Meaning of life — Science, God, Simulation, Success, Values

Note: These are just my opinions and observations so far — not backed by research.

My Fundamental Perspective

From a scientific point of view, the world is made up of elements. Our Universe doesn’t see the difference between life vs death, natural vs artificial. The universe is just made up of elements — 118 as we know — and a lot more we haven’t discovered. Our notion of what’s right, what’s good, and what’s better doesn’t matter to the universe in general. All our perspectives are relative and subjective. In the vastness of the universe, all our thoughts, goals, and meaning of success are nothing.

Pic from a beautiful trek I have done recently

My Beliefs on our Origins

I grew up in multiple towns, cities, villages. Every place was different and unique. Most people I met believed in God, some in science, some in randomness, and some even thought we were living in a simulation. I changed my belief systems multiple times — influenced by circumstances, location, the people around me, age, and what I learned from books and my surroundings.

Eventually, I stopped thinking about it altogether, gave up on all beliefs, and just started agreeing with people in general. My only answer is: I just don’t know.

The idea that “I just don’t know anything, and that anything could be possible” gave me so much relief. I no longer have to argue, worry, or prove anyone wrong. It’s peaceful to simply agree with the possibility of God, randomness, the Big Bang, the idea that we might be living in a simulation created by some higher species, and countless other fascinating theories. Because the truth is, we just don’t know — not 100%.

Our solar system is one of the smallest celestial bodies out there; we haven’t even stepped on other planets so far in our own system, and yet we think about what’s out there in our galaxy or universe and believe we know everything — that’s probably not a good idea. Even science today, as we know it, is very limited in answering the origins of life.

It wasn’t long ago that we believed the Earth is flat. I am sure 1–2 centuries down the line, people will laugh at our ideas of today and how primitive and wrong we are in many areas of science.

The Meaning of Life from my POV:

Given our current tech, I have a limited amount of time. I cannot extend my life like we see in futuristic movies, so I have to make it a worthwhile journey. I don’t want to give up and settle for less.

Life’s purpose is what matters to me — trying new things, experiences, coming up with ideas, trying to make a positive impact, small or big, while trying to do my part to find what the future holds and what’s out there.

For me, it’s all about balance. I find joy and happiness in achieving goals, exploring new places, trying new things, and learning new experiences — not in luxuries or lying around lazily

Life goals are subjective. For a saint, achieving inner peace and nirvana is his goal; for an athlete, winning the Olympics; for a tech founder, building products. Futuristic stuff for the masses is usually the ultimate goal.

You’ll make a lot of unintentional mistakes — that’s part of the journey. As a founder in the tech space, I’ve made many mistakes — hired the wrong people, faced regrets, countless long days and sleepless nights, confusion, and much more. I am who I am today because of all the hardships I’ve been through. Every crisis has made me more humble, reminding me how small I am and how much further I still have to go. You only become strong and tough when you face hardships — those lessons don’t come from books.

Key values for success:

We should not forget the fundamentals of being a good human — being kind, respecting others and our Nature, and living ethically. People who build success through wrong means are often not at peace with themselves; they live in constant anxiety and restlessness.

Living a good and respectable life means achieving inner peace. Chasing success through the wrong means never brings true happiness — at least not in the long term. In fact, you will be more successful in the long run if you build your company on the pillars of Innovation(Apple), honesty (Tata group), and customer obsession(Amazon).

You don’t want to live with guilt. Living with guilt will kill you mentally in the long run.

Conclusion: live and let live

We should not teach that this is how everyone should live life. There are no rules. Everyone is different, every region is different, every culture is different.

The world will only progress if people are different. Everyone has their own belief system. If everyone wants to meditate, or if everyone wants to just build and not consume, the world will stop as we see it. We need all kinds of people with different goals.

The world we see today is the way it is because every place is different. Silicon Valley produces tech, China manufactures for everyone, India provides IT products and human capital to the world, and the Middle East powers the world with their energy. These growth systems might change in the future, but everyone has a part to play — nothing is better, nothing is less, nothing is more.

If any of these systems collapse, we will probably not see the beautifull world we see today.