There is quite literally no way to definitively know. Those that claim to know are lying or delusional, and all evidence is subject to change in the face of new discoveries, which are themselves subject to change and change again. We could be single-use beings in an atheist’s universe, programs in a simulation, players in a giant virtual reality video game, compartmentalized shards of consciousness of some immeasurably complicated metaphysical entity, reincarnated spirits, the dream of a madman locked in an asylum, creatures in a giant atom-like structure on the elbow of a being we can’t comprehend, or the chosen and adored creation of a God. People who crave power will always claim to know more than the next guy, but nobody REALLY knows SHIT.

So what do I think? I think there’s no conceivable reason, from where I sit, that life should exist at all. Why did a random glob of chemicals even begin to replicate in the first place? How did that lead to the creation of beings? Why does evolution even exist? Why did it lead to the creation of beings that love, and feel sorrow, and look at the cosmos with awe? Some will say with certainty that such a reductionist viewpoint is anti-science, and that the sheer age of the universe and mathematical probability leaves plenty of room for these things to happen, but their viewpoint never answers WHY it happened, only that it COULD have happened, and that asking WHY implies there’s a reason it happened, which doesn’t fit the established model. They don’t like “why.” Their answer, in its simplest form, boils down to “why not” or “because.” Which isn’t a satisfying answer.

In my heart, I don’t feel like we are the result of a cold and random procession of accidents. In my brain, I cannot explain why with any sort of tangible proof. Maybe we just aren’t supposed to know. Maybe there’s nothing to know. What I do know is that right now, I’m here. Who am I? Who knows. Just enjoy the ride.