NationStates Jolt Archive

EDIT: Evidently, I didn't get the intended idea of this thread across well. To be clear, this post argues AGAINST sentient creation and "greater meaning", and AGAINST using probability as an inferrence for any kind of "God"

This is all speculative, I admit...

Let's say that, as the continuous interval of possible outcomes narrows, the odds of one of these outcomes happening decreases. As the envisioned outcome became better defined, the likelihood of it occuring naturally, without sentient guidance, seems astronomical (a funny term to use, if we apply it to the birth of worlds, or a universe).

How very unlikely any one outcome would seem (a single discrete outcome, small as a zero, even)...so, when one outcome occurs, as it must, it will seem so unlikely as to be impossible!

But what if we had gotten ahead of ourselves...what if we had read the last page first, and saw the outcome, and so thought it destined! How much we have poisoned our expectations...

Because the way things are, from the distance between Earth and Sun, to the Forces, be they strong, weak, gravitational, or electromagnetic, to the ratios of the elements, to the fact that our parents met, and fucked...it all seems destined when you take the outcome as given.

But maybe, anything could have happened, and we just happen to be what did happen...and had the null-field of spacetime orgasmed in a different way so many billions ago, maybe things would be different.

Maybe expansion along unseen spatial dimensions would result in the curvature of spacetime near great masses, or electrons would be more massive than protons, or particles would exist so briefly, they were only itches on the eyes of the Things that might Live in the space between mass and emptiness...

And, those Things would write their stories on non-Euclidean planes, and exalt in how they were Chosen by the Universe, gifted with the title "Meant to Be", because after all, if things hadn't turned out the way they did, the Things would be nothing...

I'd like to feel important in a Universal way, I'd like to say I was "Meant to Be". But I suspect that everything seems that way only because I can't imagine what things might be like under a completely different set of Natural Laws.

I think I exist because of the blind stupid luck of my parents meeting and who they chose to screw, and since that choice was solely their own to make, I cannot be said to have existed due to anything more meaningful than horny, lonely people.

Unless God forced my parents to screw, but then he violated free-will, and is a sick pervert, also.

Meta-bump

I'd like to feel important in a Universal way, I'd like to say I was "Meant to Be". But I suspect that everything seems that way only because I can't imagine what things might be like under a completely different set of Natural Laws.

I think I exist because of the blind stupid luck of my parents meeting and who they chose to screw, and since that choice was solely their own to make, I cannot be said to have existed due to anything more meaningful than horny, lonely people.
It starts with a single mind.

Close your eyes. Stand still in a quiet place. Forget the family, the attachments, the obligations of modern life --be only you.

Feel the air stir around you, solid matter under your feet, and the beating of your heart. Hear the buzz of sounds around you.

You are the center of the universe.

Everything that is is apart from you, surrounding you.

Open your eyes and see it, and know that you are special. There is nothing more important than your existence.

What is this miracle that allows us to know we exist? How can we not be special, not be "meant", when we know our existence, when we are aware?

Conscious life is a miracle, one that each and every one of us perform every moment of every day that we are alive.

Your reason for existing is not whatever brought you into being, or things out there in the world that surrounds you; those are just an excuse. Origin isn't what makes you be, every moment of every day. Conscious life is recreated in every passing moment, and you do it. Just you.


Eh.. more existential crap. ;)

Well, you're right, in a sense. Our perspective of causality is skewed by our certain histories. What has happened cannot have happened any other way for our existence to be exactly as it is now, no matter how unlikely that history may have been. In that respect, whether by design, by careful manipulation, by ineffible causality or by simple physical reaction, our lives retain exactly the same degree of innate meaning as if they had arisen from sheer chance.

So perhaps things could have been so very different with just the slightest twist in the past. Were that the case, we wouldn't be around to witness it. That's not in any way a problem; I wouldn't care not existing, since I wouldn't exist to be capable of caring.

But doesn't that then say something about the immense importance of everything that has been before us? The way the universe executed its causality meant that even the tiniest little fluctuation or minutest reaction could somewhere along the line have drastic effects.

And so we come to yourself. A product of causality that can now influence the universe in ways of his own choosing. Yes, to an extent, you are influenced by your origin and the events that led you to where you are today. But the thing to note is that you now control the majority of the biological processes that make up who you are and that formed you in the past. Each action you make has physical consequence that shapes worlds ahead of you, and you have the ability to change these worlds as you see fit.

So you're the product of events of causality. But you're the cause of so much more. If even the smallest amount of energy can create a universe, how much more potential does your entire system have!

