The aim of my life

@sandman

see, I completely understand what you are trying to say, and I had half-written a post on that once.

It's called, "What is the aim of my life?"

There are three levels to it. What is the aim of existence. Of anything. Of this world. Of you. And my answer is, there's no aim. Which is the same as yours. The world just is. There's no good or bad, nothing matters.

The second level is, what is the aim of a life-form? That, it seems, is survival, and multiplication. By hook or crook, the gene tries to survive (I've heard The Selfish Gene is revolutionary too).

The third, is what is the aim of your life, as a conscious being? And my answer is, whatever gives you kicks. Do whatever your heart tells you to do. That's something we all search for in life. You've got a life. Enjoy it in the way you can best.

Now, you have only used the first level of "the aim of life" to drive your point home, and have completely ignored the 2nd and the 3rd level. In the end, nothing matters, so why care? May humanity rot in hell, who gives a crap?

And you're right. It is so. But the point is, we are stuck inside mortal bodies. We have life. And consciousness. Now, using an ethereal viewpoint makes everything immaterial. But why are we using that viewpoint? aren't we mortal? Don't we have to save our asses? And of our children? Doesn't humanity have to progress, so that our genes can live long? If either option doesn't make a difference from the ethereal viewpoint, why not choose the one which is "good" for "us" in the earthly viewpoint, i.e. in the second level.

If we were cows, then we'd have done it in the usual way, eating and mating. But since we are humans, our consciousness has allowed us to figure a lot of things out. Dawkins is one of the persons who's doing things which are good at the second level.

At the third level, you are free to do whatever you want. This contradicts with the second level, since you have to do things which are good for your/the species' survival. For Dawkins, he has figured out that the second and the third level are the same for him. His heart says, do what is good for the people, and that's what he's doing. This may not be true for you. You may be inclined to kill your entire family to see how it feels like. Or become a mad scientist (bwhahaahahaha) and destroy the earth with an uncontrollable fusion bomb.

I have this technique for preserving the sanity (i.e. conforming with the second level) of my actions. I assume that the 1st level is the only truth, hence none of my actions have any real consequences. So now, I'm free from the 2nd level, and can do whatever I want, conforming to the third level. Seems insane? No. I trust my instincts, and believe in my basic goodness (again, 2nd level). So whatever I do, would be in the interest of my species. Now, this allows me freedom from any pressure/responsibilities from the 2nd level, and so I can keep up the good work. I assume that this technique would work for a lot of people (at least for people contributing to/learning from science). Heck, I'd make this into another post :P.