Every now and then, I look up at the sky and try to open my mind to the scale of it all. I attempt to fathom how big the universe is, how long it has existed, and just how crushingly irrelevant I am within it. I never succeed. But, I don’t think I fail because it’s an impossible task, in and of itself. I think that I fail because our species is ingrained with a certain degree of narcissism that makes the task impossible. As each of us exists solely within the confines of our own mind, we are born convinced of our own self worth: we exist, therefore it must be for a reason.
Of course, some are more narcissistic than others, a tendency which too often culminates in blind selfishness. I’m sure you’ve noticed by now that there is no shortage of people eager to take advantage of as many of their fellow man as will benefit their social advancement. The self-centered individual seems to always be greedily striving toward a single goal, yet never any closer to grasping it. He works shamelessly for nothing but personal gain, convinced that the means are justified by his end, and finding no fault in his lack of compassion; or at the very least, finding the absence of compassion to be a necessary evil of the world.
I used to think that the immense scope of the universe and the arrogance of people within it were conflicting ideas, i.e., that people should not be arrogant because of how large the universe is and how little we know about it; but the more I think, the more I begin to believe that the sheer size of space makes human arrogance necessary for our survival. Think of it like an evolutionary defense mechanism. If the human psyche was ever able to grasp how truly small a person is, it would be instantly crushed by the weight of its own insignificance. There would be no point in doing anything. We would lie in bed all day, slowly deteriorating, crippled by the meaninglessness of our daily lives.
People need to believe that they have purpose in this world, because it’s the only thing that motivates them to keep going, and striving to be better. Only an arrogant man could look up at the immensity of the night sky and believe we are alone in this universe; that the ocean of stars (each representing an object larger and more complex than our imagination will allow us to perceive) serves only to please our sense of sight. Our pretension blinds us, but our lack of vision keeps us focused. I think that’s why philosophers are hardly ever productive members of society: they don’t see the point.