‘Why did this happen to me?’ – a question that haunts every body at some point in their life. ‘Did I really deserve this?’ we ask in desperation, trying to figure why such events relentlessly pursue our brief existence on planet earth. No logical explanation seems to relate to such an outcome. Never in your wildest dreams can you relate your actions from the past to deliver such a resultant chaos. Even the most positive, most aligned, most peaceful of us, buckle under the weight of not knowing ‘why’ did this transpire…
We each find our coping skills – God, faith, work, meditation. We learn to move on. But we have never found an answer to the why. We have only accepted that the why cannot be answered and move on. Is it really un-answerable? Is there really no logical explanation or are we just blind to its unfoldment? Time for a paradigm shift…
A paradigm shift is when the most basic knowledge we have on any subject needs renewed foundation based on newer understanding. For instance, there was a belief at one point in history that the earth was flat. That very foundation was shifted with the understanding the earth is round. There was a belief that the earth was the centre of the universe and sun and all other planets were going around it. Copernicus and Galileo had to dedicate their lives at different points in time to facilitate the paradigm shift of the earth going around the sun. As humans, we believe, we are the most important person in our life. Everything revolves around ‘me’ for it is ‘my life’. No wonder we ask ‘why me’ when that was not the expected or planned outcome. We believe the world owes us the results we desire.
Science: But two plus two is always four Father! Even you cannot change that!
God: Yes I believe I can!
Science: But that is going against your own rules!!! You simply cannot do that!
God: (with a smile) Relax! Before you become all hyper, allow me to explain. Can you tell me what is a number?
Science: (after looking blank for a moment) that which quantifies anything…
God: Hmmm… By the same rule then, the entity has to be similar in order to quantify right? If I had a list that said two apples, three oranges and ten bananas – the unifying factor to add up the entire list would be the similarity between them.
Science: Yes! So that would make it fifteen fruits.
God: What if I said 4 apples, 3 potatoes and a bottle of water?
Science: If I have to club them I will have to say there are three edible things totalling eight in number… Father what is the point of all this?
God: According to numbers, two anything is the existence of one something and another same something. But there are never ‘two’ apples. Each apple has an existence independent of the other. However in numbers, the first one is in no way different from the second one. Only then can you ‘add’ them up.
Science nodded in silent understanding.
God: My dear, everything in this Universe happens just once. In this form, with this intensity, to this individual, with these insights, there is never a repeat.
Science: Why are you saying this now Father? In what way is it relevant to the human cry ‘why did this happen to me?’
God: You have all become so calculative! It is Maths all the way!! But you don’t really know the formula my child!
Science: So why don’t you tell them the formula? Why don’t you help them understand what really works?
God: Hmmm.. Can you define a solvent for me?
Science: A liquid capable of dissolving another substance. For example water is a solvent for salt.
God: What then is the solute?
Science: The substance that is dissolved in the solvent. So the solute dissolves in the solvent to create a solution.
God: Oh so the solute or the particles that actually dissolve in the solvent are what make it important right? Without the salt, the water is just water!
Science: As water is the most common solvent on earth, we did once give more importance to the solute or the particles – especially in the context of the human body. We assumed as 70 to 90% of human body is made up of water, it is the solutes – the salt, oxygen, sugars, and mineral components like calcium and potassium, which are important for the health of the human.
God: You thought that it is the solutes that regulate all activities in the body. Every minute micro nutrient was measured, monitored and standardised to fill your knowledgeable mind with enormous calculations and proportions. You thought water was the space filler – a means of transport with no other functional property.
Science: Yes we did. But now we know better Father! All these solutes are able to travel around the body only because they are dissolved in water. Blood plasma, sweat, urine, and tears are common solutions produced by your body. Water is the solvent in all of these solutions.
God: So now you are wise enough to know that it is not the presence or absence of these solutes that define disease, it is the solvent – the very fabric of existence that can alter your sense of well being.
Science: Indeed today water is the most crucial ‘medicine’ to help alleviate so many imbalances – hypertension, arthritis, cholesterol, allergies, asthma, peptic ulcer and so many more ailments.
God: So it is with life, my dear. Just you the solute don’t define the progress of your life. You are after all dissolved in the solvent called existence. Every thing in life has a much larger picture, a much bigger plan. Don’t assume you have the entire control and wonder ‘why’ this never happened or ‘why’ did this.
Science: But isn’t it natural to want to know why father?
God: ‘because’ is a conjuncture – one that tries to justify and bring continuity to your sentence. But life has no adjectives or adverbs. Life is life – you can add beautiful, blissful, wonderful, painful – whatever you want but that doesn’t define life. It only helps you say how you are perceiving it this moment. Same with love – love loves to love. That is it. You cannot say love is blind, love is compassion, love is letting go… love is simply love. How can love be anything but love? What happens happens. Period. Neither are you the perpetrator that made it possible nor are you the sole author that is responsible for it.
Science: But that makes man feel like a victim. If the result is not logical, it looks arbitrary. Quantum Mechanics has turned the human world upside down by suggesting that it is not the act itself but your participation that actually defines the outcome. It has become way too complicated Father.
God: On the contrary my dear, when the solutes are dissolved in the solvent, there is neither a solute nor a solvent just a ‘solution’. A zillion things have contributed to the making of this moment. Don’t define and confine it within the ego definition of ‘why’ it happened. There is no answer to the ‘why’ of life – not because you are unintelligent to understand but because the very question is inapplicable. Life is life. Love is love. The present is the present. The role of humans is not to understand life as why life is such, but to add your colourful adjectives to ensure that you live life with life. Life is beautiful…
Written by Gita Krishna Raj | Published in infinithoughts in August 2013
When Science met God… | Segment Five: Why Me? | Chapter One: A Paradigm Shift
