I was profoundly moved by a song I heard recently. It played randomly on Spotify while I was driving to work. Since I had my GPS app on, I could not see the album artwork nor could I read the name of the track. But the song captivated me from the start. Here it is from YouTube.
As the piece began with the narrator speaking softly over quiet melodic music (around second 22) I felt drawn to lean in and to pay attention to what was being said. It talked about the meaninglessness of life and earth amid the vastness of our universe. It quoted eloquent ancient philosophers and more recent astronomers. The whole thing gave me a sense of sadness (and the narrator alludes to that feeling at some point in the track). To me, although I do marvel at how unimaginable our world is and how little we know about it, the worldview of materialism which claims that nothing matters and that we are just helpless floating atoms doesn't check out. It prompts questions, like, why do people even bother to live then, or to do good, to help others and love one another, if nothing matters. What about the mind and consciousness... Besides, this worldview does not provide any hope whatsoever. That which we long for and seem to desperately pursue in life through possessions, relationships, social status, etc... without ever really grasping it. A few minutes into the song, the sadness becomes overwhelming and further heightened by the beautiful soundtrack accompanying it. But then there is hope.
The French mathematician, Blaise Pascal in the 17th Century, also had something interesting to say about this:
“What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by God himself.”
So much of this is still a mystery. But as I continue to marvel at our universe and wrestle with these big questions, I hold on to the hope of God who gives it all meaning.
I was profoundly moved by this song I heard recently. I hope you will give it a listen and that it will speak to you too.