Essays on Life: It's a Mystery

Life is a beautiful thing however, when confronted with life and its purpose there are many answers to it. Some answers are very grim and include despair like nihilism. However, others are bright and can be happy like religion outlook. So others are filled with philosophy and some people will follow there own philosophy on life. The greatest question in life is "What is the meaning of life?" it is a question many people ask themselves at some point during their lives, most in the context "What is the purpose of life?" There are two major views that talk about life the religious and philosophical. So the question remains is life just materialism or is there more than just what is in front of us that we deserve.

I. OUTLOOK ON LIFE

According to religious views life is seen as the time you spend a creating a true relationship with a higher order "God", procreate so that the religion last generation after generation, Love Your Creator and Fellow Man as you love yourself, to worship your creator and obey what he says and finally to enjoy life! You're created by a divine being and with everything you have must embrace and love your creator for creating you. Having a relation with your creator does not just make you another creation but one that shows thanks and happiness. To create new life is part of that purpose of life. We need to create new life because; we are always living and need to live on. It's our species mission to move on and be better. The religious outlook on life is that we are evolving via enlightenment thru process. God created you and everyone that is human. It's your job to love god and to love what he created that includes your fellow man. This teaches virtue to you and every person. God created you and part of the relationship mention above is to worship God.

God demands that you obey his law over any other because, his law is divine and when your judge on the Day of Judgment he will say to you "have you lived life according to my wishes?" This teaches use the Golden Rule. Finally, the purpose of life is to live life in order to have fun and alleviating the boredom of eternity. Life is a rollercoaster and eternity is the ground below that rollercoaster. Eternity is flat with nothing happening however, the rollercoaster is filled with ups and downs. By enjoying life in accordance with God and being grateful for which you have and work hard to what you want is all God asks of you when it comes to living the fun and adventurous aspect of life.

The philosophical view seems to be that of despair in most cases and stress life your life in particular. Nihilistic views on life are that of despair that life is to be enjoyed because, eventually when we die it is all over. Nihilist believers feel that Christianity took away the value of earthly life and replaced it with "a supposed afterlife." Therefore life is meant to be enjoyed on your terms and not on terms of divine beings. Pragmatic view on life believes we should search for a useful understanding of life. "The meaning of life is those purposes which cause you to value it." Life's purpose is to experience it. Existentialist view on life is that it is indifferent and it's up to the individual to create his or her own values throughout life's experiences. Life is irritation, painful and not to mention aimless. However salvation is possible through aesthetic contemplation, sympathy for others, and asceticism or the practice of avoiding worldly pleasures. Those who practice ascetic lifestyles often perceive their practices as virtuous and pursue them to achieve greater spirituality.

Personally I believe that life should have some constriction. Live is a special thing because, you only live once. This view can both be supported by philosophers and religious believers and therefore can be agreed on. I believe life is dualistic and there are multiple paths you can take though life. I believe in destiny and that we are destined to do great things or terrible things, these destinations are absolute however, it's the journey that alters where we choose to go. I believe in a "heaven/paradise" and I believe in a "hell." Based on the absolute that you reach determines where you shall belong.

II. QUALITIES TO LIFE

Have you noticed in today's more busy world that everyone has become materialistic or even nihilistic? Pessimism and Evil thoughts and action take place. Where ever you go you're bombarded with an advertisement. Even the logo on your car and the first thing you see in the morning. Face it spirituality, morals, values and individuality is being taken away and replaced with materialism, the superficial and "if the individual feels, the community reels!"- Brave New World. I encourage that you spreed the word and rate this and some feedback would help out also. I have given a lot of deep thought and contemplation about life and I have come to believe in these qualities.

Dualism is one quality of life and it is supported by many eastern traditions that "Everything in life is balanced" some people say however I believe that people leave out an all important part of the phrase "in the end". We live in a world where materialism is running rampant and consumption is out of control. In fact today's world aside from the conspiracy theories we here today is more so liberal than ever. An example would be our oil supply we consume everyday however we do nothing to conserve. This proves my point that we see ONLY what's in front of us and lead very unbalanced lives. The lesson in this is that dualism will balance things out and when it does it will be harsh. To put things in a metaphor: Look a diving board the higher you are from the pool water the greater the impact. The diving pool represents an extreme the pool represents that balance. The higher you are the greater the impact. Were going to new extremes everyday, that when we chose to jump, we just might kill ourselves.

