Life: A Mystery Solved

By Ziri Dafranchi

The captivating philosophical nonfiction with answers to many of life's most controversial questions. Book One of the Trilogy of Truth.  

 

 

Life presents a lot of mysteries and is itself a mystery to many people. What is the true meaning of life? What is the purpose of existenc

• Language: English
• Publisher: Heredita Press Limited
• Release date: Aug 2, 2021
• ISBN: 9781838385927

Ziri Dafranchi

Ziri Dafranchi is a great fabulist, author, poet, and author of the Trilogy Of Truth, a collection of three revealing and expository books. A gifted writer with a penchant for truth, he writes to encourage and inspire often drawing on insights acquired though his personal experiences. With an academic background in social science and a career in professional accountancy, banking, and business management, he began writing professionally to fulfil his calling. He writes from inspiration tackling controversial and difficult subjects objectively and incisively in a non-confrontational way which makes his writings relatable and easily accessible to readers of every background.Ziri is involved with various ministries and charities where he offers counselling, encouragement, and support to people in need and can be contacted via www.ziridafranchi.com. He lives in the United Kingdom, is family-oriented, and is the self-titled "The Running Man" who regularly does long-distance running. He is also a lover of nature and the outdoors, and a fitness and healthy-living enthusiast.

Book preview

Preface

It has often been said that life is a mystery, and perhaps rightly so. Many things about life seem shrouded in mystery: For

instance, where are we from? Or, why do we die? And, what

happens after we die? These are parts of a whole body of

controversial questions about life that continue to baffle many of us. Despite the high level of learning humans have acquired over time, and the high advancement we have achieved in science and technology, we are yet to arrive at answers to these questions which are consensual.

Answers to these questions are usually varied depending on personal beliefs and inclinations. Should this be the case though or could there be specific and right answers to each of these questions? Is it possible to know with relative certainty where we are from? Or to know why we die and what happens after we die?

When I began this book in October 2015, I initially came up with the provisional title of Life: An Enigma, primarily

because of the apparent mysteries associated with life but also

because my personal experiences had at this time culminated in a different and new awareness which both excited and bewildered me in equal measures. Hence I stated in the preface of the first edition that this book was a product of a personal journey. So, when I set out to write a book about life, it was actually with the intention of highlighting some of the key aspects of life which I believed made life a mystery, based on my own personal

experiences. Hence the Enigma in that initial provisional title.

The culmination of my personal experiences which I

referred to earlier relates to the spiritual and intellectual

awakening I encountered between 2012 and 2015, which

significantly transformed my life including my perspective on life. I refer to this phase in my life’s journey as "My Journey to

Freedom," because it was during this period that I began to have a proper understanding of my real identity and the purpose which occasioned my existence. It was this new understanding that led me to write; firstly, blogs which I shared on various social media platforms, notably Facebook, Google Plus (G+), and Twitter.

As it turned out, the more I wrote, the more I was freshly inspired to write. For some of these writings, I also had to do some research especially relating to some subjects and issues I was not well informed on. My research was an eye-opener, to say the least. I came across some findings which greatly challenged some of my core beliefs, which had mostly been shaped by my particular

upbringing. I addressed some of my discoveries in blogs and other brief writings suitable mostly for social media platforms, writing on a range of subjects including religion and human history.

The general feedback I received for my writings, online and offline, was more than encouraging especially since I had never really written for the public before this time. It was through this process that I dawned on the realisation that writing was part of my purpose and calling. Some years after I was first published, in June 2016, a recollection of a few past experiences made it clear to me that I was born to write: the first occurred in my teens while I was at secondary school, sometime in the early 80s. I have always been an avid reader but this particular day, while at home during a school holiday, I had this inexplicable urge to write my own book—a fiction. My response was to get a clean sheet of

paper, with which I was to commence my first ever draft for a book, and a pen as I prepared to begin my adventure into

authorship.

I did not get far then because all I could write on that

paper was Once upon a time—since most stories began with

similar words I had then reasoned. I could not write anything else afterwards and thus my career in writing came to an abrupt end, ending even quicker than it had begun. That is if it even began.

