There is a Cosmic Struggle: Solo Said "All of it is True"
In each of us there are imperatives and truths that we must live and strive for.
I have had a few friends that have taken their own lives. Some of them were really smart, most or all of them were brave and true, kind and strong. But, and so sadly, I think that they may have forgotten a few things. Like what? There are lots of imperatives that are true for each of us, both individually and collectively. Internal and external truths abound; we should never forget these truths, realities, battles, or struggles!
Do not give up or stop pressing. The cosmic battles and wars are true. Each of us have stakes in them. Everywhere, all the time.
What do I mean?
Here it is: If you believe in it, or something, if the thing or person or system or concept means something significant to you, it is real. Do those who give up on life forget that these things were true? I think so. I write this in part to remind all of us that we are all part of the cosmic struggles that exist. May we never forget nor ignore that we are in it, and we matter in the cosmic plays of life.
Fact or fiction, it works either way. If you believe it, as they say in the iconic baseball film, "they will come." Harrison Ford's epic anti-hero character in a later Star Wars uttered dramatically to his wayward son that all of it "was true." No more superstitions or hokey religions for his spirit, now beyond the pale of temporal life. Our hopes, fears, quests, and missions are true, you all.
Empirical science is normally accepted as generally true to most people in the 21st century. However, there are plenty of global warming deniers, there are those that believe that the earth is flat, and other ridiculous ideas that have been disproven empirically.
In the Christian sense, there are approximately two billion believers in the Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth, who paid for our sins and died and resurrected in order to give us eternal life and the pathway back to God. If we believe it, it is our reality. Not provable by traditional scientific standards, but millions upon millions are ultimately convinced and convicted of its truth. Its implications bear influence in our lives from the reasons why we pick our work and mates, down to the smallest decisions and choices we make on a daily basis.
Islam has similar conviction and presence, while the other world religions also have their impact and sway. Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, all the native indigenous traditions, all have their believers and practitioners with their current and future realities. In some countries and environments people are largely affected by their native cultures, which can be a bigger influence than religious or doctrinal beliefs and precepts.
We have political beliefs and systems that hugely affect how we think and behave. Capitalism, socialism, communism, totalitarianism. All of them have a tremendous bearing in how we live and act. Economics becomes the harsh and real truth for almost all of us. How we work, live, travel: it affects our conversations and thought processes, and how our rules and laws will contour our very motivations, actions, and movements. Should I speed? Should I run that yellow? There are physical and moral laws that affect us in all moments. Should I have more calories? Should I try a drug or herb, or imbibe a certain drink. If I do intake these consumables, what should happen next?
There is romance and family and relationship realities that we go by. Hugely influential in everything for most of us. Who do we live for? Work for, sacrifice, sweat and bleed for? Who do we pine and dream about? Many of these familial relations and links fit into our economic and religious imperatives. As Christians and Muslims and Jews, there are a multitude of what the spouse and the children and the parents mean to us. Not to leave out other faith traditions.
Secular people of all varieties value human relations and commitments, regardless of the underpinning connections or implications of God and how we fit in the human family. Divinely based or not, parents and spouses and romantic interests determine much of our legal, emotional, and physical drives and efforts.
I think that these things greatly affected my buddies Rob and Nicholas. They lost sight of some things, I presume, because of their thoughts about the above, human relations, but forgetting about other imperatives. Their jobs, their country, their spiritual and fraternal connections. Perhaps they could not see past these important things?
I cannot explain the human brain, or our hearts.
In the secular realm, ever growing in this modern day and age in which we live, we have much to live for and strive for. There are those who put utmost value on our planet and nature, or human beings, or animals and their environments, or some seek for less tangible things like honor, power, justice. Still others strive for more material wants, to include money and wealth, amazing possessions or experiences through adventures or vacations, highly favored achievements like races or other outstanding performances like feats of daring or skill.
