COLUMN: With graduation comes a need to reflect on why we are here
Toward this end, tradition has it that in my final column I pit my accumulated wisdom against one of the most fundamental of questions in the universe.
Having previously conquered the mystery of how the filling gets inside a Twinkie and where the bread goes when you make toast, I stand ready for the greatest conundrum on earth.
Why are we here?
Yes, I intend to not only discuss, but actually solve the purpose of our existence. Well, perhaps that's a bit ambitious. Tell you what ... since I am an egalitarian guy who believes people should make decisions for themselves, I will present the best candidates for your consideration.
I will give the pros and cons of each in an unbiased fashion typical of today's media (read: I will slander the Hell out of options I don't like). Then, like a buffet of worldly wisdom, you can shuffle along with your plate in hand, snatching tasty bits of wit and real-life advice. There's also an open bar in case you're interested.
* Procreation: From a biological/evolutionary standpoint, this can be the only real answer. We are, after all, merely a vehicle for our genetic material. Of course, this does lack the humanistic poetry many people seek in their day-to-day lives.
* Money: With the collapse of the Soviet Union, money has once again enjoyed great popularity around the world as both a means and an end. If it can be done on this world, odds are you need money to do it. If it can't, you can pay someone to figure out how it can be done. In a country where the richest four percent of the population owns 50 percent of the wealth, money remains an elusive and enticing solution to our troubled existence.
* Power: The capacity to control the lives of others and steer history directly was popular even before money existed. And although no reliable kind of mind control exists (yet), many people seem satisfied with mere physical and economic domination.
But these days it's not enough to be the only tribe with iron swords. If you want military or political power (or both), you need the financial backing. After all, 90 percent of the candidates who spent the most money in the last election won.
* Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll: These three seem to go well together, especially since sex became firmly separated from procreation around the time Rock & Roll was invented.
On the other hand, drugs have a much longer history; many great figures from the past swore by opium, cocaine, marijuana, laudanum and a whole host of wacky pharmaceuticals. It wasn't until the '60s, when the whole countercultural ethic nucleated around these three ideas, that we find people devoting entire lives to its three tenets. If you're young, its fun to try. If you're over 30, look for something else.
* Karma: I have always had a fondness for the cyclicity of karma; you simply keep going around until you get it right. It's a very forgiving system that allows you to correct your mistakes without any sort of time constraints. And, of course, there's much comfort to be had in the idea that you'll be right back. You just have to hope you're not an insect next time.
* Knowledge: We know that people never stop learning throughout their entire lifespan. Could this be a clue that we exist merely to acquire as much information as possible, to squeeze the world we live in for as much information as our minds can hold?
For people with an academic bent, this certainly seems reasonable. Through knowledge we can advance science, medicine and comprehension of the universe on all levels. Our brain is a complex adaptive system which never stops evolving, pushing us to search for ever finer grains of the truth.
* Exploration: From our humble beginnings somewhere in east Africa, we have ventured to every corner of the globe and populated much of it. Generations move from city to city, country to country, continent to continent.
All of humanity has a kind of wanderlust; we travel around the world, even if only for a vacation. In many ways, this goes with our need to acquire knowledge. This urge to explore allows us to place ourselves in danger only to discover a new place or new people, when we could have been safe in our own village or home.
* Sublime Acts of Communication: Most people would call it art, literature and music. However, the idea of plumbing the depths of your soul for something which you wish to communicate not only dates back to the dawn of human history, it may actually mark the alpha of humanity.
Naturally, there were no written languages at the time, but certainly there is as much of the creative spark in a story told around a fire as there is in a novel composed on a computer.
Perhaps we are here simply to share our unique perspectives with each other.
Tempora Bona Volvant.
Jym Schwartz is a third-year graduate student in the Department of Geology and Geophysics.
This item appeared in the Opinion section of the May 19, 1995 issue.
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