What if there is no purpose to life?

This question is often asked, but seldom answered. Perhaps out of fear of the foreseeable consequences. Is fame, money, ‘changing the world’, enjoying your life, or being remembered after you’re dead really worth anything? In the end, you’re just the same. Lifeless organic matter.

So what if your existence is pointless? Why continue to live? Maybe because we’ve been brought up to believe that death is irreversible, and since we don’t know any purpose in death either, we can’t really risk exploring the possibilities in death.

Five-step directions for living:

1. Assume that you must live.
2. Assume that you have the ability to believe whatever you want to believe.
3. Find a purpose that you can convince yourself is worthy of living for.
4. Live until purpose is achieved or until you give up on it.
5. Go back to Step 1.

Me Vs. Me

Step 1:
I must live because I have no other option. And I am not too proud to have no other option. I’ve done it before. When I was an infant, I wasn’t too proud to cry when I was hungry and had no other option.

But life’s too time consuming and totally pointless.

Listen to yourself boy – ‘time consuming’?? Do you have somewhere else you need to be? Pointless – Refer to steps 3 and 4.

What if I’ve already done all the living I’m meant to do?

Since when have you allowed yourself to be told you’re meant to do something?

Look who’s too proud now?

Stop being a smartass and listen. There IS NO OTHER BLEEPING OPTION! It’s not a choice. Death has no possibilities. You know that all too well. Remember chemistry? You’ll end up in the ground like all the other carbon chains – without the ability to choose a purpose.

Oh like I’m getting a lot of choices while I’m alive.

Oh shut it! You have so many bloody choices, you’re just too scared to do anything with them.

Okay, what if life is like a game and it’s better to quit when you’re winning? And if I’m not winning, who is? Right?

True champions do not quit when they’re winning, they continue winning until the end. And you’re definitely winning. There. Feel better now?

Alright fine, if it shuts you up, I’ll live.

Step 2:

I definitely have the ability to believe whatever you want me to believe, with all the crap you’ve been feeding me since I was born, I don’t think I’ll ever believe anyone else.

Is that so? Haven’t you bought into all their notions of success? The idiots on the outside who have no idea what it’s like on the inside? And they don’t even have to live with the stench you reek of.

Don’t even get me started… ah forget it! So fine, I bought into their crap, but you let me down often enough didn’t you?

They made you believe I let you down. Get over it you wimp!

And now who’s buying into their notions of acceptable behavior?

Point taken. Now listen, you can believe everything I want you to believe, precisely because I’ve let you down in the past.

So now you agree that you let me down?

See, you don’t have any other choice. You can either be biased towards yourself or spend a lifetime figuring out which of them on the outside is right. Now, the fact that I let you down in the past, means you believed me when I was wrong. Which means… ta da! You can believe me regardless of whether I’m wrong or right! Wait… let me finish.
If you believe someone on the outside, you are bound to doubt them unless you worship them. You wouldn’t do that would you? You wouldn’t worship someone on the outside when you could worship me?

Why not? They seem to have it more figured out than you do… your argument is totally screwed up by the way – the one about me believing you regardless of whether you’re right or wrong.

False pride my dear, false pride. You may have nothing left, but that shall always remain. You can’t worship anyone on the outside – that was carved in stone since you were three. No God but me.

Fine. Wait. What if it’s all this false pride crap that’s made a mess of me?

Do you really believe you’re a mess? You look like crap – agreed. You’re confused and crazy in the head – agreed. Hey!! Stop putting words in my mouth! You are NOT a mess. I know that’s tough to believe. But you aren’t – because you can’t be. There is no such thing as being a mess. There is no mould you have to fit into. You’re from the land of pot-bellied elephant-like Gods, and you doubt your own divinity on account of confusion and a few minor physical asymmetries? “There is no great beauty without strangeness in proportion.” Remember?

Oh yeah I feel like the darn Mona Lisa already! They should hire you as a lobbyist for little Bush you know. Moving on… what’s your point? I gotta have faith in you to get through this crap?

Correctamundo!

Keep Fonzie out of this. Fine. I’ll try it. What else you got?

Step 3:

This here my friend – this is the toughest step in the entire process, and you’re going to have to do this many times, because it is inevitable that you’ll fail the first 100 hundred times. You’ll wake up one day and think it’s all too pointless. And the coward that you are, you won’t even quit when you realize. You’ll drag it through until either it’s done or you can’t go through with it any more. Remember college? Remember your job? It’s going to be tough. But nobody said it was easy to be a God.

There. I knew it. There had to be a catch. You make my life miserable! It’s you! Nobody else! Why do I have to be a God when the rest of them on the outside can be total nin-cum-poops and get away with it? Why can they live all their lives happily not being Gods? Why can’t my life be as easy as theirs?

Who told you they don’t think of themselves as Gods? Remember all the stuff about God being inside all of us – they believe in that God. Their lives are easy huh? How come you end up being agony uncle to half of them you meet then? You’re not in their head. And likewise, they aren’t in yours. So you have to be your own God. You may end up being just like everyone else in every other way except for one – you are in your head and not them. Now stop wasting my time and find me a purpose.

Being the next LeBron James.

You’re 25. Plus, do you really want to work that hard you lazy bum?

Writing books, making movies, running a chain of restaurants.

Alright. Let’s see how long you believe you can keep chasing these dreams.
Start working on the book immediately. Nothing’s stopping you from that. The movies will follow – we’ll make a movie out of the book, and yes, the book will be better. Once you have the money for the chain of restaurants, we’ll think about it.
Plan B: Be a good investment banker like everybody else so that you can afford to buy shoes for the missus.

Methinks I got Plan B covered ya know. I’m feeling pretty good about that. And the book, yes… I’ll get started on ideas for it. Thanks man, this was a lot of help.

Anytime Me, anytime – daddy’s always got time for his little girl.

(Laughs. Coughs “A**hole”)

Step 4:

Lights on the stage get dimmer slowly until there is darkness again.