Magnum 22's Treatise on the Meaning of Life.

About 350 years before the good Lord decided to join us on earth a man named Aristotle wrote of some things he described as ends. These included instrumental ends, non-instrumental ends, formal, substantive, and final. If we imagine life as the thing one lives rather than simply the organism that exists we may find it easier to understand the meaning of life by considering the question in terms of looking for a purpose instead of a definition. The purpose of every voluntary action is for an end, according to Aristotle. Don't confuse this end as that of closure. That would mean the purpose of life is death, which many would simply describe as 'not life' thus the purpose of life would be to not live. This is a concept not too different from that of Nirvana, conscious non-existence, to which many subscribe. When the whole world is dead there will be peace. Not the ideas I was heading for, but they're here anyway. Back on track. A few words on ends.

The two types of ends we're concerned with are instrumental ends and non-instrumental ends. Instrumental ends are activities. For example: I want an answer to the question so I'm thinking about it. It's not the final end, that end would be the answer. The result of the activity is the non-instrumental end which ranks higher than the activity. It's like economics, you wouldn't do a job that wasn't worth what you're getting paid.

Non-instrumental ends can be grouped under 'faculties' and without getting too technicals we'll just skip to the highes ranked faculty, Eudaimonia. Eudaimonia, as simply as can be understood, is pretty much just happiness or fulfillment. It's what every act aims for. The final end. The basic logic behind it is that if there is no final end, there's no such thing as an end. Isn't Aristotle brilliant? Furthermore, if there's no ends, which we already established make your actions worth taking, then you can never justify acting.

Now that we've cleared that up, we can start looking for the end of life taking for granted that Aristotle was right about all that stuff. We're not done with his yet, though.

The end, purpose, or function of life is the objective we seek. Eudaimonia is the goal of every action and every action is taken by a being with a function. Every being with a function has an Ergon. The Ergon is the characterizing activity of a thing. For example: the Ergon of a knife is cutting. I believe Aristotle actually used that example. Way to go!! He didn't say prying, throwing, or rubbing with baby oil and storing in a velvet lined drawer. He said cutting! back on track. Excellence is the disposition of a thing to perform its Ergon well. Thus sharpness is excellence for a knife. Now to find the Ergon of each thing he divided the actions that can be taken by them into graduations. The highest function that can be performed by anything that cannot be performed by the things ranked below it is its Ergon. These are divided among living things into vegetative, perceptive, and rational functions. plants are above rocks, animals above plants, humans above animals. Plants can grow, be fragrant, etc. Cows can too, but they can also move around, so anything they can do that plants can't becomes their job. I like to think if this is right, the ergon of the cow is to provide beef and milk. Anyway, the purpose of man, according to Aristotle, is to be logical. What a self gratifying conclusion to be found by a philosopher. Plato wrote that the king should be a philosopher. Aristotle's just following his teacher's path.

Now, I don't like higherarchies. That whole dirt below plants below humans thing sucks. I like the lion king's version, circle of life. Emerson, Rousseau, Wilshire, they wrote about organicism. Everything flows together. I like it. I won't explain it, look at the world to find it and you'll see it. Many of you already do. They also described the pitfalls of our disconnection from primal functions. We're doped up on higher functions, addicted and deteriorating. Nietzsche wrote about the Ubermensch, the man of the future, fully evolved mentally who can function and live well without need of an 'illusion' or the aid of higher beings. We're pretty much there. The ubermensch is the sheep who can't start a fire, fears box cutters, and won't get his hands dirty. He may even wear pink shirts and vote for Hillary. I think he lives in Manhattan or LA. Maybe somewhere in the UK.

Take that, plus the idea of the Ergon, and see where it leads you. Throw in a little biology. Every organism is hard wired for self preservation on some level, even if it means sacrificing one's self to secure the survival of one's genes in the form of progeny. There are some ogranisms that are wired the wrong way and can't do that...don't hate me for that, it's science.

So we have Eudaimonia, or happiness, we've got progeny, and we've got rationale. With our higher capabilities we could create solutions to problems. These solutions are commonly known as tools. the most primal of these solutions, the knife. Progeny? can't have that without sex, specifically with the opposite sex. Happiness? well, in this world of Ubermensch who condemn themselves with the constant stress and complications of contracts, signatures, paperwork, and foreign policies, the simplest way to happiness is to forget your troubles since you can never truly be relieved as long as you're alive. [censored], there's that Nirvana idea again. Conscious non-existence. Something like inebriation?

I guess it all boils down to broads, blades, and booze after all.