A little innocent discussion on life's longevity found our little group in the midst of a subject quite apropos at this late stage.
We humans fashion ourselves as not only smart but clever enough to unravel and discern the many riddles that appear to litter our lives. By this, we mean all those things and events that escape easy understanding and discernment for many of us.
In this respect then we try to rationalize by postulating that it is life that has many riddles to unravel but that our smart minds are up to their challenges. And most of us nod in assent and agreement.
We miss to consider the possibility that it may be us and our lives that are the riddles and not life. That life may be so cut and dried as to be quite straight-forward and simple. That the way we all are individually are the troubling paradoxes that turn the living of life into great chaos and confusion.
That life has been so tailored and designed for man as to be embedded in his own core, or nature, or in modern parlance, in his DNA. That life then is simply following the dictates of a nature destined for some purpose. Some noble and admirable purposes. Take a more serious second look and it cannot be denied that that sense of purpose and mission is something easily discovered and understood. Though man still likes to go against it.
And that is the biggest and sneakiest riddle in life. A riddle that is a non-riddle. The Givens and Knowns are in plain sight, but we continue to aim for the incorrect solutions.
Here is a sample of how we view things which may reveal how warped our senses may be. We always pray for a long life, but how many pray for how their lives will be? In other words, we yearn for more quantity of life, but we care not that much for its quality. We are too preoccupied with living a life, and miss aiming for a good life in our living.
The old ascetics have one answer and one word for this. Concupiscence. Which is also an innate though unwanted feature of his flawed nature. Man's tendency to veer away from his own destined fate. And one that needs to be addressed and controlled.
That is the one riddle to be resolved in life.
