Eagam Khaling
Life should not be viewed as a mere event. This is why birth and natural death cannot be classified as events in the same way. After birth comes death. We cannot live forever like time itself. Every life has both a beginning and an end. What is created will ultimately be destroyed. However, annihilation does not imply that something vanishes completely from the world and the universe. It merely transforms its form (at the energy level) through a certain process.
How many things are determined, and how many are undetermined? Between these two, the total amount of mass remains constant (in a frame). Space and time cannot be separated; we are born and die within them. We exist, but we cannot say that we are not in space and time. Physical space is perceptive and intelligible, but time is not, so we know the description (explanation) of time by connecting it with space (permanence). Time has only one dimension (some may not even think of it theoretically). It has no beginning and no end. However, we humans who exist within space and time have duration. We have our own original nature. We die a natural death within our world. We often tend to associate unnatural or untimely death with events and to console ourselves with the divine will of God. If we associate birth and death with destiny, our reliance shifts to that indescribable energy that writes fate. This leads us to ponder an intriguing question: who is the author who writes the script of each person’s life?
We have given the name God (Ishwar, Allah, God, etc.) to the author who writes the script of our lives. If God wrote the prequel of our lives, we would definitely like to meet our creator. The search for that invisible creator is also a right in itself for us. When many of the questions we seek are left unanswered, we hypothesise a supernatural source. We have considered such a power as the director of our life and world. Although the director gives us some freedom, in the end, there is a belief that we end up according to the script of life that He wrote before we were born. The scriptures also acknowledge these truths and instruct us to be followers and to live in God’s grace. This does not mean that I am denying God (and the first maxim of ethical principles). In fact, science is searching for that supernatural power source (great consciousness or energy source) in its own way, trying to understand God’s mind. Without the theoretical existence of God, the world does not exist (especially for the sake of constructing moral principles). Progress in the human world is not possible without the foundations of ethics, love and peace. Likewise, moral foundations without God have no meaning.
The existence of God is essential to our hopes, aspirations, and faith, even if only in a theoretical sense. However, many people fail to grasp this concept. Some focus solely on the fact that God is omnipotent (and omnipresent). Without God, none of us can be truly free. Within the grace of God’s extraordinary vision and will, the game of our life is sustained, and our power has no special influence before His power. Thus, we are like servants in God’s creation. Many people attempt to imitate God’s power and grace, trying to become anthropomorphic gods themselves. When someone becomes powerful by stealing God’s move, they try to write the life script of many of us as God does. He intervenes in the script of life that has been written by God before our birth, often violating the inherent rights of individuals. In doing so, he derives satisfaction by stripping away our freedom and joy, asserting his own rights at the expense of others’ basic rights. He does so by creating an illusion or belief system out of any person’s weakness.
Families, organisations and countries write scripts according to their own determinations. Family prestige is a complex combination of cultural, social and political factors. Organisations draft their constitutions to benefit and promote their goals. The lives of citizens are governed by the constitution, laws, and regulations established by their nation. The constitution and laws of their country are greater than their citizens. However, some influential individuals attempt to manipulate the application of these laws. It doesn’t take long for the powerful and wealthy to influence or violate a nation’s constitution and laws, often imposing and enforcing their own rules. Every person is a human being capable of reasoning, yet all possess greed, selfishness, and weakness. Those who wish to be God exploit our weaknesses to secretly write not only the scripts of a nation and organisations but also the scripts of our lives. We do not know how powerful nations, rulers, capitalists and policymakers of the world are interfering in our natural lives. Our personal decisions about many things, from which brand of milk and tea to drink in the morning, to what types of family, social, and worldly lives we should lead, are often influenced and conditioned in indirect and subtle ways. They are teaching us to live according to their secret script by creating illusions through objects, thoughts, and narratives. We exist within the confines of media, social media, the internet and the system. As customers and citizens, we are to some extent living a life of servitude. Many companies first prioritise consumerism to sell their products. After that, they attempt to establish a rule even in rituals by taking root in the habit of consumerism. They inspire people to live according to their wishes, thoughts, plans, and narratives. All these are just their novel ways of writing scripts.
We cannot say whether God exists or not. But if we say that everything happens according to God’s will, there is no meaning in living (free will). If we say that what is written in fate happens, we fall into fatalism and fall into infinite regress. If anyone thinks like that, then any epidemic caused by any virus should be accepted as God’s will and a game of one’s own fate. If any country attacks our country, we have to consider it as God’s will (because a powerful country often thinks that war is just). Those who adhere to Charles Darwin’s theories of natural selection, particularly the idea of ‘survival of the fittest’, view war as justified and successful in creating delusion. Therefore, it becomes crucial for each of us to become self-aware, competent and knowledgeable.
The advancement of artificial intelligence and biological sciences has ushered in a new transitional period for humanity. In many ways, “artificial intelligence” has become akin to a new language for script writing. This reliance on artificial intelligence is likely to increase, leading to a division within society. The wealthy will continue to grow richer and more powerful, while the poor will become even more impoverished. As a result, social order and policies will be shaped by the interests of the powerful. Social media, too, will not escape this influence; it will be utilised as a tool by those in power. Consequently, fundamental questions about human rights and ethical foundations will remain unresolved. Moreover, the very definition of a ‘nation’ will evolve.
What I intend to mean is that our lives are not an entirely independent means of salvation. We live, whether consciously or unconsciously, under many influences that are imposed upon us invisibly. If we allow ourselves to become weak, we can easily be used by others for their own benefit. We may unknowingly become victims of the scripts that they have designed for us. To “become weak” means to live a life of forced ignorance. This can lead us into an artificial illusion where we fail to grasp the true nature of life. The rich and powerful often treat us as mere commodities.
The main purpose of this article is also to emphasise that such a life of fictional enslavement should not be tolerated, and to suggest that breaking free from these artificial constraints is only possible through self-awareness, education, and knowledge. It all begins with reflection and self-analysis.
