That Gnawing Sense of Meaninglessness
When all the comfortable worldviews fail us.
Most of the time we go about our lives comfortably ensconced in a worldview of one sort or another that provides all the values necessary to keep us engaged. For some of us this worldview is a religion. For others it a more secular way of seeing things.
Either way, these worldviews get us out of bed in the morning. They give us some sense of purpose, even if that is only the satisfaction of animal appetites. But a time comes when all these worldviews fail to screen us from the stark reality of the world in which we live. Then we feel it: that gnawing sense of meaninglessness.
In the natural world — the world we inhabit despite all the trappings of civilization — organisms go about the business of living, of acquiring sustenance and reproducing. Then they die. All organisms, that is, including us. What is it all for? One could say that nature is for itself, that this endless parade of living things fulfills an irresistible urge in nature, but that tells us nothing. Not really.
The problem here, of course, is that we are thinking creatures. I doubt the finches visiting the feeder in my backyard or the chipmunk that comes around daily for handouts ever question their existence. They are too busy just trying to survive. I seriously doubt that the flowers in my…
