20260311_A New Afterlife_pen

Ever since I learnt to think critically, I've been concerned with the most important thought; what is the purpose of life?

Searching for the answer over the past two decades has led me to identify one of the biggest conundrums of society;
humanity does not have a common axis or framework to find meaning for all of our lives.

The reason is simple. We've never truly decided which is more important, the needs of the self or the needs of the many? A solo member or the whole family? The individual or the society?

I firmly believe that our inability to answer this question is the cause for our collective suffering.
Because even if one individual believes differently than the society they're a part of, then the chaos of humanity will persist.

But is it possible to have one unifying idea; one thing to live for?
Let's look at some potential ones.

1. Wealth; considered as the common denominator for all humans. However, the value of financial or social wealth has been proven to appreciate/deteriorate over time, and across the different levels (regions/classes/races) of human society. Moreover, the pursuit of wealth starts out largely as a function of fulfilling our basic needs. Since wealth is based on objectives in life (money, fame, experience, connectivity, etc.) but pursued in unique ways by each person, it cannot by itself act as an ideal commons for our shared reality.

2. Love; the singular state that all humans long for after fulfilling their basic needs. The only issue is that while love itself is universal, the outcomes generated in and out of love are completely subjective. When a person experiences love, their perspective on reality gets distorted. Truth is molded from one form to another, and feelings arise as tangible strands in response to further discovery. As long as love can't be traced to a single source, it remains truly unknown to many. Also, many may not have the privilege to experience love in its truest form. And if they do, there's a chance they may not know it.

3. Fear; an emotion that drives all humans the most. To quote a line from Dune, "Fear is the mind killer." and rightly so. It clouds our senses, and distracts us from the truth. When the dust settles, the main motivation in a person's survival is the fear of deviating from the known to the unknown. Most people refuse further possibility because they perceive the inevitable the end of their lives if they fall into an uncertain path.

For many, the greatest source of fear in life is not knowing what lies after life or beyond death.
After all, that's why it all comes down to matters of life and death.

If living is an irrefutable experience and dying is inevitable, then all philosophical pursuits point to 'living our respective lives to the fullest' or 'making the best out of our lives'.

But this seems impossible to realize for all of humanity, especially now considering the access to information about other's lives.
How does one make peace with their own life which they may feel is inadequate compared to what they believe as better ones?

We do our best work in a society when we're motivated by a love for life. And that only comes from finding a meaning worth living for.

But that meaning must be beyond the material desires that each of us are burdened by. Since none of us have equal lives, it's unfair for us to have equal expectations. Maybe this is where we find the great equalizer.

Maybe we can create a world where people finally realize that wealth is the great divider, love is prioritised as the numerator, and a good death is the common denominator.

I believe it is time for us to create a new afterlife, a vision of what lies beyond death as we know it, and what we don't.

To step back from the line of fire,
and into the ocean of the infinite.