The most straightforward answer to the origin of biological life refers to the natural process by which living organisms emerged from non-living matter. It involves the transformation of simple organic compounds into self-replicating entities resulting from the gaseous to chemical molecular evolution of the universe.

Now, just envisage how the green leaf transforms sunlight into life through photosynthesis, converting light into chemical energy from carbon dioxide and water, generating oxygen, the elixir of life conferring breath upon all living beings. Please keep in mind the leaf is the developer of life on Earth.

Life begins when the baby’s head emerges around ten seconds after delivery, when the lungs, initially filled with fluid, expand and inflate as it breathes. The brain requires a continuous supply of oxygen for the mind to produce energy and perform, not provided by the lungs but from the blood flowing through the brain. As a result, the brain, body, and the universe come into action.

Spiritually, from the Vedas, followed by science in Quantum Mechanics – the spaceless, limitless, timeless cosmic energy that reigns supreme is eternally present at the deepest subatomic level. Out of that constant, endless absolute energy, barely five percent is matter and consciousness, within which we have living and non-living. Cosmic energy is the driving force, and solar radiation is the source of its vibrations in different frequencies. The green leaf links the sun and the complex formation of life energy through photosynthesis, which we call biological life. 

However, to give meaning and purpose to life, the psychological self from the cognitive mind plays a significant role in duality, which subconsciously prevails in lower consciousness, extensively playing through memory and intellect, the material life of happiness and sadness. Even though breath initiates life, the human mind is the commanding persona with a distinct identity. Through individual experiences, the sensory mind subconsciously operates in auto-mode unless the spiritual self, the Soul in higher consciousness, awakens to check and guide this uncontrollable machine functioning out of its subconscious thoughts, feelings, and actions, which otherwise practically controls your life.

Human life is a natural physical, mental, and spiritual process, and in such highly organized, dynamic states, we call ourselves living beings. Philosophically, our life is in living. It is not a thing; it is a process. There is no way to attain life except by living it and being alive, flowing, streaming with it. It is a celebration of existence, emphasizing that it is primarily about experiencing oneself and all that is around, the energy and joy, without needing a specific purpose. 

The idea that human life has no inherent purpose suggests that life is not driven by a preordained goal or meaning everyone must follow. Instead, it implies that meaning is subjective, and individuals may interpret it based on their objective beliefs, experiences, and values. This perspective encourages people to embrace their freedom to create their purpose and live authentically, providing existential freedom.

Well-known philosophers like Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus explored this idea, saying one can find meaning despite life’s absurdity through personal choice and actions. Focus shifts to enjoying existential experiences and moments instead of striving for distant goals. Further, individuals can pursue self-exploration without a set purpose and find what truly matters. In essence, the belief that life has no purpose encourages a focus on creating personal meaning and living fully in the present.

Spirituality inculcates a search for meaning and purpose in life with a sense of connection to something greater than one’s bone and mind. It makes you enter the world through awareness and consciousness, being the rulers of your thoughts, feelings, and actions. Spirituality suggests a dimension to life beyond what we experience on the sensory and physical levels. It includes transcendence by viewing life as a manifestation of a divine essence, with each living being containing a connection to a higher cosmic power – That Art Thou. 

That spiritual interconnectedness in seeking personal growth, usually in a context, separates us from organized religious institutions. It relies more upon making sense of one’s inner “dimension” or the spirit within. Emphasizing subjective experiences via the individualized Soul with the deepest values and meanings by which people live.

I am an existentialist where life is neither meaningful nor meaningless. The question is irrelevant. Life is just an opportunity, an opening for balancing the dualities of life, happiness, and sadness to attain a certain degree of peace of mind. It all depends on what you make of it – what meaning, color, song, poetry, and dance you give it. 

Life is a creative challenge. According to existentialism, each person creates their life’s essence (meaning); life does not determine itself by any supernatural god or an earthly authority; one is free. As such, one’s prime directives are action, freedom, and the decision to live, create meaning and purpose, and experience and enrich as we age. Remember, when one of the two duality exists, the other, like a shadow, is bound to follow – pleasure/pain, positive/negative, divine/devil, etc.

Spiritually, we view life as arising from nothingness and eventually returning to it, reflecting a philosophical perspective on existence. This viewpoint suggests that all forms of life have origins in a state of nothingness and will ultimately fade into that state, indicating that nothingness ‘Shiva’ is the foundation of existence. 

In existentialism, “nothingness” means” that there is no ultimate existence but mere waves of indivisible energy in unity and continuity forming temporal subset energies to appear and disappear back into its fold. Further, certain parts of reality, like values, don’t exist independently but are created by our minds. 

This idea suggests that we create our reality through our values and meaning from our choices. We have that freedom or the ability to make decisions and shape our future, emphasizing that we can choose our path, even when faced with challenges. Some exceptions relate to unchangeable facts, like who our parents are or what we’ve done in the past. These are fixed aspects of our transitory existence. 

