When by tragedy I am called to attend a funeral, one of the main questions I find myself pondering is “Why?” Why did this person have to die? Regardless of whether they were very old or just barely getting started in this world, the question is still just as powerful. Why was that time “their” time? I also wonder if they got to carry out their mission in life. It could be the mission that that person assigned to them self or a greater mission, one assigned by a higher power. Was their death an accident or was it in fact a planned way that their life was supposed to turn?
The same kinds of questions are asked by a friend of a girl named Jasmine, the heroine of the novel Jasmine by Bharati Mukherjee. Jasmine is trying to explain to him that everyone has a purpose on this earth that is chosen for us by God and when we have fulfilled that purpose, we die. Her friend Taylor does not necessarily buy into all of it but for the sake of conversation amuses her with smiles and tidbits of his own.
When Jasmine was a very young girl, her father Pitaji was gored to death by a bull while cutting across a field. It happened very suddenly and it was one of those accidents that is almost impossible to see a reason for, but Jasmine believes that he died for a purpose. In her Indian religion and culture, they believe that their lives do not belong to them but to God, and to live is only to carry out what God’s plan is for us.
“Why cry? Crying is selfish. We have no husbands, no wives, no fathers, no sons. Family life and family emotions are all illusions. The Lord lends us a body, gives us an assignment, and sends us down. When we get the job done, the Lord calls us home again for the next assignment.”(p.59)
In the big picture Jasmine has a theory that it was God’s will that Pitaji should die before he could marry her off, in that way enabling her to meet and marry Prakash. In so doing, this allowed her to make it to New York and wind up in the United States instead of India. She was meant to meet who she has met since then and was also meant to be carrying Bud’s child. Most likely none of this would have transpired if her father were still alive. She also believes that you are born with the assignment and keep that assignment during your whole life, it makes no difference whether you are a super educated and rich person or a beggar; your assignment never changes.
What is your big picture? Do you believe that we are all here for a specific reason, or do you believe that we hold the key to our own fates? I tend to believe a little of both. I think that there is a big picture and I do believe that everyone is here to serve a purpose, but I don’t believe that that purpose is unchangeable. I also do not believe that we only have ONE purpose. I believe that we have the ability to change our fate, but we do not know at the time that that is what we are doing. We may think that we escaped one problem, only to walk straight into another. It is hard to see where all of this (life) is headed to and that is why I need to believe that I have a purpose. I have to know that we are not just wandering aimlessly on this earth for nothing in particular. Someday, I hope that I can look back and see my big picture and I hope that when I do, I’ll have a big smile on my face.
4 comments on The Big Picture
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I'd like to be able to agree with you, and speculate that everyone that has asked this question has then found the answer.
I have asked this question many times. I always struggled to solve this problem, but no leads would present themselves to me. After quite a lot of thought on the subject, I came to the conclusion that "Maybe I don't have a purpose. A mission. A big picture."
But then I thought "THE Big Picture? Why is it singular? Why not "MY Big Picture"?" And then I realised, it's not necessarily a matter of having a meaningful existence. It's a matter of making your life bearable. If you need a reason to live, go look for it. If you don't, then what's the problem?
lost88,
The very fact that you said, 'making your life bearable' admits that there is the problem of pain in this life. Why would life be worth living if that was the only outlook? Life in itself must be meaningful or have some meaning, otherwise it would not be life.