A Minimalist Conclusion

Once we more or less grasp was life is all about—children are still protected from this—is the feeling that something is wrong—not in minor detail but in general. The traditional western expression of this is that we live in a fallen world; the eastern prefers the notion of ignorance—and the illusory and therefore unreal nature of existence.

At the root of this is what we are—and the fact that we must die. To quote from lyrics by the McGarrigle sisters:

We are meat, we are spirit,

We have blood and we have grace,

We have a will and we have muscle,

A soul and a face,

Why must we die?

…

We are human, we are angel,

We have feet and wish for wings.

We are carbon, we are ether,

We are saints, we are kings.

Why must we die?

Why must we die?

     Kate McGarrigle, Anna McGarrigle, Joel Zifkin, “Why Must We Die”

At the root is that we know this. And the contrast is so great that the “something’s wrong” conclusion naturally arises. None of this requires either revelation from on high or blinding enlightenment achieved by heroic breakthroughs to Nirvana. We can’t give that something any definition, but inside that cloud’s a spark of light. Humanity’s minimal conclusion also introduces the concept of right and wrong—and hence the powerful projection that there is somewhere else where we genuinely belong. Sheer logic tells us so—and a feeling for truth, which is also innate.