In the language of the Lakota Sioux people, "Wakan Tanka" means "The Great Mystery," referring to the most fundamental of life's questions...
Where did the universe come from? Was it, as some scientists speculate, just a chance event that happened to occur without intent and for no particular purpose? Or was it the result of an intentional act by a supreme consciousness for the purpose of creating a material world where all life forms can enjoy a life experience in physical form?
Where does life itself come from? Is the vitality of life just another attribute of certain kinds of matter, akin to colour, shape or texture? Or does it spring from some universal source to occupy certain forms of matter that possess the unique capacity to host it?
Is survival the only purpose in life? Why would the evolutionary process of natural selection, with survival of a species as its sole driving principle, produce such an extraordinary animal as we humans, with the intellectual and emotional capacity to not just survive, but to embrace and enjoy the experience of living with such fervour; to strive to understand the workings of the universe, and to seek meaning in our own very existence? Are such avenues of thought and behaviour just incidental aberrations that come as a by-product of a large brain? Or are they the predestined, ultimate purpose of life’s evolutionary journey?
In Wakan Tanka, I've drawn upon paleontological evidence, scientific theory, philosophical thought and religious belief, to provide objective, reasoned answers to these and other questions relating to the nature of God, creation and life's purpose.
John Bennett
February, 2021
Where did the universe come from? Was it, as some scientists speculate, just a chance event that happened to occur without intent and for no particular purpose? Or was it the result of an intentional act by a supreme consciousness for the purpose of creating a material world where all life forms can enjoy a life experience in physical form?
Where does life itself come from? Is the vitality of life just another attribute of certain kinds of matter, akin to colour, shape or texture? Or does it spring from some universal source to occupy certain forms of matter that possess the unique capacity to host it?
Is survival the only purpose in life? Why would the evolutionary process of natural selection, with survival of a species as its sole driving principle, produce such an extraordinary animal as we humans, with the intellectual and emotional capacity to not just survive, but to embrace and enjoy the experience of living with such fervour; to strive to understand the workings of the universe, and to seek meaning in our own very existence? Are such avenues of thought and behaviour just incidental aberrations that come as a by-product of a large brain? Or are they the predestined, ultimate purpose of life’s evolutionary journey?
In Wakan Tanka, I've drawn upon paleontological evidence, scientific theory, philosophical thought and religious belief, to provide objective, reasoned answers to these and other questions relating to the nature of God, creation and life's purpose.
John Bennett
February, 2021
