What’s the point?

What’s the point?

For eons man has, and will continue to ask, of himself, and each other: What is the point? Of, anything. You can fill in the blank with a current work project, a sports contest, or life in general. So, today, we’ll take the longest view, and ask: What IS the point of … Humanity?

In Dawkins’ River out of Eden it is purported that the successful passage of DNA, or the language of evolution is Life’s goal, for US. Should this become our goal? Should the goal of ANY force from outside ourselves become our own? Yet, isn’t this the typical occurrence? Whether our parents, schools, churches or governments it seems many of us take up the work of another.

If the work is satisfying or fulfilling to an individual’s needs, why not stop there? Again, it seems many do. Maybe for certain individuals this will suffice. Maybe the work of the Father, truly is the work of the Son. Similar bodies, and minds may be suited for, even predisposed to certain things. Examples are everywhere: politics, sports, trades. Indeed, this seems to be the root of the ‘Family Business’ concept.

Where one may dream to inherit such an institution, others dread. We never had a family business; a blessing to me. Even when I decide on something I want to achieve, staying power or grit can be hard to come by. Upon completion I am not always eager to start a similar road again, as is the case in much work. Such instances cause me to ask: What is the point? In other words, how can I ‘Self-Actualize’ (or fulfill the latest buzz term) when my ‘Self’ is not static?

A few months ago, I stumbled on an old(er) Y-Combinator post about NOT doing what you love (that I cannot seem to find again). Essentially the point was: What you LOVE, changes. YOU change. I have never been able to get an answer from the ‘What would you do if money didn’t matter’ question. My answer is too variable. One day it would be take a run or a hike, another a nap, yet another drink a beer. Frequently these answers don’t (directly, OR indirectly) create value from me, to the external world. They become self-serving, selfish, or even self-deprecating. (A notable exception may be this Blog?)

So, I keep searching. I wake day after day (I have a 9-5er now) and go, search, question, repeat. I have never been too keen on deadlines, I have always liked projects. When there’s a ‘problem to solve’ or ‘goal to achieve’ sometimes that in itself can drive me. Even the mundane. I have worked in trades and thought back to the joy of simply ‘finishing.’ Seeing a completed work is rewarding.

Everyone has a different makeup. Things drive us differently, spark a frenzy or sizzle within us. For some a single spark can ignite a life of work. Some are all spark, no ignition. I feel like I have many chapters. I question if, when they’re put together, they form a book or can be contributory to some greater achievement. Ultimately, I know they will tell some story, that is me. Between these chapters, the filler of life forms a segue. Like the binding of a book: intricately important yet rarely noted. 

Life's Purpose!

Each day a page. Each page another addition to the current chapter. So, then what do the chapters amount to by themselves? Can the hero of our story see himself for what he is?  For a large portion of my life I could not. I would get these moments of clarity. It would feel almost as if I was outside of myself, looking at myself. Glimpses of autonomy and independence. These would quickly evaporate, and there I would be, returning to my dogmatic quest (my job, University classes or whatever). I have heard that we can reinvent ourselves every four years. This idea is sort of based on a high school or college period. The graduate is invariably a different person than the new student was.

I view these sorts of reinventions or emergences as major chapters. In themselves they are often worthy goals, deemed so by ourselves, our families or societies. Left alone they may only amount to a frame on a wall, or a fun photo album. It is only what we do with these chapters that give them meaning. We are to create our own context for our chapters, so that others may make sense of them. To create this context, we must become our own creators. For some, this is seemingly effortless. People create themselves as brands regularly. The best brands constantly reinvent themselves (Bezos, Amazon for example).

The Chapter of Life I am writing now goes something like this:

Q: What is the point of life?

A: To Choose a point, reach it, and repeat.

Q: Why?

A: Self- Fulfillment/Actualization, Give value to the world.

Q: How?

A: Create, Give, Seek, Deliver.

Q: Why, Again?

A: Personally, my major motivation has been my Family. I have a wife and two incredible young daughters. I want my daughters to see that their life should belong to themselves. Not that it should be self-ISH, more self-fulfilling. A happy individual begets happy individuals.

There is a difference between happiness and satisfaction. There’s a difference between happiness and feeling good: That of being good vs. feeling good. For a portion of my life, I was not a bad person but was a person who did not do much good. At least not nearly as much as I could do. One cannot self-actualize without doing as much as they possibly can. Self-Actualization is by definition a maximum achievement.

During most of my 20s I felt good but was not necessarily happy. I was using too much drugs and alcohol. I was not true to myself or my personal relationships. I had fun, took care of myself (some months), took care of my job and community. These ‘basic requirements’ ended up feeling just that way: Basic. The problem? People are not BASIC animals!

So, here we go, writing page after page. Chapters are piling up. Life is happening. I have decided: I am a book binder. I will take the chapters of my life, save them from the cutting room floor. I must bind them into meaningful work. There are many ‘hows,’ many ‘whys,’ or ‘whos.’ Nobody will write our story for us. We come into the world and it is seemingly filled with expectations. Many never see that these were never our own expectations. To give life a point, we must become.  We are to see a goal, within our passion. We are to emerge into that goal, grow with it and use that cycle to create the next. Those who can successfully create a pattern of emergence, growth and new being actualize.

The point is to constantly become.

There IS NO DESTINATION.

How do I sense growth? Uncomfortability.