Sunday, August 30, 2009
Why Do we Do What We do? (Or: The Flea, The Mite and The Tse-Tse Fly)
What is the purpose of our living?
Life simply IS. The breath of it resides in organisms microscopic and macro...we are the world, but so is a flea....everything being relative, the flea, the mite, the tse-tse fly "believe" they are alone in the Universe. We think the Cosmos revolves around us? Well, so do the flea, the mite an the tse-tse fly.
Whenever we forget that - and we forget it all the time - we run the risk of genuine hubris...foolish arrogance....and the blindness that creates makes us even more foolish than we naturally are. God laughs at our slightest plan, but he really gets hysterical when we forget our place in it all, and ,except that it kills people, our foolishness is indeed worth a divine laugh or two.
So - what's the point? What the hell is the point?
Let's say , for the sake of this "conversation" , it's all a game and we all want to win it. So , the point is winning ,right? What constitutes "winning"? Who is keeping score? and how do we score? What constitutes a "slam dunk"?
Changing another person's life so that that person experiences being closer to the larger Cosmos, part of a larger, more sensible whole: being part of something Big....that, to me, is what a "Home Run" means in this game of Life: transforming another's experience and/or perception of Life....so that, eventually, we all learn to live together in the only way that matters: CREATING by COLLABORATING.
The stars do it, the planets and circling heavenly orbs of all sorts...they do it...in fact the Universe does it, in ways that still baffle the greatest scientists: it's all about COLLABORATION AND CREATION. We are here to collaborate and create...and it's not that Anybody is looking to see if we're doing it.
The proof is in the pudding of staying alive: the proof is existential: in order to be, we need to create and collaborate...if we don't, we are gone. Truly gone. And no amount of discussion, thinking or blogging about it all will matter because our existence will be history: we will be no more.
And this is as true on the most minute levels of existence as it is on the most gigantic , and on all levels in between. We must create and collaborate or we are gone. Gone from a marriage, gone from a job, gone from a community, gone from a country, gone from life.
THerefore: we must do what most frees us, enables us, demands of us that which allows for maximum creation and collaboration.....and each one of us knows instinctively what that is, which is why some people are plumbers, some are actors, others are business moguls, etc....we go where we are most needed. ANd if we find the right thing we know we need to do, then we put up with any amount of pressure, quibbling, disagreement and pain because we know it's all there to free us, teach us, test us and groom us for our larger abilities. It all seems so clear to me on this Sunday morning.
The flea, the mite, the tse-tse fly and us: we play to win.
Life simply IS. The breath of it resides in organisms microscopic and macro...we are the world, but so is a flea....everything being relative, the flea, the mite, the tse-tse fly "believe" they are alone in the Universe. We think the Cosmos revolves around us? Well, so do the flea, the mite an the tse-tse fly.
Whenever we forget that - and we forget it all the time - we run the risk of genuine hubris...foolish arrogance....and the blindness that creates makes us even more foolish than we naturally are. God laughs at our slightest plan, but he really gets hysterical when we forget our place in it all, and ,except that it kills people, our foolishness is indeed worth a divine laugh or two.
So - what's the point? What the hell is the point?
Let's say , for the sake of this "conversation" , it's all a game and we all want to win it. So , the point is winning ,right? What constitutes "winning"? Who is keeping score? and how do we score? What constitutes a "slam dunk"?
Changing another person's life so that that person experiences being closer to the larger Cosmos, part of a larger, more sensible whole: being part of something Big....that, to me, is what a "Home Run" means in this game of Life: transforming another's experience and/or perception of Life....so that, eventually, we all learn to live together in the only way that matters: CREATING by COLLABORATING.
The stars do it, the planets and circling heavenly orbs of all sorts...they do it...in fact the Universe does it, in ways that still baffle the greatest scientists: it's all about COLLABORATION AND CREATION. We are here to collaborate and create...and it's not that Anybody is looking to see if we're doing it.
The proof is in the pudding of staying alive: the proof is existential: in order to be, we need to create and collaborate...if we don't, we are gone. Truly gone. And no amount of discussion, thinking or blogging about it all will matter because our existence will be history: we will be no more.
And this is as true on the most minute levels of existence as it is on the most gigantic , and on all levels in between. We must create and collaborate or we are gone. Gone from a marriage, gone from a job, gone from a community, gone from a country, gone from life.
THerefore: we must do what most frees us, enables us, demands of us that which allows for maximum creation and collaboration.....and each one of us knows instinctively what that is, which is why some people are plumbers, some are actors, others are business moguls, etc....we go where we are most needed. ANd if we find the right thing we know we need to do, then we put up with any amount of pressure, quibbling, disagreement and pain because we know it's all there to free us, teach us, test us and groom us for our larger abilities. It all seems so clear to me on this Sunday morning.
The flea, the mite, the tse-tse fly and us: we play to win.
Post a Comment