Another quality is destiny. When you look at the world around you; you would like to think that you're in control. Especially in the western societies where materialism is a driving factor and this veil of imaginary individuality seems to take effect. If you look at it from the religious aspect of God. God knows what was, is and is to be. So free will doesn't seem to play out well anymore. Instead subscribing to the theory that everything happens for a reason seems more comfortable to accept. For those reading and want more spirituality in their life believes that God has a plan for all of us. If you go into the Christian concept that god wants us to be with him than all the actions in life that happen are enlightenment thru process. "Life is a succession of lessons." When you're aware of something you did wrong you try and not do it again. This event happened so you do not make the same mistake. This is a clear example of enlightenment through process.

Awareness is a gift and a quality that has allowed becoming who we are today. Being aware of yourself and others is a gift whether or not it being divine or by luck or by some other concept. Others say ignorance is bliss and that we'd be much happier if we were unaware, but how can we be happy if were not even aware of our emotions? If we were unaware of our mortality, unaware of our setbacks and humility. We would never be able to say what we want and choose if we really want it. It would be a fact I believe we'd be even worse. It's that awareness that helps us realize that we are special and that everything we perceive is a part of what we should be happy about.

Like stated in the paragraph above that expressed my views on meaning of life; life has two ultimate paths. One day you'll reach the Fork in the Road Eventually When You Do... Where will you go? It's those choices that say life is a dualistic and deterministic. Life will get you to move by the sands of time. Life is bonded by time and this is the deterministic driving force in every being. When you reach that point in the road where free will might be existent you'll choose to do the right thing or self-indulge yourself. Which ever you choose is your destiny. Life Equation: (Life + Time = [Determinism + Dualism] = [Free Will + The Choice = Destiny]). It is a simple equation but it has a GRAND EFFECT on you for the rest of your life.

III. AFTERLIFE

Now I would like to briefly go into the matter of life after death. I believe life does exist after death. However, there are different forms of afterlife so which one is the better choice? I believe that Reincarnation is not possible. I feel that Reincarnation is not possible because, when Hinduism was founded in 1500 BCE the human population and the population of living things was smaller than what it is today. Thanks to increased lifespan, medicine, urbanization and agriculture. To put things into proportion if back some 3500 years ago there were 10,000 people there would be 10,000 souls but in the present there's 50,000 people where did the additional 40,000 souls come from to create further reincarnation? I'm not a skeptic, pessimistic or even cynical. I am simply just asking where the additional souls would come from to make Reincarnation possible.

The western tradition of the abrahamic religions say there will be a day of judgment for his creations. I subscribe to the idea of one soul that is everlasting and will be judged upon by its actions during life. This view makes the abrahamic religions the most followed in the world today. If we were to drop materialism, superficial and pessimistic views for one day than there would be a heaven on earth. When you do the right thing and not the wrong thing that is God Reaching out his hand. He is saying that the unimaginable human good is more powerful and stronger in the spiritual sense than the imaginable human wrong doings. Have you ever noticed that evil is a short term concept? Lust, Wrath, Greed, Sloth and all the other Deadly Sins are short term. Sex last until a certain point than it's over. You take out revenge and kill someone it's done with pull of a trigger.

It's all short term. However, good is a Long-Term thinker. Love, Forgiveness, Sharing, Hard-Work they all pay off in the end. This leads to a healthy spiritual and mental life. Knowing that you gave food or money to a homeless man that otherwise couldn't buy anything, instead of lying and saying you're broke and living with the guilt, gives a feeling of self-accomplishment. Jesus said: "Ask and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you." If you work hard this statement is a great example. Hard work is a lesson in discipline. Hard work earns you material and spiritual rewards. Now with that bonus in your paycheck you can give a part of that to that homeless man, no matter how small, if the beggar buys it for the things the beggar needs the beggar will be thankful. That is a spiritual boost and gives that LONG TERM FEELING of Happiness.

To believe that life does not exist after death is cynical and dangerous thinking and explains why there is some much chaos in the world because, people are afraid to die. If you were to look at a species that is advanced and intelligent as us the odds of DNA sequencing to make us self aware is 1 in a trillion even scientist believe that. Humans are always evolving and I believe that as we evolve we spiritually evolve and we develop spirits or soul since the time we have become self aware of death and our own mortality. Life is strong and demands to life forever. We as smart and evolved as we are still cannot explain things and intellectually weak people just sign it off as "I do not see it therefore it does not exist." There are things around us we cannot see with our eyes and hear with our ears and feel with our mind and body that to believe we were created to just live and die would invite certain destruction and more chaos.

