kubrick Most people can’t come to terms with this indifference. They’re scared of the chaos and would love to pretend that there is order. They prefer to deify new things instead of accepting the hollowness of it all and tearing the whole edifice down . They’d rather put their faith in politicians, CEOs, actors, memes, movements, whatever instead of standing up and putting a little faith in themselves.
A great revelation that comes once you embrace the nudity of the universe’s order is that you can make your own rules! Since all the rules are made up, yours are as good as anybody else’s! You are not obligated to anybody or anything, unchained from shackles that revealed themselves to be imaginary, you are free to do as you please. No pressure to succeed, no pressure to fail . No obligation to be nice, no requirement to be nasty. You do you. Of course, that also means others are free to react to you as they please, and you have to navigate the murky waters of social interactions . You’ve walked off the field, but the game is still being played. This, still, is freedom.
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” ― Albert Einstein Once we accept the meaningless of existence, it behooves us to embrace it’s improbable and miraculous nature. We do not have the answer to why we exist but isn’t it amazing that we exist and are able to ask that question?! On a random patch of condensed gases at the corner of the universe we’re able to eat great food, listen to great music, experience serenity and joy, belonging and love! Incredible.