The short answer: Don't take life too seriously.
Here's why...
Deep in the soul of humankind, there is a desire for meaning, purpose, importance. And If you follow my social media, I am always helping people to find a deep spiritual purpose and follow their passion. Yet, now I am telling you to do things which are not serious. Huh?
Look, chasing dreams, creating your individual purpose, it's important...but life is not just about you.
If you die today without having accomplished that lofty goal you set for yourself, nobody in Australia will cry for you, nobody in India will bow their head, people in South America won’t light candles for you.
My meaning is that the business of chasing purpose is a serious game.
Yes, a serious game.
Because you trick yourself into self-importance.
You're so busy working you forget to live! The life you can enjoy exists on an ever receding horizon.
This way, you hold yourself up in the light of who you must be to accept yourself…And never hold yourself under the microscope of the universe's perspective, in which you 1 of a few billion, running around concerned only with itself.
The point is not to say that you are insignificant. The point is to not get too caught up in the drama of your own life story and forget about the story of life.
In my instagram bio it says I help people create clarity, confidence and consistency….and yes, this is what I do, because I have went through the abyss of nihilism first; meaning that I saw myself from the perspective of the universe...looking back at my microscopic self…. and laughed at my troubles, my endeavors, my dreams.
The serious man never returns from the abyss without a grin. Either he doesn’t return, or he returns laughing.
Everything was provincial, fleeting. I was playing the earnest game of seeking/achieving/obtaining. And I do want to help people create an authentic, purposeful, fulfilling life, but never at the cost of clarity, simplicity and light-hearted love of being alive.
One of the wonderful benefits of not taking things too seriously is that you will be let down less, because you are involved in the ongoings of the world but not attached to any specific outcome. If you are attached, you create anxiety trying to get there and fear that it won't happen. When you’re all too involved, not realizing life is a game, you’ll kill for your cause, because you are not sure of your purpose.
I’m going to end with a beautiful concept from philosopher, Alan Watts. He often compared the structures of human enterprise, such as transportation systems, the stock market, the internet...as a kind of dance of the universe. The movement is a playful thing, which sometimes hypnotizes us with its grandeur and complexity.
I am not telling you to withdraw from life like a monk. More like the joker: be involved, but be able to laugh at the world, and more importantly, at yourself.
I promise you, life will take on a new form when you stop holding yourself as the center of the universe. Stop being dead-serious, and begin looking at the world like a child again.
It’s possible.
It's beautiful.
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