What is our universe for? What is the purpose of our world? What task is this universe capable of? These seem to be meaningless questions. ...
What is our universe for? What is the purpose of our world? What task is this universe capable of?
These seem to be meaningless questions. The scientifically plausible view is that our world merely exists, there is no purpose for our world's existence, and it is therefore a futile effort to seek meaning for the world's existence.
But are these really meaningless questions? Is it really impossible to find a purpose, and therefore pointless to seek a meaning for the existence of the world?
Our world is a rather specific complex system. If the many constants and laws of nature were not exactly as they are, the world would be very different from what is ours.
It is possible that chance has played the role in making our world the way it is, but the fact is that this specific world of ours is sufficiently suited to carrying a unique property. The mind definitely exists in our world.
It is possible that the existence of the mind is the result of the purposeless organization of material structures in operation. Of course, this plausible possibility cannot be ruled out. (As such, it is plausible that the mind could naturally exist in worlds of different forms.)
Natural or not (even more interesting if it is naturally formed), the mind is a special kind of structure, and therefore our world is a special kind of system: the existence of the mind has a recognizable purpose. And if the mind has purpose, then the existence of a material structure capable of carrying mind necessarily has meaning.
What is the purpose of the mind? What goal is the mind capable of achieving?
The mind is the result of the cooperation of consciousness (which is the ability to experience existence) and intelligence (which is the ability of problem-solving thinking).
The experience of existence has no purpose in itself, and this is true even if the experience of existence, the realization of the reality of existence, is a special thing.
Intelligence, the problem-solving ability, also has no goal in itself. Intelligence is the capability to achieve a designated goal, but it is a purposeless ability by itself.
But the experience of existence, consciousness, allows to recognize what is outside of itself, what is not part of its own existence. Consciousness recognizes that an external world exists. This other world, outside of consciousness, is inherently unknown, and obviously exists.
The recognition of the existence of the external world through consciousness allows the possibility of extending the experience of existence, creates the problem of cognition: what is it that exists but is outside the experience of one's own existence, exists outside of the consciousness? The experience of existence can form intention, it can create the volition to know the outside world. And intelligence, in relation to the extent of intelligence, helps to get to know this external world residing outside of consciousness, the world which appears as a problem to solve due to the intention to know.
The cooperation of consciousness and intelligence can set goals related to the given awareness, their cooperation creates the consciousness that carries the personal intention, creates self-consciousness. The realization of the goals set by self-consciousness forms the mind, the self-consciousness that intelligently achieves its goals.
The purpose of the mind is knowledge. The mind, by discovering the external world, gives us the possibility to know reality, to recognize the reasons of the existence of things that exist. Hence, the existence of the mind is the meaning of the existence of the universe, because it realizes the possibility of understanding the existence of the world.
Perhaps chance has created this particular world, perhaps it has come into being because it can have meaning, which seeks and is able to find the reasons for existence. Either way, there is structure in this world that has goals, it searches for reasons. Hence, our world is a world that has meaning, carries the ability of purpose to recognize the reason for its own existence.
No comments