THE NIHILISTIC, GODLESS MEANING OF LIFE
The international bestseller Homo Deus, by historian Dr. Noah Harari, reflects humankind’s thirst for a nihilistic godless meaning. Praised by the New York Times, Sunday Times, the Guardian, the Times, and others, the book’s success describes man’s awakening to his inner God, self-reliance, and inherent power. There is no God but the recognition of self-deification…the true power is in man. Harari (2015) explains: “For generation after generation, humans have prayed to every god, angel and saint, and have invented countless tools, institutions and social systems—but they continued to die in their millions from starvation, epidemics and violence. Many thinkers and prophets concluded that famine, plague, and war must be an integral part of God’s cosmic plan or of our imperfect nature, and nothing short of the end oftime would free us from them.” He proposes that the human condition is most certainly not as devastating as during the 14th-century black plague.
The death toll of 75 to 200 million carried consequences for hundreds of years. Harari argues that we have food insecurity, but we no longer have outright devastating famines. He concludes the human condition has improved because of innovative human endeavors: agricultural irrigation, urban infrastructure, enclosed and sealed city sewer systems. The France of 2015 is indeed no longer the France of 1694 (Harari, 2015), and so, Harari (2015) argues that the human condition is ever evolving and improving. The human species is overwhelmed with a deluge of data, knowing not how to filter out the bad and keep the good. So we relinquish our authority, concludes Harari (2015), “to the free market, to crowd wisdom, and to external algorithms.” Are we any better off? This new revised human condition is undoubtedly far from helpful, serene, and blissful. Depression, anxiety, and hopelessness are very prevalent, reaching epidemic status. Nigeria’s slaughter of Christians does not bear witness to Harari’s improving human condition. Surrendering power over to external algorithms does not in the least unburden our lives, nor permit a deepening of our understanding of purpose, nor satisfy our deepest hunger. The individual is should not be absorbed into concerns of the collective, for we are individuals concerned ultimately about the journey that brings us to life’s end. Saint Basil the Great (+379AD) writes with clarity regarding man’s purpose and life: “You need only to look at the vine to be reminded of your own nature, that is, if you observe it intelligently.” Indeed, Saint Basil points out the numerous instances, in scripture, where Christ is singled out as the vine and the Father as the vinedresser, and we the branches. Our mission is no less to bear much fruit. How do we intend to do it to avoid being “… rejected and useless and thrown onto the fire?” (Saint Basil +379)