Are Meaning and Purpose Determined?

Lack of Meaning

The lack of meaning and purpose in the world is total. There are only physical particles interacting due to their nature, and the rest happens in an unplanned, unassisted and undesigned way. There is no intention, no direction, no goal, only the universe exactly as it is, because of this particle interaction. 

Planets, life, thoughts, bodies, language, morals and technology are all the result of this blind process.

Defying the Truth

It’s obvious and scientifically proven that there is no meaning and purpose to life. I definitely believe that.

However, my whole existence is full of purpose and meaning. This path and this search is a search for the origins of the core purpose and meaning that drives me. 

My purpose is to understand the meaning. It’s wonderful!

Yet still, I would have to say - it’s true that logic and science have proven there is no purpose or meaning in the universe, including in us. My purpose then, is to understand the meaning of that.

Back to Determinism

You have to come right back to determinism because that’s how the world works.

That’s how all matter works.

That’s how humans work.

That's how I work.

That’s how my mind works.

That’s how this thought works.

This enquiry and conclusion is part of an ongoing determined universe - not something thought up and done by me. The feeling of "I am doing it” is part of an ongoing determined universe - not a feeling created by me.

The determined “I feeling” and the determined thought that “the world is determined” seem to clash because the “I feeling” overrides any logical conclusions that undermine its existence. Both the “free will feeling” and the “logical conclusion that all is determined” are determined. 

Mind states and beliefs and thought processes are electrochemical events and reactions in the brain. Where or how did any meaning get into those thoughts at all?

Both the human language of thought and the logic and reason in thinking, have been selected for by evolution as the most productive survival strategy. 

This has nothing to do with truth or falsity which doesn’t exist in the particle built universe. There never was any logic or reason or meaning in a universe consisting of fundamental particles. And all that has happened in the last 13.8 billion years has been particles obeying the physical laws of matter while reshuffling into different forms. Life, human life, and human mental life are hard to imagine as purely physical events, but they are. No meaning ever came from anywhere.

Yet, like a game of Monopoly, we have rules and values that seem to give our lives meaning and purpose. This is all felt and experienced as totally real and normal and proper- but it can’t be.

The particles and universe are real.

Bodies, minds and thoughts are real.

Even the feeling “I am doing it” is real - but as a feeling, not as a fact.

The fact is the universe itself is doing it.

What is the Meaning?

In a YouTube interview Sam Harris is asked “What is the meaning of life?” Sam says it’s being totally in the present moment with the relief, joy and reality that that brings,

But me, I don't think that. I think the meaning of life has to be viewed from an external position, from a cosmological , universal standpoint. That standpoint says there is no meaning except that of particles interacting according to physical laws. From the simplest to the most complicated systems.

That may seem like a “thought” compared to Sam’s “experience”, but it still holds. There are two ideas, each a product of the determined universe.

Meaning in Illusion

Every thought, every feeling, positive or negative, self-confidence or self judgement, can be collapsed into revealing the perfection. Or not. The revelation may be delayed until later, or never. A life of ignorance is just as valid, and probably less worrisome.

All, neither, or either, is the same thing. All are equal. Nothing is out of place. Nothing is wrong. Nothing is imperfect. That is the freedom. 

We are spared feeling the lack of freedom. We are being marched along in a straight jacket but we are still free. And we can be thankful.  

The true fact of determinism, if fully and continuously lived, would be crushing, and yet we are spared that for no reason. Except that that's how it is. We feel the illusion of freedom, not the prison of determinism. And not even the nothing of illusion. Even when we delve into the truth, it can't hurt us, because we can't believe it to live it, except in rare logical moments. The beauty of life is you can know the truth, but it can't bring you down. We dance to the music we learned to play, even though the truth of silence is everywhere, and we can be thankful. 

All Sorts of Trouble

We are living things. We are animals, exactly like rabbits and oysters and owls. None of those creatures have any problems, really. They just respond to the environment and live their lives accordingly, come what may.

But we have a brain, a well developed brain with unique qualities such as subjective experience, fine tuned emotions as well as subtle and detailed communication by language and non verbal communication. Not to mention a grasp of knowledge and logic.

These mental qualities lead us into all sorts of trouble. We think we are more than biological robots interacting with the environment. We think we are self governing entities making choices and causing the direction of our life experiences.

But we don’t have that power. We are still just simple animals, with big brains and big egos that get us into trouble. Yet this is how we have evolved and come to be.

Believing we are masters of our own fate is the height of arrogance. We are really nothing at all, except interacting particles obeying the laws of physics.

But this “masters of our fate” feeling is a natural process selected for as a means of survival by evolution. It goes against the grain for humans to base their lives on scientific truth.

Even those ponderings are irrelevant in the light of determinism. Determinism overrides any “right” attitude or varying opinion. All actions by particles, bodies and brains are determined, not decided upon. Natural selection itself is a process determined by the laws of physics.

Everything you think and do is already determined, including whether you believe that or not.

Language and Communication

Language and communication are the most difficult aspects to incorporate into determinism. How can what seems to be spontaneous exchanges of words concepts and meaning be understood in terms of past events and cause and effect? 

This approach (which has to be true), labels communication as determined and ultimately meaningless. 

If this approach is true, then a seismic shift in understanding needs to take place. Human intuition and common sense may not be involved.

No Turning Point

Fundamental particles are the universe and us. They have no meaning. Life produced brains and the feeling of conscious experience by a self, and there appears to be meaning and purpose. But there was no turning point where anything took on meaning. Brains (including minds), are still the blind results of evolution which is totally a physical process. 

