The big questions of life

Humans have always asked questions about the world around them - we are a curious species.

Some of us enjoy a life which is full of questions, we relish the challenge of searching for answers and finding new questions. Others are afraid of doubt and uncertainty and prefer to adopt the simplistic ideas of religions.

The words and ideas used by religions lack rigour - and the big questions of life are no different. We would argue that the questions themselves are badly constructed because they beg particular answers.

Creation: where did everything come from?

Analysis The question assumes that "everything" came from somewhere - i.e. there must have been a time when there was nothing and therefore there must have been something that created everything out of nothing. This flies in the face of everyday experience and common sense since it is impossible to think of anything being "created" out of nothing. When the blessed Nigella (she who raises the pulse of every red-blooded male) "creates" a wonderful meal, she is not creating something out of nothing, she is taking one set of things (ingredients) and changing their form into another thing (the meal). Answer The stuff that makes up the Universe (matter and energy) has always existed in one form or another and will continue to exist forever in one form or another. Everything within the Universe changes form over time - but nothing is "created" and nothing ceases to exists - it merely changes from one thing to another. Note: the answer does not mention "the big bang". The big questions have been around for thousands of years and the answers do not depend on science - though scientific questions and answers have helped us to refine the answers that were being discussed before the time of the ancient Greeks.

Death: what happens to me after I die?

Analysis

The question assumes that something happens to "me" after death and merely seeks to establish what that something is.

There is no definition of "me" in the question - in the case of religions, the "me" is often assumed to be some non-physical entity - a "spirit" or "soul".

The conscious "you" is the result of the components that make up the physical you. The development of the highly complex human brain means that we have a state of consciousness that we define as ourselves.

Many of us think of "me" as being "something" inside our heads looking out through our eyes. In medieval times this "something" was thought to be a "homunculus" - a little person living inside your head looking outwards.

We have moved on from the "homunculus" though religions retain its analogue - the "spirit" or "soul". There is nothing inside your head except your brain and the conscious "you" is a function of the chemical and electrical activity of that brain. Your ability to think and your ability to feel (your emotions) come from that conscious self which is defined both by your "nature" (your genes) and by your "nurture" (the environment in which you were brought up.) Everything that we see or do, or which is done to us, effects how our consciousness develops - that's what makes each of us unique.

Answer

When we die our brains cease to function and our consciousness ends - we cease to be as conscious beings.

Since nothing is every created and nothing is ever destroyed, the physical components that make up our bodies are recycled in the Universe. If I am buried my body will rot and if a tree is planted on my grave some of the atoms that made up my body will be used to form that tree which, one day, may be cut down an used to make furniture or paper which may be used to print a book. I like the idea that my atoms will never be wasted, they will carry on forever as something new in the Universe after my death. How wonderful that evolution has provided us with bio-degradable bodies!

Meaning: what is the purpose of life?

Analysis

"Purpose" implies "intent" - as if "something" (religious gods perhaps) had placed us on Earth for some specific purpose known only to the gods themselves. Much Science Fiction has been written about the possibility that we are here merely as an experiment being carried out by some beings we can never be conscious of.

This has a parallel in those religions which answer the question "why did god create us?" with "because he wished to be worshipped." The obvious implication is that such a god must be very arrogant or suffer from an acute inferiority complex by desiring to be worshiped. Such individuals often turn out to be bullies - as does the god of the Abrahamic religions. (Note the use of "he" - the Abrahamic god is assumed to be male - though quite why a god would need a penis has never been established.)

Trying to answer the question "what is the meaning of life?" seems to be a permanent quest for those of a religious persuasion. Douglas Adams parodied it beautiful in "Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy" with the invention of the Deep Though computer which was designed to answer this very question. After seven million years of computation it came up with the answer "42". When this answer was challenged, Deep Thought replied "I have checked it very thoroughly, and that quite definitely is the answer. I think the problem, to be quite honest with you, is that you've never actually known what the question was."

Lack of rigour can turn a meaningless question into a make or break issue for the religious.

Answer

Life is what we have and we have only one shot at it - in the here and now. As social animals we human beings have to get on with one another if our species is to survive and flourish.

Here is a crack at a humanist moral philosophy to answer the question:

• To enjoy a good and happy life - free of god, religion and superstition.
• To help others to enjoy happy lives.
• To be trustworthy, fair, honest and kind.
• To treat others in the same way you would like them to treat you. (An idea which pre-dates the Abrahamic religions!)
• To help others who are less fortunate than yourself.
• To enjoy the company of your family and friends.
• To work towards the betterment of society as a whole.
• To be personally responsible for your own actions.
• To be free of prejudice and discrimination.
• To keep an open and sceptical mind - to admit freely when you do not yet understand something.
• To ask questions and demand proof.
• To make up your own mind after study and thought - or to leave a question open if you don’t yet have an answer. Don’t use "gods" to fill the gaps - to answer the unanswered questions.

It is not exactly rocket science - and the average Year 6 class can come up with something similar in less than an hour - without need of gods, prophets, religions or holy men.