Side note: I am a Christian and Chemistry student, so there may be ideas from the bible and pieces of evolution infused into this post. Nonetheless, I wish to come up with an objective and informative article for all peoples desiring to uncover a true meaning to Life in a wholistic and individualistic way. May it be a Truth we can hold to, that strikes right into the inner chord of our hearts.
As 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 puts it: "Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil." As a Truth seeker personally, I'm encouraged to examine what holds to be good and test it. Well, the Truth will hold if we throw everything at it, right?
Update: If we seek things wholeheartedly, with all our heart and minds and soul, we will be able to find it. Understanding in terms of knowledge probably speaks mostly to the mind. Stepping into the knowledge not knowing what will happen creates experiences that speaks to our hearts and souls.
To know how it will be like to swim in a river, it is quite funny to stay on a boat to speculate how the water will feel like or even taste like. We can know in knowledge all we want about the river but until we get out of that boat, things are pretty much all in the head level.
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So.. What is Life, or rather what is Our Life about?
This is a number one question that many of us would have found ourselves asking by now. Along with this question above are a whole series of questions ranging like: How did we start, where did we come from? What are we doing here? Where are we going to go from here?
"Evolution vs Creation, does it really matter all that much?"
The watchmaker video above ridicules and confront popular, evolutionary thoughts by challenging the viewer that Intelligent Design neccesitates a Designer. (Just how much chance is there when we put all the parts needed to make a watch into a bag, shake it hard and a fully functional watch will drop out?) Just because many people believe in something doesn't make it right. Everyone used to believe the earth was square and you will fall off if you sailed far enough (it sounded logical for their time).
Are we as scientists speculate, products of random collision of gases from nothingness that "Big Banged" into the whole span of universe? And so happened that Earth was favorable to life?
Or are we like Creationists claim, masterpieces of an Almighty God, a crown jewel of a whole span of created wonderful creatures and beings? Are we products of natural selection, mere survivalists who managed to trump over all other species on the planet or did we begin as a single cell with no consciousness?
Even if we did find out how we (or life) came to be, how crucial will it be in helping us make sense of Life? What if it was random? That would really means life just simply occurred, with no apparent reason that people seek. What if there was indeed a Higher Being that created us? Are we just out here for his pleasure? Are we here going through the motions of life just because we are put here? What is he trying to do and tell us, then? Are we just here to "Be Fruitful and Multiply"? Is that all?
There is a whole lot of speculation of how the world came to be as it is and it seems that there is not going to be a definite answer we can know for absolutely sure. The debate continues even today, despite the long recorded history of Man, as we call ourselves.
"Whether we like it or not, we are already here."
We have to accept the fact that we are already here before any search for meaning can make sense (both in a macro humankind and micro individualistic view). As Humans we tend to look towards things around us for clues to make sense of things. The search for Meaning may actually begin somewhere closer: Ourselves.
What? We did not choose to be here!!
Indeed many are "Brought into this world" confused. Did we choose to be born in the first place? Who determined who we were going to be? Why couldn't we choose to be someone more famous (like Justin Bieber, Obama, Paris Hilton, etc). Why are we who we are? Why couldn't we choose our skin colours, eye colours, hair colours just as we pleased?
Only we can be ourselves, no one else can be us and neither can we be others. Even twins, the natural clones of Mother nature, can be so different in many ways. Unfortunately we are quite far from the vision of Rene Descartes, whose famous quote was:" I think, therefore I am". Not quite like how we imagined it to be as we are not really who we want to believe we are.
However, there still seem to be a whole multitude of decisions we are to make (ranging from unimportant to critical life changing ones). With each decision is attached a whole string of consequences. We can choose in fact how we live our lives; What school we decide to study in; Who we choose to marry; what clothes are we to wear for today; what we eat for lunch (how many of us remember what we ate).
The list is exhaustive but we recognize in it a pattern for Life and making choices, (hopefully right ones). The choices we make may be confined by the fact of who we are and where we exist is physical space but nonetheless are important to us.
The Time factor
Again we are left dumbfounded in a question of being confined to physical space and time. Why are we born in this specific time-frame as we are? Why not in the past, why not the future? This again is something we did not have a choice with. There have been many ideas of time travelling and fantasy ideas regarding time but recorded history and texts suggest that Time is a one way traffic with no turning back.
