Part 7 - What is to be Done?
March 2019
We have explored the Universe. We have contemplated how people both ancient and modern considered it might have been formed. We have looked at where it might have come from, what it is made of and how big it is. Finally we have looked at 2 versions of why humans are here.
So what is to be done? Have we achieved anything? Is there any use we can put this knowledge to in our lives or has it just whiled away some time? Can contemplating these matters impact on how we live? I call upon the ancient Roman writer Horace for a philosophical answer -
Dum vivimus, vivamus
(Since we are living, let us live well)
And what does it mean to “live well”? Again I call upon people from the distant and not so distant past for help in answering that :–
Thomas Jefferson who wrote about our unalienable rights to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness”.
Socrates who said that “the unexamined life is not worth living”.
Oscar Hammerstein who wrote “you gotta have a dream. If you don’t have a dream then how you gonna make that dream come true?”.
So take heart and revel in your life. No one else is going to live it for you. Treasure every moment and make the most of it.
You are a magnificent creature “a piece of work” that “is noble in reason and infinite in faculties”, but don’t forget, as Socrates said, how little you really know. Reflect on how tiny you are in this vast and wonderful universe that you are a part of.
Don’t waste your time – pursue what makes you happy while you are still here.
And, as Rik Mayall once said “Love is the answer".
And finally here is a song that puts lots of things including life into perspective, gives good advice and is quite a merry song into the bargain.
Always Look on the Bright Side of Life (without lyrics) and Always Look on the Bright Side of Life (with lyrics)
Both last 3 mins.
Inevitably it has taken some time to pull these articles together and I would like to pay tribute to my partner, Suzanne Muna, for her help and contributions and for spurring me on by creating the “Madican’s Meditations” blog without which these articles might still be residing on my PC.
Overall it has been an enjoyable experience and I hope you have shared in that in some way. I like to think they might spur you on to question beliefs and find out more things for yourself in which case I would have been more than rewarded for my efforts in this agreeable undertaking.
If you have enjoyed reading them or found them thought-provoking then pass the links onto your friends and family. And if you didn’t like them, pass them onto your enemies.
Bon voyage in your journey through life, the universe and everything else....
Brian Madican
March 2019
