Reflections on Life
Artists across several generations have expressed their opinions regarding life. Some have been optimistic, while others have portrayed it as dark and unforgiving. One thing is for sure, the interest for life has never declined, whether it has been a narrative of success or frustration, happiness or despair, life has fascinated the living. Intriguingly enough, life is so unpredictable that it’s hard to hold it within few parameters. The only certainty about life is death. The moment you are born, you know, you must die. The only constant in life is change. Once, Albert Einstein, the great scientific genius, had remarked, “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving .” Writers have often connected this flow with that of water. To extend it further, it may be visualized like this, water has no shape and hence takes the shape of the vessel in which it is kept, similarly, life has no fixed meaning or purpose, it is the meaning you give to it, that makes it either meaningful or something else.
Life as Energy and Continuity
Plurality of thoughts itself makes life fluid. Life continues without any need to stop, although we are all but mortal, in that sense, life is everlasting, and we are ephemeral. If we look at it from a specifically scientific point of view, it resonates very closely with this issue. All life forms are formed of energy, the constituent of each life form is ultimately energy. It is this energy which keeps the life form going, and it is this energy which again returns back to nature, with the death of a living organism. If we look at the First Law of Thermodynamics, we can clearly understand that energy can neither be created nor destroyed but can only change from one form to another. Following this logic, it can be inferred that the energy which kept an organism going is released into nature itself with the death of that organism, and again that same energy becomes the source of life for another life form. This is the way that life continues in its varied manifestations with all its plurality and variety.
If life continues, as it has always, then further attributes can be given to life itself. An organism may give up its life after a certain period of time, but the genetic material gets passed down through generations and this is another way through which life goes on in its own rhythm. If you have heard of organ transplantation then it is also true that the heart of a dead individual may help in saving another individual from dying. So the rhythm shall continue irrespective of within whom it is beating.
The Rhythm of Life
Reality and Human Nature
Life, Nature, and Human Differences
Following this perspective, it can even convey that life makes no discriminations between individuals however, individuals do entertain discriminations in life. In this regard nature and life are intertwined intimately with each other, in fact it may be said that life and nature cannot be identified separately from each other. Both do not entertain any difference of treatment towards two individuals, although each individual has some distinctive quality or characteristics.
The supreme leader of any kind of differentiation or discrimination is none other than a human being. It is we who look up to someone, look down upon someone, and even ignore someone. You may say that for any individual, every other individual cannot have the same amount of importance or significance, and hence the difference in treatment. The point is not at all baseless. It is not feasible to treat a friend or a relative in the same way as you treat a stranger. Similarly, you might not treat a saint and a sinner with the same perspective.
However, if you look at life at large, and do consider all life forms being formed of that same energy, including yourself, then the differences do become feeble. Of course, I do know and believe that an individual who lives a life of sanctity without blemishes shall always receive great regard from the people, still I would say not to bear hatred towards life, even if it has given life to a monster in the guise of a human being. If you respect life, you shall respect nature and above all you shall harbour self-respect.
Life has no fixed meaning or purpose, it is the meaning you give to it that makes it meaningful.
The Complexity of Reality
Instead of getting into the nitty gritty of the history of racial or religious discrimination, I shall rather proceed into the reality of life, as I realise that reality itself holds everything in it, including the shameful and the revered facets of mankind. I won’t treat life as a debate between existence and essence as that is the hobby of the highbrows of their respective fields, whereas I am a common individual sharing my ideas with you.
To borrow the words of Soren Kierkegaard, “Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced .” This is it.
The point of concern here is how we define reality. If you say that whatever we experience through our senses can be termed as real, then my friend, think about how people pretend, and how professional actors make us laugh and cry, and how rumours give rise to violence and chaos in society. Moreover, the news channels too broadcast narratives which essentially form a part of the grand or meta narrative, and mostly tend to ignore the micronarrative. They project their own versions of the actual incident or event and hence we do not get acquainted with the reality of the event.
The presentation of social reality as it were is often rather distorted from what it actually is. The reality around us never changes, but the way it is brought before us does affect our perception of the same, and this is where our sense of reality check becomes so vital and crucial to continue in the continuum of life. So, to term something as reality is extremely critical and delicate. To arrive at reality, we tend to conduct a probe before considering anything as real. However, it is easier said than done.
Life as Movement and Meaning
Within a short span, life provides you with opportunities, and what counts is how we make those opportunities count. Life is never stagnant, and hence the way life moves is the most intriguing aspect of life.
If you are fascinated by the seven stages of life as elaborated by the character Jacques in Shakespeare’s As You Like It, then your concern is about the gradual progression of life, whereas if you consider life as “a poor player, a walking shadow that struts and frets its hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot/Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing” just like Macbeth, then you may have come across harsh experiences in life.
Nevertheless, there’s no denying the fact that there are “miles to go” before you sleep, and if death is a sleep, then eternity is a continuation of your life in a different but significant way. Even if you don’t want to consider it, think about your “karma” and you will find life unfolding itself to you in a vibrant manner.
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