Don't worry too much about why we are. What we should focus on is what we can do based on that. That brings far more interesting and positive outcomes.

It starts with a single mind.

Close your eyes. Stand still in a quiet place. Forget the family, the attachments, the obligations of modern life --be only you.

Feel the air stir around you, solid matter under your feet, and the beating of your heart. Hear the buzz of sounds around you.

You are the center of the universe.

Everything that is is apart from you, surrounding you.

Open your eyes and see it, and know that you are special. There is nothing more important than your existence.

What is this miracle that allows us to know we exist? How can we not be special, not be "meant", when we know our existence, when we are aware?

Conscious life is a miracle, one that each and every one of us perform every moment of every day that we are alive.

Your reason for existing is not whatever brought you into being, or things out there in the world that surrounds you; those are just an excuse. Origin isn't what makes you be, every moment of every day. Conscious life is recreated in every passing moment, and you do it. Just you.


Eh.. more existential crap. ;)

I think this might only work for me when I'm buzzed...

Well, you're right, in a sense. Our perspective of causality is skewed by our certain histories. What has happened cannot have happened any other way for our existence to be exactly as it is now, no matter how unlikely that history may have been. In that respect, whether by design, by careful manipulation, by ineffible causality or by simple physical reaction, our lives retain exactly the same degree of innate meaning as if they had arisen from sheer chance.

So perhaps things could have been so very different with just the slightest twist in the past. Were that the case, we wouldn't be around to witness it. That's not in any way a problem; I wouldn't care not existing, since I wouldn't exist to be capable of caring.

But doesn't that then say something about the immense importance of everything that has been before us? The way the universe executed its causality meant that even the tiniest little fluctuation or minutest reaction could somewhere along the line have drastic effects.

And so we come to yourself. A product of causality that can now influence the universe in ways of his own choosing. Yes, to an extent, you are influenced by your origin and the events that led you to where you are today. But the thing to note is that you now control the majority of the biological processes that make up who you are and that formed you in the past. Each action you make has physical consequence that shapes worlds ahead of you, and you have the ability to change these worlds as you see fit.

So you're the product of events of causality. But you're the cause of so much more. If even the smallest amount of energy can create a universe, how much more potential does your entire system have!

Don't worry too much about why we are. What we should focus on is what we can do based on that. That brings far more interesting and positive outcomes.

This one sounds like it requires me to work...

This one sounds like it requires me to work...
Things happen. You can make other things happen if you like. If you don't particularly care to do so, something other than what you'd do will happen. The universe will go on, but it will be infinitely different than had you chosen differently.

Things happen. You can make other things happen if you like. If you don't particularly care to do so, something other than what you'd do will happen. The universe will go on, but it will be infinitely different than had you chosen differently.

Yeah, that's what I thought...work.

Yeah, that's what I thought...work.
No more work than you do through simply living out your life as you do at the minute. And that's work I reckon you've gotten used to by now, yeah? ^^;

No more work than you do through simply living out your life as you do at the minute. And that's work I reckon you've gotten used to by now, yeah? ^^;

No, I'd say what I do now is less work than Doing things in light of the full potential of my system.

I think this might only work for me when I'm buzzed...
Go for it, dude!

Go for it, dude!

Remember that old story about Bobo Reishi (sic?) who achieved enlightenment while being serviced by a prostitute?

I wonder if I can get my wife to try something kinky in the interest of jarring my perceptions into something more Aware...

Remember that old story about Bobo Reishi (sic?) who achieved enlightenment while being serviced by a prostitute?

I wonder if I can get my wife to try something kinky in the interest of jarring my perceptions into something more Aware...
Get her this (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000C8PN6/qid=1134600816/sr=8-11/ref=pd_bbs_11/102-6286665-8927348?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) for Christmas.

Conscious life is recreated in every passing moment, and you do it. Just you.



Willamena the question is, how does one reach the threshold where the Merely Mundane morphs into the Eternally Infinite and all Inspiring moment?

Sometimes it really does feel like Work.

While I have found that Total Consciousness does not require "efforting" it requires intention, but then lot's of time something is missing, one get's distracted, it Life remains the Merely Mundane.

This is all speculative, I admit...

Let's say that, as the continuous interval of possible outcomes narrows, the odds of one of these outcomes happening decreases. As the envisioned outcome became better defined, the likelihood of it occuring naturally, without sentient guidance, seems astronomical (a funny term to use, if we apply it to the birth of worlds, or a universe).

