OPTIONALISM- OF MAN

Danilo Tindungan Jr.

Of Man

His origin;

Theological Optionalism and

Scientific Optionalism

Knowing the meaning of life

An alternative ending; The meaning of life

An alternative ending; Aoptional being

His origin

Optionalism is not against religion and science, though some of its ideas might seem to
go against the doctrines of the two disciplines. For example, religion and science both
have their own explanation as to how man came to be. In religion we have the creation
and in science we have the natural selection and evolution.

Theological Optionalism

During the creation, God had the option of creating man or not, rational or irrational, free
or chained. Optionalism claims that God had His options of creating life or not, but
leaving only a single trace of His option as evidence for man to look into in order to find
Him. If we say that God had created man through His options, then the only trace of
option we can follow is by living according to His words- which is unfair for man. Why?
Because the option left for man to find true happiness (which is represented by God’s
grace) is following His words and living a holy life. There is only one option to choose
from in order to find God, the divine option which is to live according to His words.
While the opposite stands true- follow the corrupt option to deny God. But man is not the
only creation of God; there are also other forms of life surrounding man. There is a
problem living in God’s option- that the world is full of lowly options as brought about
by His other creations. The world offers unlimited but lowly options for man to follow. It
was God’s decision to follow an option so divine that will create more and differentiated
life. Because of this divine option, lowly options came out from it, thus the entanglement
of many kinds of options that would blur if not erase God’s traces of choosing the divine
option. An example is the creation of the opposite sex- since I am a man let us use
women as our example. It was God’s decision to pursue an option that would lead to the
creation of women thus we have the She-kind. The creation of women offered many
lowly options for man to follow. Men could either opt for the option of loving and
treating her humanely. Another is that men could treat her as worker and nothing more.
Or much worse, it could also be that men would brutally rape and kill her. There are
many more options that can be seen from women – aside from her offering man the fruit
from the tree of knowledge. Men could also find lowly options from his fellow men. That
man could exploit his fellow men, that men could cheat on his fellow men, that men
could lie to his fellow men and the like. Man could also choose lowly options from
himself. He could choose the options to be just, to be corrupt, and to be religious, to be
pessimistic, to be hedonistic and many more.

Now we see a contradicting idea, if not, an irony. God wants his rational creations to live
according to his words in order to find true happiness through living a holy life, following
Him and His words. But He created other life form which offers different kinds of lowly
options. God wants man to be good, but His creations prevents him from becoming one.
God has given man not only the options but also free will and rational capabilities which
when combined can become a recipe for attaining the common good and man’s happiness
or for promoting man’s pain and suffering. These other life forms would offer man
options but not as divine as the pursuit of the divine option which would lead man to his
real and ultimate happiness- in the case of theology, salvation.

From that let us establish that when God created man, He had not only given him the
rational capabilities and free will but also options for the latter qualities to be practiced
and applied. Thus on the side of religion, Optionalism claims that man was created by
God’s decision of choosing the divine option that would lead to his coming to be- his
creation. And that man has nothing to do or did not influence God in pursuing His divine
option of creating life and the world. But, He made sure to leave only a trace from His
option so that man could be good while having the reason to live, that is, to search the
meaning of his life.

Scientific Optionalism

In science, options lead to the true happiness of man which is knowledge and truth.
Rationality and free will is innate to man thus giving him the proper character tools to
explore the natural options surrounding him. Man was able to separate the divine option
from the corrupt option- the former leading to knowledge and truth while the latter leads
to ignorance and backwardness. But then again, was it man’s option to be rational and
free if we are to follow the doctrines of science? It is a common knowledge that most
learning institutions teach natural selection and evolution as the explanation of how man
came to be. That man, going back billions of years, came from a single cell organism.
Science defines life as including even the microscopic organisms invisible to the naked
eye. Thus the idea of evolution and natural selection is hard to separate from the question
of who man is. Now the question is- Was it man’s fault of choosing the option to be a
single celled organism first, then become an amphibian, then become an ape, and then
choose the option of becoming the modern man? Did man choose to be rational and with
free will when he started his life as a single cell organism? Obviously, the answer is no
since microscopic organism acts only according to how they are programmed to act, like
animals acting only according to their instincts. Like the sperm cells of a man swimming
towards the egg cell of women because they are programmed to do so. There was no
choosing of options involved. Thus we establish that lower life forms are not capable of
choosing any rational options since only man was given the rational capabilities to do so.

