WE CAN attempt to answer the question of why we exist in a literal sense: by tracing our human story back through the whorls and rifts of evolution, through the contested origins of life on Earth and the collapsing cloud of dust and gas that became our home planet 4.5 billion years ago, back to the birth of our universe some 13.8 billion years ago 鈥� and perhaps further still.
Yet none of this story of happenstance helps us in finding the kind of meaning we crave: meaning in significance. 鈥淣ow we know that the cosmos contains at least a million billion galaxies, each containing hundreds of billions of stars, most of which have planets around them. In one of these zillions of planets, as probably in many others, chemistry became complex and evolved in all sorts of critters, one of which, not particularly good in surviving, is humankind,鈥� says physicist . 鈥淚t is clear that any ambition of this humankind to be particularly significant in the grand scheme of things looks silly.鈥�
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That realisation was certainly a big deal when it first brought gods and mythologies we created crashing down, says , who studies the importance of purpose for our well-being at the University of Michigan. That started in earnest in the 1700s, as scientific inquiry began to upend our assumptions about our central place in the universe. Simultaneously, the industrial revolution first saw people leaving long-established rural communities and venturing out into a wider world in large numbers.
The mistake, says Rovelli, is to tether our search for meaning to our cosmic importance. 鈥淥ur marginality in the cosmos does not diminish our significance for ourselves at all,鈥� he says. The point of existence becomes to find 鈥� or make 鈥� meaning with the improbable bit of life we have been given, something humans are particularly skilled at. 鈥淲e are ourselves sources of meaning, desires, thirsts,鈥� says Rovelli. 鈥淎nd we are so because evolution designed us this way.鈥�
Philosopher Albert Camus concluded something similar after some serious grappling with the subject, says Strecher. Like Sisyphus forever rolling a boulder uphill, our tiny lives may seem pointless 鈥� but as long as we are driven by pursuit of our own purpose, it can all work out. As Camus put it: 鈥淥ne must imagine Sisyphus happy.鈥�
The question of what it all means may have particular weight at this moment in human history, says Strecher, not just because of our growing cosmic understanding, but also because we are pushing back the length of human lives. 鈥淎 year is not a year is not a year,鈥� he says. 鈥淟ife has meaning because it is limited.鈥� If we start to extend people鈥檚 lifespans to 150 or 200 years, we need to also think about how to ensure those will be worthwhile years imbued with purpose.
How do we find a sense of purpose if we are lacking one? It needn鈥檛 be a superhuman aim, says Strecher 鈥� you should think of it as a goal built around the things you value most. 鈥淚f they mean zero in the big picture of the universe, who gives a shit?鈥� he says.
