The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for

Animals don't need meaning or purpose. I do believe that they respond to love and kindness especially when domesticated and certainly there is no more loyal friend than a dog. But their lives are lived by way of a stream of consciousness that basically responds to the world around them

Man is an animal but with an added element which isn't at all needed to achieve survival of the our species. I don't think it has anything to do with the size of our brains. A nuclear reactor has a purpose it can be used to generate power and therefore it could be argued that it has a meaning for humanity which allows it to fall into the general parameter of survival of the fittest . But there is an inescapable metaphysical component to meaning and purpose which most certainly doesn't. Something compels us to look beyond physical creation and ask why me? I think if we are perfectly honest the answer always seems to lay beyond us 'The person without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder' Thomas Carlyle.

I was reading a book recently about crime scenes and how to tell whether the evidence has been tampered with.One of the key things is to look for what appears out of place and doesn't have an immediate reason or cause to be where it is.It points to a real but unseen actor. "the God of gaps" is used by opponents of religion as a cop out things you can't immediately explain are assigned to God until science eventually explains them. But there are a class of things which can't be explained by science as they are not scientific they are not gaps because they are filled by God the quest for meaning and purpose leads invariably to him. "When you walk with purpose you collide with destiny'. Ralph Buchanan