Life Rots and Stinks Like This

Xuefeng

Today (July 14, 2004), while preparing dinner for my beloved and child, I was frying eggplant and thought of adding some garlic. I fetched a plastic bag containing stored garlic from the storage, opened the bag, and picked a clove. To my surprise, the garlic was darkened, and upon breaking it open, it was rotten. Emptied out all the cloves, not a single one was spared.

It's odd. Normally, garlic does not rot for several months, so why did this bag, purchased just a month ago, turn rotten and stinky?

Suddenly, I recalled an incident during a summer business trip within the country. After washing my face with a towel in the morning, I absentmindedly placed the damp towel inside a plastic bag. I forgot to remove it that day and the next day when I retrieved it to wash my face again, a gentle twist broke it into two sections. The reason lay in the fact that the moist towel, in the sweltering heat, confined within the plastic bag without contact with external air, turned stale. The gases of staleness within the plastic bag caused the towel to decay, reducing its strength and elasticity, thus making it easily breakable.

Yes, the garlic's rot and stink in the plastic bag resulted from its lack of contact with external air. Ordinarily, garlic is placed in a basket, allowing air circulation, hence it remains unchanged for months.

It seems that everything material, when not allowed to circulate with external air, inevitably rots and stinks.

If material things are like this, then what about nonmaterial things?

If a family only allows internal marriages without intermingling with other families, after several generations, this family will inevitably perish.

A nation that does not interact with other nations, confined within a singular cultural circle, will eventually decay.

A country that isolates itself, refraining from interactions with other nations, will surely decline.

Now, what about an individual? If they do not learn from others, avoid communication, isolate themselves, and keep their mental windows closed, over time, they will inevitably become rigid, stubborn, experience ideological stagnation, leading to decay, stagnation, and eventually death.

An individual, a family, a nation, a country—such is the case. What about religious groups?

Historically, some disappearing religions have also attributed their decline to self-righteousness and arrogance.

It's foreseeable that present religions like Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, etc., if they hold onto an attitude of superiority, refusing to engage in mutual exchange, cutting themselves off contact with the "external air," will inevitably "rot and stink" as well.

The question now is, how can human LIFE prevent rot and stench?

The human being is composed of two parts: a material body and a spiritual soul. If the material body does not engage in exchange with the external elements such as air, water, and energy, it will inevitably decay and emit an unpleasant odor, ultimately leading to death. Similarly, if the spiritual soul does not connect with the divine source of the universe - the Greatest Creator, the soul will also decay and emit an unpleasant odor, resulting in death.

A more intriguing question is, if LIFE on Earth chooses to "seal itself off" and refuses to engage in spiritual communication and contact with LIFE forms beyond Earth, will it also rot, stink, and eventually die?