Why It All Matters

What is the purpose of it all? 

Why does anything we do matter? 

What is the purpose of this blog, of working, of living?

Yeah, I hear ya! I'll be honest: I most likely won't answer those questions, at least not all of them, in a manner that suits you or makes you happy. So if you are expecting that, maybe you should just stop reading now. Maybe you should just go back to whatever you usually do with the time you are spending now to read this blog. But perhaps you won't and you will give me a shot to express my points to you. Perhaps this blog will become your favorite blog, or even give you exactly the insight you need. Wouldn't that be awesome?

What difference will it make?

How will it change my life?

Why shouldn't I just continue living as I do now?

Again, those are questions I may or may not answer. Make a decision right now to keep reading or not. I won't offer it to you again. From here on, I give you what I have and what I think and you can decide to appreciate it or not. I won't make amends for not appeasing you or satiating your thirst for answers to the infinite questions life poses to us. What I will do is try to express how I have begun to be appeased and how my own thirst for truth has been continuously more satiated and brought me closer to Truth. So here goes...

Why It All Matters

Let me begin by defining some terms.

It : the things we do, say, and think 

(which I believe forms us into who we are and continue to become)

Matters : Has meaning to it 

(so in this case, who we are and who we continue to become)

It all matters because we aren't here just to live and die. 

     I can clearly see that from the differentiation between the life of any and all humans versus the life of any other and all other creatures or life forms, since the latter do not have the ability to make decisions that goes against their nature¹, whereas the former do. A deer only knows that it must eat, reproduce, etc. and it always responds to those natural urges; it cannot decide to go against them. A fungus grows not where it wills, but where nature dictates. I, on the other hand, can choose not to eat when I am extremely hungry, to be celibate my whole life and not procreate, and to move and live and grow somewhere other than where I am born. This major difference in decision-making gives me one major reason to believe we are not here just to live and die.

It all matters because we then must have a purpose, 

and that purpose is formed in one way or another.

     I can clearly see this from the unique lifestyles lived by the many varieties of peoples throughout the world, especially those who manage to live above and beyond what or how they are expected to. Unlike a sparrow that lives its life in the same, or very similar way as any other sparrow, and as a male lion seeks to have a pride of its own just as any other male lion does, a human has the capability and even (dare I say) a need to do more than live as any other human. Like the sparrow and the lion there are natural things we desire (such as a place to live as well as having and producing a family); but unlike the lion and the sparrow not everyone chooses to have those things, although they most certainly could. 

It all matters because I believe choices we make 

lead us closer or further from this purpose, 

forming us into a certain kind of creature.

     I can clearly see this by those whose choices have led them to be someone great or someone forgettable, someone who people generally like or someone people generally despise, someone peaceful or someone destructive, someone caring or someone selfish, someone respectful or someone irreverent. Whatever and whomever you are today is because of the way you have chosen to make decisions. The motivated person does great things because they choose to be motivated and do instead of just being. I do not mean to discredit natural ability or tendency, but even Usain Bolt must hone the natural ability he has as a runner and has to choose to run to be considered the fastest man alive. 

     Yet, let us not become stuck on the person as a one-dimensional character. Who you are and what you have become is not solely based on that exterior sense of success, which is why you or I may see our best friend in a different light (a more illuminating light, as it were) than we see Usain Bolt or Barack Obama. We know much more about our best friend and how they generally live their life and make choices that are reflected in who they are and what they have become. The interior life is something that cannot be overlooked in this notion of each action having value to who we are and become. 

We cannot only be defined by our exterior actions, 

but our interior motives that are only known to us.

     I can clearly say that unlike an animal, which is only what it expresses itself to be exteriorly, we humans can be what we exemplify exteriorly or be something entirely different within (These people are aptly known as Eddie Haskell’s²). You can see the things I do and hear the things I say, but you will never know the things I think or the way I feel unless I articulate it to you (as I am doing here). You will never know the inklings of my heart! My truest desires are my own. They propel me, often, to make certain decisions, to become more or less whom I have already been choosing each day to become or not become.

To Sum Up My Point

We are, and and as such we must somehow be. How is this determined? We become through our thoughts, words, and actions, and so we (although invisible in many of our actions, words, and thoughts) are formed into who we are now and who we will be tomorrow. 

I won't say every it has equal weight in the amount of change and the amount of force placed upon you in a direction, but it does have a level of significance. 

It has significance due to all those points I hit upon above:

We are not the same as any and every other animal. 

We are unique and must have a purpose. 

That is why we must focus on what we do and why we do it. 

Even our thoughts and feelings must be aimed rightly and be in line with what we do.

We cannot continue to be like every other animal and strictly obey nature; we have the ability to be more than an affected being. Let's be effective and affect our world. I plan on discussing how to do just that throughout future posts to this blog. I hope that I can give some humble insight into how we can become (in the word's of Matthew Kelly) "the-best-versions-of-ourselves" and not only revel in the beauty of the world but add to it. 

1. Nature here is defined as the urges manifested within the being itself, uncontrollable by the self. All species, alike and unlike, human and non-human, have these urges, and they do cause the being to desire to act; we, though, as a species have the capability to choose not to act on them. In future posts I will define terms along more philosophical terms such as an act of man and human acts, which will help to clarify and classify decisions (whether an act is freely made or natural and uncontrollable). 
2. If you never watched the original show, Leave it to Beaver from the 1950s, then the Eddie Haskell reference may have no relevance to you. The example, though, is based on the personality of a friend of Beaver’s older brother, Eddie Haskell, who was the classic “suck-up-to-the-parents-so-they-believe-everything-I-say” and then “let’s-do-bad-things” influencer on Beaver’s brother when the parents were no longer around.