After many decades of a frustrating search for philosophical answers, Douglas Adams renowned physicist concluded the meaning of life is as follows; 42 will do.
The statement is meant to be read with both nihilism and existentialism. When boiled down to it's core, the argument suggest life's meaning is dependent on individual experience; more relative explanations replace "the truth" with "your truth" suggesting "all truth is relative." Douglas suggests a world devoid of meaning, that life can be as grandiose as the universe or as simple as 42 but we're all matter, chomsmic particles, dust. In his worldview everything is in chaos and disorder; meaningless.
These conversations are full of existential bullets most Christ followers like to dodge Matrix style, but though his saying may be initially read in direct conflict with scripture does it convay any truth of God's kingdom?
In 2013, i had the eye opening experience of being completely immersed in a severely legalistic Bible institution. Though they professed to be progressive Christian thinkers, the progress must have been loading at a pace similar to a '98 windows desktop or the roundest dog in the kennel. Their apparent leap of embracing post modernism looked like someone who wore the 2001 championship t-shirt to the 2011 games; a decade to slow. Their unwillingness to adapt me got and my favorite prof in hot water. Many privileged church kids argued, "our teacher is too secular" or "post modernism is NOT good for for the church!"
Is this what Jesus wants for christians? To avoid the deepening questions of life, living like ostrages?
What if the reason 42 will do isnt because we draw meaning from something meaningless, but rather draw the value over an entire world and culture of meaning? What if our purpose in life isnt linear or single dimensional but rather a complex like the roots of a tree. Any direction the root grows will give the tree life, the root isnt limited to one track or direction, so why do we limit truth to something either completely rigid or completely without structure or meaning?
42 wil do because it is a root to the grand tree; because either nothing in life has truth and we are meant to forge our own, or everything in life has truth and God's equipped us with a pickaxe to dig out the secret treasures.
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