I know that sounds rather presumptuous, but given that each of us is just one of many – and, when it comes down to it, not all that different from each other when it comes to what we bring to the table to take on the challenges of everyday life. That is to say, how different can we be in our overall approach to life, when as members of one species we are primarily driven by our shared biology, and the differences between us are no more than varieties on a theme, i.e., they are differences of degree, and not of kind.

Beyond that, there are the circumstances of our birth such as the place and social-economic environment that we grow up in including our culture –  that help shape us into the individuals that we are today.  That this will leave each of us as distinct and unique individuals with needs and desires and expectations from life possibly as different between two people as day and night is undoubtedly true, yet at the same time the differences again are a matter of degree, and not of kind.

And if I can shed some light on the meaning and purpose of life for myself by sharing my thoughts about it, perhaps this might help someone else to start thinking about what life means to them, and add some definition or context or value to their outlook on life in a world that, in my humble opinion,  is going down the wrong path in terms of pursuing the best possible future for our species.  This is not to say that I think the human race is irrevocably going to hell in a handcart, although there are many among us who appear to be doing their best to make this happen.

I’m thinking of the massive environmental damage being inflicted on our precious planet on a daily basis, and beyond that: who can begin to enumerate the number and variety of social  economic and health issues ranging from poverty to homelessness to starvation across the globe? Just this week the NY Times in an article titled The U.S. Can No Longer Hide From Its Deep Poverty Problem showed a tally of those living on $4 a day or less in selected developed countries, and it included 5.3 million people living in the US.  I don’t necessarily want to pick on the US, but with the highest GDP in the world you wonder how this can even be the case when a country is deemed the wealthiest country in the world.

Then there is the disturbing statistic that half of the world’s wealth belongs to the top 1%, while the top 10% of adults hold 85%, and the bottom 90% hold the remaining 15% of the world’s total wealth.  If you believe that these discrepancies  are simply a function of some folks working harder and smarter than others, and reaping the benefit of it, then bless you, but you may have to learn something about how some people, organizations and certain governments operate in order to produce the incredible wealth that they have accumulated.

So against these things  – and with the brazen assumption that there is a lot more going on in the world than meets the eye –  I am introducing “the larger context”,  which, I postulate, naively as it may be,  is the true meaning  or intent behind the world. It is the reason for it being there in the first place,  including our very own presence in it, and something I hope we will  be able to get a glimpse of once we look  beyond the nonsensical content of religious dogma  (of whatever flavor) and the unsupported and hence unintelligible notion that someone or something else is in charge of our world beyond ourselves.

Why do I think there is ” a larger context” or  “true intent” to life that we are currently not aware of?  Only because we are the offspring of the greater cosmos, and as such contain its “DNA” within every particle of our being.  We are in fact one entity! As a result, what motivates it likely motivates us, either directly or indirectly,  and then at  a level where we would be capable of initiating some course of inspired action commensurate with the evolutionary achievement that we currently represent. However, at the moment one might be hard pressed to think much of that,  given the aforementioned sorrowful status of the world today, and that would include the questionable quality of  leadership of some of the most powerful nations in the world at the moment..

But it is without question that our evolutionary path shows that the cosmos is on a mission, and to date we  appear to be that mission; it is just that we don’t yet know what that mission is about. But it would be unreasonable to think that this is a multi-billion year mission of self-annihilation, given the kludge that we are currently making of it, although I hate to think that we are  doomed to end up that way because we haven’t evolved enough in the grey matter department to be able to take care of it.

And so my hope is that by  gaining even an inkling of  understanding of the world’s greater purpose, on the assumption there is one  – oh, and what an assumption – we might eventually be able to abandon the current seemingly runaway path of self-destruction by rising to the occasion and take ownership of our destiny by determining as best we can what our role should be in this fantastic cosmic adventure that we have only  just woken up in.  Evolution is providing us with some pointers here, but we need to be able to understand a lot more of what has moved us along its path to the present moment  before we can start making more  sense of it.

In the end, much of this is about not being able to see the forest for the trees, or, for that matter,  the universe for the stars, when, usually, the whole is larger than the sum of its parts –  and so is the world; we’re just not seeing it at the moment, and my greatest fear is that we might never be able to.

The ensuing year proved many of the dire predictions true and consistent with what one might expect from having a leader who might best be described as “Captain Chaos” if it wasn’t for the fact that there is nothing comical  about the current leader in the White House. Well, perhaps his unique hairdo might qualify for a sad laugh or two. Personally, I very much regret ever having seen it.

I can’t help but think the Americans have done themselves – and in the process the world – a huge disserve by installing a head of state who couldn’t be more divisive even if he tried to. This as opposed to electing someone who would have made America “whole” again. And this is not to say that the loosing candidate would have made a much better choice – and although this would certainly have been the case in the intelligence and experience department – as divisiveness appears to have become a permanent feature on the US political landscape for some time now.

So, we start this year on the back foot once again,  as it is clear from the absolutely sorry state of the world today that  we haven’t got a clue of why or what we are doing here, all 7.6 billion of us, on this planet, in this universe, all the while fouling our own nest as we ride roughshod over our fellow human beings – as well as the many other living creatures on this earth – in a haze of metaphysical and ideological confusion, and in the West more than anything else, driven by insatiable consumerism.

For many – if not the vast majority of people in the world – it is difficult to see beyond the current moment as the effort to survive and provide for themselves and their families occupies their daily lives from morning to night.

Nevertheless, trying to understand life – or the raison d’être for it – our world, the larger universe, is something we should all have an interest in. That is, if we want to experience and value these things beyond the tragedy we appear to be mired in today, and in a way that show our daily actions to be steps in the larger task of advancing our species in line with an evolving universe that otherwise appears to be descending into entropy.

The inescapable fact remains that we are finding ourselves at the receiving end of a cosmic event that we do not grasp the meaning of by any stretch of the imagination, yet we soldier on regardless – seemingly without goal or purpose. Or at least no goal or purpose that would in any way make sense or do justice to the sheer scope and unimaginable effort that the universe represents and that is represented within every particle of our bodies. Even a mere inkling as to where we are going with this can be a beginning in the way we shape our lives and create a world that is more meaningful while suggesting a destiny that is worthy of this effort.

And when it comes to exploring these kinds of thoughts on a medium such as this site for more than ten years now,  I am under no illusion that I am writing this  for a very small audience –  and as such will be stating my views primarily in my own echo chamber.

But so long as I am making reasonable sense to myself I will be satisfied, even with the full realization that I might well be bleating into a vacuum. Nevertheless,  I continue to hope I can get someone else thinking about this material, and so I want to be sure I have presented my views as clearly as possible.

This is just to say that – if I have any pretensions at all – they apply to anyone who also believes that our species is in serious trouble and slowly but surely giving in to the forces of entropy. As such we appear to be marching towards extinction unless we change our ways significantly, and for the better – using the amazing creative energies that lie within – and towards a future that represents the very best in us. But, it is clear that this day has not yet come and is likely still some time away …

Only the day after tomorrow belongs to me. Some are born posthumously. (Nietzsche)

And indeed, if you look at the various forms of human organization that we are familiar with today – and consider something as complex as a modern democratic nation state – its successful functioning depends entirely on the organizational capacity of its people to integrate its many socioeconomic, moral-legal, cultural and political dimensions into a stable entity that is able to persist over a long period of time.

In the end, we can see a world order that exemplifies this principle to the extent that individual abilities are maximized for everyone in the interest of the self and the larger good, and that should mean we are no longer a threat to ourselves or the planet we depend on for our continued survival and well-being.

Then, we will be ready for the next phase of cosmic evolution, whatever that may be.