One of Those Nights

There are these strange moments in life, where you suddenly feel a strong and far too early midlife crisis in the making.

Remind me again. Why we do what we do? For what ultimate end? Seriously, I was a tad depressed when I realised that I was 21 years old and spending the majority of my time doing very dry research, with nothing in the future but more of the same until I retire. Yet, what must it be like for people who lack an all-consuming goal? It strikes me that this is at least in part the great appeal religion has for people. It gives them some sense of obsessive and singular purpose.

Perhaps we have yet to understand the psychological and neurological needs that religion stems from? It makes me think that religious energies simply need to be channeled in the correct direction. For example, no matter how depressed I get sometimes, I know my research has an ultimate end goal that is feasible and real, and grounded in something more than wish-fulfillment. This is not to say that I escape the same types of neurological impulses that inspire religion. It simply means these energies are perhaps in keeping with my evolutionary development, not a misfiring or a by-product of something else. I don't see how religion could ever be as fulfilling when it lacks any sort of tangible ultimacy.