You don’t and you’re not.
I think, we’re all stuck a little bit. We notice it and we don’t. We feel it and we ignore it. We’re aware, we deny.
When life has us distracted, we get “focused”. We take on what we need to. We make attempts to prioritize that which we believe to be important. And, with reasonable assurance, the prioritization of introspective assessment falls to the bottom rung. Even if we did have the time, asking the question, “what I am really doing here?” is a pretty heavy one.
As much as I think you may be expecting me to say, “the reason you’re here is to be Love”, that’s a “perfect world” answer. There’s a more workable one to understand.
Help.
Life can be hard. Yes, you have full ability to choose how you respond and how you receive every blessing you experience and hardship that befalls you, but it’s still tough. Regardless of how enlightened you may be, you’re still here. And, if you’re still here, that mean you’re still just “human”.
We don’t all care about the same things, we don’t all like the same things and we’re not all after the same things. But, we all need help. We’re all here, sharing this place and space. Although, we forever travel our own path, it is crossed and intertwined with more paths than you could count. Each of those paths that cross ours and, in turn, ours that cross those, construct each and every path there is. We each help to build the other.
You’re job may not be overly meaningful, but for your cubicle neighbour, it might be. They may experience personal fulfilment in the accomplishment of that same job you do. When you, unenthusiastically, do your part on the project to get things done, although it may not contribute to your meaning in life, you’ve just helped someone contribute to theirs.
When you hold that door open; really nothing, right? But, what if that person just slept through their alarm, gotten into a fight with their partner, had not been able to start their car and is now late for work. That person, without knowing it themselves, may just need the slightest, smallest gesture of human acknowledgement to remind them of their own meaningful existence. And, when you held that door open for them, you did that.
As you build your path, knowingly and unknowingly, you also build countless others along the way. Each of us is here to help the rest of us walk our path. Every time we take a step in our own direction, we help others take a step in theirs. Yes, this reality is about you and only you. But, everyday, whether it’s because you’re just being you or because you’ve made a concerted effort to something more, you’re doing something for someone else.
Recognizing each and every instance of this work would take the most self-aware of persons. Fulfilment is just to be able to trust that you’re building paths, yours included. That’s all each of us is here to do in this, our own, lifetime; walk.
Be Love.