IV. LIVING LIFE
So how should we live life regardless of if we are religious or not? Well, life is great regardless of what you maybe your living and it's the time now what you do than latter. How you live your life is important. A weak, idiotic and vengeful man is less likely enjoying life than a strong, confident and giving man who would be enjoying life to the fullest.

It's our jobs reach the highest point of the three cornerstones of living more than ever especially when we are young. The reason why is that when you look back on your life, when your old you can say confidently that you lived life to the fullest. There are three things you need to take care of in life. Your body, Mind and Soul and/or Emotions.

Your body connects your mind to this world! Without it we could not interact with this world! We could eat, run, embrace or anything. That's why in life it's important to take care of what is yours. Cardio Workouts, Muscular workouts, setting goals and test of how far you can let your body go. Cardio workouts strengthen and boost the endurance of the heart muscle. Doing these workouts burns excess fat and brings cholesterol and blood pressure in check. Meanwhile, Strength training exercises increase the size, strength and the overall endurance of skeletal muscle fibers or your voluntary muscles. Doing these workouts test your bodies to be able to lift heavier items and endure long periods where your strength is being tested. Dieting is another important aspect. Eating the right foods alone increase life connectivity and provide the energy you need for the day. Certain foods help prevent certain ailments from existing latter on in life.

Your mind is another aspect of you life to keep healthy. Its allows you to be aware of what your doing and why your doing it. Without it you're just as intelligent as the rest of our primate ancestors. Being social, smart and aware is key it providing for your mind. When were not alone where generally happy right? Someone else to talk to. While I don't believe it's unhealthy to talk to you I do believe having someone else to talk to is even better as it shows the interaction going on between to minds. When we say smart to they street or book smart? Well, try both. Being street smart you know how to talk and interact with others on a basic level. However, being book smart boost the value of what you're saying because, it shows you know more. So how do you go about being smart? Read books on ideology, philosophy and talk to others with people. Teach others these views open there horizons. "A healthy mind is a helpful mind." A final way to boost the value and power of your mind is to meditate. When you meditate your just relaxing the mind letting thoughts and everything else wash over you like a waterfall. However, you can focus on one problem or focus on peace.

Focusing on peace relieves stress from your world and channels it into a more positive outlet. Your spirit it's the emotions of your mind and body in one it is your true inner self. Such a concept such as this has been questioned for quite sometime. However imagine a world without it. There would be no real happiness, no real morals and no real emotion. Essentially we would be a computer with no rational individual thought but an immoral community based thinking. Following principles, being honest with yourself and others not to mention a belief there is a bigger plan in life than just day-to-day activities will greatly improve your soul overall. Morals and principles it's a lot of what a soul is about. The human spirit knows that there are desires and temptations out there that if taken advantage of could have consequences down the road. Being disciplined and morally straight can help prevent temptation altogether. Selecting principle over preferences is a sign of a strong spirit. Even when the social consequences are big.

Honesty allows others to trust you and respect you. To be able to prove your honesty is without a doubt a great feeling it brings an inner peace. A liar would have guilt and eventually seek to repent. Ask yourself this question "Why lie in the first place, if I am going to feel guilty for it latter?" Eventually truth and honesty will be revealed and when it does it will hit hard because, of the lying. To believe in something more than day-to-day living is a feeling that while takes away free will does say that there is a destiny for everyone what we choose to do will make getting there longer or shorter. Destiny, Deterministic Qualities of Time and life all merged with a higher order proves that you have ability to choose right or wrong to fulfill your destiny. Believing that there is something more than you is powerful and inspires you to do the right thing.

So when we are asked on the issue of "What is the meaning of life?" it is a question many people ask themselves at some point during their lives. We may never know it would need the help of a creator to explain to us why the creator made life occur in the first place. We can also make a good assessment and say that the creator is energy because, energy always was, always is and always has been most in the context. The other question is "What is the purpose of life?" Life is either pointless and you great your own universe as you go along or has a purpose to you being there are that specific point in time and that specific place. It's a matter of living the life of preference if it is pointless versus living the life of principle if there is purpose to life.