significance | Desert Warrior Ministries

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A fate worse than death, A ground for morality, A reward beyond hope, Death as nothingness, existential anguish, Heaven, hell, meaning, purpose, significance, the final assault on our value, ultimate limit to our will

These words are inspiring. This perspective on life is genuine. Who can resist the call to become a “god” over his or her own life? Who doesn’t recognize the tyranny of public opinion and our incessant need for the approval of others?

Once again, it all rings true but it also rings hollow.

Why? Because we intuitively (and experientially) know that no meaning, purpose or significance in life that we create for ourselves can stand in the face of death. It is a finality when finality is exactly the problem.

Certainly the reality of death can make us appreciate life all the more. No doubt. Certainly we need to find meaning, purpose and significance in life and not just follow the crowd into mindless consumerism and a materialistic lifestyle. Fine.

But whatever meaning, purpose and significance we create (or discover) must go beyond this life and conquer death. The “nothingness” of death must be transformed into some form of “continuity” of meaning, purpose and significance that includes us, that includes our self-aware existence, not just memories, or works of charity, or writing a book, otherwise all of our existential anguish will overwhelm us in the face of the final reality of non-existence (or worse).

Two more things need to be said.

The first is that the interpretation of death as “nothingness” may not be accurate. It is bad enough in its own right – the horror of “non-being” is truly abhorrent to a self-aware, sentient being.

Yet there is also the witness of multiple religions that death is not “nothingness” but rather a gateway to another dimension, another life, one that may hold punishment or reward.

Remember that religion (in the view of some) may provide us with a ground for morality. We need to believe in a just universe where good will be rewarded and evil will be punished.

According to this perspective, death is not the end but the beginning. There is more to be said (and experienced) about existence beyond this life and, if that is true, we need to know on what basis we will be judged (if we truly live in a just universe).

There may be “a fate worse than death” waiting for us or perhaps “a reward beyond hope” – either one is apparently dependent on what we do or don’t do in this life. We would be wise to get that right before we pass on to the other side.

A second thing needs to be said about the quest to create our own existential meaning in life. To be a “god” over our own lives, to decide the meaning of our life, to create purpose and significance for ourselves, we must be masters over life and death for any of it to matter.

Only the insensitive, truly lost soul, can believe that death does not matter, reducing it to a biological function in a final service or servitude to the amoral forces of nature.

Death is the final assault on our value, the ultimate limit to our will. In the face of death, we can no longer maintain the illusion that we are the masters of life.

Maybe that is the point after all.

*****

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Tears of the Desert Warrior by Bert A. Amsing
Copyright 2012 by vanKregten Publishers. All rights reserved.
http://www.desertwarrior.net https://desertwarriornet.wordpress.com/

Footnotes and references included in the original manuscript.

Tags

A new relationship with an old acquaintance, Human nature, meaning, purpose, significance, The expediency of our perceived self-interest based on our felt needs, The myth of human autonomy

Rather than trying to become “gods” ourselves, we may want to consider an alternative approach and seek out the true God of life and death, the Creator, the one who started it all and has conquered the power of sin (i.e. rebellion against the rule of God) and death (i.e. the natural consequences of a broken relationship with the Creator and Sustainer of Life) in our lives by dying on a tree outside a small, provincial city called Jerusalem almost two thousand years ago.

But perhaps that is too big a step for some to take at this stage in our discussion. Still, it’s interesting how that “truth” about the existence of an external God (rather than being our own god) seems to put a lot of things in perspective.

The heart of the issue, in this view, is a relationship – a new relationship with an old acquaintance, our Father, the Creator. A relationship that was destroyed at the beginning, creating the myth of (and the desire for) human autonomy at any cost. A relationship that can be restored only through Jesus Christ and what he accomplished through his death on the cross and resurrection to new life.

A relationship that is the key to understanding human nature. We were created to live in continual, physical-spiritual contact with and under the loving authority of our Creator.

The reality is that we do not always know what our real needs are in a world created by God. We are more interested in the expediency of our perceived self-interest based on our felt needs.

We have tunnel vision when we need the broad perspective of someone who has all the information, can see the future consequences of every action, someone who has the power and resources to manage life for our benefit and finally, someone who is entirely and completely “good,” who loves us and has our best interests in mind.

We lost that connection and it must be restored. That is the only true source of meaning, purpose and significance in this life. It is the only thing that is able to defeat death and result in everlasting, ongoing life without end.

*****

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Footnotes and references included in the original manuscript.