The Purpose of Life

The same is true of nature’s life support system in that it may be looked at from two different angles, a right one and a wrong one. One who looks at it from the right angle will develop the correct and desired attitude towards it, while one who looks at it from the wrong angle will develop an attitude towards it which is erroneous and undesirable in every respect. Now the question arises as to how to determine which are the right and wrong angles with respect to the life support system. The only way in which we can do this is to learn about the Creation Plan devised by the Creator. It is through this Creation Plan that we shall learn which attitude towards the life support system is right and which attitude is wrong. The Creation Plan regarding life, which we have been told of by God through His prophets, is that the Creator has created man as an eternal creature, with the first brief span of his life in the pre-death period and the rest of his life — a much longer period — in the post-death period. The pre-death period is that of trial and the post-death period is that of reward or punishment, in accordance with how well or badly man has acquitted himself during the period of trial. When human history has run its course, it will terminate with the Day of Judgement. The happenings on that day will be on an epic scale. Then the Creator of man will manifest Himself in order to mete out rewards or punishments commensurate with the record of human deeds on earth. Those who have passed the test will be blessed with eternal paradise, while those who have failed the test will be cast into eternal hell. In the light of this Creation Plan of God, we can understand what man’s attitude should be regarding life and the life support system. The right angle in the matter of the life support system is to look at it with the eyes of the Creator and the wrong angle is to look at it as a means to satisfy man’s personal desires. The former is what makes man’s attitude right and the latter is what makes it wrong. When we look at it from this viewpoint, then two different stances are adopted regarding life and the life support system. That which is formed in accordance with the plan of the Creator is that the life support system should be regarded as a test support system. On the contrary, when we look at it from the angle of egocentric human thinking, it takes on the character of a mere means of purveying enjoyment. In the first case, life is seen in terms of responsibility, whereas in the second case, life is reduced to an animal level —that is, eat, drink and be merry and then leave the world in that state. In present times, scientific investigations have discovered the meaningfulness of human life and the life support system to a far greater extent than ever before. This should have resulted in man becoming more serious regarding the purpose of his life and, by making proper use of his blessings, he should have acknowledged the Giver of Blessings to a much greater degree than hitherto. But the result has been totally the opposite. Man has forgotten the reality that the life support system is in actual fact a test support system. Instead, man has looked upon the life support system merely as a means of ensuring enjoyment, and his goal in life has been reduced to securing more and more material things for himself in order to make life increasingly enjoyable.