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Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything
It took the Deep Thought supercomputer 7.5 million years to calculate the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything as “42.” Bewildered with Deep Thought’s response, Deep Thought responds that “42” does not appear to make any sense because those who instructed Deep Thought never knew what the question was.
The number “42” in Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy makes perfect sense from one perspective; we don’t know the question. We all want answers to questions about life. When we get them, the answers to the important ones in our lives are less than satisfying, at best. The answer may as well be “42.”
George Santayana wrote “There is no cure for birth and death, save to enjoy the interval.” Nice words – enjoy the interval – but hard to do since we tend to relive the past and wait for the future we plan. That still leaves us with the nagging questions about life. We want to know answers to the ultimate questions of life, the universe and everything. We don’t have 7.5 million years to wait; we don’t even have a moment to wait.
A few years ago I read a book on the philosophy of religion and the “first cause” of our impermanent and ever-changing cosmos. It argued that an unchanging force, (god) was needed to set the initial, or first cause (big bang) to begin. Another time this came up was in an astronomy class when we the professor talked about our knowledge of the formation of this universe going back to seconds after the Big Bang. The question for both is ‘what caused the big bang?”
The cosmology astronomer response is we simply do not have the math, yet. Going as far back as the 5 seconds from the start happened because of the development of new mathematical concepts and equations. Soon we will have a math that will take us back to the start.
The answer, from a highly respected Shin Buddhist minister goes as follows.
“…there are lots of philosophical discussions… and Buddhism says all things change…bottom line, for Jodo Shinshu, we just laugh…this discussion is as useless as “which came first, the chicken or the egg
we laugh because it does not matter…
(the Buddhists say, does knowing which came first make you Wise???...no, of course not…it might make you intelligent)
we are here, and where we came from and where we are going are un-answerable questions, what is important is here and now, that is all we have.
thus a very practical answer…”
Like the beings that created Deep Thought, we think we know the questions to ask, but do we? Our Shin teachings give us Buddhist teachings for us, the everyday person. We don’t live on a mountain top in a monastic setting. We don’t withdraw from the reality of this world and its messy and difficult relationships.
Shin teachings based on ancient sutras dating back to Shakyamuni Buddha and taught to us by Shinran Shonin over 800 years ago work for us, the average everyday person who lives, loves, works in this world.
Perhaps the question we need to ask is why we are so anxious, stressed, unhappy or dissatisfied in this life? Then, come to the Shin teachings, understand them and see if the wisdom and compassion of such teachings release you, release you by giving you the answers you seek.
Namo Amida Butsu.
In Gassho,
Rev. Anita
rev.anita.cbt@outlook.com
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