Five Questions: Answers to Life's Greatest Mysteries

By Philip Benguhe

Five Questions attempts to answer some of life's most basic and profound philosophic questions utilizing a holistic approach. The book offers the perspective that while individuals have attempted to answer these questions from a religious, philosophic, cultural or scientific perspective; the only hope at a more complete answer would arise from an integration of ideas from each of these areas.

The five key questions are:
Where did we come from?
Does God exist and what is His nature?
Does man have a soul which transcends death?
Why do pain suffering and evil exist?
What is the meaning of life?

• Language: English
• Publisher: eBookIt.com
• Release date: Dec 15, 2016
• ISBN: 9781456625900

Book preview

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Introduction

From the beginnings of early history and perhaps even from the dawn of consciousness, humanity has repeatedly asked one question, Why?   In an episode of the cult classic television series The Prisoner, Patrick McGoohan, playing a character known only as No. 6, destroys a mind-controlling computer by asking it this one simple question.   When prompted to explain, No. 6 replies, It’s unsolvable for man or machine.   From my earliest days, I was likewise drawn into pursuing this enigma.   Why? was the one question always on my mind.   I took great fascination in the world around me, both natural and technological, always seeking to understand reality’s underlying principles.   I would delight for hours examining the intricacies of a leaf or the precise square cubes from a shaker of salt.   My father taught me at an early age to use a screwdriver and pliers. With these basic tools, I soon extended my investigations to old toasters, vacuums, and television sets.   As I grew, my curiosity drove me to pursue the sciences.   I scoured the libraries, reading anything that might help me in my quest.   I simply had to know the nature of the world.   Ultimately, my investigations led me to the areas of quantum mechanics and astrophysics. Finally, in my mind’s eye, I could envision a universe of immense extent, from the smallest energy fluctuations in the quantum foam to galaxy clusters spanning millions of light years across–with all of humanity situated somewhere in the middle.

However, I was also fortunate enough to be the recipient of a classical education.   This exposed me to the foundations of western thought and the systematic study of questions related to our existence–the subject of philosophy.   I realized that the truly great questions were not ones restricted to the realm of science.   For the majority of humanity’s existence, the questions that have most shaped our world have been addressed primarily through philosophy, religion, and the arts.   From Aristotle to Gautama Buddha to Shakespeare, countless thinkers have shared their insights into our reality and how to best lead our lives.   What begat humanity? Is there a creator, and what is our place in the universe?   Then there are the great artists and composers, who communicate not through words but with colors and tones.   For most of my life, I have held a great love for the works of these masters.   To me, they were not merely pleasant amusements but vehicles of universal truth. I do not know how anyone after listening to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony can see the work as just so many notes on a page and not be moved by a deeper sense of being.

It soon became obvious to me that the world was more or less divided into two camps.   To the first were those who believed that one should adopt a purely scientific perspective, that only those things which could be proven by either repeatable experiment or mathematical principles should be adopted as truth.   The process of effective causality should drive investigations to their ultimate conclusion.   The second group consists of people like writers, artists, and clergy.   They make the claim that all of the real truths are ones that can never be proven but are instinctively known. These truths are supernatural, in that they transcend the material world around us. One can never prove that something is beautiful, that we have a soul, or that God exists.   One has to simply feel it or accept it on faith.

This schism often times left me feeling a bit schizophrenic, hopping back and forth between each camp but never able to integrate the two world views. However, later in life I discovered the study of neurobiology and gained a glimmer of insight into that most miraculous of structures, the human brain.   Locked within a mass not much bigger than a large grapefruit lie the billions of neural connections that dictate both what we know of the world around us, and more importantly, how we come to know it.   It occurred to me that the two apparently disparate camps perhaps reflect different aspects of the brain itself.   

Our brain stem’s limbic system and most of the cerebrum relate to the world on an instinctual (i.e., intuitive) and primarily subconscious level, while sections of the relatively newer prefrontal cortex give us the ability to logically reason.   The schism that engulfs our society may result from nothing more than the collective manifestation of and respective bias toward this split that resides in all of us. However, with this new understanding, we can adjust our perspective to see that the division is an artificial one–created by the particular hardware that is the human brain. Art, literature, music, religion, science, history, and politics are manufactured subjects that simply mirror the different functions and processes executed by our brains.   As human culture developed, we gave names to these activities and made them the subject of dedicated study.

The truth is that we live in a unified and singular world.   While the parsing of reality provides a distinct advantage in our quest to promote and advance development in areas of specialization, it ultimately fails to give insight into the big picture.   In fact, our natural tendency is to move away from a tightly focused perspective.   One needs only to take a look at the evolution of religion to see the veracity of this claim, as it quickly became closely intertwined with music, art, and politics.