In existentialism, accepting the fixed realities of our lives is a bit confusing. How genes express themselves in our bodies can be altered by sheer determination or absolute faith. Life also has that inner confidence behind us to act with discipline, believing our dreams will eventually take form one day. 

Therefore, in existentialism, life is viewed fundamentally as individual freedom and personal responsibility. It emphasizes that the meaning of life is not necessarily predetermined by luck or destiny, but we as individuals can create destiny through our choices and actions. Existence precedes essence, meaning individuals must define their purpose and significance in an indifferent world. Additionally, it involves the quest for authenticity and the importance of what one gives to the world rather than what one takes.

Moreover, life is unique to each of us, creating our individuality, which is different from the personality we express outwardly. It means that life is an experience, subjective and objective. The subjective experiences are inner and spiritual, and we need to balance them like a tightrope walker with the objective of material living. Further, our perceptive thoughts, feelings, and actions must merge the tangible with the intangible or the personal with the impersonal, depending on our inner, spiritual, or subjective outlook. 

How do we manage that? Here, we have the third component of life coming into action: the Soul. The mind is divided into three sections from which thoughts emerge and orchestrate the drama of life. The subconscious section is that major player making the thoughts go over 98 percent of their capacity for their desires and attachments in material life, randomly and recklessly creating bouts of happiness and sadness. 

Then we have the higher conscious section, which, if attentive, is centered and focussed from which our thoughts initially learn in concentration and contemplation. After that, the memory takes over, and the mind goes on a sub or lower conscious ride in the auto-mode of this or that. 

And, finally, we have that superconscious section, where the mind telepathically receives fresh and pristine nondual intuitive cosmic energy enacting spontaneously before the occurrence of any cognitive thoughts in eureka – ‘bingo,’  I’ve got it. Spiritualism refers to this exceptional psychic energy as spiritual awareness, which creates consciousness in the mind. You become conscious only after you are aware, so awareness is the subjective part of the mind, and consciousness is its objective in the latter part, wholly dependent on aware energy. 

Life allows us to choose from any duality, whether the divine or the devil. The level of choice is highest in humans; plants and animals do not have this extra prerogative, but exercising choice is also the source of most conflicts. The mind primarily chooses for its selfish purposes for its ‘me and mine’ in its likes and dislikes, creating and clinging to its attachments, leading to obsession and fetishes. To counter this, we have the consciousness to determine how individually aware and conscious you are about those choices you have made in your life via thoughts indicated from the intensity by the suffix of its –ness.

In sum, existence is all about being awake and alive; it’s an enriched, satisfying, and well-rounded life. After righteously realizing ample material wealth and sensual desires, one should aspire to liberate oneself from all attachments for peace of mind, where one spiritually fulfills in wholesomeness. These four goals or aims of life are in the Vedic literature known as Purusharthas – “Dharma” (righteousness), Artha (prosperity), Kama (pleasure), and Moksha (liberation).

We should always keep in mind that besides the eternal absolute waves of energy in the nothingness of this universe. Its many temporal abilities emanate within its fold, vibrating in different frequencies, from physical, psychic, nuclear to electrical, etc., and other subset energies that cyclically appear to disappear, like death is only the beginning of a new birth. We have creation, sustenance, destruction, and recreation when energy vibrates and moves cyclically. 

 When we progress in such a direction – energy – generation, destruction, and regeneration are inevitable despite whatever progress. ‘Homo sapiens’ actually should mean we, as wise humans, are bound to destroy, from creating wars to polluting the air, water, and Earth, along with the advancement of our minds. The reason is we are more keen on ‘how’ to progress in all fronts of life from cultural to scientific, from agricultural bio-engineering to cyber warfare, but do not pay heed to whether we ought to make such destructive warheads from more and more advanced nuclear weapons to other destructive innovations.  

Therefore, we should admit that life is a play of dualities in opposites. It appears and disappears, creates and destroys while choosing our likes and dislikes like any other game, say, football or hockey, where opposites play, and we choose the better one. Likewise, we choose every aspect of life, seeking superiority and happiness, not realizing its shadow – sadness lurking not far behind.

Additionally, life has many stages in its journey to come and go. In youth, we are brimming with vigor and vitality. Then, when we reach sixty, the workplace no longer needs us, so kindly stop boasting about your past achievements. Your friends and society move on at seventy, and your presence becomes less required or recognized. Family interaction further decreases at eighty, and you need to practice aloneness. Finally, life prepares to end at ninety; many peers are no longer there. 

Accept all stages with grace and respect; your lasting connection should always remain with that supreme power we refer to as God. Live fully in wholesomeness, balancing the material with the spiritual, and live without resentment or regret. Be blessed!

Namaste