Why Am I Here?

In those quiet moments of self-reflection, the big questions come.  How did I come to be?  Why am I here?  What’s the purpose of life?  Of course, most people either ignore these questions altogether, or fill in the blanks with self-referential thoughts that do nothing but feed the ego.  And inevitably life responds with lessons which usually come in the form of unexpected challenges.  Then again as we grapple with these life situations, the questions arise again… Why is this happening to me?  Why am I here anyway?  Is there a purpose to all this?

Can the miracle of life, and the magnificence of existence just be an accident?  Of course not, only the self-deluded would think so.  There is a purpose here, and every experience we have is proof.  We are all here of our soul’s free will.  No one is forced to exist as a human being on this planet, we have all chosen to live these lives.  Ponder on that for a moment.

It’s an absolute privilege to be here, and it’s so difficult to see that when on one hand we are mired in our own stories and on the other hand we take everything for granted.  When our perspective is so deeply flawed, how can we expect to see the miraculous truth?  Consider what it takes to make your body work.  All of the cells functioning, and all of the organs doing their work, and the blood flowing, and the nerves firing, and the breath… all of it without any active striving on our part.  Yet we simply wave off the miracle as ordinary biology and take it for granted until illness strikes.  When was the last time you gave thanks for a single breath that sustains life?  That little miracle happens 20,000 times a day.

On top of having this amazing body, we as humans are aware.  We are capable of the incredible ability to self-reflect.  In the millions of life forms on this planet, we have this astounding capacity.  And yet we squander it on a building haughty self-images and stories that we then have to protect from fear of loss.  What wealth the universe has bestowed upon us, and how we have chosen to mishandle it.  We are so blessed and yet we are blind to it.  We have won the jackpot and we yet panhandle our way through life.

So then, how do we reclaim our rightful inheritance?  To put it simply, by taking our small idea of who we are out of our own way.  In every moment, we need to recognize the immensity of our existence as children of divinity.  It is said that we are not people having a divine experience, we are the divine having a human experience.  So let’s ask in every instant, “How can I feel more love in this moment?”  It’s really about a higher vibration of being, which comes through an ever-present gratefulness for being alive on this planet as a human being.  It is out of that space that a fulfilled life just arises naturally.  Care for the fertile soil with the right seeds, and the beautiful garden will appear on its own.