58 LIFE: ITS ORIGIN AND NATURE 
These are all questions which are discussed at 
greater length, however, in the volume in this 
series dealing with the problem of death. That 
and the present book may, perhaps, be regarded 
as more or less companion volumes. 
LIFE’S MEANING AND DESTINY 
If the origin of life is a great, unsolved prob¬ 
lem, so also is the question of its destiny! What 
is the meaning of life! Why are we here? Why 
should animate being exist at all? Why should 
the Universe be in existence? Why should all 
this ever have emerged from a hypothetical 
original state of Nothingness? These are ques¬ 
tions which are bound to attract the attention 
of all thinking minds, at one time or another, 
and call loudly for solution. 
Many answers to this world-old riddle have 
been attempted, two of which represent pre¬ 
cisely opposite and contrary views. These are 
(1) the mechanistic conception; Life has no 
meaning; it is absurd, illogical, futile. Ultimate 
extinction is the lot of all; final resolution into 
dead matter and blind energy. (2) The 
Theological conception: Everything has a hid¬ 
den, yet beautiful, meaning; the soul is im¬ 
mortal, and will ascend to Heaven after passing 
through this Vale of Tears; “God is in his 
Heaven, and all’s well,” etc. These two ex¬ 
treme views—the antitheses of each other—are 
both probably equally far from the truth. A 
rational interpretation of things must lie some¬ 
where between them. 
We have seen that life is, within its own 
sphere, certainly purposeful or “teleological.” 
Life works for its own prolongation, parpetua-. 