So then, perhaps a more unified approach, incorporating perspectives from all aspects of our existence, will yield the most complete and, therefore, most meaningful answers to life's monumental questions.   Our human intuition can serve as a foundation for these truths–with scientific, mathematical, and logical principles helping us navigate our exploration. For whatever we postulate, if not quantitatively provable, should at least be consistent with known logical and scientific principles. However, where the scientific process runs into closed doors, we can again use intuition to bridge the gaps so we may continue on our way.

I am sure that to the hardened scientist this process will come under considerable criticism, for it lacks the ability to be provable in the purely scientific sense.   However, if afforded a degree of latitude in this respect, additional avenues open for investigation–allowing for the possibility of uncovering more of the underlying deeper truth.   For only by incorporating both rational and intuitive processes can we arrive at comprehensive answers to these questions.

But what are the fundamental questions?   When I started my investigation, I thought there to be many.   These arose from both my own studies as well as numerous interactions with friends and colleagues over the years.   Ideas came from a variety of disparate sources: old college course notes, coffee house conversations, public television documentaries, or great works of literature.   However, much in the same way as a small bottle of cognac is obtained from a larger barrel of wine, I worked to distill out the essence of these inquiries. I searched for common themes and soon found that the myriad of questions could be considerably reduced by considering them as different aspects or consequences of more fundamental questions.   After this reduction process, I arrived at five–five key questions that have challenged humanity for millennia.

1) Where did we come from?

2) Does God exist and what is his nature?

3) Do we have a soul that survives death?

4) Why do pain, suffering, and evil exist?

5) What is the meaning and purpose of life?

As I began to contemplate these questions and formulate my responses, I soon discerned an intimate interrelation between each of them.   Perhaps, after all, there is only one real question.   Perhaps, these are merely different aspects of the one great question, Why?   Hopefully, by an exploration of these five, we can then gain insight into the one.

Where Did We Come From?

The question of creation has stirred the hearts of human beings since prehistoric times.   As civilizations and cultures emerged around the globe, each took its turn explaining their own beginnings and that of the world around them.   Many begin their tale from darkness and void.

According to the writer Xu Zheng, the ancient Chinese had one such myth–the story of Pangu. A formless chaos gave rise to a cosmic egg that contained two opposing principles, that of Yin and Yang.   When these two came into balance, Pangu awoke and began creating the world.   He separated the two, with Yin forming the Earth and Yang the heavens above.   Each day as Pangu grew, he would push the sky (Yang) higher with the earth (Yin) beneath his feet growing wider.   After 18,000 years had elapsed, Pangu, now confident that the earth and sky were firmly fixed, laid to rest.   His body became the mountains, his blood the rivers, his breath the wind, his voice the thunder, and his eyes the sun and moon.   

Likewise, the Ancient Greeks begin with a world in empty darkness, populated only by the black-winged bird, Nyx.   After a time Nyx laid a golden egg, which hatched to reveal Eros, the god of love. The shell of the egg separated into two halves. One part ascended to become the sky and the other became the Earth.   Eros named the sky Uranus and the Earth Gaia.   Under Eros’ influence, Uranus and Gaia fell in love and produced children.   Two of these, the titans Kronos and Rhea, in turn, produced grandchildren of which one son was the famed Zeus.   Fearful that his infant children would one day usurp his position, Kronos swallowed them whole.   Only Zeus managed to escape this horrible fate and upon growing to manhood tricked Kronos into releasing his brothers and sisters.   Once together, they waged war against Kronos.   Eventually, Zeus and his siblings triumphed, bringing life to Gaia and populating Uranus with stars.   Zeus instructed his son Prometheus to create human beings and his son Epimetheus to create the animals.   From this cast of characters, the Ancient Greeks created a mythology of interwoven stories that still captivates readers today.

The Ancient Egyptians of Heliopolis also believed the world began in chaos but a chaos consisting of turbulent waters called Nu.   Eventually, the waters receded to expose dry land.   Once land appeared, Re-Atum willed himself into being.   As he was alone, he mated with his shadow and produced two offspring: Shu, his son, and Tefnut, his daughter.   Shu represented the air and life, while Tetnut rain and the principle of order.   Originally, Re-Atum was separated from his children in the great chaos.   However, once re-united he created the world, with his tears of joy creating humankind. Shu and Tefnut bore Geb, the earth god, and Nut, goddess of the sky.   The union of these two, in turn, produced Osiris, Isis, Seth, and Nephthys.   Re-Atum took on many names as the sun-god began his ascent across the sky.   When he reached mid-day, he became Ra and when he set in the west, Horus.

The followers of the Prophet Abraham placed such importance on explaining creation that they dedicated the first book of their religious text, the Torah, to its answer.   Many know this as the first book of the Christian Bible, Genesis.   Like the Greek and Chinese myths it describes a duality of creation:

1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

And just as with the Egyptians, waters represented the initial chaotic void, followed by the emergence of the sun.

2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

4 And