I went on several years later to pursue a different course of study at the university and subsequently, a different career in professional accountancy, auditing, and banking and finance. Several decades after that initial urge to write, I had a similar experience sometime in 2008 when I felt a strong desire to write but what exactly about, I was not sure. In any case, I informed a friend about this experience and she suggested I could start a blog. She sent me a link to a website where I could create a profile and write blogs.

I complied, created a profile and attempted to write but again all I could write was a caption for my intended blog, A Long Walk. Again, this project was almost immediately abandoned, even before it had been begun, because I could not come up with anything more to write. I later discovered that the website in question was Google because when I started writing in 2014 and needed more social media platforms, another friend suggested G+. When I attempted creating an account on this platform using my Gmail account, the profile I had created in 2008 came up and with the caption A Long Walk. I was shocked! I had completely forgotten I created a profile with the intention to blog.

In 2014, when I believe was the right time, the inspiration came flooding all over me and I simply wrote. As my writing

progressed, it soon dawned on me that books instead of blogs would be a better medium to articulate, document and

disseminate my thoughts and findings. I decided to first write about life. It was while writing the first version of this book that the provisional subtitle changed from, An Enigma to A Mystery Solved, because instead of a narrative which focused on questions, as originally intended, the narrative had changed to answers about life’s many mysteries, unintentionally. The truth is that as I wrote I began to discover the answers to some of those questions which had inspired me to write about life in the first place.

Life: A Mystery Solved was first published in June 2016, as a standalone book. However, in writing my next two books, I realised that all three books were connected and had a common theme—Truth. Furthermore, some contents of Life: A Mystery Solved served as the primary inspiration for the two other books. Hence I now present all three books as a trilogy—The Trilogy of Truth (or The Dafranchi Trilogy). Completing the trilogy are Being Black: Rediscovering A Lost Identity and Pagan World: Deception and Falsehood in Religion. The inclusion of Life: A Mystery Solved in The Trilogy of Truth is part of the reason for this new edition of the book. Another reason relates to new

research findings which have made it necessary to revise and

update some contents in the original edition. The general

structure, narrative, and chapter composition remain relatively the same as in the first edition although the contents of some chapters have been significantly changed, in line with fresh

findings. The Epilogue in the first edition has also been replaced with an Afterword in this revised edition.

I will like to acknowledge here the following people for their assistance with THE TRILOGY OF TRUTH project: my

editor, Uju Ogbonna, and other staff of Hereditas Press, and my friends David Kasule and Jake Obichere for their unflinching support.

This book will take you on a journey, a very interesting adventurous experience called life. A journey which in this

natural realm commences at birth and terminates at death. More than just taking you through a panoramic view of life, it

encourages your active participation in the journey itself as you relate its contents to your own personal experiences. In doing so, you are bound to discover new things about yourself including the who and why you are. This new realisation, in turn, is bound to transform your life significantly if you take the necessary

actions required. Freedom from societal restrictions and a better life and living are part of what you stand to benefit from this book which I have written for the purpose of empowering anyone who desires a different and better perspective on life and also to

experience a better and more fulfilling life. Although it is useful for group studies or workshops, this book will best serve a

personal quest for self and fulfilment in life.

Although deeply philosophical, this book is also

informative and entertaining as it contains answers to some of life’s most controversial questions, as well as bits about human origins and current social-political affairs. Brace yourself for a very interesting and adventurous journey.

I wish you a pleasant journey.

Part One

The Beginning

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1: 1 (DARBY).

Chapter 0ne

Inception

Through medical science, biology in particular, we understand that every human life begins when a woman’s ovum or egg cell is fertilised by a man’s sperm either through sexual intercourse or by artificial insemination, resulting in the formation of an

embryo. It is believed that this embryo undergoes a series of transformation in the womb of the woman for an average period of nine months—known as the gestation period—after which it is delivered as a fully developed baby.

While the foregoing process might indeed be a factual and even accurate representation of the beginning of each human life, what is left unexplained, however, is why a particular sperm cell (out of the 40 million to 1.2 billion released per ejaculation) gets to be the one that eventually fertilises a particular ovum (out of the fifteen to twenty produced by a woman monthly). We are

expected to believe that this occurrence is entirely random and down to chance alone. The truth, however, is that nothing in life is random nor happens by chance. And so, right from the very beginning of life, through human reproduction, we encounter the very first mystery of life: Why it was a particular sperm cell that fertilised a particular ovum. Similarly, although married couples may sometimes regularly engage in sex, it is not every intercourse that results in a pregnancy.

