Why am I here?
During these past 25 years of my life, I’ve often wondered about the purpose of our existence, in simpler words, why are we here? I’ve wondered about whether there is IN FACT, a purpose of our existence? If there is one, can it be found? And whether we, as individuals, will ever find it. In other words, I wonder about THE Truth about us, about me.
Of course, growing up we’re all fed multiple narratives about how to place ourselves in our surroundings; in our world. Many of them claim to have ultimate explanations that have some rational metaphysical impetus, others quite frankly fall short. However, pick any of them or all of them, they remain fundamentally unverifiable. Whether it’s one extreme or another, no one can claim to “know” THE Truth about our situation (collectively).
I hate to clout farm by bringing other people into this, but when Socrates was recognized by the oracle of delphi as the wisest of all the Greeks, he responded: “The ancient Oracle said that I was the wisest of all the Greeks. It is because I alone, of all the Greeks, know that I know nothing.”
I think that if Socrates lived today, he would likely have been disappointed. We seem to live in a world where everybody is always certain and nobody is willing to concede that they might be wrong. It seems that it’s more vital to have any old opinion than to truly understand the contents of that opinion.
Somehow, we have decided that it’s okay to hold beliefs based on blind affiliation rather than rigorous critical thought. And if you don’t take a side right away, well, then you are to be shunned or to be labelled as ignorant.
Everything that we see and observe around us is an approximation of sorts. Our senses only take in a small fraction of the available information in our environment, and our brains consciously process an even smaller part.
There are smells around that we physically can’t smell, there are sights to witness beyond the wavelength that our eyes operate in, there are sounds to be heard that we will never fully hear, and there are influencing thoughts in our subconscious mind that, in many ways, we can’t even begin to relate to. This is on a very fundamental level. If we add in the complexity brought on as a result of our interactions with the world through the systems and ideologies we have in place, it’s even more unlikely that we have any sort of complete knowledge.
None of us can ever gauge the truth of our beliefs, or to be accurate even if we are, we are accidentally, and we never know when that is. Certainty is an illusion, and there is no shame in being wrong because, by nature, our entire perception of the world could very well be wrong. Over time, we progress and thrive in our surroundings by being less wrong. We feel around, we test, and we question ourselves until something works. Uncertainty isn’t a condition to be avoided, but a condition to be used for better decisions.
This brings me to the purpose of this post, I know it’s confusing for all of us to place ourselves in this confusing little world, in this bubble of reality, where we ignore the questions that we ask of ourselves. We might NEVER know why WE (as a collective) are here, but I can tell you what, IF there is a reason why each of us is individually here, it’s not that hard to imagine what that reason/purpose could be. We are all unique individuals, sure we share some things with some people and other things with others but no 2 people are exactly the same, which makes me wonder, if we’re all different, perhaps some part of our purpose is different as well. Maybe we’re meant to be different. Maybe, maybe not. As I said, I don’t know. But hey, if there was a reason for our existence, there would also be a reason for why we’re unique.
Given that, I don’t understand the whole “trying to fit in” bit. Why are you trying to fit in? Why are you trying to be some Tom, Dick or Harry?** Why then do you end up complaining that there’s too much competition? Maybe when we try to “fit in” we’re deceiving ourselves, telling ourselves and everyone else, lies about our ‘self’. At the very least, we’re not telling the truth of ourselves.
You’re probably meant to be YOU, whatever that means. The point is, focus on what makes you unique, polish the skills that make you different from everyone else, chances are there are probably fewer people who can compete with you there and I think you’ll find more purpose in life trying to be you, because if there is a reason you’re unique, where else would it be? As I said earlier, we’ll never (at least in the scope of this space and time) know the complete Truth about us, or if there is one; but if there is one, we might be able to discover at least a part of it, the part that tells us why we’re different, but we’ll have to LIVE that truth to learn it. We’ll have to be us to discover the truth. YOU will have to be YOU.
Probably, I mean, who knows…
*Some part of this post was influenced by an article from Zat Rana.
**No offence to Tom, Dick and Harry
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