PURPOSE OF MAN’S LIFE?
Man is rightly called the ‘best of all creations’, which means the best and most meaningful ‘being’ among all the things created. Such a ‘meaningful being’ cannot have been created without a purpose.
The existence of man is such a unique phenomenon that no other such example can be found throughout the vastness of the cosmos. Man is rightly called the ‘best of all creations’, which means the best and most meaningful ‘being’ among all the things created. Such a ‘meaningful being’ cannot have been created without a purpose.
The reality is that God, the Creator of man, has created him according to a special Plan. To become acquainted with this plan is necessary for every human being to have a thorough understanding of himself. According to God’s Creation Plan, man must spend a period of trial in this present, imperfect world and subsequent to this, according to his deeds, he will earn the right to inhabit the perfect and eternal world, another name for which is Paradise.
What is God’s Creation Plan for Humanity?
God created an ideal, eternal world called Paradise that was perfect in all respects. He ordained that this ultimate world be inhabited by impeccable ideal human beings. To achieve this target, God first settled man on Earth giving him complete freedom. The present world is a selection ground for this grand project. Here, it is being observed who makes proper use of his freedom and who misuses it. At the end of human history, those who have abused their freedom will be rejected, and those who may have exercised their freedom judiciously will be selected by God and settled in Paradise.
What is Paradise?
Paradise is the name of the ideal world; the desire for which is lodged in the hearts of every man and woman. It is Paradise where the personality of man shall achieve fulfilment in the fullest sense. Paradise is the ultimate answer to the human quest. It is a vast, zero-defect, evil-free universe, complete in itself. Certainty prevails all over the Universe, but the human world is marred by uncertainty. Fear is unheard of in the Universe, but man continually suffers from fear and apprehension. The rest of the Universe is in a state of equilibrium as it receives everything that it needs, while human beings are in a state of imbalance as they are the only creatures in the world to suffer from the painful thought that they have not received what they wanted. Moreover, the rest of the Universe is evil-free, while human beings continually suffer from the problem of evil.
What is the Problem of Evil?
The most debated question concerning man and God in philosophy has been ‘the problem of evil’. That is the issue of why there is so much suffering in the human world. If God is All-Good, why did He make such a world where people are forced to face different types of problems and where there is so much suffering?
This question can be answered by understanding the creation plan of God. As God has given man the freedom to test him, when he misuses his freedom, it creates problems in the world. All the evils of this human world result from the wrong use of human freedom.
Unpleasantness has been put into this world for man to learn proper lessons from it. The true lesson taught by unpleasant experiences is that man should remember the next world of Paradise where there will not be any suffering. His approach thus becomes: “Let me not suffer in the Hereafter what I have suffered in this world.”
Why Has God Given Man Freedom?
All the things in this world are God’s subjects. The stars and satellites rotate in space entirely at their Lord’s bidding. Trees, rivers, mountains, and all other such natural phenomena function according to the unchangeable ways God laid down for them in advance. Similarly, the animals follow precisely those instincts instilled in their species as a matter of Divine Will.
Unlike all these creatures in the Universe, man is free in this world. God has not placed any curbs on him. As such, the critical aspect of this creation plan is that man has been created with total freedom. But this freedom is to test man and not encourage him to lead a life of permissiveness. The purpose of freedom is that man should lead a morally good life of his own free will, thus demonstrating that he is of the highest moral character.
One who conducts himself in this manner will be reckoned as God’s special servant who, without any apparent compulsion, chose to be a man of principle, who submitted to God’s Will despite having the freedom not to do so. This liberty accorded to man allows him to gain credit for being the most superior of all God’s creatures.
The decision regarding a person’s eternal future will hinge on his use of freedom—whether he used his freedom correctly or misused it. For those who used their freedom correctly, Paradise is their reward. Those who misused their freedom will live in eternal deprivation.
Is There A Positive Role of Challenges?
In some way or other, all the problems in life are the price of the inappropriate use of freedom. When people misuse their freedom it creates problems for others. On its face, this price seems to be a very high one. However, from God, we have this good news: after death, when the Day of Judgement will come, God will hold one to task only when it was proved that he had misused the freedom he had been given. For whatever other difficulties a person may have faced based on God’s creation plan like the problems that he faced due to the misuse of freedom by others or due to the handicaps that he faced, arrangements will be made for their compensation. This will make it clear that whatever difficulties and hardships he had encountered while on Earth were in line with the demand of justice.
A study tells us that a more significant incentive is not ease and comfort for man’s progress but challenge and difficulty. One aspect of this freedom is that it produces competition and challenge, without which no progress is possible. Misuse of freedom leads to problems, and problems are, in a sense, a sort of shock treatment because they can become a means for man’s inner growth. It is only through challenges that we can progress in life.
People’s engagement in different kinds of activities with complete freedom, at times, goes against the interests of others. It is a challenging situation, causing great suffering to people. This is necessary for testing human beings and selecting them for Paradise. Further, this system is not evil in the absolute sense, for there is also an element of goodness. Suffering and challenges are the most powerful teachers of life. All such unpleasant experiences prove to be a kind of ‘shock treatment’ for individuals, leading them to undergo a tremendous mental activity called ‘brainstorming.’ As per psychological studies, brainstorming is the source of intellectual development.