Made famous by Albert Einstein's theory(or rather hypothesis since its unproven) of relativity, Time is described as a fourth Dimension that exists. While we can move and travel about in our physical space on earth, we do so wrapped up in the dimension of time that is going forward, all the time. Einstein claims even that, time "slows down" in outer space as we travel towards the speed of light.
With modern investigations and instruments, we are able to measure time. Yet, there exists a field of philosophers in the mould of Gottfried Leibniz and Immanuel Kant, who argues that time is neither an event nor a thing, and cannot itself be measured nor traveled. Time seems to be both tangible and quantifiable yet intangible and abstract enough for the human mind to comprehend.
Perhaps we do not fully comprehend how time itself started, but we do know something about the nature of time: Once gone it cannot be reversed. Yet, only in Time the things we do will make sense. And Time justifies the various stages of Life we went through, and are still going through. The stages of infancy to adult in awareness of self and ultimately the inevitable death. Until we can fully master time, we are but beings living in its confinement.
A particular verse from the Bible aptly describes time. Written by King Solomon, one of the most famous, successful and perhaps the wisest king who had riches and people at his disposal. Ecclesiastes 3:1-14 describes His self-reflection of the things he saw in his own life and the life of others, that There is a time for everything.
We can throw a cup of glass onto the floor, completing shattering it in the process, but yet we can never be able to reverse it in a way they can assemble back into a complete glass from its shattered pieces. The same is for our lives, we cannot relive our past, but we can hold memories, good or bad that define who we are, what we went through and how all that shaped us into the persons we are today.
We see that Life has meaning in Time that is going forward, always. It makes decisions in life sometimes regretful, yet purposeful as we discover value in things that hold true and are good and meaningful. We may not be able to understand everything in full from the time scale since beginning of time, but we can, make sense of our time right here from our experiences and the things we do and encounter. Time gives our life a context and background, a basis of more than just a routine.
Life is about what we have?? Or what we cannot have??
Led by his life of wealth and knowledge, King Solomon perhaps also amassed wealth, wives and servants more than anyone could ever did in his lifetime. Yet, we see that in the book of Ecclesiastes he laments that all are vanity as all things pass away in due time. He moves on to conclude that: "Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole [duty] of man." (Ecc 12:13)
How and why did such a King, not lacking in any material needs of physical comfort, wealth and knowledge of his time come to such a disillusion of worthlessness of pursuit of things? Wouldn't having the world of luxury make anyone happy?
Japan: One of the most modern countries in the world, boasting the material comfort and life of high technology and goods many living in other parts of the world can only dream of. Yet Japan also has a high suicide rate. Complexity of the causes of suicide? Maybe, but there is perhaps hardly any point in accumulation of wealth, nor the pursuit of the luxuries that we think we will enjoy. If truly materials alone could suffice in our pursuit for life and that life is for enjoyment of physical comfort, no one will lose hope. I believe it actually takes more courage to suicide than to muster courage to live on.
Nonetheless, some people spend all their lives working out for money's sake, and are still not be satisfied with their lives. Some own a lot of possessions but are never happy. Many are just caught up in the rat race, trying to break out of their life's struggle and cope with survival seemingly without a choice.
People can flaunt their wealth, possessions, fame, looks, sure. Who wouldn't want to be successful in life? Who wouldn't want a beautiful wife/handsome husband with a happy family? Who wouldn't want money? Yet, Naked as we come, Naked we shall go.
Nothing we ever gained in this life in terms of possessions can we bring with us when we die. There is definitely more to Life than just pursuits of things that will become vapour and mist that once passed our eyes. "What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?" (Matt 16:26, NIV)
Here we definitely know that Life is NOT about an excessive pursuit of money nor material goods. Money is needed for life and materials are there to make life better, but it can becomes a distraction that throws our whole life off-course. It is perhaps better to be in contentment with what we have and find happiness than to sulk all our lives pursuing castles in the air.
As Steve Jobs put it :"“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.” "
Suffering - Is there Meaning to it at all?
One of the toughest questions in life is this: How can we ever reconcile meaning associated with suffering? Can we justify suffering to others? Is there meaning to people who died in natural disasters in earthquakes, tsunamis? Is there meaning to people living in third world countries digging heaps of rubbish to scavenge for food? Is there even, meaning in toiling in the motions of life and getting tired as a result?
If there is a loving God, why does he ever allow such injustice to happen around us? Why do illness strike people at random and seemingly good people who don't deserve it? Why do some evil people who commit crimes get away with it?
