Is There Even a Possibility We Can Know?

In undertaking an enterprise as vast as figuring out the meaning of life, it might be a good idea to first ask, "is it even possible for us to know?" Clearly there is a divergence of opinion on this matter. Various world religions would claim to know quite clearly. Some proponents of various religious systems might actually stop short of saying we can truly and fully understand what's going on, but they would still probably say we at least have a decent blueprint and a guide on how to act. On the secular side, there are those that say we can in fact understand the universe in a rational way through science. This implies the universe is intelligible and that our brains/minds have the ability to decipher it.

While science may be able to understand various physical processes, it is quite another matter for it to understand the meaning of life. If we understand the genesis of the physical universe, do we then understand the meaning of things? Are these not two different matters? An important distinction, then, is understanding the universe in a physical or mechanistic way, how stars form, how animals evolve, etc., and what any of this actually means. So delightful, the big bang occurred - now what?

Here is a quote spoken by a nice man, Immanuel Kant, the German philosopher, that poetically sums up this seeming tension:

"Two things fill the mind with ever-increasing wonder and awe: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within."

So yes, my friend, what is the relationship between this universe and the way it works and the possibility of meaning? Back to the original question, can we even know? I myself tend to sympathize with a view that was quite nicely put by J.B.S. Haldane, an evolutionary biologist, who I imagine spent quite a good deal of time twiddling with his mustache:

"The Universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose."

In other words, our minds do NOT have the ability to truly understand what's really going on. If that is the case, then why am I even bothering with this blog? A) I'm bored. B) I often do things that do not make sense. C) Even if we cannot understand everything or the big big picture, we might be able to understand a little bit, even perhaps bits that are important and do, in some meager way, relate to the meaning of the universe. Ah, but now I am back to this pesky problem of if the meaning of the universe is the same thing as the meaning of life. Does the universe care or have anything to do with the pursuits of man? The answer to this question is I don't know.

SUMMARY OF PROBLEMS
-Is there a difference between understanding the universe in a scientific way and understanding it in a philosophical/moral/spiritual way?
-Can the scientific way of understanding the world shed light on morality/spirituality/the meaning of life?
-Do human affairs even have relevance to the physical structure of the cosmos?
-Are we some accident and the universe is just some impersonal set of processes with no meaning?