Everything Under the Sun

I recently learned about the Clock of the Long Now, a 10,000 year clock built by the Long Now Foundation and funded by Jeff Bezos Expeditions. Operation began on New Years Eve 1999, to kick off the new millennium, the year 2000, and will keep time until the year 12,000 AD. The idea of a clock like this is to invoke a sense of Deep Time to the observer - the time scale that we use for distinguishing geologic epochs. The clock chimes once a year, a day is equivalent to a minute. In theory, an object such as this should inspire the contemplation of generational impact and the consideration of centuries in decision making, not days and weeks. This resonates with me today as I write another To-A-Year essay. 6 years doesn't seem very long (yet) but since I began writing down my thoughts and experiences, about life and the world, I have found myself considering the impact of that writing on a later version of me, even on my progeny. And 6 years later, the To-A-Year essay remains one of m...

December | Meaning of Life  |   Week 52  | 12/31/2023 What is the meaning of life? Part 5    Recently I discovered Shakespeare's Sonnet 29, which tells of a common male experience: the experience of self loathing, of resentment, disappointment, and envy, catalyzed by an avarice for all that life has to offer. The Sonnet showcases the agony of that all too common situation but details with beautiful literacy, the single, shining antidote - Love. For me, love, truth and wisdom are beacons of light in a dark cosmic background. They form a strong base for meaning in my life, and I feel fortunate to have become satiated in their pursuit.  When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,  I all alone beweep my outcast state, And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,  And look upon myself and curse my fate, Wishing me like to one more rich in hope, Featured like him, like him with friends possessed, Desiring this man's art and that man's scope, ...

December | Meaning of Life  |   Week 51  | 12/24/2023 What is the meaning of life? Part 4    Of all the arguments I've found most convincing to answer this question, the work of Dr. John Vervaeke on the Meaning Crisis has been the most impactful. Vervaeke talks about 'meaning in life' vs 'meaning of life. His approach follows the learnings we've gained from cognitive science, about what makes people feel as if their life has meaning - therefore yielding meaning in life. One can observe children (or adults) engaging with video games and detaching from society. Why? What does a good video game offer? 4 things, he argues; [1] Purpose, [2] Coherence, [3] Self Transcendence, and [4] Flow State. If regular life was capable of delivering these, then people would rather spend their time in that context than in the video game. Starting with purpose, the obvious purpose of the game is to beat the game, to complete all the quests, collect all the gold, etc. Moving to coher...

December | Meaning of Life  |   Week 50  | 12/17/2023 What is the meaning of life? Part 3 The Buddhists and the Christians both speak of a natural state for man, which maximizes life and gives us meaning. The Michelangelo Principle states that Michelangelo could look at an uncarved block of stone and see David. The Christians agree with this - that we are born an uncarved block of stone and we must discover the inner David, through discipline, adherence to rules, struggle and strife. The Buddhists believe we are David, the flawed being, suffering from the attachments to life, and that we must shed our attachments and return to the natural state - the uncarved stone. With such a difference, the Christians would purport that the meaning of life is the struggle to adhere to truth, to carve away the sin, and to live as God intended us, worshiping him and doing his will. The Buddhists would say that the meaning of life is to rid ourselves of possession and return to the nascen...

December | Meaning of Life  |   Week 49  | 12/10/2023 What is the meaning of life? Part 2  Rummaging through the file cabinets in my cognitive landscape, a panoply of concepts have reference strings to this question. I find the teleology argument compelling - the idea that there is a natural telos, or pattern of meaning in the world that's capable of investigation. This aligns with religious thinking, that natural meaning is ordained and orchestrated by an external source. The idea of scientific exploration builds on this structure arguing that we  can  investigate the natural world and understand it - which in fact is implicitly religious, for there is a "goodness" or virtue to this exploration. The way I understand it, this chain of concepts runs counter to the idea of hedonism, that the meaning of the world is subjective and is to be found in the pursuit of our whims, not the exploration of the natural world, which follows some set of laws. Also contrary...

December | Meaning of Life  |  Week 48  | 12/3/2023 What is the meaning of life? Part 1  Of all the questions one might ask themselves most intently and with the deepest sincerity, there is none more sobering than  "What is the meaning of life?"  This is indeed a beautiful and complicated question. 'Life' can be interpreted as the collective noun or the singular. It can refer to one's own life, or to the conscious experience of life on aggregate. It can reference the purpose of one's own existence or the reason for existence at all. Meaning can be applied to the subjective feeling one gets from an experience or the objective purpose of one's life. These 6 words, punctuated with a question mark, have occupied the minds of billions since the very first mind could be captivated by a question. I feel there is no better way to conclude this introspective journey that I've embarked on over the past year, than to ask myself the deepest, most elusive, most pro...