The Undeniable Beauty of Living

Just finished watching the movie Contact.

It has a beautiful message.

The movie touched on some interesting points. That in each “group” of people there are those that are fanatics about what they stand for. People who chose to believe in only their self-constructed portion of the world and choose to reject the possibility of multiple portions making up a whole. Scientists who believe that science is THE answer, so things that cannot be proven cannot exist. Religious men who believe that God is the answer, but believe that all things that do not fall under their limited ideology of what “God” is and what God stands for, is blasphemy.

I don’t know what the answers are. I believe each of us needs to struggle with these ideas and reach our own conclusions. What I do believe is that, when you strip away all the pretenses and man-imposed rules and values of a field of study, be it religion, or science, poetry or dance, that the fundamental goal of many of these fields is the same – they are all paths that can help us find truth. They are ways for us, human beings limited by, but at the same time, blessed with this body and mind, to transcend the limits of what we know.

When one looks at those who excelled in their fields – not necessarily those of great fame or world reknown, but those that truly delved into their field of study, one finds that these great people, after a lifetime of study in vastly different fields, seemed to reach curiously similar conclusions. Were Walt Whitman, Albert Einstein, Mother Teresa, and many of the mystics of old to gather around a table and share their views, they would likely have more in common than a group of self-professed followers of a given field of study. Through their life-long learning, they’ve reached the pinnacle of their field and from that vantage point, had the opportunity to catch a glimpse of the truth. And they understood that Truth is all inclusive.

I don’t know what the truth is, and I don’t know how to get there. But this movie reminds that truth is not one extreme or another - that real truth is somewhere in between. We’re reminded that the search for truth is more worthwhile that the petty small events that we get caught up in. But that the petty events are not exclusive of this search for truth – that they too are part of it. The challenge is to find the truth amidst the noise. To be in the world but not of it. And these experiences also remind us to never forget that all of us are born with the potential to find truth. What a beautiful thought.

I’d like to leave you with the following quote from Contact:

I had an experience. I can't prove it, I can't even explain it, but everything that I know as a human being, everything that I am tells me that it was real. I was given something wonderful, something that changed me forever. A vision of the universe, that tells us, undeniably, how tiny, and insignificant and how rare, and precious we all are. A vision that tells us that we belong to something that is greater then ourselves, that we are *not*, that none of us are alone! I wish I could share that. I wish, that everybody, if only for one moment, could feel that awe, and humility, and hope. That continues to be my wish.

May you find that which it is you seek.

photo credit