The Will to Purpose

The will to provide meaning is such an integral aspect of most philosophies, ideologies, religions, and societal rules in general; so strong that we, on one hand, adhere to the scientific methodology of evidence supporting conjecture, while at the same time, some of us worship gods and behave, as well as espouse, thoughts which can only be considered antithetical to rational thought. And yet billions don't seem to realize, or care, that they are committing such a blatant, and constant act of doublethink every single day of their lives. Perhaps faith does indeed require a leap; a leap of what, though? How is faith mentally healthy?

It's been generally assumed, by many psychologists and philosophers, although not fully, that the underlying reason for the formation of laws, order, society, dogmatic institutions, is simply an extension of the human will to control, to dominate, or to submit. That we graduate towards the formation of an organized society based upon a central command structure, and generally, a set of laws, to provide order; and that order, in itself, is a means of control by one party, over the rest of the populace.

However, this seems to me, to be not the only case, and not the only reason. The will to power, so called, is not enough to explain why the human existence orders itself into functional groups. On the unconscious level, the instinctual, animalistic level, we are no different from animals. We kill each other (we mostly stopped the habit of eating each other), we steal from each other, we conquer each other, and we cooperate in a social heirarchy. Animals, the ones currently not shown to exhibit the ability of complex thought compared to our own, if they indeed do not possess complex thought processes, do not ask themselves why they exist, do not create institutions providing an emotional comfort by claiming to know the secrets of the universe. Humans are more complex than lower animals, and we are capable of asking ourselves questions. We are capable of philosophizing, and of posing myriads of question concerning reason, of everything in general.

The fact we are capable of complex thought, and of consciously ordering our societies, seems to indicate more than just the will to power at work here. The will to [create] meaning is, in this aspect, more powerful than the aspect of power, because power does not describe the reasons inherent, nor the necessity of that power, or the continuation, or the dissolution thereof. If the will to create purpose in our lives and justify everything we do was not prime, we never would have organized religions or institutions or politics or philosophical ideologies because none of it would have benefited or mattered to the prevailing human condition. But, that wasn't our fate. The human condition, at this point in time, and for thousands of years past, and perhaps until the ending of the human race, necessitates reasoning, purpose, of our lives, and the societies we serve.
Some people do not actively require an outlet for this drive to create purpose. There are many who are content with their lives and do not worship idols or attend mass gatherings or read contradictory, archaic writings. So, is it just that those people, the ones who need a reason in order to be content, are simply weaker people? Not really. Though, the fact that if someone were to be stripped of their religion if, somehow, that religion could be proven wrong, would be devastating to the human psyche, and has ended, for certain individuals, in self-inflicted pains, or worse. This indicates that the majority of human society requires a validating purpose to their lives. The consequences of lack of purpose would be greatly catastrophic, at the least.

The universe needs not to have a divine "purpose" for someone to have a will to meaning and purpose. The majority of our world believes in a divine purpose, or some form of divine ideology. Those who have chosen to follow a more materialistic and rationalist view have, inherently, no such beliefs in the nature of the universe outside of scientific fact. Much of the history of our world has been a clash between humanism and science against religion and dogmatics. We find such a polarization of ultimate belief from this stratification of thought; to ensure the survival of our comfort zone as per the mode of thought we find most acceptable, we seek refuge in the extremes.

For animals, the will to power is what orders their societies. For humans, not just the will to power, but, even more so, the will to purpose is what creates stability for human society. Whether political or religious in nature, or any other form which predominates, the will to purpose is stronger than the will to power; power simply exists, purpose necessitates that power. And that is how the human condition is.

I find no underlying purpose or reason for the existence of our universe. I find nothing to necessitate a belief in any sort of divinity or ultimate purpose and will. Sometimes, I honestly wonder why I continue living. I believe that once my body dies, the absence of a soul will mean the death of the person typing these words. I know that death is the common denominator of this universe, and I accept that. I'm simply afraid of dying, and I'm not too keen on experiencing it.

We form governments, we create nations, we elect or experience coup d'etats and the rise of dictators and despots and kings alike. We go to school to educate ourselves so that we can get a job when we are older. Most of us will find a mate and most of us will pass on a physical legacy. Which is how I know I'm a pretty extreme nihilist when I think of all these things, and know that there's no point. Every system fails, and this doesn't exempt nations and governments, or even a species. Nature should be respected because it sure as hell doesn't respect you. Yet, I still live, and I still participate when I feel like participating for no real reason. Telling myself I want to experience life would be a self-delusion; life entails pain and suffering and heartache and then, slow death. Saying that I want to live just to live is purposeless. In the end, I realize I don't even know what my motivations for staying alive are.

If there is a meaning to the universe, what good will it do for any of us? We'll all still exist as a weak and fragile emotional human being subject to all the pains and miseries that life brings to us; and I think we all realize, deep down inside, there's more pain and suffering than pleasure and happiness in this world. We will still get a broken heart, we will still suffer broken bones, cuts, scrapes, accidents, and **** will be flung at us just as much as before. Life will still be life, and then you'll die, and nothing will matter. Nothing matters. Not even our own lives. Why would we matter if we simply and utterly die? The mind is such a fragile thing, and when it ends, it can never come back.

I scoff at people who say that our soul/consciousness is immutable. Those who have suffered brain damage have shown personality changes on such a magnitude as to be almost a new person. The original person is dead. A new one emerges from the ego: new, but yet, the same. In some cases, most memory of the original personality is retained; in some cases, not. And then we think about the effects of prolonged torture and brainwashing, most notably the concept of a Room 101, and we really begin to understand that there's nothing immortal or "holy" about the human being.