“What is the purpose of life?”
The atheist: There may or may not be one…just don’t go looking to some Higher Being for it.
The nihilist: There isn’t any.
The Believer: To carry on whatever duty you have to do.
It’s easy to get caught up in this never ending debate, but there is one thing that is true. Life goes on, and with it is all the experiences; dullness, happiness, excitement, anger, contempt, pain, contentment….the thrills and lows that life itself consists of.
What I’m about to mention may also be the most relevant point for today’s world. Life involves you AND everyone else.
Too much of us are caught up in a shallow sphere of social media where our self worth comes from ‘likes’ and seemingly validating comments. Constantly seeking attention from people who may only know you through a system of binary numbers (that is the internet) seems void of any human value. It makes you lose yourself into a blogosphere (jab at self) of ‘look at me’s and ‘you want to be me’s.
The fact that there’s so much more out there for you to discover and contribute may seem alien to some, but it’s a norm in today’s society.
Self love is extremely important but receiving validation for insecurities perpetuated by social media isn’t love at all.
To be content and happy in this world, we ought to savour experiences in all its tangible essence. We need to feel emotions for what they are; raw, instinct, clawing at the human soul. These emotions need to come from experiences that are fulfilling; albeit a beautiful outcome or a lesson learnt.
To fulfill life’s purpose, one has to have a much broader perspective than just oneself. One should see the human scope and try to understand the many different journeys of life. Talk to people in different stages of life; your grandparents, little ones, a divorced couple..anyone. See for yourself their point views and develop an understanding of their journeys.
Emotional intelligence is often taken for granted but is one of the most important traits we can possess.
What is essentially important is to see the world through other’s realities, not just your own.
What can make you happy is the understanding of said realities and then the transcendence scheme of helping others.
Sometimes, help can be by lending an ear, being empathetic, rather than joining charity groups etc. What matters is that you try to help in any way that you can. Nothing can quite change a person more than seeing the gratitude and sheer happiness on someone’s face whom you just helped.; to know that someone is better off, since you’ve done your part.
We actually all do have duties- to oneself, family, the community, the nation and so on. These duties are all to abet our fellow man and this is what makes us who we are.
How do we know our place in this world, nay, Universe…nay, Multi-verse? It is by fulfilling our duties; seeing the world in all our different realities and aiding someone to do and be better.
Life is a journey but arguably, not everyone strides to actualize their purpose.
So don’t get lost in the musings of your reality and its accomplishments or shortcomings. Realize that there’s much more out there than your hierarchy in the social sphere or any tantamount musing focusing solely on thyself.
There’s a great big World. We are in it, and life goes on.
Charlie :)
