More than Meets the Eye
September 26th, 2008
To all those struggling in life and faith: peace to you, and may the following words be of some encouragement.
We often perceive life to be this long trip, terrifying yet wonderful at the same time. Like a roller coaster that you weren't sure of going on when you were a kid, but you did it anyway. But of what depth is our lives when compared with the magnificence of the universe? The time we go through is but a small fraction of time itself. And here we are, getting caught up in the small things. Does it really matter that someone cut you off on the freeway, or that someone else lacked the competence to perform their job correctly, leaving you with a so called burden of work? These matters lack significance in the grand scheme of things. Or... do they? When you think deep enough about it, I suppose it all comes down to your thoughts on the very reason for our existence. If you believe in evolution, then we are nothing more then a freak accident from some cosmic burp that happened 23 billion years ago (a time frame beyond our comprehension, therefore making us assume that the proposed sequence of events in the evolutionary chain were indeed possible and thus occurred). And if such a fairy tale labeled by so called experts as "science" is true, then the significance of our existence and the very things that happen in our lives are not just insignificant in the grand scheme of things, they are completely and utterly meaningless. As a coincidental accident in a random world of natural selection, you have every right to murder, not pay your taxes, insult others, be selfish, lie, cheat... pretty much talk, walk and act however you like, and nobody has any right to tell you otherwise. Survival of the fittest, after all. Let the weak suffer and die while the strong triumph and live. What a novel concept they teach in our public school system. Yes kids, you're all just a bunch of wild animals who have become the most evolved of all species (sieg heil!). If this were actually true, and we really are evolving into a superior species, then you'd think we'd have have enough brain power to figure out how utterly flawed this whole proposition is. Though, it is up to you where you put your beliefs. It is a choice that we have all been given, and evolution is easy to turn to because of one simple reason: evolution does not tell you what to do. It only tells you what you are. All other religions in this world that have a proposition for how we got here and why will in some way, shape or form tell you how you ought to be acting. They give commands. They give laws. They give reason. They also tell you just how significant those seemingly small matters are. And then when you have purpose and reason defined, you will feel like you are actually worth something. At that point your conscience tends to kick in and it's much easier to determine right from wrong and good from bad. Now what happens when you know you've done something bad? You feel shame. You feel guilt. These are not pleasant feelings. So what's a way to deal with those feelings? Well, you can go crying back to your evolution theory and remind yourself that you're just some particles that evolved, by accident, into what you are today, and that it really doesn't matter whether you did something labeled as "wrong" or not. As a superior life form, why should you have to answer to anybody? Folks, if you continue to think like this, you're going to end up at one place, and one place only: death. Death is a powerful tool that can be quite eye opening for the sheepish human race we belong to. Think about it, if you were to die right this instance, in the next hour, what would go through your mind? Would you be thinking about that problem at work, the last time you were with the opposite gender in bed, or were drunk, or got high? Or would you instead be wondering if there was more to this life that you didn't quite get? But that's just it. There HAS to be more to this life then meets the eye. Do you really think we were some accident from a random explosion 23 billion years ago? Look outside. Look up at the sky, the trees, the grass, the animals. Think about the complexity of our flesh, the things we've discovered, the things we have yet to understand. Is all this a big fluke? Or is there some reason or purpose to our existence? As tough as it may be to hold to the ideal, it is my utmost belief that we are all worth something greater then we perceive. And as many times as you might watch 'Fight Club', I am going to say that no, you are something special, you are unique. Perhaps you are still not your khaki's, but that's because we are special and unique above and beyond our materialistic pleasures. Our cars, computers, cell phones, latte's, beers, these are all things of the flesh. Earthly, selfish desires that distract us from our true purpose. All those things are tools; a means to an end, but never an end unto themselves. What you buy and what you own cannot make you happy. It cannot make you feel like you have a purpose in this world. But if you could find out the truth... if you could go back to the beginning and figure out exactly how we came to be, and why we're here; if you could know what the earth was like when it was formed, how old it really is, how far our history spans, and what's going to happen in the years to come... wouldn't that be something. How different your outlook on life would be. How exciting it would be to figure out those answers. And if you did by some chance know those things, wouldn't you want to share them with the world? Sadly though, we live in a world of ignorance and distrust. If only we could look past all those sinful flaws and just love one another, and despite the things that may happen, just keep on loving. Great is the man who can do such a thing. He would possess a power that could move mountains, feed the hungry, and heal the blind. He would be like a Father to us all. Oh, wait a minute...
... think about it. There is more to this world than meets the eye. It's up to you whether you want to pursue the answers or not. Though so many people are, according to the Scriptures, willingly ignorant (that means dumb on purpose) and yet I could never understand people who didn't have that urge to seek out the truth. I guess we all do at one point in our lives. Every 3 or 4 year old will bombard you with a never ending chain of "why?" Why does this happen, why does that happen, where does this come from, etc. What a beautiful attitude. It seems like we get lost and distracted as we grow older though, and we begin to accept things as they are and stop looking for truth. I admit to being in that position once or twice, but in the end, I always wanted the truth. I hope you all strive for the same, because in the end, that may be the only thing that will matter.
"Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Your Torah is truth." (Tehillim [Psalm] 119:142)
"Yeshua said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me." (Yochanan [John] 14:6)