The meaning of life is simply to give birth and raise next generations. You might say this is such a primitive instinct. Humans, at least the self-respected humans, must have higher yearning, such as beauty.

Flowers are beautiful. They are the instruments to attract insects and birds to pollinate for the plants. So their new generations can spread. Attracted by their beauty, human beings are their willing slaves to grow plants with beautiful flowers, thus spreading the plants’ new generations for free.  Beauty, more than anything else, is the best vehicle to generate next generations.

We value courage. Women are most courageous being a mother. Mothers will fight off attackers much larger than themselves to protect their babies. Men are most courageous when they fight for women. The epic Trojan war was fought for a woman. All wars, under various fancy guises, are fought for land and women, the very ingredients for new generations.

How about art and science? They must be higher than the base instinct of procreation. The prolific artists and scientists, such as Picasso and Einstein, are prolific pollinators as well. How about religion? Don’t priests give vow of celibacy? Nepotism means favouring their nephews by the priests. The priests give up their own procreation to help their kins, a common evolutionary strategy among many animals, such as wolves.

From time to time, people are brainwashed or coerced into some supposedly higher callings. The long term restrictions on birth by the Chinese government is a recent example. This restriction trades human life for temporary material abundance. Is money more precious than human life?