How very unlikely any one outcome would seem (a single discrete outcome, small as a zero, even)...so, when one outcome occurs, as it must, it will seem so unlikely as to be impossible!

But what if we had gotten ahead of ourselves...what if we had read the last page first, and saw the outcome, and so thought it destined! How much we have poisoned our expectations...

Because the way things are, from the distance between Earth and Sun, to the Forces, be they strong, weak, gravitational, or electromagnetic, to the ratios of the elements, to the fact that our parents met, and fucked...it all seems destined when you take the outcome as given.

An online acquantance of mine likens this way of thinking you've just described to expressing complete and utter amazement that all the rivers in the world just happen to run under all the bridges instead of all the other places they could have run and then concluding that the placement of the rivers must have been specifically engineered so that this would be so.

I happen to agree with him.

But maybe, anything could have happened, and we just happen to be what did happen...and had the null-field of spacetime orgasmed in a different way so many billions ago, maybe things would be different.

Just maybe...

*snip*

You're looking for meaning where there is none, the answer to this is simple:

If it did not turn out the way it did, we would not be here to observe it, to question it, to search for meaning in it.

An online acquantance of mine likens this way of thinking you've just described to expressing complete and utter amazement that all the rivers in the world just happen to run under all the bridges instead of all the other places they could have run and then concluding that the placement of the rivers must have been specifically engineered so that this would be so.

I happen to agree with him....

So do I, that was the point of the thread. Read the part about the "Things" in other possible realities, who baselessly assume their outcome was meant, even though it was just random.

You're looking for meaning where there is none, the answer to this is simple:

If it did not turn out the way it did, we would not be here to observe it, to question it, to search for meaning in it.


I must have conveyed it poorly, because I was trying to convey the idea that there is NO meaning, and I agree with your second statement. That was my point.

And the "Things" from the other possible outcomes were meant to illustrate that if we didn't come about, something else might have, and it would have assumed that IT was the "destined" outcome.

EDIT: I've looked back over my original post, and I'm pretty sure I explicity stated that there was no meaning. What meaning do you think I'm looking for?

After carefully reading your entire original post, I am struck by the feeling that it can be no accident that I read it. That somehow, I was intended to read it. Given the enormous amount of data on the interweb and the extremely limited amount of it I actually read - the odds that I would have read your OP in it's entirety is so infinitesmal that it beggars belief. Some sentient force must have willed me to read your post. It is the only rational explanation.

After carefully reading your entire original post, I am struck by the feeling that it can be no accident that I read it. That somehow, I was intended to read it. Given the enormous amount of data on the interweb and the extremely limited amount of it I actually read - the odds that I would have read your OP in it's entirety is so infinitesmal that it beggars belief. Some sentient force must have willed me to read your post. It is the only rational explanation.

*starts sobbing*

Ok, so it wasn't the length, I just can't write for shit...

Ah yes.

I'm a great believer in blind, sheer, unprecedented, non-meaningful, dumb luck. Through my studies of biology, I have found this to be the only consistant theme. 'Shit happens', to me is the statement that best describes the events that antecede our arbitrary, arbitrary existance.

Stangely hilarious, really. Of all the weird and crazy shit that could have happened in the universe, this shit did. And we have no way of knowing if it has been, is simultaneously, or will be ever be radically different in another plane of existance.

Unless God forced my parents to screw, but then he violated free-will, and is a sick pervert, also.
No, i did, at ice-pick point, but i think god or something like it was telling me to do so at the time. I dunno, the film back then had poor quality so when i play it at family gatherings, my mantras from behind the camera come out as muffled mumblings. And i didn't take notes so i can't say for certain what i was saying OR scrawling on their sweaty, floppy bodies with ember charcoal. Sorry, my bad.
;)

----
EDIT: BTW, when you get up into your thirties, do a careful inspection of the scalp area, towards the back-top. Lemme know what you find.

I checked mine first .... and i found a number. As it turns out, i had the winning ticket, so i turned myself in and made my next year's mortgage payment. Then i didn't have to work, so i hit the streets with a penny and a lottery ticket. I scratched strangers' scalps w/it ... and when the number under there matched the number on my ticket, i won. I won twice!
...i was beat up eleven times.

You're looking for meaning where there is none, the answer to this is simple:

If it did not turn out the way it did, we would not be here to observe it, to question it, to search for meaning in it.
Anthropic principle.
And the flip-floppity of that is ... when something horrible happens to you and/or something/one you love, and you scream at the sky in self-pity and seething anger ... the universe remains indifferent. You change, you might hurt or help someone else afterwards, but that very feeling of being singled out ain't so f*ckin' great sometimes.

