597. Aim of life

According to Nietzsche, the human being has an urge to manifest itself, fired by its ‘will to power’. According to Spinoza it struggles to survive, in what he called ‘conatus’. From biology we know that life struggles against decay, the increase of entropy. All this can be done egotistically, in self-interest, and it can be done benevolently, with regard to others.

In the foregoing I proposed that people should go for spiritual, intellectual and social expansion. Why are spiritual, intellectual and social expansion good? They arise from communicative interaction, and contribute to it. Perhaps we can say that humane interaction is the purpose of life. It need not be highbrow, and can be just a smile or hug.

The perspective of interaction for communication also applies to the relation between humanity and nature. We no longer need to see nature as the god Gaia, attribute homomorphic properties to it, and act as supplicants to it. Nature has no purpose and is indifferent to us, but it does respond. We one-sidedly exploited nature, and it responds with climate change.

The American naturalist Thoreau enjoyed just being in nature, feeling at one with its flow. Nature can inspire us to experience the dynamics I plead for. Nature is in constant change , of air, wind, rain, with waving trees and rippling ponds. And earth quakes, floods and tsunami’s. It is the exemplary manifestation of dynamics. God is everywhere in nature. The creator is not distinct from its creation, as. in German Romanticism. Thereby nature is divine.

If readers of this blog object or have additions, please let me know.