Everyday Why

The Anatomy of a Question

Someone asked a question. “Why does an apple drop from a tree and not go upwards?” This singular question resulted in today’s knowledge about gravity. Similarly, questions have been asked and today we can boldly say, “the earth is round and not flat”. Questions have also led to the knowledge of present times: electricity, computers, travel, food, drinks, games, and lots more.

So, let’s think for a second, if these questions were never asked, the great limitations the world may have faced. Now also think, if everyone asked a question, how much more advancements we would have. A question is required to obtain information, to know more, to learn. The quest to understand the world, the desire to relate with certain phenomenon, the intense curiosity of the mind or the inquisitiveness of humans, and sometimes, simply seeking clarity. These and more drive questions.

Questions come in different forms but reach for the same goal – enlightenment. We ask because we do not know, we ask because we want to know. We may not ask for the fear of being mocked, or uncertainty about what questions are considered right or wrong. It may be an avoidance of being intimidated, or simply, the overconfidence that “we know it all”. But there is no such thing as a dumb question. What makes a question intelligent or stupid? The person who is asking? The content of the Question? The one who is being asked? The same thing that makes a question intelligent is also what makes it stupid. You ask because you do not know and what I know is not what you know. Hence, what may seem a stupid question to me, may just be intelligent to you. So, what then? Ask! You want to get better? You need to understand? That’s the beauty of a question.

Genesis

We are not human doings but human beings.

Who we are is more important than what we do. Hence, our personality drives our actions. This implies that focusing on changing a behaviour or set of actions has never proven to be a freeway to primeness.

Time is Man’s tool for measuring progress. For this reason, at the beginning of every new period, it is a rational prompting to assess and adjust certain portions of existence, to conform to either societally acceptable standards or personal notions of right and wrong. However, very often, the motivation behind the resolve is not sufficient to go the long haul. Then, time elapses and reality sets in. It becomes difficult to carry through till the end. DISCOURAGED, the process is halted until the cycle begins... all… over... again. *Sigh*

In the Words of the Sage Lemuel: "Endings are better than Beginnings; it is better to finish something than to start it.” Let us consider the following thoughts: Perfection - an unattainable place with seeming attainability. We all do strive to attain perfection, but do we ever consider that our best only remains our best until we’re willing to give it that little bit extra? Every journey has an end just as it has a beginning; progress along that journey is unique to the traveller.

The Identity, Origin, and Destination determine the journey characteristics, speed, progress and measurement milestones. We are not all heading for the same place, so we cannot measure progress by another’s milestones. Thinking about the destination prior to commencing the journey helps to maintain the focus. However, detailed pictures of both the end and the beginning are insufficient without the BEING. These three are intertwined and need to be the bedrock of that resolution. The End - Destination, the Beginning - Origin and the Being – Identity. You can be all you want to be and that is The Creator’s desire for you.

Identity

Who am I? - A Supernatural Conundrum
Rationalise: to substitute a natural for a supernatural explanation of.
Supernatural: unable to be explained by science or the laws of nature.
Theory: an Idea that is suggested or presented as possibly true but that is not known or proven to be true. (culled from Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

Questions Enlighten. Questions Equip. Questions, when asked rightly ensure minimal errors.

What is man's true identity? To answer this question, we need stillness of the mind, focus on the dynamics of life and living, and silent childlike honesty. Man is a rational being, his Creator made him that way. Rational thinking is essential for mortal existence ONLY. Therefore, it is understandable why the search for his meaning remains persistent and has endured for so many years. So many theories his mind conjures, it must feel really tiresome each time he tries to explain with reason, a concept that itself pre-exists reasoning. Man was created before rational reasoning began, therefore his existence is not within the confines of rationality.

Theories abound on man’s identity, origin and destination. Of them all, NONE stand true. Whether man believes now or at the point of death, is not a function of the head, but a function of the heart. How does a creation fathom the details of its making without a Creator? The only way is trust: faith might sound ambiguous or unreachable to the rational mind, but trust is easier to accept. Let he who recalls the details of his creation doubt the existence of his Creator. Then God said, “And now we will make human beings; they will be like us and resemble us. They will have power over the fish, the birds, and all animals, domestic and wild, large and small.” Indeed from the dust of the ground was man formed, moulded, like clay before a Potter, Man’s purpose and Identity are tied solely, completely and unquestionably to the intention of the potter. Your Identity is a function of accepting and believing the unseen. Only in DEATH does man realise his identity and that of his Creator without believing the unseen…unfortunately that may be too late. DO YOU REALLY WANT TO WAIT THAT LONG?

Question:
What is Trust?

Origin

NOTHING comes from NOTHING, and nothing ever will.

Everything has a beginning, an ORIGIN! The source of a spring is greater than its force or flow, for without that source, the spring ceases to exist. The waters may linger, but someday it will dry up. For every existence, there was a reason, but we always strive to be better. Better than what? What’s the standard? The richest man that ever lived? Or the most influential one? The biggest inventor? Or the meekest in spirit? How do we realise the proper standard? That “better” that we seek. Are we ever going to hit the “better” mark? Talk less of the “best”. So why do we ever try? Why bother? There Is something within man, that seeks something greater, that seeks to know essence. That quest has brought about many different explanations; traditions, theories, beliefs… some with unknown origins. Yet…yes…yet…the answer is right within it, within it…yes within that something.

