What is the Point of it All?

I have spent most of my working life in Vancouver, which recently topped the Economist Magazine’s list as the best place to live in the top 120 global cities. Yet in this safe, exciting and wonderful city, I have watched some of the most fortunate people on our planet struggling in seeming futility as they try to reach their life goals.

Mothers rush their young children from music lessons to sports activities. Parents rush home for dinner before pursuing their evening’s activities. People are buying houses and cars, music systems and vacation properties. They save what they can for investments in the future: education for their children and for their ultimate retirement. People seem frenzied by their non-stop activities and by ever more things to buy. Few people that I know are really contented and happy.

An English poet from an earlier generation said: “Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers”. As traffic gets more and more congested with expensive cars, people are endlessly rushing around, and sometimes I wonder: what is the point of all this?

We all look with compassion at starving children in poor countries. We sympathize with youth in developing countries who will likely never share the opportunities of the middle class in Vancouver. But when we see successful managers and even multimillionaires working as furiously as the very poor, we stop and wonder, what is the point of all this?

These ultimate questions about life are what occupy me most. In fact, these questions have fascinated me for a very long time, which perhaps means that I am a “philosopher of every day life”. I believe that I know some of the answers to these eternally perplexing questions, but I struggle to communicate the answers adequately. This quest is the central purpose of my Abbey Mountain Blog and of the books that I plan to write in the next few years.

My answers are not entirely original, nor are the questions. These questions have been asked and answered since the dawn of human history. Some teachers give very simple answers to these difficult questions; but unfortunately, while the simple answers are not entirely wrong, they seem inadequate to satisfy this generation. The changes on our planet during the last 100 years are likely the most momentous seen during the past 5,000 years of recorded history.

One typical answer is that it this endless struggle in our lives is all about another dimension and where we will go after death. I don’t reject that answer entirely, but I find myself impatient with otherworldly solutions which are of no use to us living in the here and now. The wisdom we need most urgently is how to live our lives today and tomorrow. Hopefully, that wisdom will also point us to our ultimate destiny.

Since ancient times, some people have believed we should seek pleasure, moment by moment: in delicious food, in fine wine, in sex, in all kinds of physical pleasures, and in whatever artistic and cultural pursuits which satisfy our immediate longings. This hedonistic philosophy still going strong today.

A smaller group of philosophers has believed that most pleasures should be denied, that we should seek complete chastity, poverty, simplicity and purity of our souls. This ascetic philosophy is also advocated today in many forms, both religious and secular.

However, the largest group of humanity has little conscious philosophy in these matters: they are too busy rushing to their next activity to give this matter much consideration.

Let me end this post on a note of hope and optimism. I truly believe that there are answers to life’s ultimate questions when we look for them; there are good solutions to life’s challenges; there are wholesome ways to live our lives so that they do not end in utter futility.

But these questions demand our full attention. The solutions do not come in little pills, or in easy recipes which take two minutes. The answer is more like a journey we must undertake.

My hope is to provide you the best wisdom that I have found in terms of practical usefulness for every day living. I have climbed part way up this mountain of spiritual seeking. I have found a life for myself that is mostly harmony and peace. This wisdom will not exempt me from old age and death, but it provides me a deep sense of meaning and contentment as I watch the endless cycles of life. I invite you to come share this exciting journey!