What is the meaning of life? Each person’s answer to this question will likely be as unique as the person answering it. After thinking about this “what is the meaning of life?” question for the last two days, a Bible verse kept returning to my mind. To me, this is the long version of saying that God has a plan for each of us. Ecclesiastes 3:1 says “For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven” (Bible). I have always believed that God designed me with a purpose in mind. Depending on my degree of faithfulness and devotion with Him at any given time, that is the degree of clarity with which I see and understand my purpose. Is it something I can clearly define ever? Not really. However, I know that if I live according to God’s will, He will put me in the right places at the right times to realize His purposes.
Blaise Pascal is one philosopher with whom I share many of the same views. Born in 1623, Pascal is widely renowned for his contributions to math, science, religion, and philosophy. On the meaning of life, Pascal took a supernaturalist view, in that he believed that “meaning in life must be constituted by a certain relationship with a spiritual realm” (Stanford, 2007). God-centered supernaturalist views attribute the meaning of life in one’s fulfillment of the purpose they have been assigned by God. To the extent that we fulfill this purpose, our lives have meaning; failure to recognize this purpose and freely and willingly fulfill that purpose will result in a meaningless life. For those that do not believe in God or another higher being, this stance would probably be understandably hard to identify and relate to.
While I was raised a Baptist, there have been times in my life when my rational mind has argued with my faith about my belief in God. I finally came to rationalize my faith in the unseen and the unknown with this thought: If I believe in God, and I’m wrong, I’ve lost nothing. If I choose not to believe in God, and I’m wrong, I’ve lost everything. Therefore, I choose to believe and have faith, because it gives me purpose, it gives me hope, and I have nothing to lose. Imagine my astonishment in learning that one of Pascal’s philosophical teachings was Pascal’s Wager, in which he said, “Belief is a wise wager. Granted that faith cannot be proved, what harm will come to you if you gamble on its truth and it proves false? If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing” (All About Philosophy, 2011). Also, in relation to my quote from Ecclesiastes, Pascal said, “The Ecclesiastes shows that man without God is in total ignorance and inevitable misery” (Reisinho, n.d.).
The second philosopher I chose to research in regards to the meaning of life is Christopher Reeve. I chose him for a couple of different reasons. I love Superman, and Christopher Reeve will indelibly be ingrained in my mind as “Superman.” In addition, his accident that left him a quadriplegic and ultimately resulted in his death left me with the feeling that even Superman is vulnerable. The man of steel had been destroyed. It was a heartbreaking tragedy. However, even total paralysis did not conquer the man behind the suit: “Living a life with meaning means spreading the word. Even if you can’t move, you can have a powerful effect with what you say” (Perel, n.d.). In addition, he proved that his superpowers were not limited to being faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, or being able to leap tall buildings in a single bound: “We all have powers within us that we don’t know exist until we’re tested. There are no limitations to what you can do if you have the determination” (Perel, n.d.).
These two men are clearly different in their beliefs, yet very similar. While Pascal was a devout Christian, Christopher Reeve struggled with religion for a large portion of his life. He was raised Presbyterian, briefly tried Scientology, and ultimately turned to the Unitarian Church at age 50. About God, he said, “I think we all have a little voice inside us that will guide us. It may be God, I don’t know” (Adherents, 2007). However, they both clearly believed in a life of purpose. And, both of these men believed that they were not limited by the things that happen to us over the course of our lives, but we are instead opened to new opportunities through these events. Neither of them would have played the “victim” role. Pascal would have described a tragic event as a part of God’s plan, and Christopher Reeve described the tragic event as a turning point in which you are given an opportunity to choose to fulfill a bigger purpose: “You play the hand you’re dealt. I think the game’s worthwhile” (Beliefnet, n.d.).
