Have you ever wondered why anything exists? When we think about what created life, planets, galaxies, or the entire Universe; or who is the ultimate creator of everything, an answer one might reach is that the creator might have created “it”-self. But how can something create itself? The Universe began with the Big Bang. According to a few myths, the evolution of thought or vibration out of nowhere led to the Universe, but what do we mean by nowhere? How did consciousness inherit existence from unconscious things? What was there when nothing was there? 

 

This reminds me of the lyrics: “Jab kahin pe kuch nahi bhi nahi tha, Wahin tha, Wahin tha,” which translates to “When there was nothing nowhere, he was there.” “He” refers to what most people call “God.” This “God” might have and might continue to exist forever. Is God greater than us? What is God? How aware is he? 

 

Whatever God might be, we cannot escape life. We have the will to live even when we don’t know why. Life, as per science, came into existence because of some chemical reactions, but how did consciousness inherit existence from unconscious things? We don’t know – maybe that’s where all the magic lies. As of today, life cannot be created in laboratories. But how is it possible? Because in practice, life can only be created from life. How will we define life? I define it as some kind of awareness or consciousness. What is the nature of this consciousness? Is it something temporary that will cease to exist after someone or something is dead or will it continue to exist but maybe in a different form?

 

Roughly, consciousness can be put into the equation: Life (Consciousness) = Energy + Matter (mass) + (maybe a mystery element)

 

Like the law of conservation of energy and mass, consciousness may be conserved too. It might exist in another form, but we don’t know with certainty. Maybe it depends upon a mystery element. Many call this mystery element the ‘soul’, which could have a ‘higher purpose’. Our existence on earth- one among the different levels of consciousness- could be a part of this higher purpose. We do not know what it is because our abilities, perception, and consciousness are limited. 

 

“No man is an island.” All of our lives and their purpose are connected to each other, and to the Universe. We exist as a society. The way we interact is related to our purpose. Maybe the state of ideal interaction (in tune with reality) is our calling or the meaning of life. What is that state like? How does one achieve it? What is the ultimate goal of humans? Most of us might not care about these questions because of their complexities and our ignorance. If we discover alien life, will we know our ultimate purpose then? Or could we create one? The concept of purpose has a special significance to our ‘individuality’ even if it’s associated with everything else. If we try to understand the significance of our own selves and what it means to be our best versions to interact with the Universe maybe our purpose on earth could be met. I see being on earth as a stage to interact with others and practice purity in intention and feeling. To me, that is the highest form of intelligence we can achieve. I’d like to call it emotional intelligence. 

 

Our existence on earth might be a part of the life cycle of the Soul. But we aren’t sure about the existence of Souls. A Soul might be something eternal, unlike life. Time might be a medium that we are all in and Souls may not be subject to time. If they are, our lifetime on Earth could be a subset of the lifetime of a Soul. This notion of the Soul might sound woo – woo but it can’t be denied that we are more than just flesh and blood. Our ability to feel, think and act isn’t without any significance. This significance might be our spirit, nature, character, or anything else. Advancing it is our purpose on earth.

 

And if we could fulfil our purpose, maybe we could transcend into higher dimensions or further levels of consciousness. But all of this was an optimistic way of looking at things, where we are the centre and everything else is based upon that. We assumed something greater than us exists and is connected to us somehow. In this scenario, the greatest thing we can achieve is sincerity, soulfulness and the knowledge that embodying goodness is the right, the easiest and the most efficient thing in the long run. Real advancement of our civilization will not happen while there is dysfunction in our society.

 

The other possibility is that our lives aren’t as significant as we thought (our individuality is just a temporary part of the entirety of existence). We do not have an ultimate guide or destiny which cares about us. We might still find or even create some purpose and can advance as a society. Because our experience of life is a combination of a bit of fate as well as individual freedom, creating a purpose for ourselves in the absence of a destined one has some significance. Even if our consciousness is mortal, in whatever time we get to “be” this consciousness, we could make it significant.

 

Finally, whatever this complicated, grand, or sophisticated system that our universe, multiverse, or this whole existence might be, one thing we can be certain of is that as long as consciousness exists there will exist a desire to continue to thrive and this is what I consider the essence of life. My experience of life thus far has led me to believe that decoding our psychology might be the easiest or the only way to decode the purpose of our existence. Or broadly, the grand design of the Universe. 

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