Life's for Life

A seed lies buried, unseen, and unknown, in an desert whose sands no human foot have walked. It have been buried for ages in the hot dry sands of this forsaken place on earth.

Then came a brief thunderstorm.

It happens only once in many many years. And suddenly a flood innudates the desert.

And the seed came to life.

And frantically the seed takes root, shoots and blooms.

And not too soon.

For the flood soon subsided, the water soaked into the very thirsty dry sand, disappearing deep and fast underneath. And it is unimaginable that there was a flood just hours ago, but for the extensive field of flowers now blooming, which, even with satellite imaging, no eyes have seen.

And the sun is shining, bright, very brightly and very hot.

And the flower, its beauty seen by no human eyes, its fragrance and scent a mystery to the human race, its species unknown to science, has begun to die from the very moment it came to life.

But from apparently nowhere comes flies, beetles and ants, busy seeking the sweet food in the flowers and fertilising them in return. And by the time the sun is high the sky, the flowers are already wilting.

But the flowers have fulfilled their purpose for life. They have justified their reason for coming into being. The have created the next generation. Their seeds are fertilised. Now they are ready to die.

Come evening and the field of flowers is all but a brown mess. When the sun rises the next day, it is a desert once again, as it has been for ages, giving no suspicions of the life hidden under its lifeless sands.

But the buried seeds, the hidden life of the next generation, await, patiently, for as long as it takes, for the next thunderstorm at some unknown long future.

What is the meaning of all this?

And again what about the insect who spend months or even years in the water, or in the ground, undergoing a slow convoluted metamorphosis to become a winged insect, but only to live a week in the air, or in the tree.

And in that week it has one goal and purpose only: to mate and to mate and to mate, even every moment of its brief sex-crazed life. And then it dies. For the female it lived a while longer, just to lay its eggs, which will start the meaningless cycle all over again and perpetuating itself endlessly.

Again what is the meaning of all this?

Is this what life is about? Is life just to continue life in endless and meaningless cycles?

And we see the same thing in human lives too. All the things we do as a child and in school is to learn how to earn a living, to feed and house ourselves, and to start a family of our own.

And not that it is a bad thing; in fact it is a very good thing.

For there are such as love and sex and marriage, that give sense and meaning and an ecstacy unexperienced and unknown elsewhere in any relationship.

And then there are children. They are joy, pain, turmoil, delight, sadness and happiness all bundled into one. And raising children is so consuming that you may never have time to ask the question, what is life. Even if you do, the very question may seem meaningless and irrelevant, when you are in the midst of your happy family.

Indeed life's for life!

For is it not true, that the greatest blessing anyone can give is to give life to another being?

And such a blessing is far greater than to bless by not destroying or to preserve an existing life. And everyone is blessed with this blessing to create life!

But then this simple, natural and instinctive behaviour is not accessible and available for all. For some are born handicapped, physically or psychologically; and unlike life's propagation in the other biological species, the human process is apparently flawed. For non biological factors, like the human spirit, lusts, desires, and other longings and yearnings, interfere with the process, and as a result, you have marriage breaking up, adulterous affairs, and people just avoiding marriage altogether. Is there such a thing as adultery in the animal world? No, only humans committ adultery.

And so is life indeed for life, when there are some who cannot participate in this cycle?

We can make two conclusions.

The first is, it is just too bad, if you are precluded from this natural happy cycle. And some may explain this by evolution or some by religion, like sins in past lives, or whatever countless theories.

But whatever is said, my soul cries out against such 'explanations'. They all do not speak to my soul. They are all unjust and unjustifiable. Deep within me, my soul refuses to be pacified or consoled. I am inconsolable and unjustified, and I cry for justice.

The second however is the more natural and obvious conclusion, ie life's not just for life, and we must conclude that there must be more to life than mere life.

But what is this? What can life be if not for life itself? What's life beyond life?

If we are but another biological species, there is nothing much to argue for life beyond life. As the birds and the bees and the chimps do, so do humans.

But then we are not merely animals nor just the mindless outcome of impersonal biology, are we?