What is the Meaning of Life?  (And what is "life"?)

As much as I love learning about health and nutrition, I'm really passionate about what I call "the physics behind the physics", the part of life that appears to be a mystery because it's "invisible", yet really is part of our existence every moment.  

"Gravity" is one example that all of us are familiar with.  We have a working knowledge of what it is, but how it came to be?  Who really knows?  It's a mystery.

And "mysteries" aren't "problems"...they don't need to be solved.  They are curiosities.  Problems are that which need to be solved in order to make life easier while mysteries are things that make us wonder about life, seemingly impossible to figure out, making life seem magical.  

Problems are really things that affect day-to-day living directly, are more or less within our ability to do something about (or at least attempt to), and drive us to find tools, tech and methods in order to eliminate them.

Common Questions about Life

Common to likely all of us are these questions:   Why am I here?  What is the purpose of life?  And what is "life"?

Well, with my impression that the mysteries of life are part of life, then I should be able to get insights into them simply by observing consistent patterns in myself and others.  (And similarly, broken patterns reveal that what I thought was true about life wasn't exactly true.)

Now, this is my perspective, which is a combination of what I know and what I'm guessing to be true (beliefs).  My perspective is CONSTANTLY evolving because I'm actively seeking to uncover these mysteries of life.  I would LOVE to hear your perspectives too and you can do so at the bottom of this page and submit a reply that myself and others can enjoy!  :-)

First up is "what is life?".....

What Is "Life"?

Let's first start with what I see as "dead".  Dead, to me, is that which doesn't change, doesn't evolve, and/or doesn't animate.  For example, a 2" x 4" board is "dead".  It is what it is until it either burns in fire or decays.   A rock is dead.  Concrete is dead.  

So on the contrary, that which is "alive" grows, evolves, ages, moves, etc....   So "life" means ongoing change.  Something that is alive may change size, shape, direction, location, ability, intelligence, intellect, etc...  

Let's call this "animation", animated thinking and actions.  Change.

With this perspective, let's look at the human being.  

The human being starts as a fertilized egg, then begins to grow according to the instruction set called DNA.  Now, the metaphysical question here is, "who is using the instruction set to grow the human body from the fertilized egg to the full adult?"  Hmmm.....still working on that mystery!  

I see DNA as a recipe, like a recipe for a gourmet meal.  Prior to the recipe being created, it took a lot of trial and error of a person(s) very advanced in cooking (chefs) to nail down a culinary masterpiece.  From there a recipe was created and now that masterpiece can essentially be created by anyone, if followed closely.  

So DNA is that recipe and the outcome is "dime a dozen".  Got some seeds?  Great, plant them and watch them grow, like clockwork under suitable conditions.  And making babies is easy breezy.  It's all in the recipe and again the question is "who is using the recipe called DNA?"  

Science tells us that DNA contains data equivalent to libraries upon libraries of information and libraries are used by "persons"...so.....

IMO, there's a form of life that builds our bodies, maintains them, and repairs them.  And when that "life" leaves the body, the body is "dead".

I don't think I use the DNA recipe to grow my own body....why?  Because consciously I know so little about the body, how it came to be and how it works.  Besides health and nutrition, just learning how to walk and talk took a couple years of gaining strength and trial and error.  No, I learn to operate and care for this body.  It appears to be a vehicle for me to use to live and explore life.  I call it "organic technology", more advanced that any other species that we have on Earth.  

Not only that, but the human person is clearly the most advanced form of "personhood" as well.  There's a quantum gap between our capabilities and the capabilities of every other species.  Nothing takes existing creation and creates something new from it (besides birds making nests, etc...)   We take natural resources and through engineering and chemistry, we completely transform the resource, like making oil into the plastic bumper cover on a car.  Nothing else does that but humans.  

But perhaps, it's me using the DNA, but a part of me that is unseen by conscious me....who knows.   I don't think it's me, but I don't know....this is just my perspective, my ever evolving working model as I continue to explore.

So what am I?   Another form of life (personhood), IMO.  What I see is that the body is organic technology, a vehicle.   And I see that I am the driver.  I sit in the driver's seat.   And when the body is "unconscious" but still alive, it simply means I'm not in the driver's seat.   

