Yes, it’s a huge, and some might argue unhelpfully, existential question…I know and yet, if now isn’t the time to ask it with all the chaos and self-imposed destruction, then when would be?
As someone with a spiritual philosophy or set of principles through which I can view the physical world as well as the ‘invisible’ world of, for example, energy and intuition, I feel very blessed and enabled in reflecting on the purpose of life here on earth. I can hold some knowing about it, I can sense something bigger at play, and I can make a stab at my place and responsibility within that.
What if we don’t have that framework? How do we reflect on the question about the purpose of life – of why we exist and the fundamental value of each person’s contribution. Regardless of our underpinning philosophy I would pretty much guarantee that we would all agree it’s not about destroying each other or the earth. So, if it isn’t about destruction how do we answer the question about what it is?
Sparked by a recent newsletter that I receive which called for a return to our roots, I’ve been reflecting on that and how, as a concept, it might help us all lift ourselves out of our current global state and toward something more uplifting and fundamentally life-giving. What might we gain from a deeper connection with our roots? What type of roots are we thinking about?
Here are some that strike me as valuable:
Our connection with the greater universe of which we are a part. The ancient civilisations had a deep respect for the cycles of the Universe and how they affect the way we live – from crop planting and harvesting to some of the more subtle signals from planets and energy forces through astrological, meteorological and astronomical lenses. For many this can feel like a stretch and yet science, and indeed life itself (think pandemics) is showing us daily, just how interconnected we are within the wider system and that our excessive attempts to impose our own will and controls over our planet are, by and large, now leading to destruction, scarcity, fear, illness at a rate outstripping scientific advancement.
A willingness to consider the process of evolution – not as a biological concept such as Darwinism but as an evolution of consciousness. In other words that we, Humanity, are called upon to grow, to evolve not just in material, technological, economic or industrial terms but in terms of our deeper awareness and connection with a higher field of wisdom and understanding – and this will in turn give us deeper insights and connection with the purpose of life here on earth. And that by virtue of that we may be able to see, sense, know a more enriching response to the bigger questions of life and indeed how we choose to live it – leading to different choices.
And, if we see the purpose of life as something fuelled through the heart, through the lens of love, then we open to building a completely different global culture to the one we are creating today. Love is about a deep connection with ‘fire’ – just as Teilhard de Chardin reminds us “Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.” ‘Harness for God the energies of love’ – here we see that love isn’t the sentimental love that we typically consider,
though this is important too, but a deep love for all living things, a creative force that is generative and life giving – just as the physical fire was for prehistoric man and ultimately all of Humanity.
So, making no apologies for these more esoteric considerations, I invite us all to open to the highest purpose of all, the purpose of Life.