With ease and comfort, often, man’s abilities are ruined. In contrast, challenges and problems often motivate people to develop virtues and scale new heights. That is why one can say that it is not ease but effort, not facility but difficulty, which makes men.
This point can be understood with the help of a real example. In the materially affluent societies of the West, a new disease has emerged named ‘Affluenza.’ This is a disease of the materially rich. In ‘rich’ families, people become intellectual dwarfs instead of intellectual giants. Their IQ is very low. They are lazy and do not do much work. In contrast to them, people who have grown up with difficulty and challenges often go on to do great things.
Is It Possible to Achieve the Ideal?
Another thing to understand is that in every period of human history, thinkers and reformers have tried to establish an ideal society or an ideal state. However, despite all their efforts, they could only make a non-ideal society or a non-ideal state. Why was this so?
This fact of history can be adequately understood only when viewed in light of the Creator’s creation plan. God did not make this world for the establishment of an ideal state or society. The limitations of this present world and the presence of different disadvantages are concrete barriers that prevent an ideal state or society from being established here.
Is Man’s Life Governed by Destiny or Free Will?
I am often asked this question: “Is man’s life governed by destiny, or does he have freedom of choice?” The fact is that God has provided the infrastructure to man in the form of a life support system and the different situations that present themselves to man. This is the destiny part of the matter. However, man can respond to all these situations as he likes. In this aspect, he is entirely free. That is his free will or his freedom of choice.
Therefore, I say that the matter is 50-50. Destiny plays a 50 per cent role, as man cannot change the infrastructure and situations provided to him. Free will plays the remaining 50 per cent role, as man is entirely free to respond to situations the way he likes.
Freedom has opened doors of two kinds for man, one leading to success and the other to failure. If an individual becomes arrogant and insolent, he has misused his freedom and failed to pass the test.
But if, on the other hand, he remains modest and humble, bowing to his Lord’s will on all occasions, he will have made the proper use of this God-given freedom: he will, without any compulsion, have bound himself by divine principles. One who chooses this course will succeed in the test of freedom. God will handsomely reward him as no other creature. Held to be the chosen servant of God, he will remain in an everlasting state of blissfulness and blessedness in the eternal world of Paradise after death.
If Man Has a Free Will, How is God All-Powerful?
Another question I am often asked is, “If God cannot control man’s action, then how is He All-Powerful”? There is no doubt that God is All-Powerful. However, since He has decided to put man to the test, He has given man freedom of choice to do what he likes. If there was no free will, there would be no test. So, to test man, God has withheld His power when it comes to man and given him the freedom to respond in any way that he wants. God, however, is getting a record of all of man’s thoughts, speech, and deeds maintained, and will hold him accountable for them on the Day of Judgment. On that Day all of humanity will see the power of God.
What is Man’s Trial?
This limited world where man finds himself before death has all the necessary ingredients for the ‘trial.’ It has man as the perfection-seeking creature in a less-than-perfect world where he has been given complete ‘freedom.’ Man, thus, has a ‘choice’ to misuse his freedom by creating havoc, killing people, living a life of leisure, or using his freedom wisely by submitting to an unseen God and living a disciplined life, to qualify for Paradise.
Man’s trial rests on discovering God, Who is in the Unseen. Before seeing Him, man should voluntarily surrender himself before God. He should be so desirous of Paradise that this world appears meaningless to him. He should adopt divine ethics without any external pressure to do so. He should develop his intellectual and spiritual being to such an extent that he produces in himself the ability to inhabit the refined world of Paradise. Paradise is a heavenly colony where peace, love, and noble character prevail. Of this world’s inhabitants, only those who have succeeded in maintaining a high moral character will find a place in Paradise.
What is the Secret of Eternal Success?
In light of this creation plan, the root of all human problems is that the unenlightened want to make their Paradise in this world before death, whereas under the natural laws, the situation here on Earth makes this impossible. Therefore, according to God’s creation plan, man has to be content in this limited world before death, so as to make himself eligible for Paradise in the eternal world after death.
Therefore, the right and proper thing for a man to do is acknowledge and accept this law of creation, and plan his life accordingly. His sole aim in this world should be to make himself acceptable in the eyes of God so that he may be held eligible for admission into Paradise in the eternal world after death. Successful is one who has realized the eternal world of Paradise in this temporary world, who has discovered in the failures of the present world, the secret to eternal success in the next eternal world.
God is Selecting Individuals for Paradise
The Creator has given man freedom while managing history so that despite perversion at the collective level, desired individuals continue to be born unhindered. According to God’s creation plan, the present world is a selection ground to select the desired individuals out of the whole of human history. Therefore, the purpose of creation is to select those individuals, from every age and every race, who, despite enjoying complete freedom, commit themselves to the commands of God. If we understand this point, human history becomes meaningful.
