The significance of man is that he is that part of the universe that asks the question, What is the significance of Man? He alone can stand apart imaginatively and, regarding himself and the universe in their eternal aspects, pronounce a judgment:
The significance of man is that he is insignificant and is aware of it.
-Carl Lotus Becker (Progress and Power, 1935)
Kabir – The couplet
???? ????? ?? ????, ???? ???? ???? |
???? ????? ????? ???, ??? ?? ???? ??? ||
transliterated:
Herat herat he sakhi, rahya kabir herai |
Boond samani samund mein, so kat heri jai ||
Translation:
Looking (searching) here and there, everywhere, I lost myself in the search |
Like the drop of water in the ocean: how can one find it once merged into the ocean?||
My understanding:
We – me, you, and all other humans – are just one of many billions of species, on one tiny planet, that is just one of many in a solar system that is itself just one of many billions in the universe.
Our significance comes from and finds strength in the realization of this truth – that we are but a single entity in a collection, which is itself an insignificant portion of a much larger whole.
We need to accept that each of us, as individuals, are important contributors and participants, but it is society as a whole that permits us to assume and retain an identity. Without society to participate in, we have nothing to contribute to and no one to receive from. That whole, then, is the ocean that Kabir refers to – and the entity that we can understand as God.
God is not an external entity, a wielder of magic, or a granter of boons. God is the single unified Identity that society, humanity, Life in the larger form, represents. That is the source of strength and inspiration – the collective larger existence.
The world is not for us – we are for the world. If we vanished today or went missing, the world would not pause for even a millisecond. On the other hand, if the world vanished, we would have nothing to do and be completely out of place. We all need to understand and absorb this truth.
Prayer is not about asking God to give us things – it is about reaching deep into ourselves to find peace and the strength to take on the challenges the world presents. If we do not find the time to pray, we cannot take on the world.
This world is ours – we make it whole. Let us make it better – not because of someone else, but for ourselves! When we do, everyone, and everything, will find a better reason for existence.