What do we value or cherish? Beating the enemy in a competition? Beating out our own fears or apprehensions? Conquering oneself, overcoming on one's own? Working so hard that we vanquish the doldrums of self-lassitude? Reading a book? Completing a work of art? Writing a book, or a story? Standing up for the weak? Serving others. Giving a gift to a loved one or perhaps a complete stranger? Saving a helpless person or animal in distress? Paying homage to the dead? Learning a new concept, or mastering a difficult task? To land the perfect job, to execute the perfect plan, to achieve the most excellent workday, or week, or year?
Sure, all of the above give us satisfaction and joy. Most of these can be measured and are real in ways to quantify or at least describe and depict.
And then there are the fictions and fantasies. Oh, man! To include crushes, flirtations, dalliances, obsessions, passions, prayers, and all sorts of things based on hopes, dreams, and imaginations of things that are not truly pertinent to our solid lives or our tangible gain. Things of our mind that may not prove real enough. Yet, these ideas or distant objects may influence our motivations and our hearts, our longings in the conscious, the sub-conscious and the unconscious. These "non-real" flights of fancy can overwhelm or consume us! Like me with sports or teams or players, or a character from a film, a singer from a concert, or the people that we admire near or far on all the genres of life, from the television to all the panoplies of where we live and breathe. It could be the memories and sentiments of yesteryear, or family members or friends that we have not seen for long periods, including the dead. Even those that have passed may possess our wills and dreams.
We long for what? For God, for salvation and peace, for love and romance, security and prosperity, for adventure and accomplishment, for some addictions or compulsions, friends and families, faith and organizations, arts and beautiful works, for causes and notions, countries and pledges, standards and laws, oaths and covenants, promises and commitments. For good food, drinks, entertainment, friendships, and on and on. Yet, there are limits to our wants and needs.
We are only so finite, there can only be so many desires.
There are ends to our ultimate hopes and prayers.
What does it all mean? We are complex and simple, intricate and basic.
We are paradoxes. We can spend inordinate hours or years on things of nothing further, games of chance or games of the mind, on people or places or efforts that yield nothing further, nothing of import. Yet we did all that. Consumed by things of little or no worth. And most of us, hopefully, make it through.
We hope and pray.
We ask for forgiveness of past wrongs, of former flights of untoward thoughts or actions, we ask for pardon from our creators, the masters of our universe, the loves of our lives, the cherished ones who have moved on from this life already, the wounded and dead of past wars, past lifetimes, past eras.
We offer them thanks and plead for mercy and love and acceptance and more wisdom and justice and righteousness and joy.
And this is all a part of the cosmic struggle. My friends Rob and Nicholas were smart enough, kind enough, tough enough, to know that there were cosmic struggles on this earth and this time that still needed them, that despite the sadness of some setbacks, a broken relationship with a girlfriend, or perhaps sadder future prospects, or the second divorce after yet another deployment, and estrangement from his teenage daughter, that life still had battles to be fought and wars to be won.
May we all see that. See those struggles as cosmic, and worth it, and that we must find the efforts significant of tackling and engaging and continue to live and breathe, to go on, to persist, and endure.
Endure through the tough times and continue to fight. Take in breaths, despite the trials and setbacks. The heartaches and losses.
We must press on in all the cosmic battles, the overall war against the attrition and loss that cuts too many of us down.
May I, and you, and we, persist in these battles and the wars to come, as we have made this far as a human race and that we have much more to go.
I do not think these battles will ever truly end.
Thus, stay the course and resolve to do better, or at least keep keeping on.
Struggle and wriggle and squeeze what we can from this life, hour to hour, day to day, and make this cosmic battle and war what it is. Our best and only way to achieve the ultimate victory over failure. Surviving, even without complete excellence, is triumph. Lasting until the end. Pausing and resting are okay, but not giving up and quitting for good.
Choose life, choose to give and continue sharing.
Please.
The cosmos demands it.
It is not just me. It is all of us. We all matter a great deal. This I know.
I am not sure how I know many things. But I know we matter. And, we shall overcome through continuing to battle.
Keep on keeping on.