"For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.”
Romans 1 | 20

ATHEISM, AGNOSTICISM AND MID-LIFE CRISIS
A strong foothold for atheism and all rational oppositions to God’s existence is the theory of evolution. Evolution is a THEORY, and rightly well named. It is nothing more than an idea used to account for man’s existence. However, as explained in the "IDENTITY" article, all rational basis to explain man’s identity, origin or destination is indeed the inappropriate way to go. Carbon-14 dating is the backbone of all of evolution’s postulations and scientific research has proven that it is in itself riddled with inaccuracies. A quick internet search would yield detailed findings to this effect. Atheism is a deeply analytical rationalisation of man’s existence. Indeed, a thorough analysis of the belief system in atheism only shows a need to understand, and an equal and opposite refusal to accept the truth that man could not have come from A PIECE OF SLIME. There is a homing device in man that yearns for its source; everyone knows that there is a God. The real question is how much of him we are willing to accept.

Agnosticism agrees that God exists, but purports that nothing is known or can be known about God's nature. This is a venture into oblivion and a desire to exist in a presumed bliss of incognisance. (Hence, the fallacy, “what you don’t know, won’t kill you”). There are replete reasons to know the reason for our being, to succumb to that constant itch deep within the recesses of our person. Majority of people in today’s world arrive at a place mentally and emotionally where these questions are thrust upon them, owing to the monotony of their existence. "Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the teacher.

"Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.”
Ecclesiastes 1 | 2

The above thought is in today's world a common denominator with mid-life crisis. It is yet another quest to understand, to know from where we have come and why. We are inventions of the Great Potter; our bodies are mere shells containing the essence of who we really are. We are not bound to the terrestrial. We cannot be. There’s more. There’s so much more. You know it and I know it. Where do we go from here…do not despair, we will find answers together.

The Destination

Now with an understanding of man’s Identity and Origin, We have a clearer realisation that man was created. That creation resides within the figure we see. He is the man inside and is in possession of the mind. And there was a plan for that creation. But things changed. He decided on a simple experiment that changed the course of history, and as all experiments go, he reaped a consequence; a consequence in his body, what we call Death.

Then he began a journey of forever with a contamination in him, passed down from generation to generation. All who were born of blood and have been born of blood, bearing in themselves the result of a singular failed experimental decision, reproducing of their kind with the same restrictions and burdens, a repercussion of his experiment (SIN).

His family, their families and even more families led along the same route. Man on his own self- constructed path, A diversion from the original plan. Man was designed to take dominion.

“Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it.”
Genesis 1 | 28

Decadence came because of sin, even so every pain, injustice and wrongdoing, disaster, disease and disorder, and then death.

But death is not the end. It cannot be the end. What we call death is a bodily consequence. Man, the creation, lives in a body but exists with or without it. The assumption that death is the end is a product of a rational mind trying to explain a concept that postdates its cessation. Death marks the point when existence in the physical realm ceases, the point when the creation let’s go of the figure that kept him, Then he continues the already started journey, the journey of forever.

There is no beginning without an end. Creation is the beginning. So what is the end? What is the point for man’s existence? Knowing the end determines the expectancy, the anticipation. Luxury or suffering? Beauty or horror? Which do you anticipate? There is a place of beauty to be anticipated. However, there is a choice to be made. A Choice that will influence the way you see the world and everything in it. There is Hope for the future, you have something to anticipate.

Hope

(Heart beating)
I look ahead, my Heart is set on the prize; the shiny gold-mounded cup. I have dreamt of this for so long. All the practice and training sessions, the sleepless nights, the endless self-denial. The time is now (Heart Beats faster, a feeling of warmness runs through the body). I can win this. I am the swiftest. I can feel the medal around my neck. Yes, I can, and I will. (Gunshot sound as runners take off towards the finish line).

The above is an excerpt from a typified account of a runner just before the race begins. The determination to go beyond seeming limitations is linked to your imagination, your anticipation. What are you thinking about? What do you see concerning the future? Hope is creative imagination. Life on earth is man's beginning, there is an end. The outcome of that end is directly linked to our imagination. Patience is linked with hope; patience is linked to your imagination.

Imagination is the forming of a mental image of something not present.

For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope."

A different rendition puts it this way:
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Jeremiah 29 | 11

A positive imagination is clearly contrasted with a negative imagination. God expects us to anticipate the end from beginning, to have positive imaginations about the future He desires to bring us into. Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13 | 13

Hope is greater than faith. Second only to love. The Bible in several places links understanding to imagination. The understanding of a subject is directly linked to the ability to see in the mind that which is to be understood. Studying without imagining the situations and content leaves the reader with nothing but verbal recitations and nothing retained in the heart.