There seems to be an infused sense of right and wrong inside of us - a sense of justice in us that cries out and echoes in one another when we perceive wrongdoings being committed against another human being. And we will see to it that justice is being done - if it is within our means, the burning desire to see right triumph over wrong.
We don't ever ask why its wrong to do the following: Murder, adultery, greed, jealousy, hypocrisy. We just know it is wrong. When we ourselves do certain things that we know are wrong, our conscience pricks us because of this sense of right and wrong inbuilt inside us. If we cannot stand others wreaking injustice into our lives, our hearts speak out against ourselves doing the same to others.
Suffering is one of the many things we do not have answers to in life. Perhaps we may never be able to reconcile it having a meaning when it devastates in scales unimaginable for us. Yet, in a micro scale in our own lives, a little hardship produces elements of endurance, perseverance and patience. Only when we went through hardships can we appreciate the things we take for granted so ever easily in our daily lives.
Suffering suggests that Life is really frail. It could be here today and gone the next day. I wouldn't dare to conclude and extrapolate to say that people die in disasters for a reason. Instead, we grow to accept that life has many things that happen randomly and unfortunately than we can explain that are simply "out of control".
However, in our hearts of flesh, we know that Every Single Life has value.
If we can create Life, we are our own masters..
wait a second, are we not?
The watchmaker analogy - pointing back to the video at the start of the article, suggesting that intelligent design of lifeforms and its mechanisms neccesitates a designer, we explore the watch maker analogy once again:
"Just how much chance is there when we put all the parts needed to make a watch into a bag, shake it hard and a fully functional watch will drop out?"
That's right the chances are close to zero I'm afraid.
The reason humans try to discover and replicate life essentially came from the search for life itself. If we ourselves are able to replicate and create life, we will be able to become the master life and not be at the mercy of it. Yet we never truly successfully did so. Cloning perhaps, with all its mastery still suggest at best we can only make something out of the resources we already have. We simply just can't make something fall out of the sky from nothingness.
The Miller-Urey Experiment
Diagram showing the experiment setup
The Miller-Urey Experiment conducted in 1952 and 1953 was an experiment put to task to mimic early earth's conditions and to "support" and lend evidence to how life might have originated. The experiment put a few basic molecules and gases thought to be present in early primitive Earth and how an electric spark in form of lightning can provide enough energy to trigger a chemical reaction. The experiment generated 20 over amino acids and scientists were buoyed by the "astounding success" that it lent to support Abiogenesis (a theory that life came from non-living things).
It would almost seem ridiculous to extrapolate life formed just because these amino acids formed, by putting them all in the manner of the watchmaker analogy into a pool of ocean containing amino acids, they somehow bonded and formed DNA sequences. Not to even mention if the amino acids actually stayed long enough without breaking down before doing so. Which makes our Life a pure coincidental accident.
Although advances in technology and research have allowed us to synthesise many compounds including DNA, we did not create them, nor do we fully understand the whole genetic code having mapped it out. Even doctors are appalled at the number of receptors on a human hand, and how robotic fingers and palm fail to match up to the amazing "mechanic" human hand, in flexibility and ability.
So..Where are we going?
“Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.”
Peter Tosh
This is the ultimate question that explores the question of the inevitable - Death.
The point where our life cease to exist in the time frame makes a huge dent in our meaning in life. Death is a word shunned by many cultures as a taboo, as something loathed at and feared of. Yet, it is something everyone will reach in their lives. The massive time frame of over thousands of years make our existence on the time scale look like nothing more than a little dot.... insignificant!
Yet, death crystallises meaning into letting us realizing our time here is short.
Yes, I'm proposing the fact that Life has a meaning in Death. With an end in mind, it forces us to focus on things that hold meaning and value in us - affecting our choices and decisions as a direct result. If we only have ONE HOUR left right now in our life, what would we do? Will you still be reading this post? Will you call all your loved ones to tell them how much you love them? Will you spend it working overtime in your work?
To put it into perspective: Life itself is a preparation for Death. At the point where we consciously know we are about to die, are we ready to meet our Maker or will our lives be filled with things we feel we have not accomplished? Will we be satisfied or regretful?
Possibilities..? The Part and Whole Relationship
I'm not sure if you have played with Google Earth before, but if you did, you would probably have realised how small we are in the universe. Life seems too huge to be just about ourselves. If the individual was to be at the pinnacle of Life, it would be total chaos.