I have always given a great deal of thought to my purpose in life. I think it’s because of the life I’ve had. As a quick summary, I was sexually abused by two different men as a small child, physically abused by my biological father, abandoned by the same father when I was six, adopted by a beautiful man when I was eight who later died when I was thirteen, and then uprooted and moved five hundred miles away from my entire family and everything I knew when my mother remarried when I was fourteen. My teenage years were a trying time for me—trying to understand why God would let all of this happen to me. As I stated earlier, I struggled with my faith for a while. I spoke with my biological father for the first time on the phone when I was 23. I realized at that moment that I had been looking for something that I was never really missing. I had been blessed with a phenomenal father who had loved me and a stepfather who (when I decided to let him in) became one of my closest friends. I had a hundred men who had been in my life the whole time who had loved me like my own father couldn’t or wouldn’t.
Since that time, I’ve married and had two little boys, and the pieces of my life’s puzzle have started to come together. If my father hadn’t abandoned me, I would never have been adopted by my Daddy, and would therefore never truly have understood what that role or that relationship was supposed to be like. If my Daddy hadn’t died, my mom wouldn’t have remarried my stepdad, and I wouldn’t have moved to SC. If I hadn’t moved to SC, I would never have met my husband, and would therefore not have had my two little boys. God has had a purpose for everything I’ve been through.
In addition, I would like to think that because of the many trials, God has placed me in a position to be able to help others going through the same things I went through as a child. I’ve had mothers bring their children to me just to talk after their own fathers had walked out. The mothers cannot relate to the child on their feelings, but they know that I can. It feels good to be able to look at those little girls and be able to tell them that they’re going to be okay—I made it, and so will they. God has a plan for them, and everything that they go through in their life will one day play out like the verses of a beautiful song, and they will understand. I know now that I am not a victim. I am only a victim if I allow myself to be conquered. For me, that is not an option. That is not what God planned for my life, or for anyone’s life, in my mind.
The one and only tattoo I have on my body is the Superman emblem. I got it six months ago, at the age of 34, after wanting it from the time I was seventeen. For me, it is a symbol of several things. On my checks in my checkbook, I have the quote, “Everyone is someone’s hero.” Christopher Reeve once said, “I think a hero is an ordinary individual who finds strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles” (Beliefnet, n.d.). Do I think I’m Supergirl? No. But the tattoo reminds me that anything is possible as long as I have God on my side and the willingness to find a way. Like Superman, I am here to make the world a better place, no matter how miniscule my contribution may be in the grand scheme of things. Ephesians 4:1 says, “I urge you to live the life to which God called you.” That is what I earnestly try to do every day.
I am not sure how I would explain the meaning of life to a non-believer. For them, who may or may not believe that our whole existence is an “accident” or a series of cosmic events that resulted in the existence of human life, I could see where they would have a hard time understanding how we could have meaning. I, on the other hand, know that God does not create “accidents.” Even unplanned pregnancies are not accidents in God’s mind. “Everything comes from God alone. Everything lives by His power, and everything is for His glory” (Romans 11:36).
The most important purpose that God designed us for is to live a life of love: love and honor of our parents, love of our spouse and children, love of our neighbors, love of Him. “Love means living the way God commanded us to live. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is this: Live a life of love” (2 John 1:6). For a world that equates lust with love, it is understandable why we get this theory all wrong. True love is described in I Corinthians 13:4-8: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” Love means self-sacrifice, it means paying it forward, it means doing kind deeds for others for no reason, it means forgiving those who have wronged us. Without love, we are “bankrupt” (I Corinthians 13:3).
In conclusion, I agree wholeheartedly with Pascal’s theory that life has no meaning without God. In addition, I admire Christopher Reeve’s ability to overcome the obstacles in his life and not turn to despair. For me, this ability could only come as a result of my faith in God. The purpose for my life has nothing to do with what I want for my life—my career, my house, my cars, my belongings. Those things are material things that are immaterial to the meaning of life. The purpose of my life is part of a grander, larger plan that belongs solely to God, my Maker. Ephesians 5:15 say “Live life with a due sense of responsibility, not as those who do not know the meaning of life, but as those who do.” Proverbs 19 confirms this by reminding us that my own plans for my life are irrelevant; it is God’s plan that will prevail. And so, I will close with this last remaining verse: “These three things continue forever: faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love” (I Corinthians 13:13).
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