‘HUMAN THE PRESERVER OF UNIVERSE’ – Fr B M Thomas

Fr.B.M.Thomas (Bombay Diocese of Indian Orthodox Malankara Church) – OCP News Service – 9/4/18

“When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visits him?”Psalm 8:3-4

Humans often forget that they are mortal being on this Earth. They forget that they are just microscopic organisms in comparison to the whole universe. In their daily run they too forget that they are the only living things on the face of this earth and may be in the whole universe that are formed in the true image and likeness of God. This universe proclaims the love of God. It radiates the attributes of God. The vastness of this universe is incomprehensible to the human mind, and so is the divine attributes. As in the above verse King David meditates upon the unimaginable glory of God, who is the creator of this whole universe. We humans have an intellect, and only those things that limit within our intellect could be apprehended by us. But many a time humans fall prey to that very limited intellect that they possess and anticipates that they are the supreme of all, even disregarding their creator. Many a times it is felt that the scientific conquest into space and the outer realities have diminished the stature of humans. Human being has always thought of discovering the undiscovered and explore the unexplored. It is the limited intellect of the humans that has gained them victory in accomplishing many scientific marvels in the present age. But however great we jump, we neglect the fact that it was just a naught in the indefinite expanse that stretches to nowhere.

If we try to imagine some of the figures related to our Earth or Sun or even our milky way galaxy, those will be much beyond our apprehension. We have learnt in our childhood days that the earth rotates round the sun in 365 days and that is what is called an year and that causes the seasons to change etc. But we have never thought of the fact that the earth revolving around the sun will be having some velocity, and that is going to alarm us as it is such great as about 66,000 Miles/Hour or 1,06,217 Kms/Hr. Now our Sun and its planets the Solar System revolves around the center of the Milky way galaxy at speeds near to 483,000 Miles/Hr or 7,77,313Kms/Hr. also our Milky Way galaxy is not stationary, it is moving at a speed of 1,300,000 Miles/Hr or 20,92,147Kms/Hr.These figures seem extremely gigantic, when compared to the modern world air and land speeds powered by the turbo jets. We can just conceptualize vaguely that we humans are

moving at enormous high speeds, although we may seem to be still, sitting on our chairs and reading this write-up, as we are still only relative to the ground we are, but there are greater realities happening, of which we are not at all aware and bothered. Still, that is just a slow motion when compared to the vast, un-ending, un-imaginable extent of this universe.

This universe, with all of its complexities, connectivity and beauty, is revealing the majesty and magnanimity of God, who is invisibly omnipotent and transcendent. And it is that God who incarnated to the world in the human form so that humans would be beatified. Truly as David wonders „What is man that God so loves him?‟ the answer to this complex question lies in Gen 1:26f, Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our own image and likeness…”

So now what are these image and likeness? For a better understanding we will look into the most common meanings of the above two terms. In the computer world an image is an exact copy of a computer’s hard disk, made for backing up data or setting up new machines. This definition seems classic as this is the era of i-pads and social medias, but this definition of image is best suited here. Humans were created as to be the exact copy of the creator, made for setting up an example, so that such exact copies could be produced further. Through their sins the humans adulterated that image, and it is to restore that adulterated image that God came forth in this world as an unadulterated perfect human. The process of deification is that procedure through which the adulterated form of human gets transformed into the perfect unadulterated human who is that perfect image and likeness of God, which God had created. Deification is a process of becoming more human or a perfect human, a human who is the perfect image and likeness of God himself, and who propagates that positive energy, so that whoever comes in contact with that person would have a tilt towards a human perfection.

Our mission in this world should start from our family itself. We may have seen people who may be behaving like perfect humans but are utter failures in their duties towards their own families. Such persons are in a virtual world of perfection. God may have given us a family, and that is our prime responsibility. The spiritual and holistic development of the family will definitely help in the perfection of humanity as a whole. Individuals make up the family and that family is the basic co-operate unit of humanity. Vice versa, if one fulfills correctly his duties with respect to his own family, then he will be bringing a great change in the society too, otherwise it‟s all a waste.

God has made human the leader of this environment, and expects to be the preserver of that. We have to ponder over that, are we becoming more selfish day by day, and destroying the creation in the dream of an illusional perfect world. Are we trying to preserve and maintain the balance of the nature, and secure a better future for us and the generations to come or are we, as humans and most developed and civilized, on the path devastation? Have we forgotten our role in the universe? It is up to us, are we in the present world or in a virtual world created in our own thoughts.

Source:
OCP News Service