life's purpose?

I read an article in the papers today. It was written by a spiritual guru – the reason I actually read all of it was because it had none of that moralizing, holier-than-thou attitude I dislike. The topic was simple enough only the view was new to me. The writer talked about how everyone at some stage of their life ponders the purpose of their existence.

Now I have frequently done that and have never come up with a remotely acceptable answer. I constantly lament the passing years and my inability to find my inherent talent so that I can pursue it and enrich my somewhat (!) incomplete existence. The article started off with the statement that life has no purpose. We have no purpose. Our work, be it big or small does not by itself give life any purpose. Our mistake lies in attributing something consequential to our existence.

Life by itself is sufficient cause for celebration. The reason for it need not be pondered at all. The living of life actively is the true purpose. The anxiety to search for a purpose comes about because we are not truly living our lives to the fullest. He went on to say that sensory perception which is the only way we view the world, is partial and cannot be used to grasp at the meaning of life. If we can view only parts of everything we see such as grains of sand or the road ahead, then how do we view life as it is meant to be viewed? The answer lies in opening the inner eye or in being able to go inward, into our true selves so that our perception is expanded.

I cannot claim to understand all of what I’ve just written – I’ve merely restated what I read but it is intriguing to look at a familiar problem differently. What if we all accept that there is no purpose to life and stop stressing ourselves to go somewhere, be something before we turn 30 or 40 or 50? What if we go through life in a relaxed fashion, the way we would go to a party not obsessing about the reason we are there but just enjoy ourselves? Would we be happier and live our lives better? Maybe we would – its definitely worth trying…