What It Means To Be Human: Existential Dread.
In the lives that we live, some days present a struggle for one to summon the motivation to seize the day. The challenges that we may face require a strong side of us to appear if we are to emerge victors. In that moment, or moments after, have you ever asked yourself ‘why bother?’ When you look to the activities that constitute your everyday life such as work, school, family, etc., you find that most of your time, that is what your life is about. Think about the times when you get to do that which nourishes your spirit, activities like pleasure reading, exercising, painting, listening to music or travel, you find that this gets a small fraction of our time in general. But that’s alright, yes, we have to make a living. But, humor me here, what use is existence if all it amounts to is a being occupying a redundant role and being later replaced once their use is exhausted; you, being the sophisticated being that you are, live only to play as an actor in a never-ending drama with no tangible purpose. This is a line of thought that forms the foundation for existential dread.
Considering a much in-depth perspective, I pictured the life of an average Joe. Joe is born, begins to grow, and eventually gets enrolled in school. Joe keeps on growing (well, obviously, unless he’s got Benjamin Button’s) attains his government registration number which goes by so many different names depending on where you’re from, all the while, he’s progressing in his academics. Joe goes on to attend higher learning and eventually graduates. He gets a job and begins putting in work. He starts a family with his sweetheart and with time their family grows. Joe advances in age and soon he can no longer work. He retires and enjoys the rest of his life with his partner, till one day, Joe dies; his chapter closes. Most lives share a similar, if not exact route. However, one thing is common, life is lived like a walk through a tunnel. A journey through a monochromatic alley that has brief moments of colorful flashes which seem to be enough to keep one going.
I have come to believe that we have been conditioned. From our early years, as soon as our minds can grasp any knowledge, we are introduced to the order of how we ought to live for the rest of our lives. Schools are fashioned in such a way that they prepare us for certain roles in society. This is our part to play; our price to pay for the opportunity to exist on earth. Take a moment to consider the lives of those who, by some unfortunate event, have no role in society. They are not regarded with a kind thought. Sadly, even those they can turn to, their family and friends, usually want nothing to do with them. But, are people ever completely useless? Visualize a situation where five participants; four monkeys and a fish are given a task to climb a tree, only four of those participants will complete that task. Does that mean the fish ought to be discarded? Fair enough, that fish won’t be needed for tree scaling missions, but why not using his abilities for some other cause? There is a purpose in all beings, the hurdle we face is the society we have built. We live machine lives that always seem to run on a code synonymous to a line from the song bittersweet symphony by the verve, “try to make ends meet, you’re a slave to the money, then you die.”
Most people dread finding out when they come to die that they have never really lived
-Henry David Thoreau-
In the world that we live in, it is easy to raise your hands in surrender to the idea that what becomes of you as a person is beyond your control. That the systems that govern our world are only in favor of the 1%. In the efforts that we make to break out of the norm, we encounter many obstacles right up to the time we think it is not worth it anymore and we fall back in line. True, sometimes, it is easier to just sit back, punch in your hours and clock off; the same thing the next day. You keep your head down away from the ever-watchful eye of the powers that be. Honestly, there is nothing wrong with that. The problem only rears its ugly face if you decide to cage yourself in and consider that to be what defines your life.
Sometimes, we feel trapped in the lives we lead because our minds know better. Our subconscious has its way of telling us what we are lacking, and there is no way of hiding from it. We can pretend and try to repress it, but it eventually erupts. Our minds are always on the look-out for what is going to bring us happiness up until our time on earth is over. And when that day comes, may our thoughts not be in line with the words of American philosopher, poet, and naturalist, Henry David Thoreau, “most people dread finding out when they come to die that they have never really lived.” To live a full life includes everything from the moments we discover our purpose and fulfill it and the moments we live through that take our breath away. We are wired differently, which means we all have a specific cocktail of activities that bring bliss to our souls; pursue that unapologetically. It doesn’t have to be a popular activity, it doesn’t have to make sense to others, it only has to bring happiness to you.
Life is meant to be lived, not endured. Let us look deep within ourselves, find the inner child that skipped over rainwater puddles, ran through bushes, climbed trees, danced in a parking lot, had fun with friends, stopped to admire flowers, was fascinated by the night sky, and sang along at the top of his/her lungs with no worry about being off-key; that is what we need to get back to.
