Existential Drama - What is the point of Life?


Yesterday I was totally consumed by existential thoughts – happens once a month usually but of late, the frequency has doubled. The same old repetitive questions are listed below – I am sure you must have thought these multiple times too.
  • ·         What is the point of life?
  • ·         What is truth?
  • ·         Why are we here?
Now, whenever I get stuck in this psychological drama, I am really not sure what to do. Nobody (including myself) has answers to such queries – no matter how much philosophy you read, no matter whether you follow science or religion closely. Mostly, it has to do with faith/belief and I find it very difficult to just have pure blind faith on anybody telling me the usual answers listed below - Science is yet to come up with an answer.
  • ·         God is the only truth, everything else is merely an illusion.
  • ·         We are here to spread love, happiness, make life easier for others, help others etc. etc.
Sometimes I feel being able to have unwavering faith in a particular principle might be an easier way to live life – whether it’s god or wanting to enjoy materialistic pleasures or whatever. A lot of times I feel ignorance is definitely bliss – if ‘thinkers’ don’t find answers to their queries and end up being as confused as ever, isn’t it comfortable to just not have that thinking inclination and just keep on doing what you are doing till you die. Having said that, being able to think is a gift which I wouldn’t forego. I choose confusion over ignorance if those are the only available choices.

The closest I have come to an answer (& I genuinely believe this) – Life is all about perspective. How? Let me give you an example starting with a question.

Q. Is the act of killing a human (who hasn’t done anything to warrant it) right or wrong?

Majority, if not all, would say it’s wrong and immoral.

Now think about 2 countries at war – 2 soldiers who kill each other are both glorified and honored in their respective nations – maybe even getting medals! Mind it – these two men never did anything to warrant death – they are patriotic, hard-working & dedicated individuals each protecting their motherland – the underlying emotion being love! But they are killing machines, no matter how much it’s sugar-coated at the end of it.

In short, 2 individuals partaking in an activity which is inherently classified wrong or immoral and respected, glorified & awarded for the same. How does this even make sense? Perspective!

This means that life is what you think it is. And every other principle like success, peace, happiness etc too. This seemed interesting and I wanted to test it out. The only guinea pig I ever find is myself. So, I have been a hardcore non-vegetarian for most of my life – usually have meat in dinner. I decided to shift to a vegetarian diet and challenge my own notions of – I can’t live without meat. It’s been 2.5 months now and turns out, it doesn’t make a difference. Infact, I feel more energetic, healthier and probably a little happier that a few animals weren’t killed for the sake of my tongue. All I did was read & think about it and consciously change how I viewed food.

One of my last blogs was on – How do you know if you have succeeded? A good friend pinged and told me he had asked his professor in IIT-D the same question and what he had answered didn’t make any sense then but makes a lot of sense now. He said you are successful when you decide you are successful – nothing more nothing less. Again it was a matter of perspective – I kept on thinking about this for a few days and this is probably the best answer to that question!

So think about this and let me know your views while I keep on experimenting and refining my thoughts. I would be glad to discuss this and understand your perspective. J

Signing of for now!

Love,
Aman

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