The Deafening Silence

Many people create trouble or noise in an effort to shout down the deafening silence in their lives.

One thing most folks don't like to think about are the more profound questions in life.  Why are we here?  What is consciousness?  What is reality?  What happens when we die?  These are disturbing questions, of course, and they can't be logically answered, for the most part.

For many, belief is the answer, and they turn to religion to answer these questions - or at least drown out the questions with a lot of interesting stories and mantras to repeat, over and over again.

But perhaps for many, religion is not enough, or the answers that most organized religions provide are too pat, too fantastic, or just to obviously self-serving ("behave well now, give us your money, and you'll go to heaven in an afterlife!) that they really don't believe them.

So many folks turn to other things to drown out the silence in their lives. 

Materialism is one aspect - buying a lot of stuff and buying into a materialistic culture - ministered by the television, that tells you that if you just buy enough stuff, you'll be OK.  "He who dies with the most toys, wins" they claim.

But most people quickly see through this answer, or at the very least, they see it isn't an answer and wonder what must be wrong with them for not seeing it.

Others try to find "meaning" in their lives by making trouble for others, or getting involved in more and more frantic activities - joining clubs, social groups, organizations - "getting involved".

The political junky and conspiracy theorist do this - after all Kennedy Assassination theories are far more interesting than disturbing questions about the meaning of life.

Yet others throw themselves into their work, which is at least productive, and perhaps the only shot one has at some minor immortality after the grave (for a time, only, not forever).  The life so short, the craft so long to learn.

The deafening silence, however, is not so scary, and in fact it can be your friend, if you accept it.

Myself, I don't worry so much about these questions, as the answers will be revealed to all of us, in time.  We all will die, eventually, and find out whether there is an afterlife, or just decay - whether consciousness is a chemical reaction or a spiritual being.

There is little point, to me, in trying to figure it out ahead of time, like cheating on a test, when God will provide the answer in a very short period of time, if you think about it - how short our lives are, when compared to the life of the universe.

If there is an answer, I think it is in having loved someone and being loved by someone, which is something that, sadly, happens to few people these days.  God is love.

What does this have to do with finances?  Perhaps nothing.  Except that it seems I see a lot of folks expending a lot of emotional energy racing around to little or no purpose, often making others miserable in the process.  And all the while ignoring the silence, learning from the silence, embracing the silence.

Perhaps that makes no sense.  Just a thought I had.