These are all very good questions - questions perhaps all of us have asked ourselves and others at various times throughout our human experience here on earth. So what are the answers? And where do we find more information and answers about these very complex dilemmas we face?

One thing that is comforting is that truly none of us knows the exact answers to all of these questions. The reason that is comforting is because that levels the playing field and puts us all in the same boat, so to speak. That fact only comforts us to a certain point, though, and then we are left still wondering and yearning.

We yearn because we fear. We fear that we will never stop hurting. We fear death. We fear living without knowing what will happen next. We fear the unknown. We fear each other. We even fear ourselves.

Therefore, it is easy to assume that fear is the enemy. But what generates fear? And what other emotions stem from fear?

If you pay attention, you'll see that (generally speaking) positive begets positive and negative begets negative. This means that if you are positive about things and try to always keep your head on straight, good things will tend to happen more often, just coincidentally. And conversely, if you focus on the negative aspects of everything, your life will spin into a rapidly declining downward spiral. And you will not know why. But the reason is clear: you drew the negative things to you by being negative.

Now, that is not to say that being an optimist can truly cure you of the human condition, where things go wrong sometimes and it can't be avoided. That will always be true. We live on a planet with imperfect weather and imperfect people. Some negative things cannot be prevented. There is, however, a statistic that says that at least 70% of the things that happen TO us are a result OF us. This means that we do, indeed, have a certain amount of control.

So on your venture to find meaning, purpose, clarity, and ultimately (what we all really are looking for) peace, solace and happiness - start paying attention to what you do and how you think. Notice that if you have a faithful attitude, your life will improve. If nothing else, as you go through the motions of hard times, you'll notice that you don't go down as far and that there is always a silver lining in every dark cloud.

Stay positive, keep the faith, and remember that God created this place for a reason. You should try to love God and others by keeping the right attitude. You should even love yourself, too. If you do these things, everything else will fall into place. At some point, you may not NEED to KNOW everything (all the answers)...because you will simply be at peace.