Few thoughts on Life!

There is something about life that does take your breadth away. A pity then, that only humans seem to be able to understand and study it. For when have you heard of an animal, or bird, or insect, or the myriad other creatures in existence, of studying their own species as well as others? They just seem to exist. And as famous zen saying goes, " If you understand, things are just as they are; if you do not understand, things are just as they are." But we humans are made up of a different breed. We have taken ourselves so seriously that we studied all (we could lay our hands on) the creatures, categorized them, decided on their fate, and even created them (stem cell). One can find a sample of supreme human arrogance in the only selfless act he did : Create God in his own image! ( though the christians will say that God created man in his own image).

What is it about life that keeps about half of the world's population living below poverty line? What is it that motivates him to live a life full of disgrace & depravity; of a life which is more full of things that he didn't have, rather than what he had; a life whose only existence seems to be acknowledged by the descendents that he leaves. Maybe it is the reason why poor produce so many children. So that they survive. In someone's dream. That they be recognized at some point  of time. I would derive my support from Darwin, for only the fittest survive. And in this unequal world, where there is always a battle for life and resources being fought between the rich and the poor, the rich have the upper hand by controlling resources and having oodles of money. The only thing that poor can have is numbers, and they do that. They believe in numbers.For the entire history of the earth, they were never once victorious. But a man by the name of Jesus promised them that their time will come, that " poor shall inherit the earth". And so was born the religion, the so called "opiate of the masses". Still the game didn't change, and it never will as long as there is hope. Hope seems to be the biggest harvester of souls, keeping billions of people in its fold, never letting them go, whether generations come or go!

"A life well lived", will read the epitaph of many. What is life? and what is well lived? Is it merely the act of living, going from one tragedy to another, bound in the chains of hope, or religion? Or is it earning money? Or raising children so that you create someone in your image too? So that for once in your life you can play God?
Or giving service to society? or earning name and fame? Or a mixture, or summation of all these and other factors?

I have come to like Nietzsche's saying, " God is dead". But for me it goes a step beyond. He never was alive.He never was. It was always we. We humans! We see humans every where yet do not believe in him, and God nowhere, yet (try to )see him everywhere. This is a sign of dementia in the masses. And this coupled with hope will continue taking their toll till man comes to realize that he is the maker of his own destiny. That he can do what he desires. That he has infinite potential. And the only purpose of life is to realise that potential. The realization is an arduous journey, and in the course of that journey life happens!