Conversation about

Purpose of life and evolution

With the topic:

fate

pray

"What's the Purpose of life?" ask CP.

"Before we go on talking" I said, "we should clarify the question: 'What is meant by 'sense'?"

"I think I can use suitable means to go the way to my aim."

"So, way and destination?"

"Yes."

I nodded. "The answer to your question: The sense of life is to live and to produce offspring. Both are deeply rooted in human beings - in the primordial structures.

Then it depends on what sense you find in your own life. This clarification can be found in the knowledge of the self-lying aims that want to take shape in the world. "

"Cannot it be," he asks, "that behind life is a higher aim, a higher plan, a higher power?"

"Sure, that higher power is the substances and laws that make up everything," I replied. "One thing is for sure: The purpose of life is to live, for life has its own goal and is making its way."

"Then life is an end in itself?"

"In this connection one often hears the sentence:" That probably has its meaning ". What is meant is that a higher - metaphysical - authority set it up in such a way that what happened had to happen as it happened. That this so it was so predetermined by this.

That is hardly ever questioned.

Now meaning (as I said) basically means yes: goal and path. It is true that everything is controlled by goals. But not in the way the speaker means. It is about the laws that are not metaphysical but the content of every substance and determine the process.

In fact, everything had to happen as it did. Except that the above opinion that a higher authority has so determined is only a belief.

Because quite a few people believe that supernatural things are at work here. But life is only the striving towards the goals that are in the respective living being. "

"What do you think happens when we die? Is nothing left of us? "

"Nothing gets lost in space. I myself see myself as everything else, which for a certain time forms a unity in which they undergo changes, and finally, in space."

"There is a saying that the historical event is a progress for good and reason."

"Well - if you look at the history of the world, then this statement can hardly be maintained," I replied. "I would like to ask: where does humanity want to go, what does it want to achieve, what is its goal? A state of peace, freedom, harmony, salvation? If you think consistently and go through life with open eyes, you see that this is impossible in the long run."

"How is it with evolution?"

"Evolution actually means only development of one species. It is the doctrine of the ancestry and the further differentiation of the various living beings.

(In addition, Epigenetics  is an important tool for the program to adapt genes to the environment and is also inheritable, affecting the genes through their turn-on and turn-off caused by their targets.)

The aims are - with epigenetics - a powerful thrust for evolution!

Evolution has as its central foundation the genetic change, the mutation that happens to come into play, thus opening up a new branch. New structures in the genome happen to be copying errors, which, if identified and used as a means of adaptation and which prove to be better for existing in the environment, lead to a new structure.

This is not the goal. It's all about the survival of the individual and the production of Offspring.”

"How did it happen," CP ask, "that all living beings have the urge to produce offspring?"

“I think,” I guessed, “when life came into existence billions of years ago, creatures had to protect themselves from competition if they wanted to survive. This worked best after reproductive behaviour was possible through reproduction, when you produced as much of the same kind of being as possible and then had it around you. This is where the 'idea' of growth came into being. Since this has proven itself well because the chances of survival increased, this is anchored in all species. And this could be the reason that all living things produce offspring. "

"So, you do not mean that evolution is purposeful?"

"Not in the sense of a personalized service. It is not an intelligent creative force that creates something, but the targets in the living beings more accidentally use the mutant structures. Triggers for this are usually, as I said, efforts to adapt to survival.

It can be said that evolution always has something to do with mutation, and it is more or less used by the individual's life to get better and longer. The goal is in life, not in evolution. In other words, it does not set the goal - many, even beneficial mutations are not used for a long time or pass away again - but life. This discovers it by chance and harnesses it to its goals.

Evolution does not push to live and produce offspring, but these two goals are deeply rooted in every living being as goals in the primordial structures. And these goals shape people - not evolution.

As I said: evolution only means development. This only takes place according to substances and laws and does not create its own goals. "

"So, evolution is not an instance," CP repeated, "which does something, initiates, chooses, and steers toward a specific goal, as one sometimes feels when talked about?"

"You really have that impression," I nodded. "There is talk of experiments of evolution and that they pursue this or that goal."

"Could it be for some people such a kind of substitution of God or religion, a world view that should show the meaning of life?"

"That could indeed be the case. There are many people who believe that the goal of evolution is to bring living beings to ever higher forms of organization; the crown is now human. But to put it another way, it's not evolution that sets the goal, but life, more specifically, survival in the environment.

The course of evolution only looks as if it is directed.

The first is a matter of chance and the second is a matter of survival.

To be clear: evolution is a result of the goals (the substances and their laws) neither of which is directed by evolution. And it is not also so, that a higher being wants to make people more and more perfect. "

“I read recently,” said CP, “that organisms with a higher adaptation value are favoured by evolution and that successful adaptations are more likely to be passed on to future generations.

Since adjustments are based on random deviations in the solutions that were suitable for previous generations, the result always bears the stamp of the best possible solution with the existing material.”

"I would put it a little differently," I added: "Organisms with better adaptability are favoured by life and are more likely to survive longer.

It is true that adjustments are based on random deviations in the solutions that were suitable for previous generations.

However, the result does not always bear the stamp of the best possible solution with the existing material, because it is often not used at all - precisely because there was no coincidence that could have accessed it.

There is also fallow material, such as in the period when the feathers developed, which had no particular benefit for living beings at the time - but also meant no disadvantage for survival. "For a long time, they were only used as thermal insulation."

