Maze of Life and the Prevailing Uncertainty

Life is an enigma. Everything that surrounds us are not what we think as, not what we see and not what we feel about. Our minds are getting fooled. In Hinduism, we use a term called " Maya", we are all surrounded and illusioned by "maya" - a concept well popularized by the Keanu Reeves starrer - The "Matrix". Disillusioning from this omnipresent "maya" is the core principle of most of the Oriental philosophies especially Hindu philosophy.  We have to cross the  maze  of life, whether we like it or not.

 

Uncertainty is the hard and fast rule of this maze. Just imagine the birth of a human baby - the element of uncertainty at its best. Millions and millions of sperms are released (why, just because it is so uncertain) in a split second, then they  "compete" lashing their microscopic tails, venture in a "single minded journey", cross the dark alleys of a super-convoluted structure - the "oviduct" (no other "tunnel of love" will be this competitive and dark), most of our candidates fail during that treacherous journey and somehow some lucky ones reach the destination, the chosen "one" among the lucky will eventually merge with the counter part  - "the ovum or egg"; love blossoms and "he" loses his "head" (yup, sperm will literally lose its head while sucked into the female cell). The uncertainty doesn't end there. The fertilized egg soon transforms to a ball of cells dividing rapidly. That floating ball of cells come down to uterus and get implanted and grow. Unprecedented events can occur at any time. A problem with hormones, hemorrhages etc., can lead to totally unprecedented and dire circumstances. Abnormalities can result when baby is inside the womb or when it emerges. That is why the first breath and the first cry provide huge relief for the mother. Besides the pain involved in the process is enormous. Just go through a wonderful video about the development of a human child (the best I have seen so far), the creator of the video is spot-on, even scientifically.

The uncertainty of every life on this planet makes life challenging and worthy. That makes us live. Everyday, when the first rays of sun trickling through near by trees fall on you crossing your window pane, you wake up completely blank and disoriented. Then you start your day as usual, perform the chores like a robot and the rush starts. You cross the sprawling streets, subways, bus-stations and railway stations, swearing and loosing your cool during traffic jams and finally reach your temple of work and there starts another stream of thoughts, you are anxious about the things to befall upon you as day progresses, the pressures of work assignments, yelling from the boss and managing several tasks simultaneously. Again uncertainty is there in every moment of your life. Your company can collapse at any time, you can become jobless, you can get hit by a bus, can even lose your life or something can happen to your near and dear ones. What a difference a day can make, what a difference a second can make!! When we see a butterfly, a beautiful butterfly, we enjoy the sheer beauty. Next day, we see the same butterfly dead and wilted, its beauty transformed into the grimace of death. We will think about the transience of insect life, how easy they get dead. We may be larger and intellectually superior, but our fates are no different. Just imagine any natural calamity, an earthquake, a tsunami, an air plane accident, a train accident, anything can happen any time. Remember the film, "Final destination", well, it used to send chills down my spine. The fear of death is there is in all of us.

You may be thinking that I am turning into a preacher, I am not going to attribute all this to "god". I believe, the god concept is carefully crafted by our forefathers to relieve this inherent fear of uncertainty in our minds. We can resort to god for everything, prey to protect us, to give us everything, wealth and happiness. Fair enough. We give "bribes" to god in temples, churches and mosques in order to take control of our life. That is not logical at all. But religious extremists have twisted the god concept to a degree that people will kill each other for religions and in their mind, they are doing it for god. They are forgetting this element of uncertainty of human life. To preserve God's ideals, to bring out "his country", wars are being fought. When somebody deviates from the ideals described in the "god's scriptures", we become intolerant and persecute that fellow. There lies the difference between spirituality and religiosity. Being spiritual is a search to find the way out of this maze. We should realize the fact that whether god is there or not, human life is a trifle. We are mere mortals and can perish at any time. There is no room for any "pride". So thank to your god or just be thankful to mother nature for each day you get, for each day you live. Be thankful and humbled.  There is no place for ego. Help others as far as possible and live a life of peace. Love all living things, let it be a small helpless butterfly, be it a  large and mighty elephant. Life is something worth preserving.