The question of life

Marjing Mayanglambam *

We humans have been questioning a lot since time immemorial and this has led us to invent many things to answer our questions of life and everything across us. This article may be my first attempt at writing on the philosophical concept of life and what humans do to live a life. I have been having lots of questions about life and its intricacies.

This article does not suggest any inputs from any philosophers and theories but rather stating my point of view on life. Amidst the turmoil of Manipur, I have also kept a space for thinking about life because everything that has been happening and is happening is part of my ‘question of life’.

As human beings, we are biologically set to reproduce and raise offspring for the continuation of our species. Socially, we are bound to follow norms, traditions and culture to differentiate us from the rest of the animal species. The above two statements are just an overview of human life. The question arises when living life is supposed to follow more sophisticated and complex tasks during our survival.

The tendency to earn, work, get respect, and have status has completely changed the narrative of basic human necessities. However, I started questioning why we humans need to overcomplicate life with all these superficial extravagancies.

Countries, boundaries, governments, diplomacies and whatnot? Advancement in human civilization has separated us more but some say technology has brought us much closer and how can technological relationships be more valued than physical relationships?

Does life have no significant meaning at all? Is living a life just meant to reproduce, invent, develop, and ultimately die?

I am a firm believer that the Earth will eventually vanish someday or become inhabitable, and this belief might have an impact on my questioning about life. Nevertheless, I have already been corrupted by the cult of life valuers and hence I have unconsciously been a part of living life to not only satisfy my needs but also to impress the world whom I do not even believe will care about me at any stage of my life.

Readers might think I am selfish for all these negative or sadistic thoughts, but isn’t questioning a part of life? I think, at some point in life, everyone has thought a bit about life.

Broaden your scope of viewing yourself on this Earth from infinite space. Do you even think you can see yourself from the Moon? Imagine seeing yourself from thousands of light-years away. Our birth and death do not even make sense from that far away. The explosion of Earth won’t even make a sound from that far.

This point of view does not necessarily suggest we give up everything and just live like a caveman, however, what I am questioning is whether it is necessary to tire ourselves for matters which are beyond our control or for fame.

Arguments might arise stating the need to invent cures for cancer, and HIV-AIDS, and to end war or poverty and such. And I hope these problems will be solved soon. But these reasons shouldn’t hinder us from questioning life and its intricate exaggerated show-offs.

Lots of skeptical questions about life, and endless interpretations may arise to answer them, but what I believe is that I must live a life to survive, however, I will be forced to move alongside the trends of living a life from the perspective of society and this is inescapable.

If I stand out in society to follow my simple idea of life, I will be naturally excommunicated from society which I will not be able to prefer because of my upbringing in the present society and its influence has already impacted me a lot that the only thing I can do is question but not act much at all to fit to the society.

Lastly, I ask all, what is Life according to you and what matters for a Life to be a Life?