I’ve been having this thought lately
That so many of life’s questions can be answered based on this one
Does life have a meaning or a purpose?
And like the question
Is there God or not?
The answer can’t be known beyond our instincts and guts
And maybe the nudging of our heart
And yes even on some level logic
But what I mean is no one can know answers to certain questions in anyway that allows them to prove it.
In other words is there a purpose and meaning to life born into it beyond the one we give it ourselves
Were we born with a soul to save
To create some kind of masterpiece of time with?
To commune with God across many trials and tribulations
In a landscape of senseless violence
Abject poverty
Psychopaths on fleek running shit out here
In a world that is also breathtakingly beautiful
Inspired
Full of Godly smiles on babies faces
And oceanic celebration
Housed in bodies
That make the question of a creator kinda obvious
(At least from my point of view)
We don’t seem to be accidents of evolution
And survival
But rather sources of divine communion
Living in the strange jungle called earth.
2
I read that suicide rates are at an all time high
39,255 men took their lives
49,500 total
75 percent of those were white people
(Not to make this about race but that is a rather alarming statistic)
What we seem to have is a crisis of purpose
A crisis of faith
A crisis of meaning
And the ability to see a reason to endure
The crisis of life that is innate in being alive
Stuck in the realm of our minds
Of just getting by
In a world that inundates is with visions of success
And people endlessly winning and making it look easy
On one side of the equation
Coupled with stories of unbelievable suffering
Cruel and senseless acts of violence and war on the other side
Seems like a cocktail for hopelessness if ever there was one
Which brings us back to the question
Does life have a purpose?
Beyond mere survival I mean
And if so what is it?
And how do we find it?
3
I can only speak from my perspective obviously
But the older I get
And the more the challenges of life build
The question of God graduates
From a question we freak ourselves out with while smoking weed with friends
To the central question of life
The question I start my days with and build my hours around
Upon waking up
My mind invariably shifts to ask
Are you their God?
It’s me Joseph
I seek to shift my point of view to a place beyond my mind or my thinking
To the silent space of observation
In the here and the now
Buddhists call it being present.
Christians call it seeking the father
Christians see it as a personal connection
Whereby the creator is in some way helping them through the trials of their lives
Buddhists and Hindus perhaps have a more self empowered viewpoint
Aka I am God
(I’m riffing here so if I’m getting this wrong cut me slack. Just sharing my perspective)
I feel like Christians
Have more of a dependency relationship with the source of all things
Whereas Buddhists are more God like themselves when tapping into the source
Obviously there is tons of overlap
Christians work through forgiveness and repentance
To have Christ consciousness born within
Or to put it another way
Overcome the ego so that Christ himself can be born again from within
Regardless of your mode or belief
What is important is to relate to the spiritual realm
To seek connection beyond the ego
Or the mind
Or thinking
And the mechanics of mere survival
But to understand we have a spiritual purpose here
To travel beyond self concern
And be of service to another
4
We understand that we need
Food
Water
And Air to survive
But as these suicide rates soar
And the times we live in become increasingly difficult
Perhaps it’s becoming increasingly clear
We need connection to something higher
Perhaps salvation isn’t just for our souls anymore
But for many of us
It’s for our lives as well.
In the context of communion with a creator
(Whoever that creator is for you)
Suffering becomes a gift
Suffering is God’s coercion into the eternal light
Or a trap door out of the limitations of the mind
And all of its schemes
And if the suffering becomes acute enough
And one can endure it without ending their own life
(Side note there are many ways to end a life without suicide as well, pills, porn and obsession with the whimsy of the flesh can lead to a walking zombie of a life no doubt about it)
If you can endure the suffering
To the point where the only option you allow yourself to have
Is to seek the father
Or be present
To observe the mind and see it for what it is
(Useless babbling in the storm)
The gift of salvation will arise
In fits and starts
With backtracks and missteps
But with dedication and perseverance
Suffering itself will reveal itself to be the biggest blessing
Nothing else would have freed us from the cages of our minds.
So what is the purpose of life?
To big a question to state some kind of firm answer
But my best guess is the purpose of life is to commune with the father
And to allow him to be born within
In a kind of cleansing of these battered souls we are born with
And then to help others find a meaning as rich
Kinda like CrossFit for the soul
With God as our personal trainer
Do I know one hundred percent that this is how it is?
No I do not
Am I some kind of guru on the mountain top who has it all figured out?
Hell to the no!
I’m just a fellow human on the battlefield of life sharing my current perspective
But I can say that when I frame my days with this point of view
My life becomes relatively peaceful
With a kind of momentum that is fun
As old demons and limitations fall away
And new visions and revelations and inspirations
Spring up as if from a bountiful garden
And the fear of the futures inevitable sufferings don’t paralyze me
But rather hold promise for deeper connections
To the one who gave me
This unbelievable gift of life.
So if that’s insanity
Let me be insane.