Why are we here?

Why are we here?


This question troubles almost each one of us, at various points in life. Many people have tried to answer it in ways they deem fit, but there is no single, universally accepted answer and I believe there never will be. But all of us can surely attempt to get closer to an answer we would like to believe in. Here, I am just trying to analyze my position on this.

Let me begin by Quoting ‘Agent Smith’ from The Matrix :

“ I’d like to share a revelation that I've had, during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species. I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment, but you humans do not. You move to an area, and you multiply, and multiply, until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern, a virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet, you are a plague, and we are the cure."

Well, I am not sure about the cure, but the rest of it has a nice ring to it and sounds close to truth, shamefully close. Though, in a broader sense, multiplying and spreading is all that we really do, what is it that, keeps us a level above a virus? Frankly, we can think of a million things, but basically, a virus is bothered just about its survival, nothing else and even though we humans too are inherently selfish, all of us do carry the virtue of selflessness in varying degrees. People in general, mainly those who have realized the futility of material pursuits, work for the greater good. What this ‘greater good’ is , again varies from person to person. Some may be environmentalists, some others animal lovers, some may be social reformers, while some may just do their bit by volunteering at old age homes. One of the reasons why people, try to do their bit could be that, they ponder over ‘why are we here’ question seriously. Working for a greater good brings about a sense of fulfillment, and that sense of fulfillment is basically what everybody strives for, in their own different ways.

In the race to prosper, to survive and to multiply, people do not find time to think of anything else. Be it the ‘hypothetical question’ under discussion or other issues like ‘if the world is warming up, or species going extinct , or millions dying of hunger, why should I care, or rather what can I do about it’.

I feel, we should care, and we should do something about it, for our own sake, if not for anybody else’s. Coz for now, we might be satisfied with making money and then splurging it, but there’s a good chance that at some point, we just might ask ourselves seriously ‘why are we here’, then if we cant give ourselves a satisfactory answer and aren’t even in a position to do something about it anymore, the sense of hollowness and the realization of the futility of most of the things we chased and worked towards, probably wouldn’t be really nice/happy feelings to live with.

Ultimately, we are here, for ourselves. And unless you believe in rebirth, all you have is 1 lifetime and when that’s coming to an end, if you are convinced that you have done all that you could and you leave this earth a satisfied man, I guess you couldn’t ask for more. Then again, I don’t think that’s as easy as it sounds.

Now that I have begun analyzing this question, I guess the process of me, morphing into a human, from a virus, can start. J

Good luck to you folks