Every life is meaningful, every life is worth living

In between conversations about hazing students and putting our laptops on top of our shoes, my weekly discussion group discussed the concept of absurdity. It started in response to a question on the philosophy department’s white board on the concept of absurdity. For the sake of this conversation, we put aside the question of a god or a creator that imbues things with purpose. 

The definition of absurdity that we were using was as follows. On the grand scale of the universe, every single thing that any of us does is meaningless, so the amount of energy that we put into every action and every day of our lives is inherently absurd. Nothing matters, so the work we put in is ridiculous. The philosophy of Absurdism states that, because nothing matters, there is no reason that we should not do what good we can, be kind to those we can, explore, adventure, and have fun. It is the other side of the coin of Nihilism. Nihilism states that nothing matters so we should just be miserable or not care all the time. I am quite fond of Absurdism. I like the thought that, because nothing matters, we might as well be good. In a void of purpose, good is, in my opinion, far preferable to any alternatives. And when we don’t have a big purpose we must fulfill, it doesn’t matter how big or how small our lives end up being, as long as they make us feel whole and complete. 

Although I like this philosophy, it is dependent on the fact that none of our lives have meaning on a universal scale, that we are all tiny drops in an enormous ocean. In our conversation however, we began to disbelieve that foundational truth. Yes, we may be drops in an ocean, tiny specks in the universe, but without any drops, there would be no ocean. We may be tiny, but every drop in that ocean, every life that we live, fills the basin of the sea more. Not only do we make ripples in the ocean, we make the very ocean itself, thus making each and every life meaningful, even on a universal scale. While we may only be one drop falling in an ocean, you never know if you may be the last drop before a flood, the last drop before a drought, or simply the last drop. We never know where we fall on the timeline of the universe. We could be the beginning or the end of something enormous. Thus, every life is meaningful, not only because the drops make the sea, but because every drop could be the last, or the first. 

Absurdism posits that, because nothing matters, we might as well be good. It is a wonderful philosophy for those who do not believe in a greater purpose for the universe. It is however, based on the foundational belief that everything, all actions, all life, is, on a universal scale, fundamentally meaningless. That we are all tiny drops falling into an endless ocean. But that’s not true. Because, though the ocean may be enormous and the drops tiny, if there were no drops, there would be no ocean. With no lives lived, with no effort made, there would be no universe. Every life is meaningful, every life is worth living, every person has an impact far beyond what they can ever comprehend. Never stop being good, it’s all we can ever hope for.