Spirituality without Superstition
(Continued)

Despite its imperfections, nature inspires me with its unbounded beauty. From the largest galaxy to the smallest particle, I am constantly amazed by this universe in which we find ourselves. Although I no longer look to any god to provide direction for my life, I still find myself longing to have a perfect—or at least a caring—heart.

Making Meaning
As a bright, I don’t believe in an afterlife, so every second of my time on earth is precious. The years remaining in my life provide the only chance I will have to fulfill my potential and make a difference. The people I love are to be cherished in the here and now for there will be no reunions in another realm. The suffering and pain on earth must be alleviated today because there is no happy ever after in the sky. Beauty is to be admired and appreciated now because tomorrow it will fade away. I must make meaning in life every day, because there is no-one providing a purpose for me to fulfill.

When I was a Christian, I wanted to believe that God endowed the universe with purpose and my personal life with meaning. I spent time every day reading the Bible to discover God’s purpose in the universe. I spent time praying every day to discover God’s will for my individual life. I was not alone in my search. Similar beliefs were held by most people for much of history and went largely unchallenged until nineteenth century philosophers began to consider the possibility that the universe and human life had no built-in meaning. For centuries science had been moving humanity further away from its prized position at the center of the universe. After Galileo discovered that the Earth is not the center of the Solar System and Darwin revealed that humans had evolved from earlier primate ancestors, it was no longer possible to consider that humanity deserved any special place of honor. The answers that satisfied ancient philosophers who had very little knowledge about the workings of nature are no longer relevant to those of us living in the twenty-first century. Even believers know this is true. Some subconsciously hide from this knowledge by burying themselves in a reactionary fundamentalism that claims to provide pre-packaged meaning in an attempt to fend off modernity, while others bravely face the future looking for ways to make meaning through their religion in the face of postmodern meaninglessness. Those of us who are not believers have it a little easier, but it is still sometimes difficult to face the fact that the universe exists for no reason.

If the universe has no ultimate purpose, does that render our individual lives meaningless? I must answer with a resounding “NO!” Although meaning is not provided to us, we humans are uniquely qualified to make our own meaning and to find fulfillment through the act of living purposefully.

Our most basic purpose is to survive, as individuals and as a species. Evolution has given us, as it has every other species, the tools and drive to pursue this purpose. But mere survival no longer satisfies our need for meaning. Both the beautiful and ugly sides of human nature are the results of natural selection and evolution. Consciousness and culture give us the ability to cultivate the beautiful and weed out the ugly.

Selfishness, sexism, racism, and even homophobia may have provided survival benefits to early humans living in small bands and tribes, when our numbers were so few that it was important for every woman to bear children and for those children to be fiercely protected against all possible forms of harm from outsiders. But generosity, selflessness, philanthropy, and community also provided survival benefits as culture developed and eventually became more important than physical evolution in humanity’s journey. These traits are rewarded by our own bodies, as the pleasure centers in our brains are activated when we cooperate with our neighbors and colleagues, bond with our partners, and nurture our children.

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