We build things, roads, bridges, we find solutions when we are faced with problems, we find answers for questions that arise time and then. With every step we take, every new concept we learn, each idea we grasp, there is a inherent need that drives each of these steps. Every step is one towards a future, one that is better and more pleasant than the current one.
But if we take time to observe, to notice the things around us, not only the things directly related to us but things that fall outside of our direct periphery of control, we will see more questions than answers, more problems than solutions. Unfortunately, if we look carefully, even the most crucial elements of our life that fall within our boundary of influence are spiralling out of control.
If we have real answers shouldn’t there be a place in time when problems for which we have already invented a solution, stop arising, at least in relation to that particular thing, topic, field or issue. In short, if there is a problem, we find a solution, but once we have a solution, why does the problem still exist, or gives rise to more problems or takes form of another series of related problems? Is it not a full proof answer to our problems? What exactly are we seeking out then? What purpose do our daily efforts serve? Or is it just a hasty cover-up to mask the real problem?
U.G. Krishnamurti was an Indian thinker known globally for his inquiry of the very existence of the every single human-constructed system, and even the fundamental faculty of thought. He precisely quoted,
There has been no qualitative change in man’s thinking; we feel about our neighbours just as the frightened caveman felt towards his. The only thing that has changed is our ability to destroy our neighbour and his property.
Though we might not go as far as damaging someone’s property, being the civilized lot we are now, we do often refrain much interaction out of some preformed notion which arises from our habitual ability to judge and compare others with a set of profiles we categorize people into based on their appearance and outer behaviour.
The fact is that we don’t want to be free. What is responsible for our problems is the fear of losing what we have and what we know. All these therapies, all these techniques, religious or otherwise, are only perpetuating the agony of man. The plain fact is that if you don’t have a problem you create one. If you don’t have a problem you don’t feel that you are living.
Essentially, one sole purpose of life or goal we share is to live, coexist, not just anyhow, but with the most essential factor-happiness. All this work- the efforts, daily activities, the pursuits- is inherently geared towards building a life of happiness, and from another perspective- trying to not die of boredom. The more joy we know we can get, the more things we build so that we can feel it, measure it, quantify it and reassure us by attaching it to those things, which makes believing in the possibility of attaining them more possible and less uncertain.
The more we get, the more we want, growth in terms of materialism then becomes an unending cycle of greed. So then we attach value to things such as character, passion, purpose, meaning, happiness, in an attempt to mitigate the inevitable end of our physical being, now or thirty years from now.
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