Going Nowhere Fast August 21, 2012
Posted by nrhatch in Happiness, Mindfulness.comments closed
The purpose of life is a life of purpose. Simply stated, we need a reason to get up in the morning.
The overriding purpose is sustaining life itself.
We must produce, forage, beg, steal, find, borrow, or buy food, clothing, shelter, and water . . . and find mates for companionship and to ensure the continuation of the species.
Basic needs satisfied, we can choose to be idle. But if we choose idleness, happiness escapes us for purpose eludes us.
This is why the “idle rich” are so seldom happy with their lot in life. They have no real need or reason to get up in the morning if all they will do is consume accumulated resources.
Floating through life devoid of purpose is B~O~R~I~N~G.
So the Paris Hiltons of the world find diversions, and thinly disguised vices, to amuse themselves.
They shop. They lunch. They gossip. They gamble. They gather at clubs, hobnobbing with others of like ilk. They swap mates.
They generate new “needs” (seldom more than desires and wants) to fuel ego gratification through external accolades, applause, and recognition. Bigger houses. Fancier clothes. Faster cars. Private jets and yachts. Jewelry. Art. Furs. Sports Teams. Conspicuous consumption.
They plan outings to the opera or symphony. They don silly hats to watch horses race round the track in circles.
Going nowhere fast.
Like horses stuck in circuituity for perpetuity, they begin to realize, at some level, that they don’t need to be here at all.
With that realization, fat cats and parasites without purpose turn to drugs, legal and illegal, to mask the pain of a purposeless existence. We find them, bloated and dead, in hotel bathtubs or stuck on toilets in Graceland.
Who can blame them? Singing the same songs on different stages for amorphous masses is as pointless as horses racing round in circles . . . going nowhere fast.
The purpose of life is a life of purpose . . . keep reinventing yourself.
Aah . . . that’s better!
The scariest moment is always just before you start. ~ Stephen King
Spirit Lights The Way 