Even if Optionalism adheres to some of the doctrines of science, it does not promote the
idea that man’s forefathers who underwent the process of evolution were apes. Instead,
Optionalism claims that our forefathers were still men but with lower rational capabilities
and more of an animal like behavior. Natural selection would explain that man is what
he is now because he’s previous ancestors (species) was able to adapt to the changes of
the environment thus passing down the acquired genes of immunity to the next
generations making them immune to the changes and the process repeats over and over
again until we have now the modern man.

Optionalism explains the event as nothing more than an accidental process where in
random actions of simple life forms caused an accident- a chemical reaction. Thus
leading to a different path of growth- creating a simple life form programmed by the
chemical reactions it underwent to follow a certain action, as if choosing an option, but
its not. An accident again happened- which is mutation as brought about by the changes
of the environment. Mutation made the simple life forms turn into complex life forms
capable of choosing an option by way of instinct. The complex life forms are choosing
options by instinct because they already know that too much heat and too much cold can
kill. Then because of this instinctive opting of options, the complex life form was able to
accumulate experience from the options he followed by instincts. His physical nature
(including his brain) and mental capabilities were in sync in developing when it
underwent evolution and change as brought about by his interaction with his
environment. Again, it led to an accident where we already have the modern man capable
of choosing a rational option. But the accident for complex instinctive life forms
becoming the modern and rational man is not clear since it is obviously not caused by
chemical reaction and mutation. Thus, the modern man opted to choose an option to
create science to find the missing link, if there is such.

With that, Optionalist idea in science proposes that man is nothing more than an
accidental creation of nature. That life came to be because of an accident. And that this
simple life form became the modern man because of an accident. Now the question
arises- what was then the original accident that created the simplest life? The answer is
the collision of the Earth and moon billions of years ago. The collision tilted the Earth
into its modern day position thus creating the different season and temperatures suitable
for the conceiving of the simple life from which in turn again experienced another
accident thus the creation of the complex life form and so on and so forth. But what is the
connection of Optionalism to it? The natural accidents that led to the creation of man is
not in any way an option since no man could have existed before to have caused the
choosing of the simple organisms the options to become complex. Natural phenomena
are not options though they offer options for the rational creature to follow. Thus we
establish that natural events are not part of man’s options. Say that man was able to
choose and pursue options reserved to be of a natural event. Then man can control the
weather, the seasons, the revolution of the planet and many more making him the creator
of everything. But this situation would be impossible since man is only an accidental
creation of nature. Nature did not choose any kind of option if to create man or not. Thus
we also establish that man had nothing to do with the accidents that happened in nature
that led to his creation.

Basing from the theological and scientific views of Optionalism, it seems that man had
nothing to do with his creation. Man was not able to influence God and nature to opt for
another option so to make him better, physically fit, highly capable, mentally advanced –
in short perfect. This introduces the idea that man is not that important after all since our
preferred option was not given any considerations. Man came to be as caused by God’s
option according to theology and nature’s catastrophic accident according to science. In
both of the events, man was not able to interfere. And so, the only important and noble
thing for man to do now is to searches for the divine option reserved for man and man
alone- the search for the meaning of his life.

