Existence
What does the final episode of Season Eight tell us about human ‘Existence’?
It does nothing more nor less than life itself. It provides no answers except those we choose to see.
Life is a paranoid nightmare, in which the buggers really are out to get you.
Life is merely the means by which we propagate our genes and give birth to the next generation so they can do precisely the same.
Life is the relationships we form; the people we know we can rely on.
Life is a miracle.
Life is beyond understanding, wherein which nothing makes sense.
Life is … well, whatever you read into the episode.
Though raised a Catholic, I never had to memorise the 370 fundamental questions and answers on the Catholic Faith that is the Penny Catechism:
God isn’t Donald Trump. It just doesn’t fit with me that He would put us in this world for nothing more than His own glorification. Why the heck did He bother to give us free will, if that’s all He wanted? Yeah, I know the answer to that question, as well.
If He didn’t know it when He created us, He certainly must have learned quickly, what with Eve and Adam nicking His apples!
Free willed human beings are never going to behave quite how we should. If we were that predictable, we wouldn’t be half as much fun as we are!
While God is worthy of our love, obviously, for Him to put us here solely for that reason – even with free will – is a wee bit selfish, don’t you think? And God can’t be selfish because there is nothing negative in God. So, there has to be more to it than that.
And, think about it, the whole of creation, with us on this itty-bitty planet, just for His own glorification? Bit excessive, don’t you think?
So, why are we here?
The answer is pretty obvious, really.
We are here to be human.
You might think that as unsatisfactory an answer as the second answer in the Penny Catechism. Until you take a moment to consider just how bloody difficult it is to be a properly functioning human being.
Donald Trump is, as MSNBC keep saying, a gift that keeps giving.
There are those who will take advantage of the Trump Presidency as justification of their baser instincts. There are those who will just take advantage of his Presidency – Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell, for instance.
There are those, fortunately, who will be inspired by Trump in a way he’d rather they weren’t. It’s happening already.
As fast as he’s dragging the USA down into the swamp he promised to clear, there are those who will resist him with a passion we so seldom see. Lawrence O’Donnell and Rachel Maddow being but two who appear on my TV each day.
This passion for the value and sanctity of human life, for the very idea that we are capable of so much more, that, if only we were true to ourselves, we would shuck off the petty limitations that the Trumps of this world would shackle us with, this is what we are here for.
Only when we truly begin to live human lives will the answer to Question 2 make sense.
It does nothing more nor less than life itself. It provides no answers except those we choose to see.
Life is a paranoid nightmare, in which the buggers really are out to get you.
Life is merely the means by which we propagate our genes and give birth to the next generation so they can do precisely the same.
Life is the relationships we form; the people we know we can rely on.
Life is a miracle.
Life is beyond understanding, wherein which nothing makes sense.
Life is … well, whatever you read into the episode.
Though raised a Catholic, I never had to memorise the 370 fundamental questions and answers on the Catholic Faith that is the Penny Catechism:
#2 Why did God make you?
God made me to know him, to love him and to serve him in this world, and to be happy with him forever in the next.
While still I count myself Catholic, and fully believe this answer, it isn’t what one might call entirely satisfying. There has to be more to it, surely?God isn’t Donald Trump. It just doesn’t fit with me that He would put us in this world for nothing more than His own glorification. Why the heck did He bother to give us free will, if that’s all He wanted? Yeah, I know the answer to that question, as well.
If He didn’t know it when He created us, He certainly must have learned quickly, what with Eve and Adam nicking His apples!
Free willed human beings are never going to behave quite how we should. If we were that predictable, we wouldn’t be half as much fun as we are!
While God is worthy of our love, obviously, for Him to put us here solely for that reason – even with free will – is a wee bit selfish, don’t you think? And God can’t be selfish because there is nothing negative in God. So, there has to be more to it than that.
And, think about it, the whole of creation, with us on this itty-bitty planet, just for His own glorification? Bit excessive, don’t you think?
So, why are we here?
The answer is pretty obvious, really.
We are here to be human.
You might think that as unsatisfactory an answer as the second answer in the Penny Catechism. Until you take a moment to consider just how bloody difficult it is to be a properly functioning human being.
Donald Trump is, as MSNBC keep saying, a gift that keeps giving.
There are those who will take advantage of the Trump Presidency as justification of their baser instincts. There are those who will just take advantage of his Presidency – Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell, for instance.
There are those, fortunately, who will be inspired by Trump in a way he’d rather they weren’t. It’s happening already.
As fast as he’s dragging the USA down into the swamp he promised to clear, there are those who will resist him with a passion we so seldom see. Lawrence O’Donnell and Rachel Maddow being but two who appear on my TV each day.
This passion for the value and sanctity of human life, for the very idea that we are capable of so much more, that, if only we were true to ourselves, we would shuck off the petty limitations that the Trumps of this world would shackle us with, this is what we are here for.
Only when we truly begin to live human lives will the answer to Question 2 make sense.
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