Dawkins coins a great term for why we so often take our lives for granted: “the Anaesthetic of Familiarity.” With monotony and repetition in our lives, we so quickly forget how incredible it is that we are alive. How vastly rare we are: lumps of matter that are awake rather than lifeless, which is what the vast majority of the universe is.
And how vastly improbable it is that we are here, given how many different ways our DNA could have been arranged. It’s probably the strongest case for enjoying every moment of life, for appreciating how extraordinary it is to be awake, and for fighting against the sedative of the routine.
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