As of mid-October 2026.
The first thing to realize is that reality exists across multiple levels, or dimensions, or realms, and (literally) scales, many of which we have no intuitive sense about. Humans exist in a very tiny corner of reality, with intuitions only about the pocket of reality we evolved in, yet presume that in all the enormous cosmos, we are the most important things that exist.
This means that asking for “the meaning of life,” by for example looking up at the stars, is a category error. It’s a confusion across realms that have no common protocols.
My hunch is that the ancient philosophical questions like What is the meaning of life? Is there free will? What was the beginning of the universe? — are likely similar category errors.
MEANING
The standard modern notion of meaning is that people create their own meanings. Whatever is meaningful to you, whether it’s family, art or music, ambitions to invent something new or explore someplace new, that’s your meaning of life. It’s up for you to decide.
The traditional, religiously inspired notion of meaning is that humans exist to worship the god that created them, or serve some function is a larger order of reality. This is analogous, as so much religious thought is, to the protocols of human existence, in how children are by necessity utterly dependent on their parents, in a way that’s analogous to worship. Children by nature accept whatever their parents say as true. Up to a point — when they realize parents don’t know everything and the world is much bigger than their parents have told them.
This maturation has not yet happened in the human species, as many people do think their lives must be devoted to worshiping their god. (Which, in practice, simply means supporting their tribe.) I find it a puerile view of reality, one that ignores the vast cosmos that humans have detected in recent hundreds and thousands of years, one that dismisses that cosmos in favor of one species on one tiny planet in one galaxy out of billions. It strikes me as the sin of pride. It also strikes me as analogous to a slave mentality. If there is no god, many would wonder, what do we do with our lives? It’s like, if I have no Master, who am I a slave to?
WISDOM
Wisdom is understanding how different explanations are needed for different realms, or domains, and cannot be mixed and matched. It’s about not making such category errors. The world is not simplex. It is not black and white.
Wisdom is understanding that different explanations, in different realms, can all be true, in different senses. Wisdom is understanding, for example, that evolutionary drives motivate human behavior. That religions reflect human relationships, as if the entire cosmos exists to reflect the protocols of human survival, and how this is unlikely to be true. That the feeling of ‘love’ is a subjective function that has evolved for the purpose of reproduction, yet can in principle be understood as a function of instincts, hormones, and chemicals – but, further wisdom, that doesn’t make the subjective feeling of love any less important or vital or real. That’s the different levels, or scales, coming into play. Different meanings exist at different scales.
PURPOSE
Purpose is distinct from meaning. In a plain way, a table leg has a purpose given its function as part of the table. The leg can’t be swapped out for a teddy bear.
The ordinary religious purpose of worshiping a creator is, obviously, a projection of human master/slave relationships, an example of the hierarchical instincts of base human nature.
Purpose, rather, could be asking what the unique function of something is, whatever that something is best suited to do, compared to all the other somethings in the world. Find that purpose and pursue that — it’s up to you. It could be as commonplace as parents raising their children. It could be applying some unique skill and not squandering your talent. This scales up a bit. What is the purpose of life? To hold off entropy, Michael Shermer suggests; to prolong the life of the cosmos.
PROGRESS
Frederik Pohl defined progress as the expansion of options. Finding new ways of increasing the betterment of humanity. This is what progressives try to do; conservatives resist their efforts, in preference to the stability of past.
On a broad scale: Progress is the steady improvement of the human condition, including the expansion of knowledge, and ideally comes from the sum total of people identifying and pursuing their purposes in life.
Transmit your knowledge and experiences to the next generation. Leave the world a better place. Don’t coast through life propagating the same stories you grew up with. Learn something new, and pass it on.
