Our Significance

The 9th of March was an important day for we British folk, for it marked the day upon which Mass Effect 3 was released. Now, due to the twin factors of student poverty and my “slow and steady wins the race” outlook on life, I have yet to attain my copy…but all things in time. This has, however, given me a reason to replay the first two games in the series, allowing me to immerse myself in a truly fantastic science-fiction world.

But this is no simple review of the games…

One thing that I adore about Mass Effect and its sequels is the underlying messages about the significance of humanity. It closely adheres to a doctrine of Cosmicism, a school of thought which was also supported by the one and only H.P.Lovecraft, one of my favourite authors. The key point of Cosmicism is not that our existence is without meaning and that the world has no purpose (which is a distinctly Absurdist outlook) but it is instead that whatever the meaning of life is, it is completely unfathomable to us. In short, the human race and our existence are pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things, our fragile little minds only able to touch the tip of the needle which is the point of reality.

When you think about it, we are just one race on one planet which is not even close to being at the centre of the universe. Yet there is a deep set arrogance bred into our race, or at least into our cultures. When we will realise that life is not a right but a privilege? We should not sit here whining about our rights and what we don’t have, instead we should embrace what we do have and make the best of the situation.

I’m not saying that we should stop thinking about life and our role in the grand scheme of creation. All I am saying is that we should probably wake up and realise that most of the things we claim to be incredibly important actually aren’t. 90% of the time, a major problem in the world is caused by human action, either through moral atrocity, or though the abuse (or conversely the inability to disregard) certain systems which we have created.

Appreciate what you have in this world and remember that there is beauty in even the smallest of things.