Connectivity

Pondering our purpose...

Every part of every living thing has a purpose. Molecules, blood vessels, fluids, bones. From amoebas to humans, we are all made up of other parts. Evolution, adaptation, survival design, whatever--it's all fascinating stuff.

And at some point we humans became intelligent (I will refrain from further 2004 presidential election jokes). All that bit in the book of Genesis, though not particularly believable, is rather clever allegory; I hope most people would agree. Ignorance is bliss, as the saying goes, and when those two knuckleheads Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, they became self-aware. Gaining knowledge got them kicked out of the Garden of Eden (which is certainly a metaphor for bliss).

Suddenly, unlike the beasts around them, they had shame and, presumably, knowledge. What sort of deity wishes to deny the creations most like Himself knowledge? One who wishes to protect them from themselves, one might argue.

So unlike the beasts, humans evolved to desire more than just individual survival, primarily, as well as survival by procreation. Intelligence, art, love, hate... we became motivated by something more than procreating and finding sufficient sustinence to get through the day, the season, the year.

Considering the broad range of functional possibilities within living things, life is amazing. And when some scientist somewhere discovers something new about DNA or neurotransmitters or something, what he sees as scientific progress I see as the thumbprint of God.

Every one of these little pieces of the living machine has its purpose, be it essential, cosmetic or other. And once they are all properly assembled into some example of life, the creature is not less than the sum of its parts. Purpose doesn't end with connectivity. I believe we are far more than the sum of our parts, and our life purpose is a snapshot of God's will.

I don't know about the specifics. I was taught to be Christian, and that's a tough thing to shrug off, even for a person who got as muddled a message as I. Embracing the idea of Christ is something I don't fully manage to wrap my mind around. I appreciate the teachings of Jesus, and will always consider myself, at least, to be a philosophical Christian. I do think that 2000-odd years ago someone was here who rattled the planet somehow.

And there was one about 500 years before that, Gautama Buddha. And others. If you want unbelievable, check out the Buddha's story in the Theravada or Mahayana. It's full of his interactions with minor gods, his magic, talking animals, and any number of things straight out of your average Dr. Seuss book. And heck, the first Buddhist writings didn't appear until Indian emperor Asoka began scribbling about the Buddha roughly 500 years later (a reaction to Christ?). Again, as unbelievable as it is, I still can't help but feel like something happened that shook our predecessors to the core. And there were others. Krishna, Mohammad. Hendrix.

(Okay, just seeing if you're paying attention)

That's faith, which comes way too easily to the ignorant masses. Maybe I qualify, but I refuse to be counted among the lemmings all around me. Everything deserves questioning. It is our duty, as intelligent beings, to ask any question. And heck, who is the better seminary student, the one with the questions, or the one who swallows it all with no skepticism?

But I take comfort in the fact that, if I were minus the benefit of faith, I would still see God (the creator, the #1 Martian, John Lennon or whatever he/she really is) too much around me to doubt.

I don't know why good people die young.

I don't know why some people do bad things.

I don't think the greater power cares about touchdowns.

I think whoever it is has a sense of humor though, and I'm glad.

I don't know if there's a Heaven that resembles our notions in the least, but I do think there's more that we will experience after we shuffle off this mortal coil.

Remember that quote from Miles Davis, the one where he said something about how he would never be finished learning his instrument? Wish I had those words handy. Well, we never finish learning, hopefully. Perhaps God feared that knowledge would take us to the point where we considered ourselves too smart to believe, hence the protective measures. Maybe he didn't have the faith in us that we have in him. Hard to blame him.

***

I don't have the answers, and this is not the sole basis for my belief system. It's just one angle, something I've been ruminating on. I'll spend my whole life looking for answers, and I may change my mind here and there. I guess that makes me pretty average.