CHAPTER 1

THE WONDER OF LIFE

Introduction

May you live all the days of your life!

Jonathan Swift, Anglo-Irish Satirist and Essayist, 17-18th Century.

Life is a gift. It is a gratuitous gift. No one has any claims on it. Wedo not find life. Life finds us. We do not choose. We are chosen.There are no eligibility conditions, no contracts to be signed and noentrance exams. We have little choice over life and, for that matter,over death. It is the in between time that belongs to us. It is the timeof our making. Life is our first gift. It is primary. Everything else issecondary. Life bestows existence and initiates within us the stream ofconsciousness. It gives us identity and inaugurates our story. Throughits munificence, we break out of anonymity and enter into recognition.Life brings us into communion with everything that breathes.

Life is our best gift. Whatever other gifts we may have, they paleinto insignificance when compared with the gift of life. They are thewrappings, life is the gift. The wrappings are different, but the gift isthe same. Life is not the same as life situations. Life situations vary.Some are rich, others poor. Some succeed, others fail. Some are lucky,others not so fortunate. Yet all have the gift of life. Life situationschange. It is a long road that has no turning. Success and failure,joy and sorrow, come and go. But life abides. We can improve ourcircumstances. But we cannot improve life. It is already perfect. Littlewonder, then, life is the first and the foremost source of inspiration.The wonder of being, the feeling of being alive, of being aware, ofbeing who one is, of the absolute uniqueness of one's self, the bond ofcommunion with every other self—life is a wonder that seldom ceasesto amaze!

A Life of Purpose

When I consider the short duration of my life, swallowed up inthe eternity that lies before and after it, when I consider the littlespace I fill and I see, engulfed in the infinite immensity of spacesof which I am ignorant, and which know me not, I rest frightened,and astonished, for there is no reason why I should be here ratherthan there. Why now rather than then? Who has put me here? Bywhose order and direction have this place and time been ascribedto me?

Blaise Pascal, French Philosopher, 17th Century.

Life is a mystery. Where we come from, why we are here and where weare headed after our tenure on earth, we are not certain. How many arethe years in our lives we can but wonder! It is hardly surprising then,the unfolding of life's mystery has occupied so many bright mindsfrom times immemorial! And we are nowhere near solving the riddletoday. We find ourselves, as the French Philosopher Jean Paul Sartrewould say, 'thrown into the world.' Mystery envelops, not just life ingeneral, but also our individual lives. The meaning of life, therefore, isnot just a philosophical problem. It is also an eminently personal one.It concerns each and every one of us. It has as much to do with theorigin of our species as our own.

The essence of life is statistical improbability on a colossalscale.

Richard Dawkins, British Evolutionary Biologist and Author, 20-21st Century.

Life's mysterious nature has at times driven people to despair. Andsome have simply concluded that there is no meaning to life. Lifeis too random to contain a grand plan. We are here by accident.Anything that is an accident cannot have a definite purpose! It is wehuman beings who try to fill life with meaning in order to justifyour existence. It is one of the absurdities of human existence, theFrench Philosopher Albert Camus would say, that we spend our entirelives trying to convince ourselves that they are not absurd. We aretransient creatures. We are contingent, not necessary. Here today, gonetomorrow! And in the end we all die. And where we go from there noone really knows. As Hinduism would suggest, human life is a lila, agame, enacted for the pleasure of the gods.

The living self has one purpose only: to come into its ownfullness of being, as a tree comes into full blossom, or a bird intospring beauty, or a tiger into lustre.

D.H. Lawrence, English Novelist, 19-20th century.

Nevertheless, it is unwise, I think, to dismiss purpose from life solightly. There is little to gain from doing so. It makes a lot more senseto fill life with purpose. Life is too precious to be left to whim andfancy. Purpose is mandatory. As William Shakespeare says, 'Everywhy hath a wherefore!' When we lack purpose, we lack direction. Wewander aimlessly. As the Austrian Psychologist Victor Frankl pointsout, it was purpose that prevented thousands of people from fallingapart, faced with the horrors of the Concentration Camps. Life canbe dismissed simply as a puzzle. But it can also be accepted as areason for wonder. We can despair over life. We can also embrace itas an opportunity and set about discovering its promise. Life is not aproblem to be solved, but a mystery to be lived. It is not the enactmentof fate; it is an experiment in freedom and responsibility.

The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sightbut no vision.

Helen Keller, American Author, Political Activist and Lecturer, 19-20th Century.

We are destined, not disposable. We are here by design, not by default.Life may be transitory, but not trivial. Purpose fills life with power.A life without purpose is like an engine without fuel. Belief shapesoutlook. Complacency, on the contrary, cripples action. We onlyachieve that which we truly believe we can. Purpose fills life withpassion and flair and promotes happiness and fulfilment. Whenwe lack purpose, we are like rudderless ships. We fall prey easily todiscord, fear and anxiety. Fire fighters speak of the flashpoint, thatis, the temperature at...