What is the purpose of Human Existence?
What is the purpose of human existence? As I sit on plenty of fish.com browsing through people I question why I do what I do. How come we need 8 hours of sleep but when we really NEED to wake up for something, it’s usually no problem. I’m Buddhist, so I should be able to define human existence through Buddhist thinking and terminology. But deep down at my core I believe that Buddha would want me to define my human existence through my own path and actions. Sure there is the goal of enlightenment, but there is a whole lot of stuff in between today and perfect enlightenment…or not? Part of me thinks one purpose of human existence is to survive. That’s why I’m so inspired by new technology like Space Based Solar Power and urban farms the technology will help humanity to survive in the years to come. From what I’ve read of the Lotus Sutra and excerpts from the Diamond Sutra I get that life is about not desiring things, that includes enlightenment itself. Could it be by not desiring enlightenment, that we become more enlightened? Now I don’t mean desiring ignorance, but I’m thinking about becoming comfortable with oneness instead of seeking something.
Today I took a nap face down on my stomach and I had an out of body experience. I could see myself. I’m not sure if I was seeing myself sleeping or if I was watching myself in a dream. But I definitely remember thinking to myself that I was outside my own body. I remember being very tired when I took the nap. It was after taking a shower and I felt like I had zero energy. Like I was drained of my own spirit and I needed to rest in order to have it put back in me. But I felt as if my spirit didn’t come from within me. It was almost as if my spiritual energy came from some other place outside like a void or from the universe itself. Yes, I was watching my recharge process happen. Is this process of taking energy from somewhere else part of our purpose? Maybe human beings are nothing more than bipedal trees, planting seeds of mobile energy across the Earth.
Now that I think about it, I bet a big part of the purpose of human existence is not worrying about human existence. But I’m not really worrying about it right now, I ate some brownies and I’m more just mulling it over. I like blogging with you. I feel like we are sharing a connection right now. Part of what I strive for is connection, that can be shared through writing. Sharing is a key to our existence. It’s what makes the whole thing worth while. I loving sharing and debating spiritual things. Some people don’t like debating, but I feel that if we can pull back from our beliefs and not be so personal all the time we can see our beliefs outside ourselves and find out why we believe what we believe. Why do some things strike harder than others spiritually?
I’m listening to Monkey Radio right now. The music is really good. Good writing music. Some people say that there is no real purpose to human existence. That we exist because we evolved this way and when we die that’s it. Just a blip. That just bums me out. Every spiritual experience I’ve ever had makes me think that there is more to us than just blips. Jen made a comment a few days ago that she was a Pisces. That totally made my day! I love that! I want to know what people’s astrological signs are. So what if there are only twelve astrological signs and if everybody had the same reading per sign then that would mean 1/12 of the human population would be going through the exact same relationship and financial issues for that month? Does it matter? It’s fun. It’s fun to know that we have things in common and that there are things that make us special yet similar. For example, I am a Cancer sign. Jen said she is a Pisces. So even tho I’m a crustacean and she’s a fish we both live in the water. How cool is that? Lemme check something…YEP, we are both water signs with the element of water. I had a feeling that was the case.
I don’t think human existence is supposed to be a big serious deal. Think about work and school. There will always be work, or school or something that takes up your time. There is no real avoiding the fact that our society is set up to drain as much time from the day as possible. Take a look at commuting from place to place or eating. Eating and sleeping takes up so much time per day. It’s like we spend most of our time on auto-pilot. And honestly, I’m not sure if that is a good or a bad thing. Auto pilot and cruise control has its place every once in a while. I guess one purpose for human existence could be to enjoy time contemplating human purpose itself. It feels good. Totally not stressful. I’m writing on my laptop on the kitchen table again, but I feel as if I could be writing in a parchment journal on a hill of dandelions on a spring day. There’s a bliss that comes with appreciating humanity that is easily attained by slowing down and being willing to face the pleasant unknown. That’s part of the puzzle. Interpretation. The unknown doesn’t always have to be interpreted as a fearful void. The unknown can be this fuzzy thing that if you don’t stare at anything but you keep your eyes straight and open you see this vortex in your vision. I see it sometimes. It’s as if there is a point where a mirage looks like it is being pulled to a specific place in space. But that point or vertex changes depending on where I’m looking. I saw that vortex once when I had a near-death experience, it was huge. I could see it wherever I looked. But I wasn’t afraid of it. It was almost like I was prepared to see it and it was waiting for me. To this day I really have no idea what that vortex is.
-Tyler