In the absence of any direction and lack of true purpose, one is left with no option but to either make their own way or follow the crowd. It is for the same reason that even when humankind expresses its wishes for peace and harmony, it always finds itself in the world of chaos.
It is unfortunate that those who have recognised the human vulnerability have found a pot of gold. They seek and find every opportunity to capitalise for personal gain, yet present it as if it is for the good of all.
In the absence of meaning and true purpose comes an opportunity for creativity. It is the creativity derived from the notion of ‘what ifs’ and a guess game.
It is the beginning of concepts with which humankind tries to find some sense of foundation to stand on. As much as some of these concepts may be fraudulent, in the absence of anything naturally senseful, they become the norm from which expectations are drawn.
Humankind can get itself out of this chaos and confusion. Yet, it misses because of its obsession with chasing vanity. Every time a child is born, it presents humankind with a new perspective, a new world and a fresh start.
Yet, the preceding generation robs itself of this opportunity by tampering with the path the newcomer has come to pave. The assumption is that the newcomer has no idea of what the world is about and, therefore, must be oriented and familiarised with its environment.
The newcomer is treated as an empty shell who must be filled and tamed to the conditions of its forebearers. This is done in disregard of the fact that the forebearers could be wrong in many ways, and what they may have thought a blessing may become a curse to the next generation.
In these times, trying to find meaning in the meaningless world is not hard to see. It is found almost in every human expression, built on the foundation of vanity. It reveals itself in the rampant identity crisis. In the absence of knowledge of self, we identify ourselves with whatever is trending, “cool” or revered.
It seems as if our efforts to find direction only bring more confusion – and the more we try to find meaning, the more meaningless life becomes. It is just the same as the more we try to find happiness, the more miserable we become – and the more we look for self-worth, the more worthless we feel.
As much as we try to find meaning, one thing is for sure – that no one may truly know what the purpose of life is and that life was meant to have any meaning. For, if we may live without worry of purpose and meaning, we begin to live authentically and naturally without the hindrance of the monkey mind; that just living itself without a search of any kind is the mere purpose of life.
It is this one thing that may eventually relieve humankind from the yoke of its self-imposed suffering.
E-mail: karlsimbumusic@gmail.com
Uncommon Sense is published every Friday in the New Era newspaper with contributions from Karlos Naimwhaka.
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