This isn’t an article about the Higgs Boson or Theoretical Physics. In the following article, I’ve elected to use the term “God Particle” to refer to man’s quest to find the answer to the most important question in human history: “Where does life come from?”

Ultimately, my goal is to show that this murderous quest to create life is a ridiculous game of cat and mouse, which has resulted in nothing but tragedy.

Draw a line in the sand. On each side of the line there are opposing groups of people seeking to gain insight into the greatest mystery of human existence: the ability to create life.

The group on one side of the line believes that the ability to create life is rooted in spiritual purity; the group on the other side sees technology as the only way to make progress in creating life. The two groups fight each other with different tactics and strategies, and each group is trying to get there first.

Almost more interesting than their quest are their respective tactics. While one side is forced to live in poverty, communicate in code, and rely on neighbors, the other side has nearly limitless financial resources, the smartest code breakers in the world, and no need to rely on generosity or a home cooked meal. Still, neither side is closer than the other.

Though neither side is clearly besting the other in this spiritual competition, the tactics employed have resulted in a bloody conflict that spans generations. Young men and women on both sides have been shredded by advanced weaponry and homemade booby traps. As the code breakers gain entry into the latest encrypted knowledge, encryption techniques grow ever more complex.

Cameras are omnipresent. It’s hard to know if you’re being recorded or watched even when you’re with your friends and family—and especially when you’re in any kind of urban environment. In fact, the only place it’s possible to have a private conversation is in your own mind because even the most remote woodlands seem to be bugged.

Though one side uses cameras to defeat their less technologically inclined foes, the other side still causes great harm. Gangs are everywhere. Neighborhoods provide as much danger to individuals as they provide safe-haven. Guns and drugs stoke the poorer side’s fire by ensuring that people are kept afraid not just of the elites but of their own. Graffiti, clothing, language, and skin color help serve to divide neighborhoods so that there is competition among the competing. Where money and technology fuel one side, revenge, lust, gluttony, and greed fuel the other.

Sadly, the very competition between the two groups serves to advance progress towards the ultimate goal of finding the God particle—just as poorer neighborhoods advance by their own infighting. But no one seems to ask the obvious question, “Why?”

For what purpose do so many people seek the ability to create life? Thousands of years of warfare, untold victims of greed, all for what? The sad irony is that the very end state these two groups seek—the ability to create life so that it may be enjoyed—is already present. We already have the ability to create life. We already have the ability to live in peace and harmony. So why do we keep fighting?

If these two groups would just stop fighting with each other and realize that they are already living the goal they seek—a life full of love and laughter with family and friends—there would never be a need for another camera, gun, or encryption algorithm.

Not only do we already live the end-state that these two groups envision, the process they are taking to get there is foolhardy. Let’s just take one instance of their embattlement: encryption and code breaking.

Let’s just assume that the smartest people in the world are able to break any code thrown at them (though this isn’t true, for the sake of argument, we can assume that it is). Let’s also assume that once a code is broken there are people out there who can create a new code that has not yet been broken. So, what is our result?

Basically, encrypting data and code breaking is just a game of cat and mouse. There’s really no distinct advantage by either side. Of course, this isn’t necessarily true if one side could always encrypt something that could never be broken (a scenario we’ve ruled out for the sake of argument) or if one side could always break any code (the assumed reality).

What’s interesting however is not whether or not codes can be broken or data can be encrypted but how doing so (encrypting and code breaking) are so disconnected from the actual content of what’s being hidden or revealed. Again, it begs the question, “Why?”

Why are we fighting this war? Why are we so adamant about being the first? If instead of spending so much time and energy in this cat and mouse game we just decided to live our lives—enjoying the limited amount of time we have on this Earth with our friends and families—it’s clear that we’d never need to encrypt anything; we’d never need to break any code; we’d never need to use violence to come out on top because we’d realize that we’re already there.