So, what role does this play in our future. Hope must be associated with imagination, mental pictures of the end that is desired. And, a step further, endeavour to bring that imagination before your eyes. See it. The importance of this cannot be overemphasized. Imagination is a process that can either be positive or negative. The Bible repeatedly talks about the dangers of wrong imagination. This is so important, because the mind never stays blank. It always fills itself with content. You want to be a success? You want to make progress? This is Step 1. Hope, positive imagination. Faith is the substance of things HOPED for. This implies that Faith cannot exist without Hope. Without Faith it is impossible to please God. Therefore, without Hope it is impossible to please God.

Trust Issues

Why do people believe what they hear in the News, and in fact look forward to hearing the next new thing? “There’s something new in the news, have you heard? All these things going on in the world”, we often hear. Everyone living in fear, wondering what the next big news will be. Yet we hold on to the information like a lifesaver, seeking to be aware, should we get trapped.

Society needs trust because it is increasingly operating at the edge between confidence in what is known from everyday experience, and contingency of new possibilities. Trust is believing but relating to the future; believing in what is to come. Trust is a measure of belief in the honesty, fairness or benevolence of the trusted, to abandon control. So indeed, trust comes with a lot of expectancy.

So in what do we trust?
In fact, we actually do trust several things. We eat trusting it will be digested, sleep trusting we will wake, talk trusting we will be listened to, read trusting we will understand and many more. However, most often we trust in the abilities and potency of what we see or hear. We trust the media, the news around us, leading to a lot of negative emotions - anxiety, depression, fear etc. But trust is believing in what we cannot see (or hear), the values of what we are yet to see. Trust is believing in the ability of the unseen.

So why not seek something more uplifting to trust? Why not look on the brighter side, feed on positive information? Or is that just a mirage, outrightly impossible? Is there really any good in the world? Any positive thing to feed on? Of course, there is a lot of good in the world, in fact beneficial to life. Fixing our thoughts on the positive side of things is not to shy away from reality but to be imaginative about the existing possibilities of surviving through the negativism all around. This good news exists even in the media to spur our minds onto a world of possibilities. It's not just a "cock and bull" story to get people excited. It's not the mere opposite of negative information, it has even deeper meanings and values. It can help to even bring out deep and hidden treasures in the heart, the very best of them. It brings about more positive emotions than fathomable.

It’s more worthwhile and wholesome to fix our gaze on positivity. It revitalises, it rejuvenates. God’s word is full of positivity. But we struggle to believe what it says, about us and about the world.

"Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world."
John 16 | 33

Why do we find it easier to believe the reports in the media as opposed to what we see and hear in God’s word? Is it because we do not see the one who gives us the promises? FAITH has been mystified and subsequently explained from a much esoteric viewpoint. There is something within the soul of man, that responds to information by trusting, believing and developing increased confidence in what he consistently hears. Faith is Trust. Faith is Confidence. Faith is not mysterious. Faith is not reserved for an elect. Faith is not a feeling. Every man with a functional assimilation of information can have faith in that which he hears.

"Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.”
Hebrews 11 | 1

We have looked at Hope as positive imagination. This type of Imagination cannot be separated from the information we think on. The Bible says, "...one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”
Philippians 4 | 8

Little wonder, the subject of Faith is such a mystery.
Reclusion socially or mentally has been associated with religious icons. The reason for this is simple, the vastness of negativity in the world, opposes the very concept of Faith, literally confusing the heart of Man. Learning to trust God through it all comes with more peace and less negative emotions. As we keep aware of the happenings around the world, let’s remember what God says about it all; "…cast your cares upon me for I care for you… take my yoke upon you...for my burden is easy and my yoke is light." We’re safer resting in that place. This is Faith.

"THINK SENSIBLY, as God has distributed a measure of faith(trust) to each one.”
Romans 12 | 3

Questions:

What would you put your Trust in this week?
What information would you feed on today?
How often do you think you should feed on positive information?

Light your World

We’ve all heard that:
“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.”
1 Corinthians 13 | 4-6

So, what exactly is this LOVE? There is no doubt that the concept of love involves a vast number of ingredients that can hardly be covered in a single write-up. But let’s think about it in the simplest terms we can relate with. It’s all about showing that we truly care, from deep within our hearts. It’s not a fake or falsified appearance, or pretence as we may call it. It is more reliable, a phenomenon that can be replicated in any circumstance. Think about it in any and every respect, love remains love in every situation.

Love involves NOTICING, THINKING and ACTING, not for personal benefits but for another. It is the little efforts we put in every day to make the world a better place. Just observing that there is a need, or that something can be done differently to make it better, or that someone can be better, thinking about these and taking that little step to make a change, without being rash or degrading.

WOW! How precious love is. Love is sharing what you have with those around you. It is seeking the best of the next person without selfish intentions. It lights up the world around you. Even by simply sharing a honest thought. It radiates, it is reaching the world around you. Love is being “that shoulder to lean on”. Selah

Just being able to show that we care is all that matters - that we care now and we always will. The same the master did, showing the perfect example, He cared, still cares and always will.

There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
John 15 | 13

Love is the character of God. Love is the motivation that made the world. When and only when we learn to see through the eyes of love are we put on a path of consistent happiness, fulfilment and purpose.

Question:
Is it possible to show love to someone who obviously is not willing to accept love?