The Miller-Urey experiment proved that simple organic molecules could be synthesized from inorganic substances, laying the groundwork for understanding how life might have arisen from non-living matter; life, from non-life, using chemical reactions. This provided us the understanding of how we got life. Chucky Darwin taught us how we got from life's start to all living things: Natural selection, where organisms with traits better suited for their environment find success through survival and reproduction, over unfathomable timespans. And it truly is a beautiful story, the existence of all life, and the selective pressures which led to their existences. 

This provides a basis for understanding a small aspect of life as we know it. But I've always held that the story can't be complete without also recognizing: humans, in our long and storied journey to what we are today, have attained intelligence! The evolution of human intelligence is such an interesting story in itself. And because of that massive intelligence, because we have complex and abstract thought, language, creativity and art - morality and ethics - humans now have the means to create their own meaning to life. Humans are able to find happiness, fulfillment, and purpose in their own way, and should endeavor to strive to do so, when they have the capacity and means to do so. To define for themself what their own meaning of life is! People are a product of their circumstances: beliefs, experiences, memories! That uniqueness which defines them also allows them to give weight as to what they ultimately want out of life, and on the methods to attain it.

However, this would be still incomplete without recognizing that these are lofty and ideal words: humans have to come up with their "meaning of life" under the conditions and societies that they live under. In the US at least, there is legitimate, systemic suffering—homelessness, exploitation, hunger, poverty. What does finding a meaning of life mean when the day-to-day is a constant struggle, with a real threat of hunger? Housing is not viewed as a human right. Clothing and basic needs are unmet, health care is a material concern. Even when employed, under our current mode of production, large amounts of people are alienated from their labor. Children are born into families where they are not entitled to equal levels of education, where opportunities exist for some, but not all. One's background or conditions outside of their control can prohibit them from their own self-improvement. The media promotes consumer culture and ideologies of their choosing onto mass society, driven by profit motives. Society is structured for the enrichment of a select few, at the expense of the well-being of many others. And even my advocating for finding happiness in one's own way might lead to pursuit driven by greed which harms others along the way. Given this, happiness and empowerment might ultimately require a society where resources are shared more equally among all members of that society, at the very least without worrying about basic needs.

Without the stressors of material needs, self-actualization would be able to take place in a far more holistic way than would be currently feasible for far too many people. Where my ideal of using human intelligence to define our own meaning and happiness would truly exist, in practice, and not just on paper. And that, I think, would be nice.

And with these major parts of the story written, these are my provisional musings "on life".