Think Better, please

I had a short but revealing discussion the other day. It may have been yesterday. In which I came upon my philosophical shortcomings. Indeed, if you were to ask me Why (insert anything), I’d probably have a smart-ass answer and a laugh, then go back to worrying about my money and planning my daily itinerary, grumpily stamping my way through the daily motions, confident that my efforts will lead to a higher station and a better life, someday.

This led to a pondering of purpose – not just generally, but overall. What is the purpose of this life, that I seem so predetermined to lead? Why am I here in this place? What the hell do I hope to accomplish with this fleeting gift of consciousness? And why haven’t I thought about this in… years?

Of course we are assuming, like most of my generation does, that religion is not the answer. God is for old people. We prefer to die alone, cold and lost. (Or maybe we just don’t ever expect to die). Or maybe, as our bodies degrade and death becomes close, we will scramble back to the comforts of the religion that we left in our parents’ homes. Am I moving this topic around too much?

Back to the pondering of life. And my former beacon of admiration, the stoic Marcus Aurelius:
“For a man can lose neither the past nor the future; for how can one take from him that which is not his? So remember these two points: first, that each thing is of like form from everlasting and comes round again in its cycle, and that it signifies not whether a man shall look upon the same things for a hundred years or two hundred, or for an infinity of time; second, that the longest lived and the shortest lived man, when they come to die, lose one and the same thing.” (Meditations, book II, 14)

You’ll be damned if that isn’t blowing your mind. Because you and I, we don’t think about these kinds of things every day. Hell, we don’t even get close.

There seems to be a general lack of thought. A general lack of intelligent dialogue, even between intelligent people. And this perplexed me. Because in our age when everything can be done so quickly and efficiently, why should there not be time or energy to ponder the Universe? To question the way things work, to challenge the political system, to progress society in an idealistic way?

Perhaps a book could be commissioned to answer these questions. Because I cannot here answer them, not in my present state.

So, I implore you people, whoever might read this. Go read something meaningful. Let its wisdom cascade over you. And then, think about it. Think hard and deep.