What does it mean to be alive? That is a big question behind which are the bigger questions of beginnings and endings. You may think the featured picture is a panda bear – it is not! It contains three items that were living and one that never had life*. Something may look alive but it might actually be partly or completely dead. Take the shell of a whelk – it may have a living being within it or it may be just an empty shell. Another example would be a once healthy tree that is now a diseased tree with many dead branches – it would be hard to know at what stage it actually ceases to be alive. In the case of a human being, it is easier to say life begins at conception resulting in the birth of a baby and ends with a final breath. Physically, there can be degrees of ‘being alive’ from vibrant youth through to being in a comatose state. Many health conditions can make people unable to live fulfilled independent lives such that they no longer feel fully alive. Do you feel fully alive today or as if you are just going through the motions of being alive?
- ‘When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive – to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love’ – Marcus Aurelius
- ‘A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life’ – Charles Darwin
- ‘Every man dies. Not every man really lives’ – William Wallace
- ‘In the social jungle of human existence, there is no feeling of being alive without a sense of identity’ – Erik Erikson
Whilst being reflective, can you identify when you feel most alive and what the things are that take the life out of you? It was after the sun had risen on a beautiful day in the countryside that Beethoven wrote his Pastoral Symphony No 6 to celebrate life. Surely it is hard to beat the idea of having a walk and picnic with a close friend on a fine day. Yet we all know days when the sky darkens with depressing world news or some other more personal sorrows and disappointments which sap you. Erikson’s point about having a clear sense of identity is insightful, for with this you will be able to ride storms with a clearer sense of purpose and fulfilment. Snails appear to have little motivation apart from basic survival needs like finding food, avoiding predators and seeking mating opportunities in a damp environment – perhaps this is why they move so slowly! Finding or rediscovering a higher level of identity, purpose and fulfilment really does change life for us human beings.
Many of us think our career, sport, abilities, money or relationships will bring us that sense of identity. Whilst it can give us pleasure to have these things, they are all temporary so that when they end as they all will one way or another, our purposeful identity derived from them also ends. You are made redundant, your team is demoted, you have an injury or significant loss, and the life is sucked out of you such that you hardly feel alive let alone that life is worth living. As the highest life form, if we are to live life to the full, we have higher needs than a snail or these temporary fulfilments. To be fully alive means to recognise not just our physical needs but also our emotional and spiritual needs.
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was a deeply intellectual man, a courageous stretcher bearer during World War Two and a Catholic priest. Some of his views have been regarded as controversial by various Popes and scientists but he made this very thought-provoking statement: ‘We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience’. How does that line up with your own understanding? It seems a neat quote that acknowledges both our humanity and our spirituality but the conclusions springing from this dualistic statement leave one wondering what he believed about the Bible’s teaching that a human being comprises body, soul and spirit. Not long after the earthly ministry of Jesus, a heresy arose where Gnostics claimed secret insights that ‘Christ only appeared to take on flesh and that he was not truly God’. If you were to accept that, you would have no-one fully identifying with your human weakness capable of standing in your shoes to save you. Without a ‘Jesus’ who is both human and divine, we have no saviour – it is because of his incarnation, death and resurrection that we have one who can in reality be ‘the Way, the Truth and the Life’. It is in him that we have the hope of resurrection that trumps any and every passing disappointment and sorrow of this ‘human experience’.
- ‘Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being’ – Genesis 2:7
- ‘Jesus told her, “I am the one who raises the dead and gives them life again. Anyone who believes in me, even though he dies like anyone else, shall live again” – John 11:25 (TLB)
- ‘For in him we live and move and have our being’ – Acts 17:28
- ‘In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus’ – Romans 6:11
So back to the question: are you feeling fully alive or, more like the whelk, a shell of what you have been? There comes a time when the bodies we have literally become shells as the inner life departs. Words that the Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy are wise words for us: ‘…take hold of the life that is truly life’ (1 Timothy 6:19). The payback for a life ignoring God leads to death, ‘but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord’ (Romans 6:23). Don’t settle for less than life to the full whilst you still can.
Lou Fellingham sings about the true and lasting peace that we can have when Jesus infuses us with life:
For more reading and deeper reflection:
* If you want to know, just ask by emailing contactus@connect4life.org.uk and all will be revealed.