The mass of humanity cling to various dogmas in the attempt to make sense out of the world and find meaning in life. The blunt truth is: it doesn't and there isn't. Life has no ultimate meaning. We are just the result of cosmic accident in a universe that has no more concern for us than a speck of dust. Trying to make sense out of events in the world is like searching for the "hidden order" in a pile of randomly thrown cards. For a lot of people it is necessary to believe that the universe has some design and purpose. Some even believe that the designer has them in mind specifically. These are merely superstitions borne out of fear and ignorance. Nothing is eternal. Everything we value will eventually fade away into the obscurity of nonexistence. A million years from now, or so, the sun will explode leaving no traces of our frenzied efforts to make a mark on the universe. Death is nothingness. Even life doesn't offer that much. The world is a mechanism set in motion by random forces. Whatever happens is the result of those forces, and there is nothing we can do to change it. Human beings like to think that we have power to create events and shape the future. That's just more arrogant ignorance. Perhaps the pebbles tumbling about in a stream think that they are responsible for the current's flow. We are just bits of matter tossed around in the currents of time and space. Nothing more. What will be, will be and there is nothing we can do to change it. Even if we could, it wouldn't matter in the end. This isn't a pretty picture. Most people find it depressing. Even I do when I think about it, but at least I'm not deceiving myself.