The Agony of Birth

I often wonder what keeps people going, what drives them to continue on the self perpetuating grind called life that has no beginning nor an end. While there is an end to the grind physically, known as death, it is most certainly is not welcomed into the grind, the planning of the grind, or even taken into account when considering the goals of the grind itself. The grind is perpetuated by the fear of the end of the grind.

This behavior almost seems foolish, as if one were trying to coin himself the best human so that he looks good in his casket. Living to not die is not living at all. Living only to avoid death makes your entire life pointless, because no one has ever succeeded. Living only for temporary gratification is also foolish, because change is imminent. The important thing is just to live. Enjoy the ride as it comes because what happens is the only thing that could have happened. Living does not need a motive or a purpose its just what we do. Like waves that rise and fall, people come and go, live and die. Life changes and things happen, and a lot of the things we are taught to label as "good" or "bad" only hold merit when death it taken into account as a terrible thing that must be avoided at all costs.

For the most part, we are conditioned by society and told what to do, how to think and act. So much of what we do, think, and even eat goes unquestioned by a vast amount of people. People get caught up in the grind of society, one thing always leading to the next; high school to college, college then off to your "career". However, people often don't take the time to think, "why am I on this grind?"

After removing nearly all man made labels and contexts, the question, "why am I on this grind" becomes exactly the same question as, "Why do I exist?" Some people find themselves asking this question when their occupation doesn't seem interesting any more of they are fired from their job. When someone looses a spouse or a close relative, people often find themselves asking the same question. When the things that we deem most important and deer to us are taken away, we begin asking the, "why does anything matter," question because not only do these attachments keep our attention away from the question, but they are temporary, man made answers to question itself.

We get hooked on these attachments, whether they be mental or physical, and they become the grind within themselves. But we often forget there is always a bigger picture, something larger then what most people even care to care about. People instead choose a symbolic, token belief system that is spoon fed to us as children to deter us from asking the question. When shit hits the fan there is something to blame, something to hope for, and someone to pray to. But these belief systems just continue to reinforce the grind, and just push the question off by comforting people with eternity in another life instead.

Sometimes I ask religious people, what part of them do they believe is going to go to heaven. While their responses always vary, most of the time believers will say, "their soul." With science today we know that all "we" are is a chemical balance of our body parts working together to create the experience we consider "ourselves." Our dualistic language combined with our memories help us to create an experience that makes people feel as if they are in charge of themselves, when in reality, we are ourselves and everything that creates this "something piloting a body" illusion. We are harbored by the environment, which itself is mutually arising with us, because that is the way things are. Without the environment we would not exist, so how can you argue it is not apart of us just because it exists outside of our physical body.

No matter what way you look at it the universe has manifested itself into the present moment; whatever you are perceiving at this given moment. Everything is part of It and separations only exist in our minds as labels; useful tools for exploring the world around us. Just looking at the present as the goal itself is the only wise way to live life, because the want for something that you don't have or can't obtain is only a mere tool, a thought or emotion used to help us obtain that thing in the future.

However, outside of being a tool these urges and wants are not only useless, but almost hysterical and insane! The repeated want of something you don't have can almost be viewed as borderline insanity, yet this is the way people are conditioned in our society; to want, get, want, get until we see that the mountain we have been climbing doesn't have a peak, but rather the entire mountain was the peak. This experience we had been looking for was always there but it was botched, and the climb was unpleasant and tiring because we always thought that we would eventually get what we were looking for.

However, what anyone is looking for is always available! You don't need anything to make you happy; the wise man is happy without reason. Our capacity to realize that this stupid grind is worthless, pointless and only can lead to death actually leads to the realization that the grind is worth while and meaningful. The fact that as humans we can understand that death is inevitable and survival is not imperative, gives us the ability live life in a way that is freeing and peaceful. Knowing that life is not so serious, and not to be taken so seriously; that life is something to enjoy, ride along with, and relax into because when it comes down to it, nothing really matters! When we finally understand that survival is not imperative we can start living to live; or in other words living to play.