Our Universe and Competition

The existence of our universe is a very mysterious thing to a lot of us. We like to come up with hypotheses about why it’s here, how it got here, and what it’s future will be. Finding out how our universe came to exist is probably a very different process from finding out why it exists, and the latter answer is many times more elusive. The word “how” in these questions focuses the question onto a sequence of events that birthed our universe. “Why” on the other hand, implies that there is some kind of purpose or reason for the universe to exist.I’m no physicist, so I can’t tell you “how” — even most physicists would tell you the jury is still out on that question. The other question of “why the universe exists” is much more my focus.

Why does our universe exist? Scholars, theologians and philosophers throughout the ages have still attempted to answer this question, despite the elusiveness of the answer, and often with very different results. As far as our limited knowledge of the universe can tell us, there does not seem to be an outright “reason or purpose behind the universe.” There is no book that you are handed as a child that explains exactly why the universe is here.  There is usually no cosmic informer that reveals this information to you, either at a young age or old. As such, it is very hard to derive an explanation about why the universe is here from a universal perspective. So perhaps “why the universe is here” that is not the question we should be asking.

Instead, perhaps we should be asking “why are we here?” Unfortunately, there’s no obvious reason for us to be here either. We all have different ideas on the subject, and perhaps those reasons are perfectly valid in their own right  for each of us individually. But a unifying reason, a reason for all of us to be here? No such thing. Well, at least we are very uninformed as to what that might be.

The funny thing about reason and purpose is that they are almost always defined  by one or more conscious beings. The best way to find a unifying reason behind our existence  is to directly consult whatever put us here, whether it is ourselves or someone else, to figure that out. Unfortunately, we have no way of knowing who to consult on this matter. So we must derive our answer from what we have available to us now.

From our perspective, and from what we know about biology, our world seems to be extremely competitive. Each being, group, nation, species, is competing for sustenance, resources, territory, life, and to some degree, happiness. We are also required to cooperate in order to succeed in our competitive world. Natural selection, it would seem, is perhaps a more prolific of an idea than originally considered. Likely, if we discover that our universe has life on other planets, we will have to learn how to either cooperate with them too. We should always remember that we are many times more successful together than apart. The amout to which we are driven to compete, the amount we are driven to mistrust and fear each other’s success, is the amount by which our own struggle will be multiplied. That said, our universe would seem intensely natrually selective or “the truimph of the more fit.”

Animals, people, city-states, nations, even the planet as a whole, must struggle to survive and to become better. We must take this as a sign of intent. If there is any intention in our existence as a whole, if we are here for any reason, that reason make provision for our struggle. Struggle and competition is one of the most universal things in the beings of our planet’s existence. Struggle is not a nice word, however, and struggle’s cousin “strife” is even worse.

The only real antidote to struggle is cooperation. Everything else, including “the triumph of the more fit over the less fit” is only a precusor to more struggle, and likely more strife. So, if we are driven by our very selves to compete or to struggle to survive, and to be happy, but we do not wish our existence to be some kind of massive war with each other and our environment, what other options do we have?

The other kind of system than involves competition, struggle, and cooperation, is a game. Are we game pieces or players in a massive game we call reality? If we are, how do we score higher?

Think about it. If we are game pieces or players in a massive game, we are probably playing for some kind of payoff or gratification. We are playing this game for our own happiness. We are playing to be happy. I belive that the potential for happiness that we have in this existence is very very great. We simply need to cooperate to find it for us all.

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