Birth. Life. Death.

If we ask 9 out of 10 people today "What is the opposite of death?" the answer we will most likely receive is "life". That's probably not accurate, well at least from a semantic or scientific viewpoint. I'm asking a loaded question to some extent, maybe it's even trickery.

The opposite of death is birth.

Humans are "born" and then we "die". We seem to agree on when a human "dies". Well, within seconds or minutes at least as there is usually an accepted "time of death". We see the last exhalation, the heart stops, brain waves cease, etc... so we call it "death".

There is also a relatively socially acceptable "time of birth", the baby comes out and a nurse or doctor looks at the clock and announces the time of birth, it's written down and is now a fact of some sorts.

Yet, there seems to be mass chaos, fighting and even violence surrounding the subject of Life. If you ask people when life begins there quite possibly could be a million different answers, all based on an individuals' perspective, a perspective they were most likely conditioned to have based on their social surrounding and religious traditional upbringing (or lack thereof).

Really no one knows when "life" begins. We're all assured to never know because there is no answer to the question as it is based off perspective and opinion, normally based on personal or institutional biases.

The problem is that we are really asking the wrong question.

If we do or might possibly come to believe in the theory that no thing in the material world can be created from nothing and subsequently no thing can be reduced back to nothing, then it would appear that birth and death actually do not exist. 

Scientifically, no thing can be created from nothing and no thing can be destroyed into nothingness, everything just transforms. A piece of paper is transformed from water, air, trees, loggers, a machine process, etc... And burning a piece of paper transforms it to energy, heat, fire and ash.

Following that same thinking, as humans, we transform from some things to being "born" and then we transform back to some things in "death".

We are comprised of the same atoms as everything else in the universe. We are all in effect "Star Dust", containing atoms and elements which first existed from the time of the big bang.

We were most likely taught to think "I" did not exist and then magically "I" exist now in time-space from some process. Then "I" die and return to dust? No... there is no magic, no dust, no creating something from nothing. We have always been here in one form or another from the beginning of time and we always will be here in one form. Whether we call it "life" or carbon or anything else is just a matter of words.  

So... The real question of relevance to us in this existence is not so much when does human life begin but - What's the point of this whole human existence? 

My answer is simply to grow, live, experience and love. I like it being very simple.

We are here to grow as we live this human experience. We see that physically, we grow up, become taller, larger and increase in mass. The majority of us grow up emotionally, so most 30 year-olds don't roll around on the floor crying in public when they don't get what they want.

In the 21st Century, we are told we have hundreds of other way for "things" to grow within our lives. We can grow our mind and intellect through learning and gaining knowledge. We can grow our self-esteem through striving and accomplishment. We can grow our businesses, careers and bank accounts through hard work and investing. We can grow logically, morally and ethically with education and spirituality. On larger scales we can grow families, communities, societies, economies, nations and quite possibly soon, worlds.

Interestingly to me, all of those examples follow typical growth patterns and s-curves. There is usually a ramp up in growth which eventually leads to a plateau and then small or large decline over time. We can become really intelligent and then have Alzheimers for example. 

All of those externalilties have a limited range of growth for each of us based on conditions. This could also be called the cycle of birth and death, Samsara in Buddhist philosophy. Just as we grow up and then die, everything around us does the same thing. Everything material is subject to the laws of physics, birth and death and thus, is in a constant state of change.

Stock market goes up and it goes down. If it went up forever, what would happen? Sounds great huh, well if that were the case then we would also grow physically forever... not so good. 

Everything within and without our lives has a rate of growth which is sustainable for a period, then tapers off. Boom and bust, life and death, peaks and valleys... all relatively the same. So, can you grow your business, career, money, family, forever? No, of course not. Everything will have some eventual loss of growth or decline of some sort.

So, if all we are doing with our short time here is focusing on growth in areas of mundane existence, which we know are bound for decline/death, are we all insane? Yes, most of us are insane to do such a thing. I will stand up and raise my hand as being in that camp most of my life. I (ego-centric I) want more years, money, fame, food, appreciation of assets, accomplishments, kudos, atta-boys, growth, etc... and I do not want less of those. Welcome to the cycle of birth and death, enjoy the ride :)

What I have come to "know" is that there are a few simple things I can focus on which actually are not limited in their growth and always net a higher return. Funny enough, they are not actually physical things.

1. LOVING KINDNESS - Can I make a commitment to grow my loving kindness for myself and all sentient beings every moment? YES.

2. COMPASSION - Can I grow my compassion for myself and all sentient beings every moment? YES.

3. JOY - Can I grow my joy within myself and towards other sentient beings every moment? YES.

4. EQUANIMITY - Can I be equanimous with myself and other sentient beings every moment? YES.

I had the great opportunity to speak at my brother's wedding reception in 2009. I spoke about those 4 things being the basis of "True Love", a love with no growth curve, no down turn, no boom/bust, no birth/death, no peaks and valleys. True Love, encompassing those 4 qualities can grow infinitely, which is what we all truly want - a world with more love for ourselves and those around us. 

You could call it God's Love, Buddha Nature, Big Mind/Big Heart, Infinite Wisdom, whatever your spiritual tradition feels appropriate is good.

If you like this, check out my book "Letters to My Son: Choosing Yourself First" on Kindle through Amazon. 

If you want to chat, feel free to email me at douglashilbert@yahoo.com