How do I measure my life?
The question about measuring life undeniably straddles the domains of philosophy and spirituality rather than any rational or empirical systems of study as the object to be measured here, that is, life itself is unquantifiable and beyond the reaches of scientific domains. However, as a student of biology, as I have understood, life is a unique biochemical equilibrium that can be characterized by following characteristics: living beings grow, they respond to stimuli like light or touch, and they reproduce, that is, bear offspring similar to them. Now, growth can be measured, like girth of a tree in centimetres, height of human beings in centimetres or inches, so can be response to a stimulus like dilation of dog or human pupils in the sun in millimetres, as well as, the number of offspring, a living entity leaves behind. As a matter of fact, going by ecological parameters, ‘fitness’ of an organism is measured solely by the number of progeny it begets and the powerful forces of evolution, too, act and select or deselect characteristically diverse offspring of a species in a particular environment. Thus, we may infer that the sole calculable measure, if any, of a living being’s life is the number of fertile offspring it produces, irrespective of being a gut bacteria like Escherichia coli or a roaring tiger in jungles of Sundarbans. The same parameters, invariably apply to another member of the animal kingdom, the modern humans, who, nonetheless, may like to think otherwise and ascribe intangible and immeasurable attributes like wealth, success, pleasure, job satisfaction, satisfactory relations, integrity etc. as measures of life.
2. Personally speaking, the biologist in me drags me to solely consider the biological measure of life, i.e. sheer number of kids one has. However, being blessed with only one so far, and thus a marginal success in this regard, I seek refuge in the domain of philosophy. The Hindu thought identifies ‘four-fold’ measures called ‘Purusharthas’ as fundamental attributes to aspire for and measure a human life. These four attributes are ‘Dharma’ meaning discharging prescribed duties, both transactional and transcendental, ‘Artha’ meaning raising resources, earn money, have a job to sustain life, ‘Kama’ deals with pleasure and sensory indulgences, including sexual pleasures and finally Moksha i.e. liberation from the endless cycles of birth and rebirth. It is pertinent to note that the four attributes are equally important and there is no primacy of any one of the four. I find this method of measuring life quite comprehensive and balanced. But, the problem still persists, as all the above four attributes are incalculable and on the top of it, highly normative, with no uniform definition, characteristics, and any scale of measurement.
3. To conclude, I am still struggling to discovery a suitable measure to measure my life, as both of the approaches as mentioned above — the biological approach measuring the quantifiable number of progeny and the philosophical approach, although sufficiently all-inclusive yet nebulous and incalculable, leave me highly disappointed. Notwithstanding the disappointment from this inability to find a measure, I take sufficient solace in the fact that I am alive and kicking, with a roof over my head and food on my table, with a family with kid and the blessings of my parents. I am grateful to be employed, having a steady income, a place to call home and sufficient savings. I take pride in the fact that I have tried, albeit with innumerable failures, to tread on the path of piety and integrity, the values my parents raised me with. I am really unsure, how to measure this and have no readymade answers to the question. I shall, nevertheless, continue this search.