Knowing the meaning of life

Optionalism has the ability to answer the question of what is the meaning of his life.
Unfortunately, it can not give the answer in a short span of time. Man can find the
meaning of life by following the options that are surrounding him at the present and will
be surrounding him in the future. And that he would pursue the options he deem right
even if he adheres to religion, science or both. What is important is that he still follows
the options and not stop to the quasi-truth that he thinks is the real meaning of life. So
how can Optionalism answer the question “what is the meaning of life.”

Many would ask the question of what really is the meaning of their lives. And so it goes
also that many will follow different sets of options in order to arrive at single unified
answer. Even if millions of people will follow different paths of options, Optionalism
claims that men will still arrive at a single unified answer. Why is this so? Because
options are made to be interrelated to one another. An Option can not function if it is not
connected to another options or options.

An example; a man is walking by a street. He is choosing between the options of either

going to a movie, going to the mall or visiting his relatives. He has only exact money in
fulfilling one of the three options. Then up ahead the street he saw a beggar. Now the
options of the man widened to either fulfilling his first three options or helping the poor,
be passive and not care, or could even pass by the poor as if not giving notice. At the first
place, the options of the man for that day should have only been limited to three if not by
the beggar choosing an option of staying on the same street. Now we see how options are
interrelated.

Remember that options are omnipresent- anywhere, anytime and in any dimension for
that matter. Options are interrelated, closely or of great gaps. But the distance of
interrelation is not important, the idea that options are connected is. I am answering the
divine question for man “what is the meaning of life?” by following the sets of options I
see as the right path. And so do my neighbors, and my neighbor’s neighbor and son and
so forth. We are all following different sets of options but will surely arrive at a single
unified answer- the Real Truth.

Many will say that the meaning of their life is to help the poor, to rule the world, to sail
the seas, and to travel the lands. But these people are just indolent to continue pursuing
the options connected to the first options they have followed that brought them to where
they are now. The meaning of life can not be answered by a single option or millions of
options when man starts to stop pursuing the divine option. The people settling for what
they think as the meaning of their lives are being selfish because they satisfy only
themselves and the few. These people stop to what they think is the answer to the divine
question for man. They do not realize that helping the poor, ruling the world, sailing the
seas and traveling the land are nothing more but lowly options leading to the quasi-truth.
It does not answer the divine question that all man wants to answer by way of the divine
option. True that it benefits the people, but does it benefit all? If by choosing the option
of helping the poor benefits all human kind then it is the real meaning of life. But not all
needs to be helped since not all are to be considered poor in cash or in spirit, thus helping
the poor is just a small part of the divine option. And it is also true for the other lowly
options- they are just small and minute parts of the divine option of man. These people
will say that this is the end of their options- when in reality it is not. As long as we stay as
man with life, the choosing of option never stops. The pursuit for options only stops
when man ceases to function as a rational man and/or when man becomes an
AOPTIONAL BEING which will be defined later. Right now, man is still far from
answering the divine question of what is the meaning of life because many settles down-
more of surrendering and not pursuing the connection of the options they have chosen to
fulfill. It is sad to see rational creatures being stubborn, following what they think is right,
good and divine- stopping to what they think is the end. But then again I reiterate that
options are omnipresent and as long as man exists as a man, he must use his innate
rationality and free will to pursue all the options until he will arrive at the doors of the
divine option leading him to the answer he so long desires. It is good to help the poor, it
is good to rule justly, it is good to discover what is beyond the seas, and it is good to
travel foreign lands. But which good is more important- the ones mentioned above or
knowing the real meaning of life? All prefers to follow the divine option leading to the
answer of the real meaning of man’s life. While some will prefer to know the meaning of
their own life.
An alternative ending; The meaning of life

Suppose all men agreed to answer the divine question by pursuing the divine option. That
all men agreed not to settle on the quasi-truth of the definition of life. Will men be
successful? The answer is yes. Arriving at the answer for the divine question requires
unity and an unending pursuit of the lowly options until the divine option is the only one
left to follow. But can the answer be found within man’s lifetime? Unfortunately the
answer is no. If the divine option has already been followed thus leading us in answering
the divine question, then our ancestor would have already found the answer.

