“2 years in just 4 months” Part 1
Humans may just be another animal, a particularly “successful” strain of biological systems that somehow “won” the evolutionary game on planet Earth. Maybe. That explanation never quite sat well with me. It’s not that I doubt the science. But there’s a tension there for sure. Evolutionary biologists are always careful to avoid teleological language in their explanations whenever possible, that is to say any words that imply some kind of end goal behind the supposedly unguided and arbitrary material processes that science continues to uncover. BTW, teleology derives from the Greek word “telos”, meaning “end”, but sometimes translated as “purpose”. Interesting, no? The scientific pursuit is an oddly purposeful endeavor that avoids speaking in those very terms. I’ve never been able to get past that tension.
So, we MAY be just another biological system that has achieved an unusual degree of awareness, ingenuity, introspection, social cooperation, and environmental impact. Will other apes achieve the same state given enough time and opportunity?
I don’t know. I listen closely to the science, but I also look closely at the myths. To my knowledge, we’re the only species that has either, let alone both. In TRUTH, all is reconciled. This must be so, or else we need a different word. Don’t talk to me unless you are prepared to seek truth through all avenues available.
Here’s the way I describe existence as far as I understand it:
What you can’t ever escape with metaphysics, is that it is human minds doing the meta-ing. There is no monkey metaphysics or marigold metaphysics. It’s a human thing, so far at least, and so the patterns of the human mind are inescapably at the center of the age-old questions of what is and what it’s like.
Some premises that seem to be true (let me know if you disagree!)…
Most of existence doesn’t grow, but a little bit does (that’s MOTION vs. LIFE)
Most life grows in only 1 way, and then is considered fully mature
Humans have the need to mature and then grow in other ways
Premise 3 is the essence of the human condition, and the reason it feels so strange and absurd
Get it? Grow at least twice, and don’t stop. That’s the human condition. And it’s different from the other ones.
So, how are you growing these days? What does it look like? What is the best way for you? How does your life reveal that? That’s what we call “purpose”. And isn’t it absurd that an unguided process gave us a sense of telos? Science supplies a stunningly accurate technical description of our first growth. Myth supplies a stunningly inspiring pattern for the other kinds of growth. Humans need both. And you need to find your own blueprint of this pattern. That’s our condition. And it’s wonderful when you do.
So, how’s your search? Fulfilling? Or are you missing something?
We’ll continue in Part 2. See you then!