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The Meaning of Life
by Adam Eslahpazir

You want to know what I believe. I believe in something. Some people believe in nothing. They say we're here for no reason, floating willy-nilly on the ocean of life, with no compass, no astrolabe, nothing to guide us across the vastest body of figurative water known to mankind. Do you have the tools to guide you? We live in a time that is afraid of the spiritual, afraid of the religious, afraid of God. Perhaps that is the way God wants us to live, in fear of Him. Perhaps. . .but I believe differently.

Today a battle rages between those who believe in nothing vs. those who believe in something. God is just a name for a concept, an abstract concept that performs many functions such as hope, empowerment, and justice. You may call God karma, tao, or allah however all these labels are used to describe a concept that even atheists proscribe to. That concept is meaning. Life without meaning is hell, reincarnation as a cockroach, or imprisonment. Let's just say you are put into a chamber against your will. By definition you are imprisoned. Let's now say you are in the exact same chamber voluntarily. By definition you are free. However both individuals are objectively in the same chamber and your subjective perspective determines your imprisonment or freedom.

Creationists believe that we were created. Evolutionists also believe that we were created. The former have us created by the hand of God and the latter by a natural mechanism. Both have meaning but a different vocabulary for the same concept, creation. In evolution, there was a day that Genus Australopithecus gave birth to the first Genus Homo, thus man was created. Perhaps Genus Australopithecus was the God that created Adam and Eve.

What does it all mean? It all amounts to something. Meaning is the most valuable asset humanity has. A diamond is worthless without the meaning attached to it. Are we hurtling aimlessly though a vast emptiness on a ball of mud that randomly developed an interesting mechanism called life, or do we find ourselves spinning through a universe teeming with unique creations, on a valuable sapphire, that glitters with the glory of life, heading toward a destiny? I know which scenario I'm going with. Do you?

Back to This I Believe index.

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