The last blog left a critical question unanswered: What are we for? or in other words: Why are we here? It is easy to answer by ascribing our existence to evolution – we are the result of change and adaptation firstly by our ape-like, and later, pre-modern human ancestors. They moved out of the tropical forests onto the plains of Africa, perhaps because a change in climate led to fragmentation of the plant food sources and the need for greater mobility. Hence the change to an upright stance and loss of the grasping ability of our feet. But as before, with the cicadas, this is only the HOW, not the WHY.

Evolution has no goals; it is only a process leading to a variety of outcomes, some of which persist for a while, others are unsuccessful – the species of plant or animal fails to survive because it is not sufficiently adapted to its environment. We are one of its outcomes, and depending on how we manage our existence, we too may persist or die out. However, we are the first product of evolution which is fully conscious, can think and has the ability to make changes to our environment.

So we can say that we are here solely because of evolution, but that still does not answer WHY? Perhaps that is a pointless question – do cicadas or dogs or trees ask themselves why they are here? Unfortunately, because we are thinking animals, we are not satisfied with the only possible answer – that we are here because we are here. We seem to need a purpose, a reason for our being. Our early ancestors probably did not pose the question WHY? as they were too fully occupied surviving. Their purpose was just to thrive and breed. Later generations moved on from there to wondering what all this living, striving and reproducing is for. The easy answer was to blame the whole shebang on a higher power. ‘God knows‘ and her/his pronouncements/teachings, as relayed by various prophets, are sufficient explanation. All we need to do, they said, is believe they are true. Whichever faith is adhered to, it usually includes the belief that we ascend to another plane of existence after death, and the purpose of our living is to prepare for the move. I wonder if any of our unenlightened, less-evolved, faithless ancestors made it, and if not, where they are now!

We are here because we are here, and if we want a purpose we will have to find, or make one. This leads back to one of my original premises that, as members of the same species, we are all equal and all deserving of respect. Ensuring the security, nurture, education and health of ALL our fellow humans is sufficient purpose. And, because all living beings, plants and animals, are the outcome of the same process of evolution that resulted in H.sapiens, they also deserve our respect.