The Meaning of Life
That has become a time-honoured search, and just incidentally an ironic jab at the sensibilities of those who struggle with the concept of existence and just why it is they have been placed here on earth. What is their purpose on earth? These heavy-thinkers obviously place slender value on the privilege we have been granted to live our lives as sensibly and tenderly as we possibly can.Of course for many in religion can be found the meaning of life. The belief that a life well lived - a difficult task for us all, given the many temptations that opportunities or lack of place before us - guarantees us a very special place in the afterlife, where life itself is re-created on quite another sphere, where the soul takes precedence over the decayed body, and all is well.
Angels welcoming the presence of the deceased, loved ones assembled about and God in His wisdom presides, our avuncular redemptor.
Absent the comfort of religion? The polarity of humankind's acceptance of the mysterious, the unknowable, the Great Spirit which created us and all that surrounds us and to whom humankind is forever indebted - as opposed to the spirituality inherent in rational acceptance, our creative intelligence...the natural world around us. The meaning of life? It is to live. As best one can. To love, to appreciate our opportunities.
Perhaps part of the problem of modern society, a general malaise, a feeling of dislocation, of something absent, is not that religious observance is on the decline. Granted, religion does give a sense of discipline and comfort to those who cannot impose discipline upon themselves, and who seek comfort in the belief that an all-seeing, all-powerful spirit looks over them. Perhaps it is that we have lost touch with nature. We have isolated ourselves from the comfort of being part of nature.
Easily enough remedied. We have but to visit the natural world on occasion. To marvel at its complexities, its beauty, its promise. It is, after all, the natural world of which we are an integrated part, though we isolate ourselves in a world of man-made metal and cement. It is the coldness of our surroundings that enervates us. Hope can be replenished by exposing ourselves to the healing properties of nature.
Nature has invested in us, her creatures, the essential spark of life. Ours to carry the torch. Within us, the divine spark urges continuation of the species. Nature has instructed us through our genetic code to go forth and multiply. We share a divine need; the first law in the canon of nature, the survival imperative.
All else is commentary on the human condition.
Labels: Environment, Realities, Religion
posted by Pieface @ Monday, December 10, 2007
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