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After
intensive research on possible reasons as to why life has such a
propensity for life, I have come up empty. I looked to Darwin, but
all he can say is that life "sprang forth" as did complex systems
such as eyesight and blood clotting. I’ve looked through essays and
books, spoke with college professors who have told me that any
creature’s first instinct is self-preservation, but they give me a
blank stare when I ask WHY. Zen and the Brain say that; "The
survival functions are irresistible," but it doesn’t say WHY they’re
so irresistible.
Supposedly, survival instincts are hardwired into the deepest
recesses of our brains; into the actual brain stem itself, which
extend into the hypothalamus. They can often override all other
functions, even when a person has fallen unconscious, the survival
instinct can still save a person from imminent death.
My question is WHY does life have such a propensity towards life?
WHY do non-self aware creatures go so far as to often fight to the
death for the right to propagate? Write off our instinct for
survival as a way for us humans to gain immortality, but what about
a plant of a gazelle or a cat? Or say that it’s because "the
conditions for life were there" but that still doesn't answer WHY
life has such a passion to survive, just because the conditions were
there for it. I want to find some logical explanation as to WHY
virtually every living species has, as its strongest desire, to
live.
If there was no desire to live, then there would be no life, so
doesn't this almost have to indicate that life itself is an
intelligence, an organism on a macrocosmic level, which is separate
from the biochemical structures of living creatures? If there was
nothing more than a series of chemical reactions driving every plant
and creature, then why would they occur in the first place, why
would they continue to occur, and why would so many different
species have evolved and enveloped practically every corner of the
entire planet?
From a fanatical skeptic: My only logical conclusion is that there
is some sort of intelligence behind life itself.
I have no desire whatsoever to propagate; if we were to have a
child, it would be for the experience of raising a child and not to
further the species. Also, even though being in this carbon-based
frame gives me all of the tangible earthly delights that go with it
such as the ability to touch and taste and smell, I often ache to be
back home. If I were faced with death, I am not quite certain that I
would fight it; my fiancé certainly didn't, but she was pulled back
into her body after being dead for 2 minutes against her
conscious(?) desire. She has missed her home ever since as well.
I don’t mean any of this in a depressing, clinical way, just as
someone who can't find a logical reason why even plants seem to
"want" to survive, many of which have developed methods of
communicating danger to other plants in their area when the need
arises.
If anyone can point me to anywhere that offers possible explanations
or theories about WHY life has such an intense desire for life,
please share.
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