What if life is not as simple as Yahoo Answers would have you believe?

Question

What if we are all insignificant biological organisms no more special than an ant or a tree? What if everything we do as individuals or as a society is transient and will be forgotten at some point? What if there is no species after us that will dig up our bones and say what marvelous creatures humans were? What if there is no purpose for you/me let alone the entire human race?

What am I supposed to do today or on any other day? Is making someone happy, healthy or comfortable enough to be fulfilled when I die? Is having kids what I should do so that I leave behind something, some chance that my DNA will be around for a long time to come and thus I am not really dead/vanished from the earth?

Answer 1

Ok - I'm going to give this my best shot (as you know, your question isn't a simple one).....

First, I think we are clearly not insignificant - whether or not there's anything beyond this Earth or anything down the line for it. Both spiritual people and biologists would point out that ants and trees aren't really insignificant either, but having said that and returning to us, I can't help but notice all that man has accomplished and is trying to accomplish; and, yes, sometimes man has done some rotten things, but even then most of the time it isn't intentional. We aren't insignificant because we exist in the here and now, we love, we build, we think, we socialize, etc.; and that isn't necessarily insignificant within the context of our existence here. We also aren't insignificant because we have thousands of years of amazing history on the Earth to which we are tied. If this is nothing beyond this Earth and nothing ahead for it or for us, that's ok. We are what we are right now, and we do our best (most of us) at trying to do a good job appreciating the fleeting life that we all have.

I, personally and honestly, don't care if there's nobody to dig up my bones and say how marvelous a creature I was/we were. Sometimes if a person feels something very deeply (such as feeling as if life on Earth here is a very special miracle, a gift and a mystery) such a deep feeling is often most treasured when kept to oneself. For the person who deeply appreciates life - the Earth, the other creatures, the light mauve and gray sky at twilight, the ocean, the children, the pizza, the good friends, the music, etc. - that feeling is deep enough and private enough not to necessarily want or need it figured out in the future by strangers.
Sure, it would be nice to make sure future people knew we are here; but if they don't they don't; and if they're not here then its pretty much the tree-falling-in-the-woods question.

Many people don't have children to leave some DNA. You can do that by cutting off a chunk of your hair and leaving that somewhere. People often have children because they want them. They want to build a family. What happens, though, is when children come along and when parents are required to find their strongest, most solid, most unselfish self in themselves in order to be their best selves for those children. Usually, the love those parents have for those children is the most amazing and most overwhelmingly meaningful thing they've ever experienced, and so often that is when people no longer ask what's out there or what's down the road for Earth. They just see the importance of capturing each wonderful and fleeting moment in the present. No - all moments are magical and miraculous and fun, but the sense of meaning is so profound, not only does it have to be enough but it is more than enough. Sure, people with kids worry about the Earth the children will inherit, but even then there is more purpose in such worrying.

Beyond children, people do try to do something to make the world a little better than it was when they entered it or to make a little difference in other people's lives. There is meaning in that too.

There is a certain "ok-ness" people have to have with the fact that we are here, and there are answers we cannot have while we're here; and may not ever have if there's nothing afterward. We have to accept that if we do the best we can at being the best people we can be and at making the most our days as much as possible and at trying to be a person who adds something to the world in even a small way then sometimes maybe that's all that can be expected. Fulfillment and greatness are not things that people can look for and find. They are what people end up discovering they've found and what people discover they've achieved in some way while aiming to make the most of their individual life while they are here.

I, personally, believe that any God doesn't want us spending our time here on Earth trying to find the answers that we will either have later or that we are not intended to have. I think we are supposed to do our best job at being a person and at adding something to the world and at enjoying our short time here. I think if we're here for some reason all we can do is do the best we can. If we're just accidents of biology, even then, all we can do is the best we can and when we're gone maybe the world will be left slightly better. Either way, fulfillment follows if you build the basic foundation for it by starting with just building yourself and your own little world.

I'm not some Pollyanna with some optomistic outlook. Its just that I think our energies are best spent searching for answers that are possible to find than for those which nobody here on Earth can ever know. I've had enough awful loss in my life to know that sometimes some of the best inner peace, happiness and/or fulfillment are found on those days when you do nothing but read a great book, take your child out for a danish, or rake your yard on an incredible day.

I don't know how old you are, but in general people between 15 and 25 need to ponder all of this stuff in order to come to a philosophy of their own (with the biggest concentration of this type of pondering in the late teens through the early twenties.
Throughout life, though, there are always the ups and the downs and the thinking things through.

Recently, I've been in a kind of slump myself, and then I accidentally ran into this website. I saw a question that made me think my answer might be helpful, and then I saw others. I started trying to challenge myself by taking on certain questions and trying to come up with the best answer I could - so even in a slump time I've found a way to maybe do something that may at least have some shred of making someone feel a little better. Even if my efforts haven't been successful at least I know that I've made some effort to do something nice in spite of my own slump.
If I've made anyone feel even a little better about something, great; but if I haven't then at least I've enjoyed challenging my own thinking, and at least I haven't been sitting here, wallowing in my own stresses. It is often said that "its the journey" that matters. Sometimes you have to be ok with something as simple as that thought.

To want/need to be remembered either individually or as part of man is an ego thing. It shouldn't matter to a truly altruistic person.
If there's nothing after this world all the more reason you try to make the most of your time here. If there is something after then you'll be judged by your efforts I presume. Its entirely possible the world could end some day, but then again it hasn't ended in all these thousands of years (and there's no point wasting our minds and hearts worrying about what may not happen, particularly in our lifetime). Best wishes, Zak. (If you haven't watched the cornball movie recently, "Its A Wonderful Life" with Jimmy Stewart maybe you should get some popcorn and soda and take a look at it.)

Answer 2

well if u keep that kind of thought in ure mind then ure gonna not have any motivation to achieve in ure life and enjoy it. so since thats really something that can't be answered unless i start getting all religious on u, just live your life to the fullest while u r still living, might as well not be depressed 4 the rest of ure life.

cuz if u can ask ureself wat if there is no purpose 4 the human race then u can easily ask, What if there was?

Answer 3

The human race, including any of your descendents, will eventually become extinct.

Answer 4

I haven't found anyone on here who can actually answser your question. Go take a nap.

Answer 5

Wow, Zac, you're a downer!

Answer 6

What?

BOOOOOOOOOOOOH