Have you ever taken a long road-trip and had to pull off the highway a bit in search of Gas or food or whatever... then found yourself in some tiny little town in the middle of nowhere. You look around around at the grass and the tree-lined streets.... you chat up the cute waitress at the cafe... later as you're leaving, an old happy dog comes out of nowhere and you pet it awhile and think:

"What are the odds. I didn't know this place even existed. The odds of me actually being here in this place, seeing these people, petting this dog and leaning against this tree are so tiny that it's almost miraculous that I'm here. If I'd filled up the tank back in Omaha, if I'd stopped to eat at that diner in Wichita, whatever.. I would have just driven by this town and never knew it even existed."

That's how I feel about Humanity and the beautiful planet we live on. We just happened to be here.

Ok, so it wasn't the length, I just can't write for shit...

No. I thought it was interesting. I just didn't have anything meaningful to add because it's pretty much the way I feel too.

Have you ever taken a long road-trip and had to pull off the highway a bit in search of Gas or food or whatever... then found yourself in some tiny little town in the middle of nowhere. You look around around at the grass and the tree-lined streets.... you chat up the cute waitress at the cafe... later as you're leaving, an old happy dog comes out of nowhere and you pet it awhile and think:

"What are the odds. I didn't know this place even existed. The odds of me actually being here in this place, seeing these people, petting this dog and leaning against this tree are so tiny that it's almost miraculous that I'm here. If I'd filled up the tank back in Omaha, if I'd stopped to eat at that diner in Wichita, whatever.. I would have just driven by this town and never knew it even existed."

That's how I feel about Humanity and the beautiful planet we live on. We just happened to be here.Quoted for goodness.

The universe will go on, but it will be infinitely different than had you chosen differently.
You know, if it will be infinitely different than the choice ....
that means it will be exactly the same an infinite amount of times as well. How is one to be the wiser?

Get her this (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000C8PN6/qid=1134600816/sr=8-11/ref=pd_bbs_11/102-6286665-8927348?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) for Christmas.
WooHOO, Willamena's gettin' racy again!!!
*wolf-whistles*

Remember that old story about Bobo Reishi (sic?) who achieved enlightenment while being serviced by a prostitute?

I wonder if I can get my wife to try something kinky in the interest of jarring my perceptions into something more Aware...
A few things ....
wasn't that the Bobo mentioned in the movie version of Naked Lunch ?
You know, the one Bill was riffing about on that long drive with that actor from Warlock, and, coincidentally enough, Lucious Malfoye (sp?) from Harry Potter.

And ...
Laptops are groovy. Hard to pry my wife away from it now, even when her head is bonking on it. :eek:

...
It could be that i have her bound and gagged on my web-cam, could be that she's managed to develop her tongue dexterity to cruise EBay AND instant message, i dunno which, i'm not really paying attention.

;)

A few things ....
wasn't that the Bobo mentioned in the movie version of Naked Lunch ?

;)

I haven't seen "Naked Lunch" yet. I hear good things, though.

I'm not sure that choice is really the crucial issue here. The point I think Saint Curie is trying to make is more about probability of outcomes and the perception that people have about the improbability of current existence.

I remember once... a long time ago... I thought that humanity was so interesting, the Earth so beautiful, music so enthralling, nature so breath-taking, etc... that it couldn't be just a random event. That my deep emotional response to the wonders and horrors of our universe must indicate that it was created with some design or even purpose.

But the more I thought about it, the more I came to realize that this feeling - though understandable - was not really persuasive. Perhaps any sentient being would have the same thoughts about their naturally occuring environment. Even the crystalline Narglogs of Antares VII, who breed in the muck pits of polluted klaxon gas, must look at the walls of their caves and think: "The toxic-mold today has a pleasing reek that makes my nodules tingle nicely" or "Those tectonic movements are producing an exquisite vibration that can only be described as holy!"

Perhaps it is inevitable that any sentient being that acknowledges the truly improbable odds that they even came to exist, must inevitably flirt with the idea of a designed universe. I know I did - and there are many who won't even grant that I'm sentient.

I'm not sure that choice is really the crucial issue here. The point I think Saint Curie is trying to make is more about probability of outcomes and the perception that people have about the improbability of current existence.

I remember once... a long time ago... I thought that humanity was so interesting, the Earth so beautiful, music so enthralling, nature so breath-taking, etc... that it couldn't be just a random event. That my deep emotional response to the wonders and horrors of our universe must indicate that it was created with some design or even purpose.

