The Fading World of Pleasures

All of us live a life of momentary experiences that come and go as fast as we can taste them or enjoy them. We are always seeking something to fill our time and desires with. But as many of us know solid joy cannot be found in physical pleasures. They fade and never totally satisfy us. Is there more to life then just having isolated events and experiences? How are we to connect all our experiences in life so that there is some meaning or context to our passing through time. Is there some ultimate explanation to our experiences, some interpretation some cause or value in them or are we just consuming time with random events. Can experiences be meaningful just by virtue of what they are?

I would say no, experiences cannot provide their own explanation. What we would need would be something that would explain our ever-changing experiences, but would not simply be one more experience.

Christopher Hitchens is his book “god is not great” tries to say that we have no need for God because we can explain everything now. He says “Religion has run out of justification. Thanks to the telescope and the microscope, it no longer offers an explanation of any thing important.” Hitchens seem to think that the telescope or microscope has replaced religion in its power of explanation. But can one explain the meaning of life by learning more and more of the size and place of planet earth in the cosmic expanse we call the universe. All that a microscope or telescope would do, would be to describe in more detail our disconnected experiences which still need an explanation. It is impossible to connect our experiences or facts without something that transcends them. Is there anything that can tell us not simply what our experiences are, but rather what they mean or why they are what they are. The only one that can do this is God who transcends all finite experiences and facts and sees them in the light of his eternal rational plan and interpretation. One can only really know a true fact in its relation to all the facts, and as God is the source of Truth all facts find they’re meaning in him. God is the one that gives eternal meaning to all our disconnected experiences, which at times seem random and worthless. Because all our experiences find there context in his eternal interpretation.

What we as Humans are trying to do is bring unity to our diversity, meaning to our subjectivism. True joy and meaning can never be found in this ever-changing world that fades, where pleasures come and go. This world is in constant finite change and you will never find solid joy in a physical world of things that you can see and touch, because they are passing away just like our bodies. So what is the purpose of our finite ever changing experiences. What is the goal when the minute we are born our bodies start to waste away and die. What is the purpose of our experiences and there relation to our declining bodies?

The Apostle Paul gives us a good answer,

“So we don’t lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are passing away, but the things that are unseen are eternal” ( Cor. 4;16-18)

What Paul is saying is that through our outer self is wasting away, our inner self (soul) is being renewed day by day by the experiences we encounter. During our life our outer body may waste away, but or inner soul grows day by day. He says that our momentary difficulties in life are shaping us in character for an eternal experience, that being standing in the presence of God being glorified and made perfect by the work of Christ so that we can experience eternal joy that dose not fade. That being satisfied in the fullness of God’s eternal love, beauty and glory. All our experiences in life are for us to shape our characters to draw love or mercy or compassion or perseverance out of us, so that we can be shown to be true and tested. Its is these things, such as unconditional love that we must seek which is unseen in the world and act it out to others on earth, knowing that in the end the unseen will be seen and experienced in heaven and it will be eternal and will not fade. It is in light of God that our momentary experiences have any value or worth. We either let them shape us for good or we get bitter and evil through them. Either way God will demonstrate his glory in the end.

By throwing God out of the picture of your life you will never find any connection to your individual meaningless experiences. You will always be longing for experiences that seem to always fade and disappoint. Let us put our faith in things that cannot be shaken those things that are eternal.