The problem
Life is an enigma. There are as many theories about it as there are thinking minds. Can there be a single, consensual interpretation?

The difficulty
Prophet, poet or philosopher; whoever contemplated on life faced two realities- an eternal beautiful universe in the background and the short, wretched existence of the most intelligent being in the foreground. What is the connection between the two? This little inquiry has fathered the various schools of philosophy and theology. Life as a subject is very vast and very mysterious. Life, though difficult to comprehend, is much easier to experience. But, such experiences can not be described in words. Our language is too inadequate to express routine aesthetic experiences.

The pit-falls
Inspite of our great similarity with other animals there was a mistaken belief in our divine origin. The descent theory to explain the human misery is current in the theological schools. The other pit-fall is a limited vision. Life as a whole can not be understood by considering the trials and tribulations of a single life. It is akin to explaining a life span by considering a lone moment from it. Denial of any purpose and order is current in atheism and materialism. Those who recognized the immortality of soul were tempted to find its relationship with the imaginary prime cause - God. Monism, dualism, non-dualism were the by-products.

The Precaution
The soul is real, god is imaginary. Any relationship between the two is bound to be imaginary. We know very little about the soul. A genuine case of rebirth provides a clue. The memory about previous life has a non-genetic source. That which retains the memory beyond the grave is named soul. And recollection of this memory is a temporary aberration of the general rule of amnesia.

The solution
After avoiding the pit-fall and taking the precautions, a scheme begins to emerge. The earth is the breeding and training ground for the souls. Microorganism with a micro-soul can not be ruled out easily. Life began in the sea (water with soluble air); it diversified on land (air with soluble water). It progressed from denser to lighter medium. Not only our bodies but our souls, too, have evolved in a couple of billion years through millions of lives in different life forms (species). When all desires for sensual pleasures are satisfied, the soul loses its inclination to be born again. It is, then, released to explore the universe. At present, we are at a particular epoch of evolution. After the biological evolution of the mind, we are suffering from the teething troubles of its intellectual evolution. Many a civilizations have vanished in the process.

Ground Realities
To put it very simplistically, we have yet to learn to co-exist constructively. Those with deprived childhood or the pampered few; both have little chances of turning out to be normal adults. They go on acting out their child-hood fantasies. Our problem, therefore, lies in our child-hood. Nurture is steeped in ignorance (pride and prejudice) while the nature (genetics) is left to chance or stars. We are more careful about breeding animals. Lest we forget the most important ingredient of a meaningful human life, love enables us to experience life deeply. The nature appears to tell us to love and experience life leaving its understanding to the three P's.

Re-capitulation
Life is a merry relay race of gene-machines, governed by material and moral laws, for the evolution of the souls. Its beginning and end are shrouded in eternity. Total human misery is man-made. The shortness of one life ideally ensures millions of other lives each new and unique. One can not find faults in the scheme of nature where matter has a mind of its own ' its property to discern other matters under various combinations of pressure and temperature.