闲人

What then, is mundanity?

For me, it is going through the motions. Things like brushing teeth, going to the toilet etc. are just maintenance. Maintenance so that you can go through another day. Isn't it sad if your entire day is just maintenance? It's like a computer used solely for running antivirus scans on itself, or a car constantly sitting at the mechanic's.

But that is what some people do. Day in day out, go through the motions. As a person. As a species. Go to school, work, get married, have kids, grow old and die. Maintenance of the species. There is nothing wrong with going through the motions. It is a problem however when your life consists of just maintenance without anything to maintain it for.

What then is the purpose of maintaining the species? Evolution. Physical evolution is no longer important, in fact it might not be occuring much anymore. We are no longer selected to breed by our physical characteristics (pretty people are more desirable but it does not mean they will have more children to significantly out-evolve the less pretty). The species as a whole has to evolve their minds.

There is a concept that memes evolve. Meaning evolves. Subjective concepts that are really up to individual tastes have to fight to survive in the human consciousness. The concept of female beauty equivalent to being slim has won the fight in our society in our generation. For some reason, it has penetrated more minds and stayed longer than fat women or women with big lips or long necks or tiny feet.

The meaning of life then, evolves. To use your life to earn money? To bring up the next generation? For satisfaction? To leave your mark on the world? The concept of meaning of life has not had a clear winner such as in the concept of beauty. Even when it has a clear winner, it will continue to evolve. Beauty is not equivalent to being slim, it is just the preference of our age. Meaning of life will change as our society changes.

However it is sure that to find meaning you have to rise above the mundane, or at least see it in a different light.