Every now and then I like taking the time to isolate myself from crowded environment with a mug of good quality coffee and contemplate about the universe including the meaning of life and all the abstracts. It is very different from giving a presentation in the auditorium which I have to force myself to interact with the audience during question and answer sessions. But in a quiet room or an isolated place all to myself ( not quite, there are 2 people here), I am free to think deeply and hoping to uncover some of the mind boggling mysteries about the nature of life and the universe. I am a theorist and this is what I do best. The Historical Downtown Union City isn’t the perfect environment but the exact location I am at now is the best it can be. I just need to be careful not to get too embedded in my deep thinking for my mind can wander off far beyond and I would be out of touch from reality.

The laws of the universe are very impersonal and uncaring. They don’t pass judgments or make complaints. ” Things happened for a reason” is a common phrase people use all the time, but the universe simply doesn’t pay any attention to whatever that you have done, no rewards or punishments ever given by the laws of physics. At the deepest level of understanding natural science, there is no meaning to life. Life is bound to arise because the conditions were right and evolution intertwined. There aren’t any real purposes of life either. Since we are here and knowing that our life span is extremely short compare to the universe and while there is no convincing evidence to prove life after death, we need to create our own purposes to make it meaningful for ourselves to live and we only live once. We get an education, learn a skill to make a living, start a family, contribute something good to the society and make the world a better place to live for all of us and carry this to the next generation. These all seem like good purposes we have created and not something that the universe had in mind all along and planted in our atoms.If you love someone, you will make the effort to let that person know about it and pursue with him/her, not the universe planting the seed of love into your atoms to grant you that relationships. In that sense, you have created a purpose for yourself in pursuing with the relationships. Whatever events that seem so significant to us on this planet is completely irrelevant in the eyes of the vast universe. We are very insignificant indeed. The arrow of time moves forward and events that happened in the past cannot be reversed. Memories are all we have left behind and building fond memories for people to remember us by when we are gone is the best we can do. Each and every one of us will become history and it happens only once. We have to treasure every magical moment in life and build good memories. We need to accept our own limitations and do whatever in our limited power to make best choices, contribute and share with each other. This is basic humanistic value and there is no need to invoke Divine Intervention.

Very often I have high expectations from myself and created unrealistic events and ghostly images in my head thinking that I could perhaps accomplish catching it, thus ” ghost chasing” is what I referred to about my vivid imagination, chasing after something that don’t even exist and I can be completely out of touch at times. Just when I thought those images materialized and I went to touch them, they vanished so quickly and then I realized once again I was the only one there. Chasing ghosts is no fun and it can be very tiresome and disappointing, but thanksfully there is no harm done to people other than myself. These days I determine to be free of ” ghost chasing”, accept my own very limited abilities, and make the best with whatever I got left for the remaining part of this wonderful life of mine. I have certainly created many good purposes in the past and I have no regrets about anything. Nevertheless, there is still a journey for me ahead and much more to learn from it. There is always a light that you don’t see and there is a dream, don’t ever let go. Don’t be afraid to fall on the way to the light while getting back up is what I call living. Live at the moment and live life to the fullest.

If someone like me who can make it in the world and be doing so well, it can’t be all that difficult and you can only do better. Have a safe 3 day Labor day weekend and enjoy your time spent with family, loved ones and significant others. Share the laughs and tears together while supporting each other and build forever lasting fond memories. Life is precious for 3 good reasons. 1) It is limited, not everlasting. 2) It is unpredictable, very challenging. 3) It happens only once. Naturalism points to those three aspects of life. I admire most of my close friends who have strong family bonding for ” Unity = Power”. It is the kind of power shared with everyone, not the kind declared to oneself for controlling purposes.