Have we truly considered why we are here?

Science (from the Latin scientia, meaning “knowledge”): Refers to any systematic knowledge-base or prescriptive practice that is capable of resulting in a prediction or predictable type of outcome.

Life: A characteristic that distinguishes objects that have self-sustaining biological processes (“alive,” “living”), from those which do not —either because such functions have ceased (death), or else because they lack such functions and are classified as “inanimate.”

If we examine the definition of “life”, we can quickly see that this notion of what is living and what is nonliving is completely arbitrary. We say that a human is living, since we can identify biological processes that maintain its “self” (i.e. its “life”).

Firstly, this is circular logic. It may appeal to some intuitive understanding of what is life, but it is not rational.

Secondly, a rock has a self-sustaining process. A rock has this funny tendency to “hold itself together.” So can we call anything “inanimate” (i.e. “not living”)?

Thirdly, we might say a rock “dies” when its tendency to “hold itself together” ceases. What is left over is a pile of dust. But then this idea of death is also arbitrary. At what exact moment did the rock stop being a rock, and give birth (“life”) to dust? No one moment can be identified.

The same goes for the human being. What is this “I”? Who is this “I”? Our awareness of Self is currently limited. We cannot pinpoint an exact moment at which this “I” came into existence. Was there some exact moment of inception? Nor can we pinpoint the exact moment at which we “die”. The body is matter that goes on changing form. When it dies, it decomposes into other forms of matter.

This “I” has to be something other than the body. The body of an old man has only a small fraction of the atoms that same body had as a youth. Some people claim that every seven years, all the atoms in the human body have recycled. Our own bodies then, have essentially died. We are getting new bodies all the time, replaced by new atoms. Yet whether the man is five years old or fifty years old, he still has the same awareness: “I am I”.

Life therefore is not defined by a set of “biological processes”. Our awareness of what exactly this “life”, or this “Self”, or this “I” really is, currently remains limited.

As human beings, we innately try to expand this sense of Self. Human beings are doing this both consciously and unconsciously. It is in our character to expand our consciousness. Why do we study the external universe? It’s because we want to expand out awareness. Why do we study the internal mechanisms through methods of introspection? It’s for the same reason. There is not one single human being who doesn’t, in even the slightest measure, want to expand. Even the infant, not satisfied with his or her current state of awareness, darts the eyes around the room, and grasps for objects, unconsciously wanting to gain knowledge.

So living scientifically means to systematically expand our awareness of Self, by predictable methods and means.

We tend to compartmentalize our psychophysical system in components such as body, mind, intellect, soul, etc. If we want to expand our awareness of Self, we have to take care of all the pieces. It’s very hard to do your math homework if you have a splitting headache. All we can think about is how bad it feels. For the time being, our awareness of Self contracts. Taking care of the body is therefore one of the first steps.

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