What is the nature of life, and living, and the world at large?

These are, I think, questions that every man, woman, and child probably asks themselves at one time or another.  "Why am I here?  To what end?"  This is a line of inquiry that has existed probably since the sapience of mankind, which the Great Dialogue has attempted to define time and time again.  My introspection in this regard is not really philosophical, or scientific, or even, in the end, practical – I think – but rather a strange mix of hopelessness and distaste.

Life, as it pertains to us, I think is a very simple matter.  It is the period that lasts from our births to our deaths.  For that is how all life begins and all life ends, and the thing held common between all of us.  We are all born of different capacity and capability, longevity, opportunity, and so forth.  What binds us together is death.  If we narrow down the definition of the scope of mankind to those capable of clear rational thought, I think we clarify the desired image more – for those with mental disabilities, altering diseases, heavy drug influence, and so forth, are still human but unfortunately excluded from my target for these purposes.

So what then?  We are all born, exercise rational thought, and die.  It seems so simple, and yet in these three things I find a great amount of wonder.  And in so finding, I find great hopelessness and distaste at the way things are in the world right now, because of the implications thereby following.

We are born.  Some would say, created – I myself have a hard time either way, siding with the creationists or evolutionists.  On the one hand, I have a difficult time accepting theology as established doctrine, though I was once a fervent Christian, for many chords it strikes wrong with me.  I think it’s irrelevant to this discussion, so I won’t go into it.  On the other hand, to me, evolution is just as implausible.  To say that we, as humans, evolved – that we somehow accidentally were put together to function as we do, is such a mess of coincidences. 

To have eyes that see, ears that hear, speech formed with air expelled through the lungs, shaped by the tongue, voiced by the mouth, hands with five fingers, with fingernails that grow, all the joints in all the proper places for work…  And then to say that the world complete as we see it – all the earth, seas, beasts, plants, and all else – fell to as a series of accidents (more or less) in relation to the environment around us, to me, seems to be at such odds that in my mind, they are fair equal with impossibility.

So what is birth, then?  It is creation.  Whether through some divine initiative, or through our own will and love, or through the cruel circumstances of life, whatever the case may be, it is the creation of new life.  It is the birth of possibility and potential.  It is the beginning of a journey of accidents, whereupon a new life is created through the merging of two developed ones, the result of which is determined by random chance.  And it is determined out of the hands of the one being born.  We don’t choose our parents or our circumstances or the world into which we’re born.

We share in death.  We all know that we will expire one day and that the Unknown awaits us at the end of all this.  Whether it’s heaven or hell, reincarnation, or just empty darkness devoid of consciousness, it is what looms over us all from the very day of birth, for death is the partner of life from the moment of its inception.  Just as light cannot be borne without shadow, life cannot be born without death.  It is the certainty of living, that we shall all die.

We obsess over death.  This, in main part, I think is due to the importance we place on ourselves and our lives.  That goes without saying – if we didn’t value living, then we would not fear death and what it may bring – an eternal silence to the voices of our souls.  If we cared not for our individuality, possessions, and that which can only be had in life, then we wouldn’t fear death.  It couldn’t take anything away from us, so we would have nothing to lose.  But that is not the nature of humans, whether by rational choice or by instinct, and we do fear death, and we do obsess over it.

I don’t believe that death should be feared.  I think it is a sad thing, to lose your family, your friends, your child, your love, your pet, your neighbor, or even some random person in the world that you never knew.  It is a life extinguished, it is the end of the possibility and potential that was born, and that to me is a sad thing.  Conversely, however, death is integral.  Without death, we would have no grasp on life.  It gives us a sense of immediacy, and of importance, and forces us to cherish the moments we experience.  These things are all self-evident.

But between the points of life and death, that is the most important part.  The journey of living.  That great road that leads us all to our destinations.  Why is it that this, the longest and most significant portion of our lives, is neglected and squandered?

The system is not conducive to living.  That is the simple truth.  Our governments, economies, cultures, and the whole of human history has culminated to this point, and it is a sad state of affairs.  I think that as we progressed over time, we have slowly upgraded our mode of living as a whole – we have grown and built, we have changed the necessary structures of society as revolutions occurred in philosophical and scientific arenas – but at the core of things, we are still nowhere near fulfilling our potential.  As a people, as a race, as a collective unity, we are better than this.

The status quo cannot be blamed, truly, for this.  It is against the nature of those in power to radically change the entire system upon which the world is turning, and it is mostly out of their power, anyway.  With so many different cultures and beliefs, governments and ideologies, countries and factions, it is near impossible for someone to wipe away thousands of years of conditioning and begin anew according to nothing but a vision.  We resist change, and have set the locks in place to prevent our own growth.  Where does that leave us?

It leaves us in a society that is comfortable with no real accountability or responsibility.  It leaves us believing that the way things are now are the way things ought to be – that we are in the best possible place we could be, and if things change too much, we will no longer know who we are or what we are doing.  It leaves us with the assumption that those holding the reins know what they are doing, understand the art of living, and have our best interests at heart, on the whole.  It leaves us with emptiness.

Right now, to me, the prime occupation of life seems to be marking time.  The main question seems to be, "How can we keep people from becoming bored?"  Instead of true pursuits, we seek entertainment.  Education on the whole is taken more as a necessity than as a passion.  Work is often a means to an end, and while many of us accomplish much in life and feel pride looking back, it remains that the whole of humanity is a continuous addition of zero-sums.

It feels to me like the powers that be are sometimes afraid of what would happen if we got bored.  We may start to think.  Entertainment and consumerism have become the total focus of society almost to the exclusion of all else.  Is this the way it ought to be?  Watching the news, I despair.  This is not news, it’s a goddamn circus.  Is this the representation of our world right now?  What happened to humanity – what happened to possibilities and potential?  What happened to the unity of our race, that which binds us separate from our own cultural and spiritual beliefs?  We are one people.

It is time to stand up for what is true and good in life.  I believe that humanity as a whole is capable of far better than what we have achieved – if it can even be called that.  Scientific progress is all well and good, and I am happy that we have fast computers, giant TVs, beautiful cars, instant information, cures for many diseases, treatments for ailments, clean water and food, and all else besides that we have accomplished.

But where is our advancement as a people, individual and whole?  Where is the evolution of our societal unity, of morality, of accountability, of kindness, fairness, and gentleness?  Why does technology progress in bounds and leaps, and yet, our view of ourselves as who we are, remains stagnant?  It seems wrong to me that we should be so concerned with the external with so little regard to what lies within.  The aim of life, I think, is the cultivation of the internal above all else.  The famous quote: "The unexamined life is not worth living."  Does that not also mean that the unexamined life as a collective whole, in the state of affairs of humanity, is not worth living?

I think that self-awareness and constant questioning should be observed in everyday life.  Meditation does not have to be done sitting amidst a circle of candles, listening to Tibetan chanting – it can be done in a crowded subway listening to your iPod, at work sipping a coffee staring blankly at a computer, during commercials while watching TV.  Ask yourself: what is true and good in this world?  What remains when all else falls away?  What is the nature of living, of life, and of being human?  Where should we be, as a people, one and whole, undivided by borders or beliefs?

He said: "Be the change you want to see in the world."  This is a revolution which cannot happen from the top down, at the power level.  It must be a true transformation of humanity, born within our hearts to aspire to something better – someone greater – and as infectious as a plague, as passionate as first love, as true as the unspoken.  Ask others: what do you believe?  What is the nature of the soul?  What is a world you would be proud to live in?

What is stopping you from achieving it?