The Search for Knowledge - where will it end?

All human beings search for knowledge.

What is the end of that search? Can we discover knowledge that will bring our search to its conclusion? Is there a foundational truth that explains all other things?

This is the search for the ultimate truth.

We seek the foundation of reality, the fundamental principle on which everything rests.

The end of knowledge has a two-fold meaning

But there is another meaning to the end of knowledge. An end is a conclusion, but it’s also a purpose. An end is a goal we strive towards.

Why do we want to know this fundamental truth?

It’s not only curiosity that motivates us. We need to know this ultimate truth before we can know the meaning of our lives.

Knowing the ultimate truth about the world means knowing why it exists.

If we know why the world exists, we also know why we exist. Only then can we know the purpose and meaning of our lives.

This is the goal of our search for knowledge. The ultimate truth about the world tells us who we are and why we’re here.

What should we do?

This search for ultimate truth is the question of causal origins.

Why is there something rather than nothing? What is the ultimate nature of that something? Was it created for some reason, or is it all a cosmic accident?

When we answer these questions, we know the reason for our existence.

Which means we also know the highest goal we should strive towards.

Without knowing the end goal, we can’t know which direction to move. We can’t know which actions will take us toward the goal and which actions will lead away.

We can’t know what should, or should not, be done.

This is the deeper reason for our search for the ultimate truth. Our quest for truth is our quest to discover our personal destiny.

Science can’t answer this question

A common misunderstanding is that science can discover why the universe exists. But this question is beyond the limits of scientific method.

Science is one part of our quest to discover the fundamental truth of all existence. Scientists search for the Theory of Everything. They want to discover a mathematical equation that describes and unifies the physics of the entire universe.

But even if scientists eventually discover this theory, it will never tell us where those laws of physics came from. It can’t tell us why the universe has these particular laws.

Science can’t tell us why the universe and its laws exist, rather than not existing at all.

Science can only describe how one existing state changes to the next existing state. Something must already exist for science to be able to describe it. Science can never tell us why those states exist.

Science’s quest should more accurately be called the Theory that Unifies Everything Physical.

The purpose of the universe

This misunderstanding about the limits of scientific explanation leads to another misunderstanding - that science tells us the universe has no purpose.

It’s common propaganda to be told the universe is meaningless. Scientists often tell us our lives are a cosmic accident and our existence is insignificant in the vastness of the universe. But these claims are overreach by scientists. Science tells us no such thing.

Scientists can say science has never found any purpose, but that’s vastly different to there is no purpose. The first statement is scientific, and the second is a strong philosophical claim.

If science can’t tell us the reason the universe exists, it also can’t tell us there is no reason and it’s all a cosmic accident.

Science is silent on the question of why the universe exists.

What does it mean to know?

Many people think the inability of science to tell us why the universe exists means we can’t know the answer.

This is the insidious dogma of scientism. It relies on assuming science is the only method we have to know things about the world.

But even once we recognise the difference between science and scientism, many people still think we don’t have enough information to know the answer.

They rely on logic to answer other questions, but stop short of following it to its inevitable end on this question.

This sceptical hesitation is based on another misunderstanding, what it means to say we know something. It’s common to think knowledge means certainty, people talk about proof. But most of the things we know, we’re not certain about.

Knowledge means something is true, and we have good reasons to believe it’s true.

Of course, it’s always possible that we’re wrong when we say we know something. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t believe anything is true.

That means we should always be ready to update our beliefs as we learn more.

Agnostic is not an option

When it comes to the question of cosmic origins, we can’t know the answers with certainty. We can’t even know the answer with confidence beyond a reasonable doubt.

But this is the same as most of our choices in life. And despite our inadequacies, we must choose an answer. Because these are practical questions about the best way to live.

The question of why we exist is the foundational question about how we should live. The reason for our existence provides the basis for our world view, the interpretative lens that orients us to the world.

The practical consequences of a purposeless universe are very different from the consequences of an afterlife and an eternal destination of the soul.

If God exists and there is an eternal afterlife, as most religions claim, it’s foolish not to engage in activities designed to achieve that eternal existence.

Despite our inadequacies, we must choose the answer we think is best. It requires us to have the courage to take a leap of faith. Faith in ourselves and our own estimation of ourselves and the world.

We aren’t passive bystanders in the world. We aren’t powerless. The fact that we aren’t omniscient doesn’t make us incapable of finding truth.

We effect the world constantly. Survival requires us to constantly interact with the world.

Ethics requires us to choose the terms of that interaction.

Creation mythology

All human cultures have asked and answered these questions about our origins. Their answers don’t usually look anything like our modern practice of ontology.

Our culture separates science from philosophy. Science discovers the mechanisms of the natural world, and philosophy is a theoretical pursuit for professional academics.

Most human cultures understand that this separation is artificial. They don’t think the important focus of our creation story is the mechanics of how physical states change from one state to the next.

They tell a story, a creation mythology.

These mythological stories take us beyond the bare facts about the world and explain the meaning and significance those facts have for our lives.

They explain what we should do about those facts. What it all means for us personally.

These narratives tease out the logical consequences of the creation in a format all humans can understand and relate to. They provide a story which guides us. It inspires us to live our best lives and achieve our full potential.

We become the heroes in the story of our lives.

In the modern world, we have unprecedented freedom to decide the answers to these questions for ourselves. We also have unprecedented access to the knowledge and answers given by the wisdom traditions throughout human history.

We’ve never been better equipped with the resources needed to follow our conscience and find our own authentic path.

What do you think of the world?

What do you think of yourself?

What will you do about it?