What makes a life worth living?
“It’s time you realized that you have something in you more powerful and miraculous than the things that affect you and makes you dance like a puppet.”
— Marcus Aurelius
When the king Alexander was exploring to conquer the world, he met a strange man near the bank of the Indus river. The man was a Gymnosophists, a naked philosopher.
The king asked the Gymnosophists, “What are you doing?”
Gymnosophists replied, “Experiencing Nothingness. What are you doing?”
The king replied, “Conquering the world.”
Then both men laughed, each thinking that the other must be a fool.
In this dialog, it is important to understand the background of our actors.
Alexander was raised by stories of Greek Mythologies, promoting the ideology of One life.
The yogi was raised by stories of Hindu Mythologies, promoting the ideology of multiple lives.
I am not here to debate what is right and what is wrong.
This encounter introduces us to a great dilemma, What is life?
You are welcome to subscribe to the thoughts of philosophers, entrepreneurs, artists, inventors, but what’s the point you will still find yourself asking the same question, what is life?
Therefore, take our perspective as if you are changing your clothes, keep it if it suits you, change if it does not.
Instead of asking what is life? I found a different adventure, what is a life worth living?
Keep in mind, I still have not figured out what life is & honestly, I do not think it’s supposed to be figured out. I think it is supposed to be lived.
So what makes a life worth living?
Well, we can look at life as a random walk or we can look at life as an algorithm. Add another layer to that, life can be with a single purpose, or life can be without purpose. Add another layer to that, Life can be about oneself, or it can be beyond oneself. Add another layer to that, life can be simple, or life can be complex. Add another layer…… Just kidding.
We can add layers upon layers to this entity called life. But look at the folly of this model. We have separated life from us and gave it a name. We add or replace layers and try to conclude a model. But let me ask you this, is this exercise stimulating your curiosity? If it does not, please invest your time on something worthwhile for you.
That’s it. Invest your time & energy on something worthwhile.
We know the first law of thermodynamics, Energy can neither be created nor be destroyed. Energy converts from one form to another.
So according to this law, our physical body shall rot, be nutrient for a microorganism or it can extinguish into vapors, gas, and ashes. Either way, the energy is conserved. But what about the energy we invested during our lifetime?
We could write books, take pictures, create animated shows, create opportunities for thousands of individuals, go for trekking, meditate, spend a beautiful evening with a loved one, create a home, yata yata yata. What about that energy, that transmutes through lives? A book is written thousands of years ago but it can imprint a fresh curious mind.
This is what makes a life worth living: Contribution.
Take pride in yourself because your life can be your greatest contribution to this world.
Now the question of How is yours to answer. My job was to bring you to this spot. What you do with it is your choice.