But the more I thought about it, the more I came to realize that this feeling - though understandable - was not really persuasive. Perhaps any sentient being would have the same thoughts about their naturally occuring environment. Even the crystalline Narglogs of Antares VII, who breed in the muck pits of polluted klaxon gas, must look at the walls of their caves and think: "The toxic-mold today has a pleasing reek that makes my nodules tingle nicely" or "Those tectonic movements are producing an exquisite vibration that can only be described as holy!"

Perhaps it is inevitable that any sentient being that acknowledges the truly improbable odds that they even came to exist, must inevitably flirt with the idea of a designed universe. I know I did - and there are many who won't even grant that I'm sentient.

Yeah, that! That right there! (Not the part about you not being sentient, the rest of it. The rest of it was perfect.)

Yeah, that! That right there! (Not the part about you not being sentient, the rest of it. The rest of it was perfect.)

And you thought I wasn't paying attention! HAH!

I haven't seen "Naked Lunch" yet. I hear good things, though.
You have? It's one of my favourites but i would rarely risk public admission of good things about it!! ;)
Nah, it's disturbing, but really good. Puts a new light on typewriters and beetles.
I'd loan it to you but you know how that goes .... instead, maybe i'll act the movie out in script form on a thread sometime. Maybe you could help, join in as a character or two! ;)

I'm not sure that choice is really the crucial issue here. The point I think Saint Curie is trying to make is more about probability of outcomes and the perception that people have about the improbability of current existence.

I remember once... a long time ago... I thought that humanity was so interesting, the Earth so beautiful, music so enthralling, nature so breath-taking, etc... that it couldn't be just a random event. That my deep emotional response to the wonders and horrors of our universe must indicate that it was created with some design or even purpose.

But the more I thought about it, the more I came to realize that this feeling - though understandable - was not really persuasive. Perhaps any sentient being would have the same thoughts about their naturally occuring environment. Even the crystalline Narglogs of Antares VII, who breed in the muck pits of polluted klaxon gas, must look at the walls of their caves and think: "The toxic-mold today has a pleasing reek that makes my nodules tingle nicely" or "Those tectonic movements are producing an exquisite vibration that can only be described as holy!"

Perhaps it is inevitable that any sentient being that acknowledges the truly improbable odds that they even came to exist, must inevitably flirt with the idea of a designed universe. I know I did - and there are many who won't even grant that I'm sentient.
I was havin' fun, being all facetious and irreverent and such, and you had to go and *blow* it by getting the idea right and putting me to the shame i so probably deserved.

Good post, party pooper. ;)
(I agree with you.)

And you thought I wasn't paying attention! HAH!

I'm less worried about your attention and more worried about my clarity, but you lightsabered through my blastdoor of muddled prose like...um, you know, I don't remember any of their names. Maybe the one played by Samuel L. Jackson. Yeah, like him.

You have? It's one of my favourites but i would rarely risk public admission of good things about it!! ;)
Nah, it's disturbing, but really good. Puts a new light on typewriters and beetles.
I'd loan it to you but you know how that goes .... instead, maybe i'll act the movie out in script form on a thread sometime. Maybe you could help, join in as a character or two! ;)

Actually, I got a gift card for a place that sells DVDs, maybe I'll just pick it up. Several good people have recommended it to me now, so I'll risk it.

I was havin' fun, being all facetious and irreverent and such, and you had to go and *blow* it by getting the idea right and putting me to the shame i so probably deserved.

Good post, party pooper. ;)
(I agree with you.)

It's "facetious"? Holy shit, it is...oh christ, I've been going around for years spelling it "fecetious"...

I'm less worried about your attention and more worried about my clarity, but you lightsabered through my blastdoor of muddled prose like...um, you know, I don't remember any of their names. Maybe the one played by Samuel L. Jackson. Yeah, like him.

Like morning sunshine through a Windu?

Like morning sunshine through a Windu?

Reading that made something happen in my head, and now I can't remember any of my birthdays....

I'm less worried about your attention and more worried about my clarity, but you lightsabered through my blastdoor of muddled prose like...um, you know, I don't remember any of their names. Maybe the one played by Samuel L. Jackson. Yeah, like him.
Mace Windu!
You know, the one who convinced Anakin that the Order had less-than-certain altruistic intentions. Kinda like Baltar damning the *Battlestar Galactica* humanity (Caprica?) to death and dismemberment in a most unpleasant fashion.

