The problem:
Life is an enigma. There are as many theories about it as there are
thinking minds. Can there be a single, consensual interpretation?
The difficulty:
Prophet, poet or philosopher; whoever contemplated on life faced two
realities- an eternal beautiful universe in the background and the
short, wretched existence of the most intelligent being in the
foreground. What is the connection between the two? This little
inquiry has fathered the various schools of philosophy and theology.
Life as a subject is unimaginably vast and very mysterious.
Life, though difficult to comprehend, is much easier to experience.
But, such experiences can not be described in words. Our language is
too inadequate to express routine aesthetic experiences.
The pit-falls:
In spite of our great similarity with other animals there was a
mistaken belief in our divine origin. The descent theory to explain
human misery is current in theological school.
The other pit-fall is a limited vision. Life as a whole can not be
understood by considering the trials and tribulations of a single
life. It is akin to explaining a life span by considering a lone
moment from it. Denial of any purpose and order is current in
atheism and materialism.
Those who recognized the immortality of soul were tempted to find
its relationship with the imaginary prime cause or God. Monism,
dualism and non-dualism were the by-products.
The Precaution:
The soul is real, god is imaginary. Any relationship between the two
is bound to be imaginary.
We know very little about the soul. A genuine case of rebirth
provides a clue. The memory about previous life has a non-genetic
source. That which retains the memory beyond the grave is named
soul. And recollection of this memory is a temporary aberration of
the general rule of amnesia.
The solution:
After avoiding the pit-fall and taking the precautions, a scheme
begins to emerge. The earth is the breeding and training ground for
souls. Microorganism with a micro-soul can not be ruled out easily.
Life began in the sea (water with soluble air); it diversified on
land (air with soluble water). It progressed from denser to lighter
medium.
Not only our bodies but our souls, too, have evolved in a couple of
billion years through millions of lives in different life forms and
species. When all desires for sensual pleasures are satisfied, the
soul loses its inclination to be born again. It is, then, released
to explore the universe.
At present, we are at a particular epoch of evolution. After the
biological evolution of the mind, we are suffering from the teething
troubles of its intellectual evolution. Many a civilizations have
vanished in the process.
Ground Realities:
To put it very simplistically, we have yet to learn to co-exist
constructively. Those with deprived childhood or the pampered few;
both have little chance of turning out to be normal adults. They go
on acting out their child-hood fantasies. Our problem, therefore,
lies in our child-hood. Nurture is steeped in ignorance (pride and
prejudice) while nature (genetics) is left to chance or the stars.
We are more careful about breeding animals.
Lest we forget the most important ingredient of a meaningful human
life, love enables us to experience life deeply. Nature appears to
tell us to love and experience life leaving its understanding to the
three P's.
Re-capitulation:
Life is a merry relay race of gene-machines, governed by material
and moral laws, for the evolution of the souls. Its beginning and
end are shrouded in eternity. Total human misery is man-made. The
shortness of one life ideally ensures millions of other lives each
new and unique. One can not find faults in the scheme of nature
where matter has a mind of its own- its property to discern other
matters under various combinations of pressure and temperature.
