Perspectives and Viewpoints
Summary: The document reflects on how meaning, morality, and spirituality shape human life. It argues that without a soul or afterlife, existence can feel purposeless and may encourage selfishness, while belief in higher significance motivates ethical striving. It emphasizes the inevitability of change and the need for self-awareness and adaptability. The essay also questions moral certainty, showing how “right” actions can have unintended consequences. It warns that success can breed arrogance and blind people to warning signs. It critiques identity built through body, possessions, or even religion, and elevates compassion as the root of nonviolence. Finally, it calls for religious tolerance and openness to life’s mysteries.
In essence, every person is a collection of selected thoughts, beliefs, opinions, feelings, emotions, and memories, held together by desire and attachment in a distinguishable form. Separate them and set them apart, and there is no person. Jayaram V
If there is no purpose in life
If there is no soul or no afterlife, is there any greater significance to your life than that of a tree, a plant, an animal, or an object in the world? Why should you toil at all for others, or make yourself useful to them, unless some idiotic, self-destructive, self-sabotaging cause motivates you?
If this life is all you have, and you are merely a mass of flesh and bones with a wavering, restless consciousness, your life becomes a small piece in an incomprehensible puzzle whose beginning and end you cannot fathom. It is reduced to a mere process in Nature’s mysterious mechanism. You will never understand why life has to exist or to what ends. The whole universe, as far as we can reach, is without life. Then what is the point of one tiny planet brimming with life in a sea of lifeless phenomena?
Without a soul, without even the possibility of eternity, you are just one of Nature’s innumerable specimens for observation, experimentation, and learning. Nature may learn from your experience, but what reason would you have to build your character, think beyond yourself or your interests, or live for others or for a greater cause?
In that scenario, you are fully justified in thinking for yourself, living for yourself, and remaining utterly selfish and self-centered about your life, values, and priorities. No one will blame you if you use your talents, resources, opportunities, and relationships for your own survival and well-being, without worrying about others.
Atheism takes the romance out of life. It makes existence meaningless and purposeless. If everyone in the world became an atheist, I do not know what else would motivate them to be their best selves. It is either this, or science must find ways to prolong human life and make each life worth living, and worth prolonging.
Change and adaptability
Are you aware of any changes that may be happening within you? Have you noticed any difference between who you were yesterday and who you are now? Have any changes occurred in you, or around you, since yesterday or the day before? In the last few hours or days, have you learned anything new, or gained new perceptions or knowledge? Indeed, the human mind does not record much of what it deems inconsequential or irrelevant to survival. As a result, much of what happens to you remains either unconscious or inconspicuous. Amid the noise and distractions of daily life, it is also difficult to keep track of the minute changes that are continuously occurring within you.
You may keep abreast of the significant events, gains, and losses in your life, but you probably do not notice the small changes that keep shaping your mind and body, molding your thinking, perceptions, attitudes, beliefs, relationships, and your very personality. Practically speaking, it may not even be necessary to know everything that happens in your life, because you may not gain much from such vast knowledge.
However, it may be necessary to live with self-awareness, sensitivity, and introspection, and to develop the ability to foresee how your future may take shape based on current events. Occasionally, you have to review your progress to know where you are going, how you are working toward your goals, or even what your purpose is.
Many people get caught in the mundane aspects of life and do not notice the changes that happen to them. For them, life is one continuous, monotonous phenomenon, which they take in stride and move on from without giving it much thought. They unconsciously ignore the changes within and around them, preferring stability and continuity to change and uncertainty. As a result, they remain stuck in the past and in habitual, fixed ways of thinking and acting, which compromises their adaptability and flexibility in adjusting to the realities of their lives.
If you want to experience the richness and diversity of life, you must remain flexible and adaptable and be wary of your beliefs and prejudices, since they tend to freeze your mind and limit your vision. It is equally important to remember that change is inevitable and inescapable. You cannot alter the transient nature of life. However, you can learn to accept change and live with it without being disturbed. That is the best thing you can do when a change of any kind enters your life and transforms your very being and existence.
Is right always right?
Our morals are relative. What is right from one perspective may be wrong from another. Sometimes we jump to conclusions about people and situations without full information, and regret it when we learn all the facts. Leaders in responsible positions face this dilemma when they have to make tough decisions, because they often know more than the people they lead. Since morals and values are relative, it can be difficult to know whether you are doing the right thing, especially when morals are tied to religious beliefs.
For example, during the summer months, many earthworms die from the heat when they come out of the grass and crawl onto concrete walkways. It happens mostly after rains. As they move across the cement with their frail bodies, the heat of the morning sun desiccates them. Sometimes you see several lying curled up and dead on the path, as if they had a death wish and committed mass suicide. No doubt they are a good source of protein for birds, and Nature may have programmed it that way to maintain balance and recycle resources.
Whenever I see earthworms crawling on footpaths, I pick them up and put them back in the grass. I do it instinctively, thinking they need to be rescued from the heat. However, in retrospect, I am not sure whether I am doing the right thing. First, my actions may be delaying the rebirth of the souls present in those earthworms. By rescuing them, I may be interfering with their karma, rebirth, and destiny. Second, by rescuing the earthworms and interfering with the food chain, I may be depriving birds of a regular supply of nourishment, which can have further consequences since it is mating season and birds need protein to lay eggs and raise chicks.
Thus, you can see that in our world, it is not always easy to know which actions are right and which are not. Positive actions may have unintended negative consequences, and vice versa. Ascetics and yogis let go of everything and do not interfere with worldly phenomena or the natural order. They withdraw from the world and let events unfold on their own, remaining indifferent and even-minded in all situations. I am not sure whether even that is always justified. Perhaps that is why we are advised to act with detachment, without desires or expectations.
