Big Bang happened some 14 Billion Years ago. It started the process of creating the universe as we know it. Scientists say that there are more than 2 billion stars in our mid size galaxy called The Milky Way and possible there are more than 2 Billion Galaxies bigger, smaller or about same size as us. This is an estimate but it certainly provides a context of the vastness of Universe and gives a perspective of where we stand as humanity on Planet Earth.
When did life began on Earth? The question has many answers. One can say that the first single cell organism that was just a collection of amino acids without even a cell membrane, was initial life. Others can argue about intelligent life appearing much later. However, for the purpose of this article, we would take the former since it fits the evolutionary goal of life.
The single cell, no-membrane organisms did not live long. May be milliseconds. So soon enough they evolved into having a cell membrane. Gradually they began to collect and form bonds, multi-cell and longer life. The distinct feature of life is the instinct of survival. This was the first step to evolution. The organisms that replicated with mutations and the mutations that survived sustained life and were our ancestors. Through these mutations during reproduction or replication, the fittest species have survived have grown and gone extinct at the same time. Life, as we know it, has evolved over the course of 4 billion years of Earth's existence.
Out of the Billion odd years of living beings on Earth, humans are a late entrant and have been around for about 400,000 years. That is a minuscule period considering the age of Universe, our planet Earth or even life on Earth. Mode of communication like language and writing to strengthen thought beyond safety, food and shelter is less than 10,000 years old. All the species around us had a very simple mode of communication around them. They communicate for the basic needs of survival, mainly for food and safety. When humans developed complex mode of communication and created settlements around them, the basic needs survival was no longer a threat. The thought had now started to evolve beyond survival. We started to ask the questions of why life. The questions started to arise on Purpose of Life, since survival was almost given at this time. All the species around us have always and still existed with the need of survival and us humans have transcended beyond that.
Some say Philosophy is the mother of Science and Religion. Philosophy as a discipline is tasked with such questions about purpose or meaning of life. Philosophy took its root in ancient Rome at a time when the city was rich and safe, there was an influx of slaves from Africa and people had lot of time in their hands. Anyone having a new idea or thought would go to the city centre square and would start speaking, whether or not anyone was listening. These new thoughts, ideas and observations later got bunched into Philosophy, an organised study. Since the day, humans graduated from mundane task of hunter, gatherer, farmer and providing safe shelter, they began the quest of finding Purpose of Life beyond the mundane.
Fast forward 5 millennia. We have made our life much simpler and have grown as a specie. We are largest inhabitants in all the continents except the frozen one. Both Science and Religion have grown as a bigger disciplines than Philosophy and have provided lots of answers to humankind. They have also provided rules for the living and have made leaps to make life easier. However, we still find ourselves pondering over the question, is there more to life than just living? If death is a finality to which we all are progressing, what is the purpose of living?
Purpose of life is to live a long and comfortable life. All other things are secondary or by-products.
