What is life anyway?

Have I been given life?

Am I the life that was given?

What is my life anyway?

Does life have a purpose?

Does my life have a purpose?

What if life doesn’t have a purpose?

Where did the concept of purpose come from anyway?

There was a time I did not have such a concept.

I lived without wondering what it was adding up to.

I lived without knowing who I was,

What I was,

What I was going to be.

I had no concept of a future.

I did not even know I was “living”.

I simply lived.

As I grew older, I came to be.

I realized I had a name,

An identity,

Many identities.

None of which I really opted for.

You are a X.

X people don’t do that.

Why?

Because it’s a Y people thing.

You are the son of Mr X and Mrs X.

Act like it.

Why?

Stop asking why. Just act.

Actions led to perceptions.

And perceptions had consequences.

Rankings, position, reputation, status.

All had consequences.

I came to know about the concept of "making it"

And simultaneously,

The fear of not making it.

I didn’t know what “making it” meant exactly.

I just knew that my life depended on it.

I knew this because people around me looked at me based on my potential to "make it"

I did not know what becoming a "somebody" was

I just knew whatever I did, I couldn't end up as a "nobody"

Finding a place in this world became the number 1 priority

A world of categories

You had to define yourself

You had to prime yourself

For the world stage.

In the world of categories, Everything and Everyone needed to be labeled

Who are you?

Tell us about yourself…

I am a X. I come from Y. I work at Z. On the weekends, I like to do A, B and C. And occasionally, if I'm feeling up to it, I'll even throw in a D.

The labels became the goal.

As the years go by

The human starts to see himself in this way.

As an interpolation of labels and activities.

He starts to see himself as what he does

Where he works

Who he knows

What he knows

What he has access to

He starts to mould himself

To optimize for these things

To optimize for highly sought-after labels

He finds it hard to do or commit to anything or anyone that cannot be attached to a label.

He finds that he finds it …… unproductive.

He simply cannot leave his bottomline unattended to.

He doesn't want to play the piano

He wants to be known as a world-renowned pianist.

He doesn't want to write books.

He wants to add bestselling author to his collection of accomplishments

He doesn't want to build products.

He wants to be invited as a founder to give talks about why he's a success.

And so on.

Labels over … everything.

The years go by

And the human in the midst of all this

starts to suffocate…

He starts to see what this has done to his thinking

He starts to see what this has done to his relationships

How he fundamentally views other human beings

And how he fundamentally views himself

When I look back

I realize the life I have been trying to live.

A life of noble goals.

Noble goals that aren't mine.

Go to school.

I did.

Be the best.

At what?

It doesn’t matter. Just be the best. Whatever gets attention.

I have spent my life trying to live up to the target.

A never-ending always-moving target.

I have spent my entire life

Reaching

For a bubble.

Seeking to survive.

Seeking to gain relevance.

To what end?

To simply extend the inevitable?

Is all of life simply extending the inevitable?

It is said that death gives meaning to life

It is what makes life an opportunity so to speak

That might be true

Yet, all we do with life is orchestrate how to run away from death

To survive just to keep surviving?

If life is an opportunity,

isn't that the very definition of a waste?

Without making a connection between the ephemeral and the eternal,

Isn't that just spitting in God's face?

Another might reject the premise here.

One might say that death does not make life an opportunity

Life simply comes and goes.

Nothing more to it.

Whatever "more" is attributed to life is just a strategy to bear the weight and toil of living

Meaning is a coping mechanism

Survival is all there is . . .

Perhaps, that might be the truth of it.

Fair enough.

If survival is all there is,

the ultimate survival would be well . . . ultimately surviving.

Conquering the ultimate enemy of life, death.

The ultimate survival would be never having to die.

Or perhaps disidentifying with the entity that dies.

And merging with that which remains eternal.

All religion have hinted at this

Is such a thing possible?

Who knows?

But if all of life is a quest to transcend death

It is imperative to find out.

A failure to do this would be a failure at ultimate survival.

An ultimate failure . . .

Now the question remains

What exactly is IT that is ultimately trying to survive?

Is it soul?

A black-box word

Is it consciousness?

Another black-box word

Is it the concept of a ME?

Can self-concept escape death?

What is this IT that lives through the body?

This IT that unites us all

The basis of our connection

We have different bodies, different minds, patterns of thinking,

things we are good at, things we are not good at

we help each other

we deter each other

In the ever so complex world of intermingling and interconnection

Events causing effects causing events causing effects

What is this IT that lives through us all?

The IT trying to live beyond death, beyond time.

Trying to ultimately survive. . .

Do you feel it?

Whenever there is a beginning, there must be an end.

That which is beyond time, death cannot touch.

What is it within a human being that death cannot touch?