The perils of success
What happens to many people who achieve distinction and success is that, at some stage, they stop listening, stop paying attention, and stop noticing warning signs. This usually happens because of arrogance, confidence, or both. As a result, they make mistakes in their choices and decisions, which can derail their success or delay it. If you are chugging along and enjoying the sweet fruits of success, remember this: avoid assumptive behavior, the “I know it all” attitude. It is a dangerous sign that you have reached the end of your learning. Keep your head down, listen, pay attention, respect people who neither fear you nor obey you, and examine how many assumptions underlie your judgments and decisions. You are better off being careful and humble than arrogant, rude, and sorry.
The body-centric individuality
The body serves you well in creating your identity and individuality, so that you can stand apart and be distinguishable among things in a world of diversity and multiplicity. However, it rarely ends there. In worldly life, people create further distinction through dress, possessions, and achievements. In spiritual life, people do it by wearing distinctive marks and clothes, worshiping particular deities, or practicing specific rituals. You may hear them say that you are not the body, yet in life, they do everything they can to look distinct and be distinct by what they do, recite, say, or wear. Are they any different from worldly people? One is motivated by desire and greed; the other by the desire to honor a tradition, a guru, or a religion. When religion and spirituality become tools to extend individuality, know that you have placed upon yourself a greater burden to remain bound.
Compassion
Nonviolence is the highest virtue. Those who practice it do so mainly for two reasons. One group practices it to avoid sinful karma. This is certainly an inferior practice, because the motive behind it is fear, which is essentially tamasic or rajasic. The second kind of practice is done out of compassion. This is certainly a superior practice, because it is motivated by love, which is a sattvic quality. Nonviolence cannot truly be practiced without compassion in your heart. From compassion, nonviolence naturally flows. From this perspective, compassion is even more important than nonviolence. If you have compassion, you will naturally remain gentle and nonviolent.
Every migrating bird represents the spirit of Noah
During their fall migration from North to South, geese travel thousands of miles from one end of the world to another to lay eggs, raise chicks, and escape the North’s cold climate. There is a documentary about their migration that shows how they weather the worst storms and dangers, through freezing winds, across inhospitable oceans, and over snow-clad mountains, only to reach the US coast, where a few gun-toting idiots shoot them down in a flash, as if it were target practice. It is not that those people are hungry or need those geese to fill their stomachs. It looks like a sport to them, a show of strength and skill in shooting. I believe that in a large country like the US, with low population density and a high crime rate, people need guns to protect themselves from criminals, and I support gun rights. The Constitution promises protection against tyranny and oppression. However, when I watch such incidents, I cannot help wondering why the Biblical God of the Old Testament wanted to end the human race and save only the birds and animals. According to the legend of Noah, God was so annoyed with human wickedness that he wanted to remove all humans from the planet. He specifically instructed Noah to protect all animals, but to ensure that his progeny would not give birth to any children, and if anyone did, they should be killed. Noah sincerely wanted to implement God’s plan, but in the end, his compassion saved the world from a certain end. Many Christians believe that humans escaped the first time, but the second time, they may not. It seems that many who consider themselves devout Christians and who believe in end-of-the-world predictions have not learned enough from that legend about the importance of saving animals from human greed. Noah carried them with such care across the oceans for posterity, only for his descendants to feast upon them, commercially exploit them for profit, and nearly drive most species to extinction. They need to realize that, symbolically, all migratory birds represent Noah’s will, determination, and tenacity. They, too, travel across oceans for thousands of miles to ensure the continuity of life on Earth under difficult circumstances. Each bird is an ark that carries life in its frail body for thousands of miles.
Religious tolerance
Tolerance is a spiritual quality. Unless you have it in full measure, it is difficult to practice it consistently. Religious leaders rarely promote tolerance because doing so would confuse the faithful and wean them away from their control and influence. Some speak against not only other faiths, but also those competing with them for followers. Therefore, you often find one church against another, and one guru against another.
Many people build a wall of defense around themselves to ensure that their faith and way of life are not disturbed by contrary beliefs and practices. If you have built a world of illusion around yourself based on religious beliefs and philosophy, you will not want to disturb it by challenging your faith and throwing yourself into mental turmoil. Therefore, to preserve peace and stability, many use intolerance as a defensive mechanism. For them, intolerance works like a wall, keeping them within their comfort zones.
It is the same psychology that prevents many from embracing change. Therefore, to practice tolerance, either you must be a spiritual person or your faith must be strong beyond measure. Both are rare. If you turn to religion for comfort in group identity or use it for selfish and worldly purposes, you may also use intolerance to achieve the same ends and protect your interests.
The Mysteries of Life
Much mystery is associated with life. People sometimes take for granted that what we know about life and existence is far less than what we do not. The mystery of mysteries is that you cannot explain the why behind any natural event. For example, you cannot answer why life exists, why the earth exists, why the universe exists, why some people die early, or why some make money while others do not. The list is endless. No one can truly explain why random events play such an important role in shaping our lives and actions. Your very birth is a random event. After that, many random events take place in your life, including meeting your spouse, getting a job, or finding a soulmate. Imagine: even if one among a million-plus of your ancestors had not been born, or had died prematurely, you would not be here. No one can tell why it did not happen. The inexplicable and unanswerable questions of life do not bother many because they do not think about them or consider them important. Even if they do, they often do so with an assumptive mind, taking refuge in some scripture or a Prophet, as if all the answers are already known. World religions came into existence because we do not have direct answers to the riddles of life. Unfortunately, by imposing their authority upon us, religions stifle our freedom to know, explore, and keep an open and inquisitive mind.