F*ckin' jerks takin' sh*t personal ... *grrr*

Reading that made something happen in my head, and now I can't remember any of my birthdays....

These Aren't The Droids You're Looking For. Move Along.

It's "facetious"? Holy shit, it is...oh christ, I've been going around for years spelling it "fecetious"...
Ya know, the wordplay works either way, depending on the IQ of your audience ... as in, this place it works just fine!

You know, to save time, though, i didn't include the silent letters because i find them time-wasting to bother spelling out. But i inflect them emphatically when i talk! When i'm not talking about MXC, Steven Wright, Futurama, or Millenium, that is.
Upon reflection, actually, i realize there is a severe dichotomy between my parson deguerre and my personage. Some of it, i'm sure is due hygiene .... oh well, i don't know anyone here well enough to be honest with them. ;)

Like morning sunshine through a Windu?
I'm inflecting the "ACK!" smilie ... it looks like Bill The Cat.

Mace Windu!
You know, the one who convinced Anakin that the Order had less-than-certain altruistic intentions. Kinda like Baltar damning the *Battlestar Galactica* humanity (Caprica?) to death and dismemberment in a most unpleasant fashion.

F*ckin' jerks takin' sh*t personal ... *grrr*

Is this the new Battlestar Galactica on Sci Fi, or the awesome, vintage Galactica with Lorne Greene and the pretty boy from "A-Team"...which, I think is now usually only shown on Sci Fi...

I always thought Baltar was a fop, until I saw his Zylon chamberlain...

These Aren't The Droids You're Looking For. Move Along.

Using Force powers on me is like sandblasting a soupcracker.

Sunshine through a Windu...

It's like a stripper making out with a cocktrail waitress...I can't not look at it...

Using Force powers on me is like sandblasting a soupcracker.

Sunshine through a Windu...

It's like a stripper making out with a cocktrail waitress...I can't not look at it...
So which one of them is bald, and which one of them is reciting Bible phrases in a f*cked up context? :confused:

So which one of them is bald, and which one of them is reciting Bible phrases in a f*cked up context? :confused:

Well, the stripper is usually shaved, unless they're trying to hide a c-section scar...as for the Bible phrases, well, maybe the waitress is from Utah

Well, the stripper is usually shaved, unless they're trying to hide a c-section scar...as for the Bible phrases, well, maybe the waitress is from Utah
Hahahaha
*FLORT*
So if they're both from Utah, neither of them will respond well to being called "sugar", and neither will likely be shaved in the more titillating areas. But hey, whatever catches fancy, tweedly-dee-tee-dee!

Well, g'night Saint. My IRL's barkin' at me.
And g'night to the rest of y'all.

Willamena the question is, how does one reach the threshold where the Merely Mundane morphs into the Eternally Infinite and all Inspiring moment?
I don't know; I can't say, because I don't know how it could not happen.

Sometimes it really does feel like Work.

While I have found that Total Consciousness does not require "efforting" it requires intention, but then lot's of time something is missing, one get's distracted, it Life remains the Merely Mundane.
Don't know about "Total Consciousness". What I described was "Just me". ;)

I'm not sure that choice is really the crucial issue here. The point I think Saint Curie is trying to make is more about probability of outcomes and the perception that people have about the improbability of current existence.

I remember once... a long time ago... I thought that humanity was so interesting, the Earth so beautiful, music so enthralling, nature so breath-taking, etc... that it couldn't be just a random event. That my deep emotional response to the wonders and horrors of our universe must indicate that it was created with some design or even purpose.

But the more I thought about it, the more I came to realize that this feeling - though understandable - was not really persuasive. Perhaps any sentient being would have the same thoughts about their naturally occuring environment. Even the crystalline Narglogs of Antares VII, who breed in the muck pits of polluted klaxon gas, must look at the walls of their caves and think: "The toxic-mold today has a pleasing reek that makes my nodules tingle nicely" or "Those tectonic movements are producing an exquisite vibration that can only be described as holy!"

Perhaps it is inevitable that any sentient being that acknowledges the truly improbable odds that they even came to exist, must inevitably flirt with the idea of a designed universe. I know I did - and there are many who won't even grant that I'm sentient.
So, you're talking about disillusionment, from a state of feeling you understanding a religious or meaningful purpose in the world to a state where you feel nothing makes sense. That's normal.

For myself, I discovered (or re-discovered, if you like) meaning when I explored the symbolism of mythology that permeates religions. Even before then, I had my philosophy of "Just me."

There doesn't have to be a purpose for it to have meaning.