The same meaning (none), before life occurred, is still there after life occurred.

Consciousness, self, introspection, planning and thinking, are all processes and feelings selected for by evolution as a means of cooperating, and improving survival and propagation.

No Agency no Meaning

Debating about the effects of determinism such as whether to punish or rehabilitate a prisoner, or whether anyone is ever to blame for anything, or even thinking about or debating anything else, philosophical or otherwise -  determinism is doing it all. Both sides of the debate, plus the outcome. What happens now or next depends on the current state of the universe. 

Try to understand what the real situation is when the universe of particles is born and develops into this existence with no natural or supernatural agency having a hand in it. No agency, no meaning. No goals, no meanings, no rules, no free will nor free thinking. Only physical laws and particles in the beginning and the same now. Physical laws and particles have created this illusion of our separate existences.

Emergent Meaning?

There is the idea that meaning is an emergent property from original meaningless processes in nature/biology. So we end up with all sorts of meanings in wants, desires and dislikes, goals, ethics and morals, laws and beliefs, analyses, cultural norms, language, self and subjectivity.

Yet even though these “emergent” meanings are established as a large part of who I think I am and what society is, and given that they seem to have grown out of organic chemistry and evolution and biology (all meaningless molecular processes); given all this emergence consider that:

Nothing ever changed from molecules interacting.

Conscious did evolve  but is genetically driven (ie chemical/physical)

There is no new appearance of duality of states. It's still natural selection working on molecules, DNA, genes.

The feelings of being alive with subjective experience, of seeking and knowing meanings, of self, of self awareness - these are all brain processes, all electro chemical reactions.

So even though we feel there is meaning and awareness and free will, this can only be an illusion occurring in an impersonal physical process of matter. The intriguing bit is how to understand and view the process as totally physical with no input from the mind at all. The mind being a result, not a cause.

It’s a difficult concept, but could thoughts, personal interactions, free will and jumbo jets all be interactions of matter - all on the same level as non living interactions? Subatomic particles became atoms, became molecules, became self-replicating genes, became cells, became mammals, became humans with thoughts, language, culture, technology, and with apparent selves.

Is all this interplay of atoms still happening at the basic level of physics and chemistry, except that it’s so intricately complex and very difficult to see by a “product” of the process?

This summary though, isn’t the answer, it’s an attempt to explore the possibility, and find a way of thinking about it.

It may appear to us that meaning has emerged from meaningless matter. But if all the behaviours of matter, and of life, and of minds can be explained without emergent meaning, then there is no need for meaning. Only what occurs for whatever physical reason. Our obsession with meaning is natural because we think we are individuals needing to guide ourselves and others in the “right” direction.

Bliss and Joy

There must be bliss or ecstasy or joy in existence, even a reason or meaning to it. There must be. To make it worthwhile - that’s my plea. That’s the crucial search, and you can say you found joy if you think so. But then you must ask:

What about the people who are suffering terribly or even a little? How do you solve that one? I’m alright Jack doesn’t seem to do it. But then each person is trapped in their own body with its own experience. It can experience empathy or pity or compassion , but it can’t experience or alleviate another’s pain.

So now I’m hunting for the ecstasy of life in spite of others’ suffering and it’s getting complicated and hypothetical. 

Go back to the purity of determinism. Simple physical, hard-determinism, which says everything is already set to unfold exactly as it does - there is no necessity or possibility for intervention. Every doubt is totally programmed to exist. In that vast sense, everything is OK.

But what if I am one of the ones suffering. Or if I am experiencing the joy and bliss sometimes and suffering at other times? How can some sort of transcendental bliss encompass that? Especially if I am still searching or making up my mind.

So again  - it goes straight back to the determinism of particles and all the forms they take.

Maybe it’s just that the truth hurts. And it hurts because I hurt, and it’s not the truth I wanted or preferred. You can’t choose your truth. It has to reveal itself as true, and you can like it or not, but it’s true.

Determinism is like that. Sad but true. Which beats happy but false hands down. You can choose a satisfying and bliss giving myth, but it’s not true, and that makes it useless.

Not only is it better to face a less satisfying truth, but it’s also the only option.

Determinism is sad but true.

And I will keep looking for a more wonderful way of experiencing that truth. But just to remind myself:

For bliss and joy - truth is enough.

Chemical Reaction

Life has the same amount of meaning as any chemical reaction.

Life has the same amount of purpose as any chemical reaction.

At Least it’s True

Re-reading Hafiz (Sufi Poet) and Nisagadatta (Hindu Sage) is wonderful and freeing. A joyful uplifting, full of wisdom and meaning. 

At a certain point though, I realize that as wonderful as the spiritual approach is - it’s not true. It is wonderful but false. Yet even so, it is still comforting. So what next?

Then it’s back to the truth of determinism, with its potential nihilism, and trying to find something uplifting and positive within that.

Well! - you would have to say that knowing a rare truth, one avoided by nearly everyone, is bliss in itself. You can keep on learning and integrating, but the intense search comes to an end. Every false lead can now be bypassed with ease. 

What you can say is that because determinism is true, determinism is already responsible for the lives we all lead, and for the world as it is. So if you like this life at all, or even somewhat, you can thank determinism. Most of us would see that as a positive. 

And another good thing is that as determinism catches on, and free will is seen to be illusory, it might create more of a non-judgemental world, where rehabilitation will replace punishment, and hate and blame might fade away.

There is no guarantee of course, because determinism itself will account for all future changes and events. But we can enjoy the journey as an unknown but hopeful adventure. We may be able to relax a little more, and allow life to unfold as it does.