So how can man answer the divine question if it requires two, three, four or more
generations to follow the divine option? This is where man’s ability to procreate comes
in- both life and knowledge. Man has the ability to reproduce life to continue the pursuit
for the divine option. Man can also reproduce knowledge for his children to avoid corrupt
options that would blur the path towards the divine option. And if the second generation
still is unsuccessful, then they can reproduce their successors who would continue the
noble pursuit. This process will continue until man arrives at the answer of what is the
real meaning of life. One might think that this pursuit is a cyclic phenomenon- that it
does not have an ending. But it is not. To answer this, an analogy is needed.

We are living in an era where the cellular phones were introduced. But before the
coming of cellular phones, many settled on telephone as the only answer to portable long
distance communication. Many will agree that they thought telephones will be permanent
and will stay is it is. But they were wrong. Telephones were not the permanent answer to
portable long distance communication because cellular phones were introduced. The
options for changes are inevitable. And now, it seems that man is once again settling to
cellular phones as the answer to portable long distance communication. But then again
changes will come. In the future, hologram technology will be introduced and will
replace all kinds of phones making the cellular phones outmoded. This process will
repeat until the real high technological advancement for communication is reached, until
nothing more is to be improved.

Just like what will happen to the generations of man who will pursue for the divine
option. Generations will settle to what they think is the answer but then again many will
not agree to the answer they have arrived at thus continuing the pursuit for the divine
option. Until all will be satisfied that the end they have arrived at is the real meaning of
man’s life. All will agree that it is the answer they are looking for thus nobody will argue
against it that can cause yet another great pursuit.
An alternative ending; Aoptional being

So what happens if man finds the answer of the divine question reserved for him? What
happens if man was able to choose and follow the right sets of lowly options thus leading
him to the divine option with it the divine answer? Three things can happen according to
Optionalist beliefs. First is that man will have an eternal life, second man can finish the
evolutionary process thus becoming perfect beings, and lastly man will live an eternal
vanity. But why would the end be this way?

The end will be an eternal life of perfect beings living in vanity because then, when all
other lowly options are taken and that even the divine option reserved for man is
answered what else is to follow except the option of becoming a god. When man had
already fulfilled the divine option, the divine option becomes a lowly option and so why
should he still care for the lowest of the lowly options left? He will instead pursue the
option of becoming a god instead of going back and fulfilling the unfulfilled lowest of the
lowly option. Man becomes an AOPTIONAL BEING- those who were able to fulfill the
divine option thus having no need to fulfill and pursue the lowest of the lowly option.
They are men who become god-like who after finding the meaning of man’s life attained
the greatest of all knowledge and the greatest free will thus turning himself into one that
is almost an equal of the divine and of the nature. “Almost” because Aoptional beings are
still the creations and not the creator. But becoming god-like has its weakness and
drawbacks. Since all options are no longer that important to man as an Aoptional being,
then they will live an eternal life of doing nothing but to live eternally with and among
other Aoptional beings. They will see nothing except the perfection they have attained.
Why bother pursuing the lowest of the lowly option when the divinest of all options
(which is the pursuit for the meaning of man’s life) has already been answered thus
opening the doors of the divinest of the divine option that turned men into gods? In here
now we see the importance of fulfilling the lowly options while we still haven’t yet found
the answer for the meaning of man’s life. Lowly options define the life of man- it gives
definitions to his failures, pains, success, triumphs and many more. While Aoptional
beings will have nothing to fulfill because they already have passed through the divine
option- which is the highest of all the lowly options- thus defining him as nothing more
than a form of existing beings that cannot be given the proper definition except as those
who fulfilled the divine option. Since they are already almost perfect, almost flawless,
and almost god-like there is no need for them to go back and fulfill the lowest of the
lowly options making their eternal existence a journey of doing nothing but perpetuate
his being a god-like.