The Answer to Everything

If you haven’t ever thought about this, then congratulate yourself. You are among the lucky few who will live a long and satisfying life. For the rest of us, it’s a slow and murky life ahead. Let me explain why? A question that has puzzled millions, throughout the generations is “what is our purpose in life”. Aristotle, Plato, Spinoza and all the great lineage of philosophers spent their lives trying to understand man’s place in earth, space and time. They were of the opinion that everything happens for a reason, and every entity has a reason for existence. In Hinduism, Bhagavad Gita professes the importance of Karma, your work and deeds that defines your purpose and determines your next incarnation in the life-death cycle. In Buddhism, the primary purpose of life is to end this suffering (of rebirth). All of life is marked by suffering since individuals desire and have materialistic attachments in life. But this suffering can be ended by following the eightfold path finally leading to moksha, the enlightenment.
Thus ironically man’s purpose in life is to ultimately have no life. Funny eh, well that’s what majority of the religions propagate. Except Christianity, of course, which does not believe in rebirth. There it’s either Heaven or Earth. But here is a thought. What if by default everyone goes to Hell, unless they achieve enlightenment after thousands of rebirth, when they finally enter Heaven. Ouch, the mind hurts now.

What is interesting is that assuming it’s all true (if it is), then how the heck can hell or heaven accommodate 6billion people (or more like infinite).  Mathematically,

Life(Sn) = Function ( Life(Sn-1), Life (Sn – 2) … )

Moksha = Life (Sn + 1)  { where Sn is either a hypothetical max if it ever exists } or
                     Life (Sn) is a home run aka met all the conditions for complete enlightenment

The thought that is ever more worrying is, what’s the point of spending 80+ years living when all that you have done which falls outside the path of righteousness is just a waste of time. Hypothetically, if I die as soon as I am born, I would never have the time to fall prey to desires and attachments. Thereby, making the transition to the so-called enlightenment even faster. All these are such strong fallacies of these proposed philosophies of life.

I am also a senile disapprover of Christianity or Islam’s “being a true ” Christian/Muslim. part to achieve an entry to heaven. What or who is a true Christian. Is there a clear set of rules and guidelines that clearly define what is good or bad.

Sadly, for people like me, we are back to square one. None of the religions are able to satisfy my quest for the true purpose of life. I am not convinced by irrational or purists thoughts. But what I have come to accept over the years from all my readings, is that maybe the true purpose is more altruistic than personal (consistent with all religious beliefs). Collectively we strive for the advancement of the society. But nothing more than that. We live once and we die. There is no heaven, no hell, no fair maidens awaiting us, no reincarnations, no repercussions of our deeds. In a nut-shell, as an individual it’s a pointless life. There is no self purpose. But rather, collectively, we are quasi-essential for something bigger, for instance, like solving someone else’s purpose. Like bits and pieces of a bigger equation. Like grains of sand in a desert. Like fragments of a code for an Operating System.

Sigh, this idea seems straight out of the movie Matrix. But more like Hitchhiker's Guide’s idea of Earth as a huge super computer and all of us a part of a huge simulation. Maybe we are just bugs that the programmer overlooked which then turned into a feature. Slowly, churning, replicating, reproducing, we are now an intrinsic part of the system. We are all governed by predefined rules and laws set as parameters of the simulation. And every few billion of years, software is upgraded, quashing all bugs and reinstating the Earth in a pristine condition. Damn, if that’s the case, how depressing. Will we ever know the truth. Will we ever discover the true purpose. Is there are point after all. So many unanswered questions, and no answers. Sigh!