What’s the Point?

‘Allo Pirates.

Last Monday was a public holiday and I ended up having one of the best and funniest days I’ve had in a long time. However, the good time that was to ensue was actually kicked off by total heaviness when in the middle of an already intense life conversation, a friend asked me point blank, “What is the point?”

That sentence. What is the point?

Given the subject matter of our pre-existing chin-bash, I was armed and ready to roll straight into it. And at that moment, I had one of those moments – for about 10 hours. Nup, I wasn’t off my head. Not at all. I could just see it all so clearly and kept seeing more as the convo thickened and I think, for the sake of the person in front of me, the universe was 187% behind me. Trust in the universe.

I’ve had an unnervingly bleak clarity concerning my mind’s automatic acceptance of the death of everything, for as long as I can remember thinking, and, it’s so very hard to explain any aspect of it to someone without sending them into an oblivion of confused questioning, so as a general rule of thumb, I keep it buried. It’s a heavy weight to carry but hey, that’s my lot and I’m starting to realise it could be my most precious gift.
I’ve taken it out on myself in the worst possible ways but ironically, it has also been the catalyst for countless heavy, emotive songs that have inspired the ears, hearts and minds of many. I’ve over-worked, over-played and done everything you’re not supposed to do to myself and others, just to keep this fucking demon at bay.
However!
I’m getting better at understanding the fuel conversion. The wisdom behind it. The explanation and how to turn this deep-seated devil into an angel. Hence my reasons for initially setting out to create Built for Battles, now spearheading my next phase of maturity.

So.
What if there was no point? None at all. And that was actually the point. If you think about it, the very definition of faith when we talk about the depth of religious belief, is exactly that. You can’t see old mate, but apparently you know he’s there watching you jerk off, so ya try to jerk off a bit less. Unless you’re high up in the Catholic Church of course.
Then apparently you jerk off whoever you want. Because God forgives you.
She’s a wild ride, legends.

Anyway. At a time, and, amid a social climate where our mental health issues and global suicide rates have sky-rocketed, I’d say that working out ‘what the point is’ seems to be a fairly high priority when it comes to the current human condition and just flat-out getting through the day.

For me, there is no point. And that’s the point exactly.
The way I see it, if there was, you wouldn’t have a survival instinct. Think really deeply about that before you glaze over it.
And, it’s so damn ironic that whenever we get to the point where we have no idea what the key to life is, we feel like the only alternative is to kill survival itself.
Mastering survival IS the key to life. Until life takes you – at which point you cease to exist because basically, your ‘finely crafted key to life’ just opened the door to it’s own finality. This could be life’s own version of relief from the sacrifice of creating and harbouring you? A trade-off for the incestment? It’s need to recycle your energy and your matter and put you back into the ground? Who know’s..?
Actually a really cool process when you break it down!

When we take life without honour or commit suicide or calculated murder, we are ultimately attempting to play God, no?
God IS life itself though, I believe. So why not worship life, instead of ‘a’ God? Then you’d be doing God’s work, right? Or at least, your version of what you believe God’s work to be, haha. Which is most likely wrong, anyway. Ouch.
Because again, God is life. Not an actual God. That would be fucking ridiculous – in my mind.
It seems that clocking the the game of ‘survival’, is that key to life we’re all searching for.
This kinda appears convoluted I know, but have a good few reads into it.

So why do we all seem to be struggling so hard?
Man… So many reasons, but quite simply, you have too much. We have too much. We’ve peaked. The scales have officially tipped.
This is not how we’re supposed to be living life. We are quite literally, waaaaaay too comfortable and life is now so easy, it’s very ironically become too hard to live – or survive, should I say.
Thereby, our understanding of the key to life is presently, a little lost at sea.
Between the world’s first and third world nation’s, the classes are now so disgustingly divided it makes me sick to know I have conveniences on tap that other humans across the river will never see, during their lifetime.
So.
Who’s keen to let go of what first, in order for us to attempt to re-harmonise with the cycle of life?

Life is meant to be stressful. Life is meant to be a challenge. Life is meant to break us. It just is. If someone seems to have it so much easier than you and it makes you bitter, that’s you being presented with the opportunity to learn, grow and obtain knowledge. Because essentially, that’s what you’re here for.

For every up, there’s a down. For every on, there’s an off. For every in, there’s an out.
There is no reception of light without making your way through the dark.

The balance of life is so impossibly perfect that it really is difficult to articulate the ins and outs of the actual why behind anything without eventually reaching a series of road blocks. And it’s meant to be that way. That right there is the riddle beneath every thread within the fabric of existence, engineered to keep you working, surviving, learning and evolving. YOU CAN’T KNOW ALL THE THINGS.
When you have too much external stimuli or assistance, that survival disappears because your living habits  literally negate the need to actually live. You’re too happy or catered for so you can’t identify or cope with any negative or natural emotional turbulence. You refuse to feel those things because you’re too used to feeling satisfied all the time. Anxiety, depression, sadness, mania, heartbreak, loneliness, shame etc., – you’re supposed to feel every fucking aspect of it all. It’s more than normal. That is your fuel. As I termed for the ears of my friend, “Rocket fuel for sick c#%ts”, haha. Ffs, it’s your brain, body and nervous system working together perfectly.
It’s what we’re choosing to surround ourselves with that is questionable.

