Everyone Loses, No-One Wins
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Why are we here?
I don't mean that rhetorically; I'm actually interested in the answer. As far as I can tell, the end result of everything we do is that we're all going to die. Our individual destiny, at least on this world, is worm-food and there's not a lot any of us can do to change it.
I'm working on an MBA. Why? As I'm studying I'm reading about people give everything for success; people who work eighty, or one hundred, or one hundred twenty hours a week. I'm trying to figure out why. What if (and I'm hypothesizing here) we all just lowered our standards, chilled out, and sat cross-legged on a mountain-top until we starved to death. The end result would be the same (that being death) but with a lot less effort in there.
I think our reason for being can be summed up in four words: To survive and perpetuate. Those two nifty infinitives define humanity. Unfortunately, with the surviving and perpetuating comes an unfortunate byproduct: people seem to find more interesting and efficient ways of killing each other.
I really hope that there's something greater in the universe; I really pray that there is because if this is it, this crawling through the mud trying not to get killed and hey, maybe make a quick buck on the side while we ponder where we want to be buried... I don't know.
I just don't know.
I don't mean that rhetorically; I'm actually interested in the answer. As far as I can tell, the end result of everything we do is that we're all going to die. Our individual destiny, at least on this world, is worm-food and there's not a lot any of us can do to change it.
I'm working on an MBA. Why? As I'm studying I'm reading about people give everything for success; people who work eighty, or one hundred, or one hundred twenty hours a week. I'm trying to figure out why. What if (and I'm hypothesizing here) we all just lowered our standards, chilled out, and sat cross-legged on a mountain-top until we starved to death. The end result would be the same (that being death) but with a lot less effort in there.
I think our reason for being can be summed up in four words: To survive and perpetuate. Those two nifty infinitives define humanity. Unfortunately, with the surviving and perpetuating comes an unfortunate byproduct: people seem to find more interesting and efficient ways of killing each other.
I really hope that there's something greater in the universe; I really pray that there is because if this is it, this crawling through the mud trying not to get killed and hey, maybe make a quick buck on the side while we ponder where we want to be buried... I don't know.
I just don't know.
posted by Burton at 10:32 PM
2 Comments:
As an atheist, I've certainly pondered the same question. The conclusion I came to was: to enjoy the ride. Which is why I quit my job a couple weeks ago. I have always tried to live my life according to this principle: I only get to do this once. I will never get today back. So I try never to do anything I will regret, looking back on. NEVER live for tomorrow, always for today. It sounds like you were miserable at what you were doing, so you're pursuing a change to make yourself happy. So you're probably on the right track!
Reminds me of a line from Wonderfalls;
"They all work really hard every day, and they're dissatisfied. I can be dissatisfied without hardly working at all."
Post a Comment
<< Home