An Intricate Machine

I just had this weird thought about how odd our human existence seems when you look at it from a different perspective. We spend a good portion of our days doing something for other people — usually using a skill we have that they don’t. Those people need that task done so they can obtain the supplies and services required to live as long and as happy as possible and to bear and raise children to do the same. We do those tasks for them so that we can do all the same things.

It’s a big, endless, repetitive and extremely intricate machine put into motion well before we came into existence and it will continue this way until long after we’re gone. We are single gears in this machine with a small part to play in the machine.

I’m certain I’m not the first person to make this exact observation. (In fact, I’m pretty sure I’ve thought about this before.) I’d bet almost everyone does realize this, in some form, at some point in their lives.

It’s depressing to see the world this way, but difficult to ignore. If I had no belief in something beyond our existence here, I’m not sure this is a world I would want to live in. I’d probably end up creating some explanation of some purpose or entity beyond our existence anyway, just to have some sense of purpose and a will to keep living.