“Unpopular opinion: I don’t think your life has to have a purpose, or you a grand ambition; I think it’s okay to just wander through life finding interesting things until you die.”
--twitter.com/ambernoelle

----------

“We are not created for any grander purpose than the ants that are there or the flies that are hovering around us or the mosquitoes that are sucking our blood.”
-- UG Krishnamurti

----------

"This very moment, this very world, this very body is the point. Now. You see? But, if you’re seeking something beyond all the time, you never get with it. You’re never here.”
--Alan Watts



Lately there’s been a fresh wave of clients asking, “What’s the point? What’s the point of being on earth if I’m not here to contribute?”

For these folks, as for so many others, it’s not enough to contentedly live with whatever varied life situations and flaws and preferences show up.

No, life must be earned, deserved. Humans have to be worthy. Humans have to find a way to qualify, by meeting a requirement to have purpose, meaning, a raison d'être.

Humans must boost whatever existence already has going, with some value-add.

Or else.

Or else guilt, shame, depression, worry, and suicidal thoughts.

Never mind that the “contribution” we add is not very well defined. I mean, what would be a worthy-of-life Point?

How can a mere human contribute to existence?

Must we help the poor, or a family member in crisis, or impress the company with illustrious ideas at work, or save the climate, in order to deserve to live?

And exactly how much contributing is required? Must we help all people, or just a few? Must it be 24/7, or are we allowed nights off, weekends off, long breaks? What percentage of our time on earth needs to be purposeful?

We act as if it’s a tough taskmaster, this life/consciousness/existence thingy, as it sits around evaluating if we're worthy of waking up in the morning.

When actually, if we're going to believe that the question What's the point? makes any sense, we have to believe that existence is inadequate and in need of humans’ help. Because clearly it can’t provide enough reason for being on its own. Existence needs us to add value in order to make life right.

Making the sticky question, Well then what’s the point? just an indirect way of saying, “Consciousness/god/Existence/life is not good enough as it is. It needs us to add something, improve, help, and fix something, in order for life to be worthwhile."

Good ol’ humans, as full of ourselves as ever.

And yet we can see that this reasoning is faulty. Because no matter how needy we like to think existence may be, somehow it's still the boss.

Supposedly demanding that we have a purpose for living.

Supposedly the boss has tasked us with a job: find the purpose for this particular life and carry it out. Solve all the problems that existence created in the first place.

Making us kind of a slave or handmaiden to it, rather than the other way around.

Do things right and we may be allowed to live.

Not noticing that we are already allowed to live.

Y’know, being alive and all.

So it seems the requirement to have a point or purpose is not actually a requirement.

Which makes it just a nasty thought that makes a miserable failure out of a perfectly good life. A perfectly good iteration of consciousness.

And what goes unnoticed is that each of us already contributes a fully unique, one-of-a-kind experience.

Because nothing alive is an exact replica of any other alive thing. There are no living duplicates. Even twins, blades of grass, animals, and microorganisms, have differences and vary one from the next. No two are ever identical.

So here’s consciousness experiencing itself through the enormous variety of these infinitely immersive, multi-sensory lives.

Each one bringing its own fascinating experience.

No need to add "value" to that. The value is already in the unique experience we each bring.

Because every one of us is the only one- the only one- who can offer to consciousness this particular, never-will-be-repeated, version of life.

Which means that just being alive IS the contribution.

Just being alive is the point.

Just being alive is the purpose.

It’s not possible for anyone to not contribute.

Sure, thought may insist we lack purpose, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t living our purpose already anyway.

And doing it spectacularly well.

The point is clear.

We are alive. We breathe. We walk and talk and like and dislike and want and cry and laugh.

We are experience, experiencing.

And that, as it is,

is the whole perfect, already-here, point.

Which makes insisting on additional contribution or purpose

Kind of pointless.


Click here to get your Mind-Tickled every week.
 

"Of what use is the universe? What is the practical application of a million galaxies?"
--Alan Watts

----------

“Living is life’s only purpose.”
--Nisargadatta

----------

“The Rose is without an explanation; She blooms, because She blooms.”
--Angelus Silesius