Philosophy of the Void

Today, I dropped part of a paper clipped document as I was using it to type a paper.  The odd thing was, it seemed to me that my brain registered the fact that it was a paper-clipped document before another part of my brain reacted by being surprised that part of the paper fell away.  After the fact, my brain seemed to construct a story about how it was first surprised and then understood that the document was separable because it was paper clipped.  The human brain seems naturally hard-wired to construct rational stories out of discontinuity.  It is well known in statistics that people are apt to find read patterns into random or uncorrelated scatter plots.  Notions of “luck” probably stem from something like this.  I suspect the prevalence of conspiracy theories is also due to brain activity of this sort.  It is also tempting to attribute elements of religion to the brain’s tendency to create stories out of disjuncture.  Somebody told me once the reason why monotheism is superior to polytheism is because it represents progress in the efforts of mankind to debunk stories that attributed various patterns in nature to the intention of deities.  If this is so, it seems to me monotheism is an odd place to stop.  In any case, the issue seems to be more about recognizing the possibility of randomness rather than descending into total randomness. 

I believe life has no meaning.  When I say this, people often interpret it as a sign of pessimism or nihilism.  The statement can have a different nuance, so let me elaborate.  I think meaning emerges from interpretation.  Meaning takes a cluster of points and redefines them in terms of patterns.  A line can symbolize the number ?g1,?h the letter ?gI,?h the concept of myself ?gI,?h and many other things.  Life is also subject to interpretation.  On a personal level, Einstein might symbolize genius, Lincoln freedom, or Hitler evil.  More broadly speaking, life might mean the service of a deity or cause, the pursuit of happiness or truth, or merely procreation and sustenance.  Meaning can take a simple object and make it terribly complicated, or reduce complexity to simplicity.  In regards to life, I think the primary function is the latter.  In turn, I think talking about life in terms of ?gmeaning?h is to belittle and diminish it.  Our interpretive tools too often get in the way, reducing something beautiful into a crude stick figure.