Leia, looking toward the future, or possibly at a squirrel. (picture by my daughter on her iPad)
One doesn’t have to look far to find overwhelming evidence that the universe is an uncaring place, and that life doesn’t play fair. Good people die young for no good reason, animals in the wild are painfully eaten alive by their predators, and entire civilizations are beset by war, famine, and plague. Mercy and fairness are entirely human constructs, and those that would ascribe such qualities to a creator or god must undergo mental gymnastics of the highest order to stave off crippling cognitive dissonance.
Sometimes this nihilistic realization gets me down. There is no inherent meaning in life, so I must create my own meaning (or live a subjectively meaningless life). The world is filled with suffering that I can do very little to prevent (including, at times, my own).
At other times, I feel incredibly optimistic and empowered, even in the face of my own nihilistic worldview. The values and attitudes that create this feeling of empowerment (not all the time, but sometimes) include:
- Kindness. Kindness is not an emergent property of the physical, chemical, biological, or somatic levels of reality (see NENT), and thus phenomena at those levels (such as earthquakes, floods, asteroid impacts, supervolcanoes, illness, aging, etc.) can appear unkind/uncaring to human beings. But kindness is emergent at social levels and above, and is hugely abundant among those reality levels. I can choose to be kind to my fellow humans and animals, and to accept kindness from a multitude of sources. This is an excellent antidote to the apparent uncaring/cruel nature of structurally lower levels of reality.
- Free will. Most of the world operates outside of our personal control and influence. Even our own personal decisions are highly governed by instinct, reactions, and deeply ingrained habits. But still, we have the ability to make decisions, to change our own behaviors, and to influence others. I feel happier and more powerful when I try to expand my free will and make more conscious decisions, even in the face of the knowledge that I will always have more responsibilities in life than I have control (as is true for everyone who makes serious commitments to other people, organizations, and/or ideals).
That’s my mini-sermon for today. Hope you’re doing well. Live long and prosper!
My next post will be a personal update dedicated to my Patreon supporters.