The implication here is that although about a minimum of forty million sperm cells are released per ejaculation, and

although a likelihood of fifteen or more ova are released

singularly at regular intervals during a woman’s ovulation

period—and therefore available for fertilisation when sexual

intercourse occurs during that time—it is still possible that even under such circumstances fertilisation may not occur. How is that ordinarily possible? Considering the very high statistical

probability of fertilisation occurring with sexual intercourse

during a woman’s ovulation period, is it not rather a mystery that a fertile woman could engage in frequent sexual intercourse month in and month out without getting pregnant?

Many married couples have tried for years, and have

patiently waited for pregnancy but all to no avail, whereas one night of casual sex, even with just one ejaculation, has resulted in pregnancy on many occasions.  Another mystery, right? These are some of the reasons life is perceived by some people as a

mystery and understandably so.

My reflections on these apparent mysteries of life brought me to the conclusion that sexual intercourse alone could not be responsible for pregnancies. Else, almost every sexual intercourse would result in pregnancy. Consequently, I realised that sexual intercourse is only a process through which reproduction could be achieved—and possibly the divinely ordained process for that purpose.

I thus surmised that although it is the natural process for reproduction, sexual intercourse does not on its own have the power to procreate. And so, we are again faced with another of life’s mysteries: Why it is that under similar circumstances,

fertilisation only occurs after a particular sexual act and not

others? Why did it happen on a given day, date, and time and not on another?

Now, after conception, an embryo begins to form. Medical science, especially biology, has also helped to explain the different developmental stages an embryo undergoes while in the womb up to the stage when it is fully formed and ready for delivery. The gestation period in humans is on the average, about nine months which means that once conception has taken place, nine months later or thereabouts, the baby should be born. While this might again be factual and even accurate, the truth remains that natural birth cannot be accurately predicted with definite certainty—the actual date and time of each baby’s arrival cannot be predicted with certainty. Instead, a window of opportunity is suggested based on scientific calculations and assumptions (even when a specific date is suggested based on estimation, it is not always the case that the baby arrives on the given date; some babies arrive either earlier or later than the estimated date).

It is possible that two babies conceived on the same day and at possibly the same time might be born naturally on

different days and times. Again, why so? Similarly, while some babies arrive during the estimated ninth month, some others

arrive before nine months and are referred to as premature

babies. Even so, some babies arrive later than nine months, some as late as twelve months or more in extreme cases. So, why are some babies born before the stipulated gestation period of nine months, while other babies arrive well after nine months?

Again, reflecting on the foregoing, I could only surmise that just as conception cannot be predicted with certainty, so also can childbirth not be predicted with certainty. Life is not and cannot be governed by scientific calculations and predictions.

The implication of all of the foregoing realities is that medical science does not have answers to most or all of life’s

questions rather, it would appear that medical science is itself also trying to understand life. Consequently, it becomes obvious that science is itself also in search of answers. It then means that there has to be some other explanation for those aspects of life’s many mysteries for which there are no known definite scientific

answers, or for which medical science or science, in general, has no definite answers. There has to be another factor other than the ordinary, natural, or scientific which possibly is responsible for these inexplicable occurrences. Perhaps, this other factor is

beyond human comprehension, explanation or influence. Perhaps also, it is solely responsible for bringing life into this world.

In my opinion, without any iota of doubt, that factor is what I would like to refer to as the God factor. It represents the supernatural being responsible for all of creation, commonly known as God or the Creator. God is the creator of life and is solely responsible for the creation of the first man and woman, commonly known as Adam and Eve. God is also solely responsible for bringing every single human life into the world regardless of the actual process or circumstances through which that life came into existence. God alone determines who are conceived, their parents, when and where they are conceived, and when and where they are delivered into this world.

Every single life would already have been planned by God, who has a particular reason and purpose for creating it before that life would eventually be conceived and delivered.

