We tend to think of life as a straight line,
Or maybe more as a ladder in which we climb from one step to the next,
Getting higher and higher,
Better,
Richer and happier,
Until it hopefully reaches a top level of goodness where we can finally feel completely fulfilled and then die in peace.
So in this picture,
Life looks like a game,
Where you earn points and trophies while you're upgrading on your way to somewhere.
Because the thing is,
There's always a new somewhere to be,
A new reward to get.
It is about unflinchingly staring at a distant point into the future,
Always wishing to get there faster and by any means.
In this perspective,
Why ever stop rushing since your given time is nothing but a means to an end?
Why ever enjoy now when the future seems brighter?
Why be content with what we have when we can have more?
Why love yourself today when you can be better tomorrow?
But if not now,
Then when?
As soon as you realize this,
You set yourself free.
We live in a world that is driven by a mirage.
The more you think you're getting there,
The more it vanishes from your sight.
The more you achieve,
The more there is to achieve.
The more you climb,
The higher the ladder becomes.
There is no end,
Therefore you are not going anywhere.
You are still in your initial position,
Right where you started,
At the bottom of your unsatisfaction,
Where you look forward to a promising somewhere else.
So what is the point of trading our present moments for the sake of an ideal future that never comes?
Paradoxically,
While we obsess about climbing the ladder,
Improving and leveling up,
We are more stagnant than ever.
Since we feel we ain't good enough right now,
We procrastinate,
We wait to get started with what really matters to us.
Now never seems the right time.
Since we have come to believe that we will only truly flourish on that mythical future day,
Which is far away in the distance,
We don't feel ready just as we are.
We feel that we ain't enough,
Because we think that we haven't earned enough,
Since we define ourselves in terms of acquisitions,
In terms of the trophies that we collect in this lifelong,
Exhausting game that we're playing.
And the more you have,
The more you need,
So enough never comes.
What if life wasn't a ladder?
Wasn't hierarchical?
Wasn't about getting up or down?
What if there was no destination?
What if every moment was the destination?
What if the journey was the point of it all?
What if there was nowhere to go?
Well,
You might think,
That is depressing.
You've got to have goals in order to live an interesting life.
Otherwise,
What's the point of living?
Alan Watts made an enlightening analogy about it.
He asked,
What's the point of music?
He pointed out that when you listen to a song,
You don't do it in order to hear the end note,
Otherwise bands and orchestras would rush to get to the end.
And the best musicians would be those who play the fastest.
And the best composers would write only finales.
And we would all sit there just to hear one big end note,
Which by the way would be nothing but noise,
Since without the previous notes,
It wouldn't be music.
Alan Watts also mentioned dancing.
The point of the dance is not to reach the other corner of the room.
It is simply the dance itself.
And that goes on with life.
Life is a dance.
Life is music.
The point of life is life itself.
Life is a piece of art.
Life is in no way whatsoever a pretext to get to some happy ending,
Like a tool used for a purpose which is other.
There is no known practical reason for life to go on.
Yet,
We are here,
And we wanted to go on,
For the sake of it,
For the adventures of today,
And for those yet unknown.
You are alive right now.
You are perfect right now.
You have everything it takes to do whatever you want.
There are no limitations.
There is no valuable reason to not do right now what feels right to you.
Let us just not be driven by a false feeling of emptiness that makes us trade our true wealth for a vague ideal that keeps changing while you change.
I'll end that on one last way of putting things out.
Remember when you once wanted something very much,
And you thought,
If only I can have that,
Then everything's gonna be perfect,
And I won't need anything more,
And I'll finally be satisfied and happy,
Happily ever after,
Like the characters in the cheesy end of a Disney movie.
But then you got that thing after a little while,
Whether it was love,
A job,
Kids,
A degree,
Or the brand new car you were dreaming of,
It doesn't matter.
You got it,
And it turned out not to be enough,
Because the feeling of emptiness targeted somewhere else,
There's always a new hole to fill when we're stuck in the infinite ladder game.
In his book Zen Buddhism,
Alan Watts explains that the feeling of an actual amelioration is relative,
Since it is perceptible only in moments of contrast.
He compares it to when we change our position on an uncomfortable bed.
The new position is better than the preceding one for only as long as the contrast subsists,
But soon enough we find it as uncomfortable as the ones before.
So discomfort is necessary in order to feel the relief of what we call comfort.
Just like discomfort emerges from comfort,
We ultimately seek discomfort in order to chase after more comfort,
But then it goes on and on again.
How crazy is that?
So everyone,
That was my message of the day.
Have a nice one.
