I do not wish to come at this from a solely religious or philosophical perspective when I ask the question which humans have asked themselves and others since time began: "Why am I here?" But, I believe a lot of the malaise that we experience as a whole or personally can be traced to lack of purpose, which may be why many of us drink. Most of us can subscribe to the obvious: birth, go to school, go to work (or not), get married (or not), buy a house (or not), have children (or not), save for retirement (or not), get sick (or not), grow old (or not) and then die. During these phases, life happens on either a positive, negative or neutral plane on a day-to-day basis.  Some may believe we try to be the best we can as humans because this life is all there is, so it behooves us to act in a somewhat noble and altruistic manner. Others believe we need to do good deeds so that we can earn a good piece of real estate in heaven when we die. Others couldn't care less either way.

 

To get back to the subject of "Why we are here," isn't it somewhat the case that when we have no goals or purpose or passion, we tend to become complacent or depressed and simply go through the motions? A French philosopher once asked a very pertinent question "Are we spiritual beings having a human experience or human beings having a spiritual experience?" If we believe in the latter, then this is the only life we have so we might as well make as much of it as we can.  The one with the most toys wins. That's not much solace for those who live a life of suffering or die at a young age or live in poverty. If, on the other hand, we subscribe to the former, then we know that this life is but a speed bump in which time and space are slowed down so that we can experience first hand things like love, hate, truth, error, justice, corruption, mercy, compassion and so on.  When I think of the universe and its immensity, with billions of galaxies, each with billions of stars and no doubt planets, and its continual expansion, not to mention the millions if not billions of species living on this planet alone, I would be blind not to believe that each of us are here for a very special reason.  It need not be something that is announced with trumpets for everyone to hear and applaud.  It could just as well be a sick child or fragile elderly person who touches others in a special way without even being recognized as the world defines recognition. Do you think that there is not enough to do in such a great and immense universe when we lay down this flesh to take up again our original form (spirit) which is unencumbered by space, time and fleshly (worldly) concerns? Only this time we have 'practical experience' of the virtues and their opposites mentioned earlier. Knowing this, we can live a sober life or moderately sober life appreciating the lessons that life brings to each of us every day, rejoicing that our spirits, and whatever indestructible body we may be given that can transcend time and space (i.e. eternity, which has always existed, even now) and live forever doing practical and mind boggling stuff in this great universe. Sounds like a marvelous reason for living and enjoying one day at a time, regardless of what life brings on.

 

So, what does all the foregoing have to do with drinking in excess? I think it has a lot to do with it.  If we go through life in a somewhat numb state or without any idea of what we might be doing when we cross this veil of flesh, we may be missing out on opportunities that endure for a million (countless) times longer than the mere 80-90 years (if we live so long) we live on this planet earth.

 

Your thoughts...