"But there are evolutionary biologists who say that every new biological structure must have brought about a survival advantage!"

“Yes, you could say that to keep your picture of evolution closed. They are at the midpoint of their theory of evolution.

I think there have always been a number of new biological structures that have emerged as by-products, some of which have been used later, others have passed unused.

From statements made above, such as: "... is favoured by evolution", you can see very well how it is viewed as an independent, driving force.

And to be clear: evolution is a result of goals (substances and their laws). And not that a kind of evolutionary being wants to make people more and more perfect. "

We were silent for a short while and followed our thoughts.

--- fade ---

Then CP said, "There are people who quarrel with fate, believe that life owes them something and demand the fulfilment of certain desires. You, Mr. Hermsch, say you should accept your destiny, because it had to come as it came, because everything is made up of substances and laws. "

"Well - fate is defined as something that cannot be changed. If you cannot accept what happened, even though it had to happen like that, then you make undoubtedly a mistake that is absolutely human, because everyone has their own goals to achieve. But one should not demand anything from fate. Complaining and blaming is useless. This is merely a transfer from his former caregivers to destiny. Every time I feel like quarrelling with it, I say, 'What happened had to happen as it happened.' That helps me to accept the past."

"But how can one accept destiny when horrible things happen, such as before the eyes of the mother, when her infant was crushed by enemy soldiers against a wall, what actually happened in the war?" CP asked. "If terrorists kill or mutilate people, leave emotional traumas that last until the end of life, the horror always come back up? Or when people have been quartered, walled in alive, stoned, their arms and legs chopped off? The list of terrible deeds that people have done to others throughout history can be continued indefinitely! And I really ask you, Mr. Hermsch, how can one accept fate after such experiences? Then how can one say, 'What happened had to happen the way it happened'? To those who have done this horror, to look it up and live on normally? "

"Of course, you are right.  That is, as one sees again and again and experiences in itself, almost impossible. Nevertheless, the statement that everything had to be done as it happened is an undeniable fact. You cannot escape his fate. If you cannot accept it, it is - destiny.

It is gladly personified. If something bad happens to you, a lot of bad luck was involved, you might get the idea that fate is after you, that you should have this bad luck.

I find it always noteworthy when people are angry that this very event happened and blamed it on a force majeure that has just put this obstacle in their way. Ultimately, this is a strange thought, caused by anger, anger or belief in mystical events. More specifically, this is the reaction of targets in one that have not been achieved. Maybe these people believe in positive or negative spirits who mean good or bad with them.

But there are no good or bad spirits, just substances that run according to laws.

It is just as 'nonsensical' to believe that if one was lucky, a higher power wanted to target it. Anyone who thinks they are preferred by fate is wrong. " 

"But the feelings often speak a different language," CP said

"Naturally. These may tell you that something is preordained - that is, that it has been set up just as intentionally, that this or that happened to you - in a positive or negative sense. One also speaks of the malice of fate or of its favour. Of course, in this respect there is neither malice nor favour, but simply natural processes. Fate is humanized and personified. In fact, many people believe that what happens is precisely what has to be done in such a way - by a higher person or a metaphysical rule.

There are many who wish for miracles. Whoever does that, would at the same time wish that various laws of nature be suspended for a certain period of time. If one wishes, for example, that a desert might be turned into a thriving landscape, even though this would make the meteorological facts impossible, or someone would not die, even though he cannot be saved, then indeed various natural processes would have to be stopped - out of the blue, so to speak - just to make this possible. "

"Or if you want a lottery win," CP interjected.

"Yes, what would not have to be changed to make this happen, unless coincidence leads to it anyway. Some winners then judge this as if fate had chosen them specifically. If that were so, then, as I said, many natural processes would have stopped and the whole world would have to focus only on that person, because nothing should stand in the way of what should happen. Would not that be a crazy idea? "

"How can one come to the idea that fate has chosen just this luck or misfortune for one? What causes could underlie this belief? "

"I think, by projecting his experiences with people on the fate, so make a transfer. Man is born into a human world. In the first few weeks and months, they completely determine the view of the baby. The experiences with his caregivers leave him with the impression that the 'world' can deliberately act positively or negatively and that he himself can deliberately exert influence. He transmits this from the people to the world, he humanizes them, so to speak, and says that he has a will that means good or bad with him.

Well, one can more or less influence people's behaviour, not fate, but the wish can blind them. "

"And give hope," CP interjected.

"An essential value," I nodded, and continued, "Now, of course, one can also say that at the beginning of the universe, it has been set up so that it can happen, that is, everything has focused on that one moment. But honestly, is not there something too important? That everything should be about yourself? "

"But you also say that everything has to happen the way it does."

"Yes, because of the substances that run according to the law, and not because a god or something like that has precisely tailored it to a person.

For example, believers often live in a mystical-magical world where anything is possible and a supernatural person, such as God, can override the laws of nature. People who believe and pray do not want to realize that nobody can, not even for a short time. They want to continue believing because this is part of their world. "

--- pray ---

"Then pray has little purpose?"

"Well, that's how you can influence your world of perception yourself. But when you ask for something or wish for something, then you transfer the freedom you think you have to the world and say that it also has that 'freedom'. The objective world, however, is not impressed by that; it is strictly based on substances and laws."

"Then people who pray make a fool of themself?"

"More or less they firmly believe that praying to the outside world is helping them, and with that they are right: in fact, they are changing their world - their perceptual world."