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Why Should I Learn This?
by

Elen Turner

I have always been interested in history, ever since learning about the Victorians and the Romans and the second world war at primary school. I wish they had taught me about the French Revolution and the Elizabethans and the seven wonders of the ancient world. But all of that I can teach myself. I will get around to it eventually. I wish they had taught me why...
"Why" is the biggest question, the biggest mystery of them all. To every answer to every question, a why can be attached. It is the word that annoys parents when their child asks it after being told to do something he does not want to do. You may be fooled into thinking that the why chain can be broken by no answer, a blank space, an "I don't know." But why don't you know? And so on and so forth...
So what exactly does this powerful little word mean? According to the Concise Oxford English Dictionary (new edition for the 1990s- not so new now, is it?) it has a number of meanings: 1a) for what reason or purpose (why did you do it?); b) on what grounds (why do you say that?); 2a) for which (the reasons why I did it); b) surprised discovery of recognition (why, it's you!); c) impatience (why, of course I do!); d) reflection (why, yes, I think so); e) objection (why, what is wrong with it?). But for this essay, I shall focus on the first two- 1a) and b).
Most of all, I wish I had been taught why. To everything. Why is it so important that I learn how many electron particles there are in the nucleus of a calcium atom, or how to factorise 4p+10qp+2rp? Why? Because I might need that knowledge one day (this is what I am told). A wise old sage by the name of Mr. Fitzgerald (my school principal) once told us a story in assembly about three travellers...
After travelling all day, the travellers come to rest at night. Their horses are tied up and they are almost asleep, camping under the stars, when they spot a bright light, descending from the heavens. They sit upright, excited, as they have heard of the wonderful things that can happen to people after encounters with visitors from the heavens. What do you want? asked one of the travellers. Do as I say, replied the angel. Anything! shouted the three men. Collect together as many pebbles as you can find and fill your saddle bags with them. The travellers looked at each other, confused. They shrugged and told the angel that they would do so, but could not help but feel a little disappointed. Fill their saddle bags up with pebbles?! What kind of wonderful advice was that?! They collected up a couple of handfuls from the ground around them, placed them in their bags and went off to sleep. The next morning, everything was as normal and they continued on their journey. At midday they stopped in a small town to collect some water. They opened their saddle bags to throw away the pebbles, but they were no longer there. In their place were handfuls of gold coins! One for each pebble. The travellers were very glad, but also very sad at the same time. They were very glad about their new wealth, but they were very sad that they had not taken the angel's advice seriously and filled the saddle-bags with more pebbles.
In reality, the pebbles are, of course, the things that we learn in school. Right now, I cannot see where I might ever need to know how to solve simultaneous equations, it is just another pebble. But it might turn into gold one day. So I have kept quiet and learnt it anyway. That is the answer to this particular why.
I want to learn why we are here on Earth (doesn't everybody?). Were we put here? Why were we put here? Did we evolve and develop from monkeys, or even reptiles? How did we? Why did we? Is there a God? Why is there a God? So many questions, so many answers. So many whys. Not enough answers...
Has anyone ever stopped to think that maybe there isn't a point to it all? I know I have. Maybe we did just crawl out from the seas and evolve over time. And it was just luck that we were given intelligence beyond instinct. Intelligence in the gene pool could have been random, and we just happened to be the ones who got it. It could have just as easily been given to elephants. This is one theory. Or how about this- humans are the only animals arrogant enough to come up with the notion that since we are so great, a perfect being- an omnipotent- must have created us. I am not sure if I really believe either of these statements. It is hard to know what and whose word to trust with so many different ideas being thrown at us. Those theories that I just mentioned are not necessarily what I believe. But they could be. I haven't decided yet. Was it us, humans, who created these religious beliefs? Why did we do it? Why do we have the need, the instinct even, to believe in some kind of divine being? Can we not just accept the theories of Mr. Darwin?- we were monkeys not so long ago. We developed and changed over thousands of years to become what we are now- Homo sapiens. But why trust the word of scientists? They, like everyone else, have their own theories. They appear to have proof of what they claim, but who is to say it is correct? And why is it not possible that it was the divine being, the omnipotent- God, Allah, Jehovah or whatever you choose to call it- that created evolution in the first place? It put the oxygen and the hydrogen in the air, the fish in the seas and the monkeys in the trees. It manipulated our growth and transformation over the years. It created evolution that It would, in turn, reveal to us. Perhaps it was to test our faith in It. Sift out the good from the bad. The true believers from the liars and the hypocrites. Why is this not a feasible theory? It is as conceivable as any other, if you ask me. If It, He, She really does exist, I believe She would do it. That is one thing I can believe. It is figuring out whether or not He exists that is the tricky one. Why do I keep on switching the personal pronoun? We do not know that He is a He or She is a She. It may well be an It.
If it is possible that He invented we, why is it not equally possible that we invented He? It is. In general, people do not like unexplainable things. That is why we use why. With the idea of God to believe in, it immediately becomes explainable. "It" being life this time, not the Almighty. And to correct the wrongs of an unpleasant society, all that needs to be added is the element of fear. Honour thy father and thy mother; thou shalt not kill; neither shalt thou commit adultery; neither shalt thou steal; neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour; neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour's wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, his ass, or anything else that is thy neighbours. And the consequences? Eternal burning in the fires of hell. I know it would be enough to scare me into being a good girl- if I believed it, that is.
But neither of those theories- God, science or both- whichever you believe, whichever I believe- explains why we are here. Albert Einstein had an idea (in fact, he had many): "A human being is a part of the whole, called by us Universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and his feelings as something separated from the rest- a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole nature of its beauty."
And Marianne Williamson has another view: "Love is what we are born with. Fear is what we learn. The spiritual journey is the unlearning of fear and prejudices and the acceptance of love back in our hearts. Love is the essential reality and our purpose on earth. To be consciously aware of it, to experience love in ourselves and others, is the meaning of life."
But to believe in any kind of spiritual meaning to life, to accept that there is a purpose for us, other than to procreate, is to acknowledge that we were put here by someone, something, whoever. Whilst we are here, it would be a good idea to acquire what Einstein and Williamson stated, but surely it cannot be the reason why we are here, can it? What kind of a God would mold us to the way we are just to love one another, and for no other purpose? A very bored one maybe, with nothing else to do but to play an advanced version of Barbie and Ken. Why would this omnipotent waste His, Her, Its time in that way? I wish I had gone to a school that could have taught me the answers-told me why. But I did not, I do not. So I will just have to continue to try and figure it out for myself.