Instead, the people around us, the things and situations around us, all perhaps help us to find meaning not just in ourselves, but in something "bigger out there" Play with the telescope and we will even be awed at how big the galaxy of stars and planets are.
There is perhaps something Mother Nature are trying to tell us: Individualistic we may be, we are in a part whole relationship with it altogether. We are part of something bigger we have probably not fully understood.
Summary
It is really hard to put a conclusion on the meaning of life and rather it may be a journey altogether. I hope the points put forward in this post would have expanded your thoughts on the subject, do feel free to lend your thoughts and comments. And I hope together we uncover the true meaning of Life for ourselves. =)
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The Biblical perspective The Bible offers thoughts on Life and Death, and it would totally not make sense and perhaps even be offensive for a non-christian reader. It would be hard to see the biblical viewpoint with the Christian Jargons and perspectives regarding Good/Bad, Sin, and Life. So I decided to take it out into a section here, for those interested, I do hope you read on to find out more about what the Bible holds for us in Life.
1) God and Creation
In the beginning God created us to know Him personally (John 17:3). He Loves us (John 3:16).
We looked earlier at the possibilities of an intelligent design behind Life and you would not be short-changed definitely to see if God can work in your life. You won't lose out if He is real and if He's not it won't hurt you to give Him a chance in your Life to know Him.
2) Man and Original Sin
Our representative of Human kind in Adam and Eve sinned, and we inherently are subjected to Sin (Romans 3:23). Sin results in Death and separation from God (Isaiah 59:2, Romans 6:23). It is often noted that the acts of sin or sinful acts in itself comes from the susceptibility of all of us to Sin.
In layman terms, Sin refers to doing anything that is considered impure in God's eye: adultery, lust, greed, bearing false witness, hatred and bitterness. More than anything, the thought of committing such things is just as bad as the final manifestation of the beginning thought.
Sin is simply failing to hit the target God has set the plan for man to live by, like shooting arrows and not hitting bulls-eye. We may not commit crimes like murder, but sin is much evident in our lives, when greed, dishonesty, jealousy, lust can overtake our thoughts in life.
We can live with Sin in our lives but Jesus came as a solution, because without Him, we are all destined to perish and pay for our sins. Many people think God is cruel, because there is Heaven and Hell. But in the first place, Everyone was headed to Hell. He came to provide a way to Heaven.
3) Jesus as Life
The Bible tells us that no one is capable of escaping the penalty of Sin, and Jesus came precisely for this reason: To offer us Life and reconciliation to God (John 14:6) He died on the Cross as a sacrifice to atone for our sins (Hebrews 9:22)
Jesus was a man who came 2000 plus years ago. He was recognised as a good teacher, Prophet, and also the incarnation of God in human form. In the Biblical context, people had to offer sacrifices to atone for the sins they committed but no one could ever earn salvation by following the Law alone as None could match up to the standard. Jesus came as a perfect sacrifice and solution from God. He made 7 "I am" claims that tells us of Life with God:
Bread
“I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall not hunger.” John 6:35
Light
“I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the
Gate
“I am the gate; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”
John 10:9
Good Shepherd
“I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for His sheep.” John 10:11
Resurrection and Life “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies.” John 11:25 Way, Truth, Life “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.” John 14:6 |
True vine
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.” John 15:1
If somebody gave you one million today, you still have a choice to make:
We can make a decision to receive Christ through Prayer. Prayer is like talking to God and is more about the heart rather than the content/words we use. You may pray this suggested prayer if you feel God speaking to you today:
"Dear Jesus, I want to know You Personally. Thank you for dying on the Cross for my sins. I acknowledge You as the Lord and Saviour of my Life, may You come into my life today and show me your purpose for me in life. Lead me as You know what is Best for me. Amen."
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Walking a faith journey takes more than just feelings, but also relies on our relationship with God. One of the ways we can know God is through the Bible (in knowledge) and also our encounters (in experiences). When you make the decision to receive Jesus into our lives the following happened:
1. Christ came into your life (Revelation 3:20 and Colossians 1:27).
2. Your sins were forgiven (Colossians 1:14).
3. You became a child of God (John 1:12).
4. You received eternal life (John 5:24).
5. You began the great adventure for which God created you (John 10:10; 2 Corinthians 5:17 and 1 Thessalonians 5:18).
