"We all question our walk upon this planet. Why we're here. WHY? Sometimes it seems so senseless. Is there no greater plan? Are we supposed to be just automatons that struggle from birth to death?"

I'm reconciled to the idea that we are not here for any purpose, that our lives are meaningless in the great scheme of things. We're programmed by evolution to simply propagate our DNA, which means we have evolved to stay alive as long as possible and produce and protect offspring. In order to do this, we have been provided by nature with a desire to seek pleasure, avoid pain, pursue our biological and social functions, form human relationships, and have evolved the emotional and intellectual capacity to do this. These mechanisms continue to operate even if we deliberately decide to override them for any reason. For example, I have made the conscious decision to remain childless.

But this does not fill me with despair. The same tools provided to me by evolution allow me to impose my own meaning on reality, to seek satisfaction in my work, my human relationships, and just by the perception and appreciation of the beauty and truth of the universe around me. Why does there have to be meaning when we are free to make our own? There are things I want to do and know and learn for no other reason than they give me intense pleasure, not just physical pleasure (which isn't too shabby either) but intellectual or emotional pleasure. Without getting to detailed about my personal life, I choose to have a pet because doing so brings me great joy for a variety of reasons, not simply because it will taste good in a barbecue or serve as my slave in the afterlife.

It is possible to be a complete materialist, isolated from the universe by the knowledge that I am merely just another piece of it, and still experience great love, service to the community, natural beauty, intellectual challenge, the satisfaction of honest labor the joy of creativity and the appreciation of great art. In fact, I submit the materialist has an even greater appreciation of these things because he is aware of how and why he feels the way he does, and does not feel it is some obligation he owes to the universe, or that he is entitled to claim from it.