The individual human being is a part of a being called humankind. He carries within himself the desire that this being should endure, that it should live long. For this reason, man wants to create lasting things. Be it something material or something immaterial. He wants to make a contribution to the existence of this being.
If one looks at the individual being, then the striving for lasting values appears absurd and senseless apart from the reproduction. If reproduction still serves to obtain a supply by the sons and daughters in old age during one’s lifetime, other things created by man with great efforts serve exclusively the future generations. It does not pay off for itself.
Looking at the essence of humankind, the action of the individual human being is perhaps comparable to the function of a cell in a body. It multiplies. It forms organs in association with other cells, which in turn fulfill other tasks permanently, beyond the lifetime of the cell itself. The cell produces enzymes, which in combination with other enzymes produce substances that are vital for the organism. If the cell dies, these produced substances still have their effect in the body. From this point of view, the creation of lasting values that have an effect beyond one’s own life is no longer an absurd waste of time and energy. It is a necessity for the preservation and development of the essence of mankind. Even „senseless“ and „useless“ creation like art then has its place. It is then nevertheless also one of the enzymes which in connection with others only unfold their effect on the further development of the being mankind.
After the growth comes the aging. If mankind ages, maybe then also the substance of the single cells – the people, ages from generation to generation. They produce then less and more defective, they mutate, produce a cancer – and the being mankind passes away… following its destiny.
The small is always in the big. Is the being Menshcheit also only a cell and serves in an even bigger organism? Does mankind also create something, which is of importance for this still larger being? Of which being, then, is the being humanity a cell?