The Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything
By Bobby Neal Winters
The Scottish poet Robert Burns wrote a poem entitled “To a Mouse.” Therein he sympathizes with a mouse whose nest he has turned up while plowing. However, at the end of the poem he reflects:
Still, thou art blest, compar’d wi’ me!//
The present only toucheth thee://
But Och! I backward cast my e’e,//
On prospects drear!//
An’ forward tho’ I canna see,//
I guess an’ fear!//
One might say he’s being a bit disingenuous by saying we can’t see forward. Maybe we can’t in specific terms, but we can in general terms.
As the engineer in the movie Titanic shared, the ship can and will sink, “It’s a mathematical certainty.” As Jim Morrison from the Doors sang, “No one here gets out alive.”
That’s not very cheerful, is it? We are bothered by it. It’s hard for us to think about, and I suppose that’s why some of the preachers when I grew up preached on the Rapture so much. Somehow the prospect of flying out of your car while you are raptured is easier to think about than the mundane--and certain--fact of your inevitable demise.
Thoughtful people throughout the ages wondered about this and discussed what the best pay to spend these finite hours of our lives. They came up with a rainbow of solutions from grabbing as much pleasure on one end to serving others on the other.
Many of those who seek to live a good life, to make the best use of those too-small number of days we are given, gather with other like-minded individuals. Such were those who became the Disciples of Jesus.
They were looking for someone who knew something, someone to teach them. Many (most, all?) of them had been associated with John the Baptist as his students, disciples, and John directed them to Jesus as a better option.
Jesus didn’t knock on their door; he didn’t put out flyers; he didn’t have a huge building.
He had something they wanted.
For some, it was something they wanted to learn. Others transferred their own hopes and desires onto him and were disappointed when he didn’t live up to them. (I am thinking specifically about Judas here.)
For any of these people, he wasn’t hard-sell. He just said, “Come and see.”
No doubt many came, saw, and then went again. And we know what Judas did.
But some remained.
It’s still the same. People who think about...life...still wonder what is the best way to spend the time we have? What are the best things to do?
The same range of answers are still out there that always were. For all the passage of time, the basic choices have remained the same.
We are living in a time when we are born into institutions, into churches, into synagogues. Most people don’t really think about “it” much.
But thoughtful people will continue to think and continue to seek answers.
These thoughtful people are of all stripes. Some are scholars, sure. Not as many as you would think. It’s just that scholars are the ones who write and writing tends to get around.
Thoughtful people can be artists and artisans; waiters and waitresses; bartenders and baristas; beekeepers and bookkeepers.
Fishermen, tax collectors, and tent-makers.
They come to the Teacher because they want to be taught. How do I live a good life? What do I need to do with my shrinking number of days? I don’t want to bury my gold coin, where should I invest it?
You will have to find someone who can help you. He might just say, “Come and see.”
Bobby Winters, a native of Harden City, Oklahoma, blogs at redneckmath.blogspot.com and okieinexile.blogspot.com. He invites you to “like” the National Association of Lawn Mowers on Facebook. Search for him by name on YouTube.
