Society is just an illusion, there is no such thing. This works off my prior post that the world is only individuals. By individuals striving to do their best and achieve their goals, the illusion of society is created, this illusion being that the world has a perfect working order and there is such thing as the masses. Really, the world is a place for the individual to achieve what they want to do using the world around them; that is the case for every body. It is a good thing!
I hate philosophical theories that drain motivation, such as idealism and fatalism. Are people going to say that the one life we have, the one form of existence, is fake and/or meaningless? What an insult to the magnificence of life! The fact that we are here is incredibly amazing. But as I’ve also said, it makes no difference. No matter what, the individual strives for what they want, and this world must allow individuals to achieve their desires!
As an individual, sometimes it can seem overwhelming going up against the world, or thinking in terms like that. All throughout human history, the world has just been individuals. There is no such thing as the masses, only large collections of individuals. Each individual forms their own idea of the world and lives to try to fit in with it; every single human is just fitting in. As individuals, we are very powerless, but as humanity, we are an extremely strong force. Despite are metaphysical weakness, we can still strive to reach our full potential, and contribute to the world in the best way we can.
Every physical thing that happens due to a human has a lifetime of experience behind it. For example, if somebody moved a chair four meters to the left, that chair would have been altered by someone who had a childhood, thoughts, experiences, hopes, etc. What goes in to the food you eat is the work of thousands of people, who each have a life as intense and challenging as you. We are not alone in this world; we are inexplicably linked in ways we cannot fathom, and because of this link, we must all work to be strong parts of the chain.
Last week, that is, May 30th to July 6th, 2009, I went to Ocean City, MD, where I stayed with some friends in a beachfront house. There, I learned the true value of freedom, as I was able to go anywhere I wanted at any time, and I had enough money to do basically anything I wanted to do. It was amazing, and the quote, “Freedom is the last, best hope of humanity,” now makes perfect sense. Freedom is certainly something that must be fought for, and if you don’t think it is vitally important, just think about how life would be if it was lost.
There are so many other people in the world, it makes one realize a few things. First, the individual is extremely insignificant, outweighed by the hugeness of everyone else. Conversely, the individual is also very special and unique, because of the feelings and desires contained in each one.
Most importantly, other people give all of our actions meaning. What we do has meaning because it is acknowledged by others, and some has meaning just because it is acknowledged by ourselves. I have learned that one of the very important reasons to live to your fullest potential is to fulfill your obligation to other humans, both for assisting you in survival and making your life have meaning.
It can be easy for many people, including myself (in the past), to be heavily downed by philosophical concepts, such as the world isn’t real, it’s all an illusion, etc. The important thing to remember is that no matter what theory you come across, absolutely nothing changes. You are who you are, everybody else is who they are, happiness is real, pain is real, and life is magnificent. No matter what, everything stays constant until the day you die, so there is no point in wallowing in despair about an unmeasurable and probably untrue theory.
There are many people, like idealists, who believe that reality is inseparable from human consciousness. Or, in a broader sense, that reality isn’t real, and there is no external world and such. If you look at things realistically, that is simply impossible, or at the very least, improbable on the grandest of scales.
First point; humans evolved. For humans to evolve, there has to be a point at which humans do not exist, which means there is a reality without human consciousness. It could be argued that it is all some grand illusion, evolution included. If you look at reality, you can see this is no illusion. If you get cut, you feel real pain and bleed real blood. We all have extremely complex circulatory, respiratory, muscular, skeletal, endocrine, nervous, and respiratory systems that could not have been built by ourselves. When you get hurt, a doctor uses his knowledge of these complex systems to save you; that is no illusion, that is not fake.
One thing I’ve noticed about reality is that it is easy to think it is unreal when you are in a state of relative calm and safety. If you are in danger or in pain, suddenly everything is real and immediate, and not detached. The time then is no different from the time now; it’s all real, all the time. Pretty good argument, hmm?
All humans are the same. We are all born, we all live, and we all die. Nobody is truly different from anyone else, except in appearance, skills, and social status. Of course, it is these differences that are so important in our world, but when they are stripped away, the only thing left is a fundamental sameness that can never change.
Life on Earth is pretty amazing. Absolutely all forms of life, even viruses, have DNA, which enables them to live and pass on their traits. DNA is the code that makes an organism what it is; specifically, it sets the rules for what proteins are made and where they go. All life shares the characteristic of having DNA, from humans to trees.
DNA also seems to prove the common origin of all life. Listen to some of these DNA similarities, retrieved from here. A mouse has 92% matching genes, a fly has 44%, certain single celled organisms has 26%, and even a weed is 17%. All life is extremely similar.
Also, could this mean that life cannot exist without DNA? Does this mean that all life throughout the Universe is similar as well, and aliens really wouldn’t look much different from us? It’s possible.
Many people ask what the meaning of life is, but if there is some kind of grand meaning, it is impossible to know. Just like it is impossible to fathom how many stars there are in the Universe, or the vast experiences of just one other life, we cannot fathom a greater meaning.
However, we do make our own meaning. Some people believe they were put on this Earth for a reason, to achieve some purpose, and who knows, maybe it’s possible. But it’s very obvious that not every human is put here for a purpose, so why would some be destined for something and others not? We all interpret life in our own way, but the bottom line is, we are all here beyond our control and we have to live. I don’t believe in a greater meaning, I believe we should live as comfortably and happily as possible, and try to enable others to do the same. After all, what more can we ask for?
Philosophies | Light | 
June 15, 2009 12:15 pm | 
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