Incidentally, and to my amazement and satisfaction, I later came across a scripture which supported my musings as reflected in the foregoing. I found this in Jeremiah 1: 5: Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. (KJV). If I needed any further assurances or confirmation that I was thinking in the right direction, here it was in that single verse of the Bible.

Not a Product of Chance

I am not a product of chance, neither are you. We are all here based on a deliberate plan by God who decided our existence and consequently implanted us into our mother’s wombs, at a

specified time. Our particular birth circumstances regardless, no person who has ever existed or who would come into existence is a product of chance.

What do you know about the circumstances of your birth? Are you a product of the so-called unwanted or un-planned

pregnancy? Or was your conception lovingly planned and

expected? Were you born in a wedlock, in a stable family unit? Or were you conceived outside wedlock, in a shaky family structure or to a single parent? Are you a product of IVF (in vitro

fertilisation) or normal fertilisation in the womb? Were you born through natural birth or a C- section (caesarean birth)? Who are your parents? What are their nationalities, ethnicities, origins, backgrounds, social statuses, etc.? Where were you born? In an impoverished part of the world, or an affluent country? In the

so-called developed, developing, or underdeveloped part of the world? When were you born? The actual day, date and time? The era? The generation? Whatever your answers are to these

questions, none of them was a mere random occurrence or a

product of ordinary chance. Our answers to these questions had all been carefully planned in advance of our conception and birth.

I understand that this may sound rather improbable or unacceptable to some people especially those whose birth came through seemingly unpleasant circumstances. Although possibly difficult for some to accept, every single aspect of our birth

circumstances are based on the deliberate design and

orchestration of our Maker, and specially and specifically for us.

It is important to clarify here that certain birth

circumstances may not have been originally ordained by God but the truth remains that, for such to materialise, they would have been permitted by God. Things can only happen either because God ordained for them to happen, or, God allowed for them to happen. I believe that God could allow unpleasant things to

happen only because He remains in control of all things and so can bring good out of even unpleasant situations.

For instance, a child could have resulted from the rape of a young lady but this would not mean that God ordained for the lady to be raped for that child to be born. However, God would have had to allow conception to take place or else, that child would not have been conceived and subsequently born since God has expressly stated that it is Him who forms babies in the womb of a woman. Although God would not endorse a violent crime such as rape, if He allows for a child to be born as a result then it would be for a reason, and always a good one.

Note that God is able to produce good out of a bad

situation. Similarly, where sexual intercourse involving married couples have failed to result in a pregnancy, it could also be that either God’s appointed time for a conception has not come yet, or God had not allowed for conception to take place yet. The fact that not every IVF treatment results in a successful conception shows that, whatever the process, every conception is down to God’s choice and timing. The important thing to note here is that every aspect of our birth circumstances are either deliberately planned or allowed by God. It is instructive also to note that

whatever our birth circumstances, they are so because of whom we were created to be and for the reasons we were created.

I think this is a very good time to pause momentarily for a brief personal reflection, as you spend some time reflecting on your birth circumstances. To assist you in this regard, you may ponder on the following questions: How was I conceived and born? Was my conception planned or unplanned? Is it possible that my birth, where applicable, was planned to be the result of an unwanted pregnancy? Was it really planned that I should be born in the generation I was born? Was it really planned that I should be born a member of a royal family? Is it possible that it was planned that I be born into material poverty and deprivation? Was I destined to be born into a broken home? Was it planned that I should be born to and raised by a single parent? You can improvise with more personalised questions. The primary

objective of this exercise is to assist us come to terms that,

regardless of our particular birth circumstances, our conception and birth was not by chance but rather deliberate. Consequently, as difficult as it may be for some people, the right answers to the foregoing hypothetical questions are all in the affirmative: Yes.

As noted, the natural circumstances of our birth are

supposed to help turn us into the person we were each created to be. We are not born fully developed into the person we were

created to be but rather, we are ordained or allowed

circumstances that are intended to assist transform us into that person we were meant to be. It means then that even the person we have now become is not necessarily the fullness of the person we are meant to be; we may still be a work-in-progress. It is also possible that we could have become a totally different person from the one we were created to be if we have allowed our

circumstances to influence us negatively, but even then, it