That's right, folks, it's the blog post you've all been waiting for: What is the meaning of life??? Why are we here? We are born, taught how to eat. We learn to crawl, walk, run, skip, jump, drink, smoke, streak, dress professionally, invest... then we die.
I found myself thinking about this the other day (some day I'll upload all of my voice memos to myself regarding potential blog posts). Mankind started living en-tandum with nature. This is not another nature loving tree-hugging post. Just saying, we used to coexist. Now we farm. It's a fact. Moving on: at some pivotal point in our development (Mesopotamian domestication) the ancestors of Ancient Babylon (the actual location of the Tower of Babel, for you bible people) decided it was time (or they needed) to stop chasing herds and start domesticationg plants and goats. They settled down and soon came to live in huts, then clay buildings, then hotels and skyscrapers. Living was the meaning of life. Eat, sleep, make the babies, grow the food, die. Then, someone lived a little too long, or had a little too much time on their hands, and began to ponder life. Why are we here?
They fashioned stories of Gods battling in the heavens, in the earth, and among men. These "creation myths" were a direct reflection of the key mysteries in those times, as well as a reflection on mankind. We fashion our gods after ourselves. What did Mesopotamian gods do? Fought. Plotted. Invaded. Cheated. Amazingly enough, that is EXACTLY what men did (already, a woman's role was diminished). Thus the point of life changed from maintaining the crop to defending the territory, then growing the territory. Then expanding the Empire. Then eliminating the potential terrorist plot on the other side of the world. But ask yourself: What was the purpose of life for one person? Society had begun. The machines forged. Our taxes and consumption fueled the machines of industry, war, and finance. Whatever purpose there may have once been to life was gone. Now we are drivien by Society. Ligislation, laws, taxes, limitations, invasion of privacy, right wing/left wing, buffalo wings... We have lost the purpose of life. Yet we reproduce at a toxic rate. Still invading, we are the virus that will destroy life altogether. Maybe that's what was meant to be?
I have been working for almost 20 years. Nothing have I contributed to society, aside from the occasional vote, and my taxes. And my money. Lots of money. After earning maybe half a million dollars in my life, I have very little to show for it. So I guess I really have given almost everything to society. Save that for another blog post (commencing voice memo now). What have I done with life. Consumption? Check. Procreation? Check. ... Death? I'll pass.
So what's left? Well, I can raise my kids. duh. But then the question applies to them. I raise them... to what end?
Ideally, you make your own purpose in life. You see this concept EVERYWHERE. YOLO. I ask, however, who are you living for? How much to you do for your own life? And how much goes into the machine of society? Your toils in life benefit who?
The answer: There is no "Purpose" in life. No predesignated purpose anyway. There's only the path you set for yourself. Make sure that path is of your own choosing. Sure, it should be righteous. It should be without menace, malice, or melancholy. My advice: focus on yourself. it's your life. I have chosen to spend my life with a wife I love, raising three kids I love, and hopefully getting myself to a financial capacity to do a little less of what Society wants from me and a little more of what I want from me.
If you want to spend most of your days sitting in the bed of your truck on a dirt road, chucking beer cans into the ditch, by all means, do so. All you need to do is make sure you are in a position in life to afford the beer, the truck, and the access to the gravel road (and the potential littering fine). If you want to care for others, do so. Be a nurse, a teacher, a Dr., or a philanthropist if that's your calling. Be a priest, Deacon, Rabbi... do what interests you, such that your obligations to society (to whatever extent you choose to meet said obligations) can be concurrent with your desires in life. Develop your purpose and aim for it.
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