Life Filled Universe

We need to expand our comprehension of life. We cannot live, and enjoy life without a compendious intelligence from a granule of sand to the vast expanse of our Universe. What is life? We are the only race with mental acuity for galactic recognition. Recognition beyond the physical presence of an object. Sensory perception ascertains the physical presence of an object. Physical detection is not sufficient. Even animals can detect physical objects. We need tools for existential detection of objects. What purpose is achieved with the vastness we observe? If we assume a purposeless existence for our cosmos, then seeking purpose for our existence will turn elusive. Purposeless physical world, and purposeful life are incongruent. Science might have discovered a solution to an existential enigma should be a natural thought for all of us. 

Science dominates our existential reality. Our approach to life is scientific. We seek scientific answers for everything. Toys for children are science inspired too. From closing the toilet lid before flushing to Artificial Intelligence is powered by scientific thought. Science pervades our existence. Investigating, thus, through a scientific lens is necessary for comprehensive evaluation of life. 

We are confronted by the jarring reality that scientific thought does not have consensus on the definition of life. Diseases are discovered, mutations of viruses are given names, medical advancements, nutritional guidance is offered, healthy living is promoted, artificial blood is discovered, organs are manufactured from stem cells, and various other advancements in the scientific community regarding life and living makes front page news. Google has scientists on staff to solve the problem of aging. How does one advance, or solve problems in life, or living when the definition of life is contested. Strange that a revered modern field of study does not possess physical, or metaphysical definition for life. Should humanity rely upon a field of study without unanimity of thought on the most essential aspects of life?

Modern science has been in existence for half a millennium. Humanity precedes science by a wide margin. How could humanity survive, and thrive before the age of modernity? Doctors did not exist. Pharmaceutical industry did not exist. Science did not exist. Much of Saharan modernity did not exist. Did ancestral generations suffer, or thrive in life? Did they lead an uncivilized barbaric life? Many questions should populate our minds given the bias for scientific dependence for existential elevation. Our ancestors flourished, and consumed the elixir of life is abundantly evident when we examine the richness of literature left behind for posterity. How does the rich literature of our ancestors define life?

It is an undeniable truth that the existence of all objects in this cosmos serves a purpose. It need not serve a humanitarian purpose for usefulness. It serves a purpose. The purpose is declared, too, by the objects. Non-purposeful is discarded, instantly, by humanity, and the Universe alike. Time is not wasted. Trees discard dead branches. Dried flowers are discarded by plants. The Sun discards solar rays across the vastness of space. Purposeful existence is life for every object. A metaphysical definition. Cosmos serves a purpose. Sun and Moon serve a purpose. Planets serve a purpose. Oceans serve a purpose. Rivers serve a purpose. Streams serve a purpose. Soil serves a purpose. Trees serve a purpose. Flowers and fruits serve a purpose. Grass serves a purpose. 

Sun nourishes life. Isn’t it declaring the usefulness, untiringly, every moment. If humanity does not discover life in the Sun, what other object on Earth can? What do we expect in our meager existence? Do we not expect recognition for our deeds? How else can our intelligence be demonstrated without recognition of our existential contribution? A flower’s usefulness is declared with fragrance. Flower’s fragrance declares the presence of life. Isn’t the fragrance useful for bees? Isn’t the fragrance useful for humanity? A swamp declares life with odor. A tree declares life with fruits. Clouds declare presence with rain and thunder. Oceans declare with waves. Rivers declare it with flow. Wind’s declaration is nodded by the plants. A fence, a human made object, declares with a barrier. Everything around us declares life. Where does life not exist in the cosmic vastness?

Life varies from object to object. It exists in immovable and movable forms. It is sentient and insentient. Few moments to a few centuries are the duration for living objects. Eons for mountains, and oceans. Longer yet for stars and planets. Existential time scale is immeasurable. How can knowledge that awakened a few centuries back discover the grandeur of life? Discovering grandeur around us elevates human’s life. Human’s life should be as purposeful, and as effulgent as the Sun. That can happen, only, when humanity serves a higher purpose in life. Modernity has shrunk life, and invited solution-less problems to the human domain. Contending with problems, we can never discover, or achieve a higher purpose than mere survival. Purpose of humanity cannot be survival, because the usefulness of life is compromised, or weakened. A sick individual can, only, focus on recovering; sickened humanity cannot define, discover, elevate, and experience transcendence without a compendious intelligence about life.

Do we wait for science to discover life, or do we rediscover ancestral riches of life is the question facing modern times. If life is a useful existence, then we need to start questioning our cosmic usefulness as well. If we don’t, something else will. Cosmic usefulness does not await scientific thought to discover the truth of life. Truth cannot be, repeatedly, claimed by different generations. Time to rediscover the well-treaded path emerges in Post-Modern times.