Just as a car only animates (moves) when the driver is behind the wheel, same with our bodies.  I tell the body to move and it moves.  I tell it to jump off a cliff and it will!  But I can't be the body because I have so little connection to it except for basic feelings like pain, pleasure, hunger, thirst, fatigue, sleepiness, etc....  And how does the heart keep beating, the lungs keep breathing, the food digest, the wound heal essentially on their own?  I'm not doing it.  I marvel at the intelligence and mystery of the body, but I really know nothing about it.  

So, IMO, death is the absence of that which builds, maintains, and repairs the body in accordance with the DNA instruction set AND my instructions too!

What????  My instructions too????

My instruction sets are called "habits" or "conditionings".  For example, I just don't speak any language any which way.  I conditioned this life within the body (we might call it the brain or the mind or whatever, but we call it a name because it's not us) to speak english with a certain dialect that I imitated from those around me.  I conditioned it to associate meanings with words according to how I was taught from my perspective.  

So in a nutshell, I see two forms of life....that which follows the recipe of DNA (and habits which I think are additions to DNA) and that which is free to explore, living a life of trial and error (free will).   The human being encompasses both.  For example, a human doesn't act like a tree or a cat, except when intentionally and temporarily mimicking one for whatever reason, like in a play.  Humans act like humans, meaning we follow our "instincts" (DNA).

But instincts simply push us to certain behaviors like survival and reproduction.  Ok, we are surviving nicely and reproducing....now what?  Free Will.  Time to explore, wonder, think, and create.  

So getting back to the car analogy, we first need to keep it running, change the oil, check the tire pressures, keep it gassed up, etc...., so that the vehicle can serve us for what?  Exploration preferably....to go see new places and do new things that interest us.  Driving back and forth to work is part of our survival.  Driving on vacation is our exploration of new experiences.  

What is the Meaning of Life?

The only thing I can come up with is this so far....

The human person (you and me) and the human body (organic technology) are the peak of the peak of evolution.  Period.  I see evolution and DNA as "open source", where all of us over a very long time, through trial and error, continuously found better and better ways to play with energy, meaning the creation of "matter".  

Matter is simply energy holding a certain set of properties (the Periodic Table of Elements) and we play with these building blocks like chemical engineers.  (How matter holds itself takes one deeper into the physics behind the physics.)

The meaning of life is simply to live.  That which is alive is creative and intelligent (remembers what worked and what didn't).  That which is dead is repetitive.  To be alive is to change, to evolve.  

So the meaning of life is to explore life itself and experiment.  "Survival" is simply to take care of this organic vehicle that we animate.  It's a vehicle that allows us to take existing creation and create from it.

First we must learn to operate and take care of this body and help those around us learn to take care of themselves.  With technology properly applied, e.g., organic farming, it becomes pretty easy to survive and thrive physically.  

From there we can explore our passions and bring our success to the community for everyone's benefit.  For example, those that love to experiment with food likely would have restaurants featuring amazing cuisine.  

So what is the Purpose of My Life?

That's for each of us to find out.   It's not a purpose given to you, no, that would be a form of slavery.  It's simply this....what do you love to do or to explore, time and time again?  What fascinates you so much in life that you can't get enough of it?  For me, it's to find answers to metaphysical questions.  My gift is to be able to spot extremely subtle nuances...patterns and broken patterns that reveal truths or deceptions.  

So, IMO we aren't here in a school, preparing for some higher plane of existence.  We create the higher planes through trial and error and we live in all planes.  The creative process IS the school.  To be creative means to face challenges because you are venturing out into the unknown.  You create your own school by pursuing your own passions.  

The purpose of life is to live AUTHENTICALLY.  It's a necessity for happiness.  Happiness is part of a an internal feedback loop that rewards wholistic intentions, thinking, ideas, actions and outcomes.  

To live authentically means you are guided by that which captures your attention, meaning that which you want to learn more about and have experiences with.  End of story.  It's that simple, yet so hard in a world driven by social constructs like culture where conformity, not creativity, are rewarded.

And since all of us are unique, we bring a diversity of interests and accomplishments to humanity where we seek to create more interesting and better ways to live wholistically.  

Thanks for reading!  Ron "Andrew"

Please leave your comments and stories below?