God, Meaning, and Teleology

[_MrStakhanovite]

A New Blog post is up:

Let us suppose that I am some kind of alien super being, with near limitless power over a material universe not unlike our own. Feeling that I lack a general purpose to my existence, I begin a task of creativity that truly tests the limits of my power. I create worlds without end, populated with gorgeous landscape, flora, and fauna. At the end of my creative work I sit back exhausted and admire my creation, feeling fulfilled.

The contented feeling doesn’t linger, and I’m left examining my creation with the growing and gnawing concern that as beautiful and complex my creation is, a clear and obvious testament to the genius of the artist, isn’t much more than just a thing, an object that lacks any intrinsic objective value that lacks the same kind of purpose it’s creator does.

Before I let those lingering doubts get the best of me, I set about creating some special creatures to populate my worlds, whom I weave a complex and compelling plan for their existence. Numerous dramas play out across this universe, on each of my worlds, where these special creations suffer and triumph, rise and fall, but each drama is destined to finish with a happy ending, where all injustices are corrected, all the loose ends are tied up and my special creations comes to love me as I love them.

But my doubts persist. Was I able to create meaning for myself and my special creation because I arbitrarily decided to make a plan for them? Can meaning be created by such a symbiotic relationship? Is meaning meant to be so circular?

[_sock puppet]

A New Blog post is up:

Let us suppose that I am some kind of alien super being, with near limitless power over a material universe not unlike our own. Feeling that I lack a general purpose to my existence, I begin a task of creativity that truly tests the limits of my power. I create worlds without end, populated with gorgeous landscape, flora, and fauna. At the end of my creative work I sit back exhausted and admire my creation, feeling fulfilled.

The contented feeling doesn’t linger, and I’m left examining my creation with the growing and gnawing concern that as beautiful and complex my creation is, a clear and obvious testament to the genius of the artist, isn’t much more than just a thing, an object that lacks any intrinsic objective value that lacks the same kind of purpose it’s creator does.

Before I let those lingering doubts get the best of me, I set about creating some special creatures to populate my worlds, whom I weave a complex and compelling plan for their existence. Numerous dramas play out across this universe, on each of my worlds, where these special creations suffer and triumph, rise and fall, but each drama is destined to finish with a happy ending, where all injustices are corrected, all the loose ends are tied up and my special creations comes to love me as I love them.

But my doubts persist. Was I able to create meaning for myself and my special creation because I arbitrarily decided to make a plan for them? Can meaning be created by such a symbiotic relationship? Is meaning meant to be so circular?

Circular is, I believe, correct. It's busy work, to take our mind off of the search for meaning.

[_MrStakhanovite]

Distraction isn't a bad thing, so long as it's temporary and used to alleviate stress. But I still wonder, what meaning a plan like the LDS plan for Salvation could hope to impart on us.

[_sock puppet]

Distraction isn't a bad thing, so long as it's temporary and used to alleviate stress. But I still wonder, what meaning a plan like the LDS plan for Salvation could hope to impart on us.

Stak, don't keep peeling the onion. There's nothing at the core.

[_sock puppet]

Distraction isn't a bad thing, so long as it's temporary and used to alleviate stress.

Very utilitarian of you, by the way.

Is distraction to keep us from paying attention to the little man behind the curtain a good thing?

[_MrStakhanovite]

Stak, don't keep peeling the onion. There's nothing at the core.

Are Mormons, like Ogres, just like Onions?

[_MrStakhanovite]

Is distraction to keep us from paying attention to the little man behind the curtain a good thing?

I think that’s the purpose of work, so we can take our minds off the very unsettling idea that we are always just a few rogue cells away from death.

But you can't keep your head in the sand the entire time.