Death is not the end
Death is not the end; life is just a small segment, a small oasis… Every person has their starting point from where they began to live on Earth. His seconds, minutes, hours, weeks, months, and years are counted; he came from somewhere and is going somewhere. On Earth, he entered the world like entering an arena, knowing that one day he will exit from there. From where did he enter this world, where does he exit this world? We only know what is here, but what is beyond that, we do not know. Yet, everything around us and within us tells us that we are here for a test, that someone has placed us here to test us – how are we, are we good or evil, do we want to live or destroy life. Everything convinces us that death is not the end, that life is just a small segment, a small oasis, a small fragment, and that the substance of life continues after that.
Someone has a plan for us
We are God’s thought, and when we align with it, then our life has meaning, the meaning of life. The very word ‘meaning’ implies that someone has a thought, an intention, a plan for us, and that our life should be in harmony with that thought. Having a life’s meaning means having an answer to the question of why I live. It means having the will to engage, to do something with your whole being, to show yourself and achieve something. Having meaning means understanding yourself as a perfect project that needs to be realized. Having meaning means seeing yourself as an ideal towards which you move. Knowing the meaning means constantly looking at the good and rejoicing, because the evil you have experienced is always behind you.
The greatest strength
Being a project, having a life’s meaning, or looking at the ideal ahead of you, at the goal of life, is actually the greatest strength to overcome all diseases and death, all fears and failures, all misfortunes, and all oppositions. When you have no goal, when you are not motivated to climb further and succeed, then you are limp, then you are disabled, then you are miserable, weak, with nowhere to go. When you have a goal, you jump over walls and mountains. When you have a goal ahead of you, you jump over walls, forests, and mountains to get there. Conversely, when you have no goal, when you are not motivated to climb further and succeed, then you are limp, then you are disabled, then you are miserable, weak, with nowhere to go.
Man can endure the greatest troubles and trials and diseases, even death itself, if he knows why it is necessary. If a man has a “why to live,” then he can conquer any “how to live.” Every trouble and suffering has its way out to freedom. Therefore, it’s up to us not to let ourselves be killed by disagreements, mistrust, misfortunes, diseases, threats, wars, evil people, or evil events, nor by our own sins and guilt, but to always look at the goal which is the strength to free ourselves from everything.
It will be good
Looking forward means understanding that what we suffer is just a small fragment of time, and that every trouble and suffering has its way out to freedom. Therefore, long-lived and healthy people are those who know how to say: “It will be good,” or “This will pass.” I know many people who are always happy, almost never go to the hospital, and when they break something, it heals quickly in them. Thus, only those people experience the meaning of life who do not speak negatively, do not think negatively, do not decide on negative actions, and do nothing evil. “It will be good” – these are people full of optimism, success, health, and peace. “It will be good” is the greatest strength that exists in the world, it’s the strength of existence, it’s divine strength. Saying “This will pass” is precisely relying on good and success. By doing so, we attribute to every trouble and disease only a brief moment of trial from which we quickly emerge, because we believe. Therefore, you will feel the meaning of life only when you fight within yourself not to falter, not to think negatively, but to look beyond what is happening to you and believe that it will be good. Then your life becomes meaningful, then it has a full “meaning and answer to why.”
Tomislav Ivančić – Hagioterapijska antropologija
