Is life serious?

"Not a shred of evidence exists in favor of the idea that life is serious."

-- Brendan Gill

Life demands so little of us. We must drink some water, eat some food, and, of course, keep breathing. That's about it. Everything else is optional. And yet, we continue to place all sorts of crazy-ass demands upon ourselves in the name of life. We take something (life) that is by it's very nature neutral at worst, joyous at best, and we turn it into something that is oh so serious.

Why? No one knows. It's what we are taught. It's based on fear, possibly, and the misguided notion, that if we don't take life seriously, we will either have "wasted it," or life itself (or God as life's agent) will get pissed off and bite us on the ass. As Brendan points out, even though these erroneous beliefs may be unthinkingly held by most of us, most of the time, there is not one iota of evidence to support the "life is serious" proposition. Life just is. Serious is our own little add-on.

So, let's say we decide not to subscribe to the seriousness theory, what does that do? First and foremost, it frees us. If life is not serious, we can enjoy it, play with it, accept it, be with it just as it presents itself. We can be outrageous, idiosyncratic, individualistic, and just plain silly without offending the supposed seriousness of life. We can be naturally ourselves, in a natural world unburdened by notions of should, have to, and you better.

But don't take Brendan's or my word for it. Try a little personal experiment. Approach the day without the serious tag attached. Relax into it. Do what needs to be done, enjoy it as much as you can, but don't make it all mean so damn much. Everything that happens is merely a life or death matter. That's all. People say "It's not a life or death matter," meaning it's not that serious. In reality it's all a life or death matter, and none of it is serious!

You see, what we call life and death are merely two ways that nature expresses itself, two modes of being. No big deal. Totally sacred, never serious. All of it. You included. Life is for living. Nothing else. Just live it. Or let it live you. And when you do, my guess is, you'll feel an amazing inner smile!