Attractive Cosmic Meaning
Why organisms like ourselves are so strongly drawn to the idea that such a purpose must exist?
If we look at the problem evolutionarily, purpose is not just a philosophical idea. It is a regulatory mechanism. Organisms that have goals tend to persist longer than organisms that do not. A nervous system organized around future outcomes can coordinate behavior, endure hardship, delay gratification, and recover from setbacks. A person who gets up because they have children to raise, work to do, a garden to tend, or a book to finish has something that organizes energy and attention. Remove those structures and many people experience a collapse not because the universe has changed, but because the organizing framework of the nervous system has disappeared. This is why retirement is often psychologically dangerous. For decades, the organism has been structured around a role. Then the role vanishes. Nothing metaphysical has happened, yet the person may suddenly ask, "Why get up tomorrow?" The question is not primarily philosophical. It is biological.
The same mechanism can scale upward. If my life has purpose, I feel more secure. If humanity has purpose, I feel more secure. If existence itself has purpose, I feel most secure. The larger the purpose, the larger the reassurance. This is why cosmic meaning is so attractive. It guarantees that my local struggles participate in something larger than themselves.
But notice the direction of the argument. We often move from "I need purpose" to "therefore existence must have purpose." Spinoza's challenge is that the first statement may be true while the second does not follow.
