I had a fifteen year old boy in my office sort through placement in a temporary foster care facility, a pending sentence for felony theft, abandonment by his father, hatred of his mother and fatigue and headache from the antidepressant he’s on to say, “What’re we here for? What are we supposed to be doing?” All his brash braggadicio and f**** you! was gone. He was looking at life, his life, and wondering openly and vulnerably what’s the point?
Love is what I told him. Our source is love. Our nature is love. We are here to love. When we use our awareness to reflect love, we feel good. When we don’t reflect love, we feel bad.
The purpose of life is the expression of love. Butterflies, rainstorms, planets, people are all expressions of the simple desire to be. We are the desire to be, and our lives are the moment to moment outpouring of the willingness to be.
My young friend’s place in this life is a bit confusing and painful. He hasn’t been fortunate enough to experience heavy doses of people who love and respect others, and he hasn’t himself absorbed that momentum.
In our day to day lives when things are painful and we’re looking for answers, we will do well to slow down and focus on what it is we’re not loving. Physical pain, losses, illness, death, friendship challenges are common experiences which we may mightily resist. When we do, our resistance will feel uncomfortable. If we resist strongly enough the pain will persist and perhaps continue to increase until we eventually stop resisting andaccept what has happened. When we accept, when we open ourselves to the good that’s present, we answer the question my young friend asked.
