Some say it is a game, some call it a journey, look around and you find a couple folks who refer to it as only but a preparation for the 'next life'- a prep class of some sort I guess. Countless other references have be employed by others in an attempt to paint the perfect image of description, of this mystery called life. The inference that can be drawn from the divergent views and beliefs of people regarding life, is the fact that there's no absolute description that suffices to totally encapsulate the essence of life, beyond reasonable doubt. This, in addition to the fact that no one can say for sure or certainly that they know what's before or after life, explains why I call it a mystery. Yes, We all have our beliefs on the source or origin of life, but the truth remains that; no one by virtue of memory, possesses a knowledge of where we are coming from or where we are going to (if at all there's a destination after life). However preposterous, funny or even annoying people's belief of what life is or what they perceive life to be, it doesn't make it any less valid. Reason is, as I have already stated, we could believe all we want but there's no absolute explanation for life. A non-biased scrutiny of what we believe life to be, will point at the fact that we mostly believe what we believe as a result what we we were told, and not because we know from experience. Whatever our views may be, there's a common ground we all meet. This is in our acceptance of life being being only for a while- thus, precious.
If the human life was a game- as some call it- this game began with the survival of just one sperm cell- among millions- successfully reaching its goal of fertilizing the female egg. How competitive! Then it is safe to say; that life is game which has embedded in it, multiple tasks, all aimed at achieving a 'greater goal', I guess. Maybe the survival of that single sperm cell was all down to pure luck, nothing else. Perhaps it wasn't luck and it was all just predetermined. Maybe what sperm cell succeeds does not even matter at all, the result would have been the same regardless. The point of takeoff in this game, journey (whatever fillers you prefer in this description); is the transmutation of sexual pleasures into life. This further culminates in the cries of a baby- oblivious to the what the world entails- filling the atmosphere, to the joy of his/her parents (in most cases). This is amazing! What is even more amazing, is the hundreds maybe thousands of conditions that have to be in check for that baby to live a normal healthy life. Science tells us that imbalance of some hormones, blood cells of parents, hereditary genes among many other factors could go a long way in affecting the well-being and quality of life of that child, and even pose a threat to the life of that child. Taking these factors into consideration, makes me ponder within; "wow! so life has its prerequisites, its tastes, its wants. Maybe life is quite picky."
This first few years of life, referred to as the formative stage. Formative in every sense, from development of teeth and stronger bones to formation of more abstract qualities like habits and beliefs. This stage which I refer to as morning stage (referencing the beginning of a day); is characterized by the child's struggle to get attuned to the ways of life and people in general. Struggle to adapt to speech and sound production and recognition, struggle for mobility, struggle to deal with emotions are amongst the early struggles faced by the child to get acclimatized with the 'strange' world. The kid is soon indoctrinated to the ways of his immediate environment, adopting their mores and belief system. In effect, as a metaphor, the child has downloaded files and folders of information from his/her immediate environment into the once empty memory space of his brain. This process, which occurs actively or passively, defines what that individual takes on as their identity. A close look at this, exposes a highly externally influenced process. Sticking to the game theme, for some people it is game over right here. They never make it past this stage. Maybe it's all part of a bigger plan. Maybe it's God's will. Maybe they achieved their 'purpose' of coming. Whatever it may be, they're gone and no matter how painful this is for their loved ones, can not be brought back. Crazy life!
Seconds turn to minutes, minutes to hours, hours to days, and days to years; then it is welcome to the middle phase of life. It is afternoon (if life was a day). No telling what moment it commenced, so don't expect a "congratulations, welcome to the middle stage" message (you do get a happy birthday message around this period however, if that helps haha). This phase is mostly where life is lived- whatever that means. We supposedly become naturally and even legally matured in this stage. We get to experience all that comes with life- the good (lots of it), the bad (lots of it) and the ugly (lots of it as well). Our beliefs are put to the test on multiple occasions, resulting in either the deaths of these beliefs and birth of new ones, or reinforcing our resolve on these beliefs. Of course in this stage, we get to become free from the watchful eyes of our parents and guardians. This freedom comes with us taking lots of risks and engaging in crazy ventures- with many ultimately ending up as total failures. However these ventures turn out, we get to learn and unlearn a lot during the course of this phase. We get to bring in life into this world too, nurturing it as it embarks on its own journey, while continuing ours as well. Among other tasks in this stage of the game called life, is the task of mastering our emotions and minds as well. Little time between periods of learning and putting to practice, with both happening simultaneously sometimes. While the next minute involved what seemed was like an eternal wait, in the first stage, the hands of the clock appear to move very fast in this stage. In the latter part of this phase, we are understandably, more laid back and less eager to try things than the early part. Again, for some people, it is game over right here. They never make it past this stage. Maybe it is all part of a bigger plan. Maybe it is God's will. Maybe they achieved their 'purpose' of coming. Whatever it may be, they're gone and no matter how painful this is for their loved ones, can not be brought back. By now it's not too uncommon.
The last stage, we are much more subdued by the events of time and seasons and even nature (evident in the wearing out of our very skins and bodies in general). It isn't even a guarantee we make it up to this stage, but it is guaranteed we won't make it out (that's barring any miracle). Naturally, in this stage, there isn't much to look forward to. We are probably just waiting to cross to 'the other side'. We have successfully or unsuccessfully navigated through the steamy waters of life, possibly burnt by it on a number of occasions. Events of earlier stages are now only but memories, memories which we visit sometimes and let out a smile or even laughter, other times, it is a grin or a frown, and in some cases; a drop of tear or streams of it. A testament to the emotions attached to the events we have experienced overtime. Somewhere in this stage, the bells ring someday and just like that we are no more. It is GAME OVER! The day is DONE! GOODNIGHT!
My personal opinion is; whether or not we got to leave a mark before we passed on, it may not really matter much to us. It may serve some purpose to people still alive (which is great), but I don't think doing it for some self-servicing purpose would matter so much to us, dead. we are simply GONE and CEASE to exist here on earth. I don't say this in an attempt to suggest that we should be selfish while alive, and not consider on the broader scale, how our actions affect others, even when we are gone. Contrary to that, my point is; the idea of being greedy while alive, or killing ourselves in the quest of accumulating more than we need for one lifetime, for the purpose of inscribing our very names into the stone of time, may not really matter to us when we're gone. It is NOTHING to us. Life is only for the living. The brain which holds memories of what we have done and achieved is buried together with the body. We take nothing with us, not our own body- which, among other organs, comprises of our brain; which carries our IDENTITY. It is just over! To really get the picture, imagine someone with total memory loss, everything's as good as nothing to them. This makes it sounds a bit funny to me when I hear people, referring to the dead say; at least he got to do this or do that. This is because i think it just doesn't matter at that point to that person anymore. They won't come back to live in that house anymore, or wear those clothes, or even use those certificate anymore. It's OVER! In this regard, I think it doesn't even matter WHEN we die- whether old or young. I also don't think whether or not people remember us would even matter to us. But since I too know nothing of the 'other side', my opinions remain, at best, just mere speculations, maybe it matters and maybe it is not really game over. The sole means to find out is crossing over haha. Only then can we tell if it's actually a new game level or ...(I hope you got that haha).
So to recap, possessing no memory whatsoever of filling applications to be alive, we just come through life, go through the processes of adapting to life, achieving goals for our gratification, and gathering a lot just to give it up whenever death pleases.
Although grateful for the wonderful opportunity to live, this compels me ask: "WHAT THEN IS THIS LIFE ABOUT?"