Contemplating on Aliveness

We take for granted that we are alive, yet we don't look deeper to
understand what it truly means to be alive. By contemplating this
basic issue about life, we can learn some important revelations,
including the purpose of life.

We can best look at life by comparing living matter and non-living
matter, or animate and inanimate matters. One obvious difference
between the two is that living matters can move while non-living
matters cannot move. However, when we look deeper, we will soon
realise that this difference is a matter of degree.

As we move from matter to plants to animals and to man, we find a
gradual progression of increasing movement. Matters move only at
the atomic level where its electrons swirl in great speed around its
nucleus in each atom. Plants have greater movement as it is able to
move upward towards the sun and downward towards water in the soil.
Animals have even greater degree of movement as they can move from
place to place, and also have many other options in the movement
of their body and limbs. Man has the greatest degree of movement
in this ascension. This increase is both in increasing CHOICES of
movement as well as in increasing CONTROL over the movements.

We can also note that this increasing choices and control over
movements is in tandem with the increasing self awareness of matter.
In other words, as self recognition or self awareness increases in
an organism, there is a proportionate increase in choices and
control over itself.

As we see the natural progression or evolution of life from
inanimate matters to plants to animals and to man, we can say that
the evolution of life is about the evolution of self awareness or
consciousness. Thus, we can say that life is the unfoldment from
unconscious to full consciousness. So the purpose of life, as far
as the universe is concerned, is about becoming fully self aware.

Why is this fact important to us?

Because we shall see later that in order for us to achieve self
actualisation, we must also evolve in accordance with the
universe which we are apart of.

NEXT - Spirit and Matter

This next time, be well and happy!