You can’t deal anymore because your tools have been blunted. Your means to an end doesn’t know where to begin. It’s not necessarily your fault, but it is OUR fault, collectively. So let’s have a crack – together.

The human race keeps trying to invent every version of convenience imaginable and we just keep fucking lapping it up. And why wouldn’t we, right?  Well… I’ll tell you why we shouldn’t, why we should actively display discipline, why we should minimise, why we need to abstain.

So we don’t die unnecessary deaths and cause irreparable damage to every living gift we have very miraculously been born into.
So we can live in harmony with this beautifully volatile planet and enjoy our ‘pointless’ experience here.
That’s why.
Dudes. There doesn’t have to be a reason to live. Do yourself a favour and search for a different why. A productive one. Get shit done. Because either way, you’re ridiculously lucky you were born.
Because life is actually so damn beautiful. Our animal kingdom is beautiful. Our environment is beautiful. Even WE  can be beautiful. We’re a bit damn ugly at the moment though and can’t seem to see the beauty because our abundant  fortune has apparently made things very unfortunate.

There’s a few words whose meaning’s have been totally lost or forgotten over the last 20-40 years.
Discipline. Abstinence. Stoicism.
They appear to have been left behind by the English language. Research their definition if you don’t truly understand them. Apply them to your day. Everyday.
You are not supposed to have everything, all the time. You’re supposed to go without. Miss out. Not always get that thing you want. You’re supposed to work, toil, experience pain, sadness etc. That’s how happiness and success is achieved and truly appreciated.
These three words are my go-to, throughout my darkest times. And I’ve experienced true darkness throughout my life. I’ve been stripped of everything. I’ve been repeatedly delivered that black message that screams, “You have no reason to be here. Leave.”
Yeah.
Discipline, Abstinence. Stoicism.
Those three words and my innate understanding of what they mean fuel the revolutions of my engine, daily.

What. Do you wanna just not work at anything anymore? Only have fun and cop all the good feels hey?
How’s this. Harden the fuck up, Champion.
Yeah, I said it. I can hear all the bleeding hearts already…”You can’t say that, you insensitive embodiment of toxic masculinity!!”
Fuck off.
If you’re a first world westerner, you are literally, right now, experiencing the most privileged period of humanity in history.

Everyone wants everything, as easily as possible and they want it all now. The concerning thing here is we’re getting it too – and the damage is more and more visible every minute. How do you ever expect to be able to cope with anything if everything is easy, instantly accessible and digestible by the second. Where’s the work? Where’s the true experience and education?
This right here is the clearest indicator of our extreme imbalance and also, the very root of so many modern day mental health issues of the world’s developed nations.

In closing and to finish on a productive note (I was gonna write ‘positive’ but I’m not sure how positively being told to say no is received anymore, so ‘productive’ seems more fitting haha) here’s a coupla hot, daily tips…

– Question your discipline. As in, minimise your consumption or say no to shit you’re so used to taking for granted if you can see that the outcome is detrimental to the process of harmonious living. If ya don’t know what harmonious living is… .. . hmmm.
– Question what you really need and how often you partake in a destructive process in order to consume something for self-serving reasons. Really.
– Work.
Like, work hard. Rewards are not truly rewarding when they’re handed out.
– Embrace pain. Embrace change. Embrace discomfort. Stop trying to feel only happiness. It is an absolutely futile pursuit and is a fast-track to depression and suicidal behaviour.
– Stop comparing yourself to others. Treat social media as either a tool, or a joke. That’s all it is. As explored in my Social Media blog.
Guys. It just ain’t real life and the damage from the feelings of inadequacy experienced by being continually exposed to comparison in a form as brutal as social media, is devastating.
– Look after your health. Exhaust yourself. Consume whole foods.
Finally and most importantly…
– Recognise the good. Take it in. Breathe it in. Appreciate what you’ve been given. Appreciate your trials, tests and tribulations. Take pride in the fortitude you’ve built by overcoming them and manifesting growth and knowledge via the process. Enjoy your strength and how it’s been built. But understand, you can only achieve strength by not running from that which scares you or threatens to beat you down. That is literally where your quest for happiness lies.

You are guaranteed to die.
There was no guarantee you’d be born but hey, here you are, you massive legend.
There is no guarantee you’ll breathe one more breath but look at you, still reading this as you breathe like a champion.
You are guaranteed to die.
Don’t rush the process. Show me how fucking hard you can live. Show YOU how hard you can live. Success is not money and status. Success is what you put back in to replace what has been taken from nature to provide for your existence. Leave a stain.

Like, regardless of scientific fact, absolutely every living organism is perpetually subject to change, evolve or transform into an altered version of it’s existing form. We think we know the what and the why and then the process changes. Or someone else finds out something else. Or we discover a whole new thing altogether. We’ll never know it all. We simply, cannot.

Stay humble. Keep ‘knowing nothing’. It’s more exciting when you find new shit out.
Stay gracious. Make plans, but make the most of every day, one day at a time.

If there are ins and outs you need solutions to, processes to implement or refreshing answers to the wildest questions, you know where to find me. Flick me an email.

To my mad unit m8’s that were loose enough to ask me what the point is last week – you silly bastards – look what you ‘dun made do. Thanks a bunch.

Love hard, live harder. Lucas.