To survive or To "Live"

 

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Let us envisage Joe as a man in his early thirties, he works as a bouncer at a local club in the neighborhood, Joe has to do this work to make ends meet. Academically, Joe majored in theatre arts. He had chosen the field of study as a supplementary alternative to his intended choice field of study which was mechanical engineering, He made this choice because every time he applied he wasn’t really able to score up to the grade requisite for his admission.

After a couple of years of failed attempts, he deemed it reasonable to settle for a course of study that his grade average could allow him an entry, whence he studied theatre arts. Joe did not have any intention to forge a career in this field but he had to study it nonetheless as a way of killing time and at least earning the “social coverage” of being a graduate.

This disparity of intended ambition versus life contingency made it a little difficult for Joe to get a satisfying job after university, sometimes he’d even be advised by friends to try and see if he could fit into the entertainment world, after all, he did study theatre arts, But no, for Joe this was a near-impossible uphill task, he had no knack for the stage, composition or artistry of any sort. He only crammed and passed the course through university to graduate, he was not inclined whatsoever with the theatre.

After a few job placements that weren’t really up to par and took much of his time which sapped him of his soul, he knew within himself that he couldn’t keep this up, so he resolved, he would leverage on his hefty body build to secure a bouncer job at a local pub, at least, the pay was only a little lesser than that of his previous job and the job allowed for shifts, a day on and the next day off, he could use that available spare time to have fun, clear his mind and chart a new perspective towards bettering his lot. For now, though, he’d use the stipends he got from his bouncer job to SURVIVE

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The above scenario is an albeit common one in society and is usually beyond every stratum of social definition in terms of race, tribe, or class ramification. Of course, everyone agrees that survival is not an alien concept, instead, it is a necessity, a necessity that forms the foundation for other necessities, right?

We have to “survive” before we “live”. Survival is a precursor to being alive, the sequential layer of breathing, feeding, and mobility forms the basis for every facet of our existence. But yet, if survival is the bedrock of living, SHOULD IT BE THE ESSENCE OF LIVING?

The plethora of activities and creative synthesis that occur daily, do these not suggest that there should be more to life? Yes, should there not be more to life other than survival? We cannot dispute the fact that survival is the foundation of life but we can all agree that survival is not the spice of life, survival is not what arouses our taste buds when we eat a sumptuous meal, nor is it what elevates our mood when we listen to soul-lifting music.

These occasional spices needed to enjoy life do not come on the heels of survival; they come from the innate human need to SEARCH, EXPLORE AND CREATE. Whence, we can deduce that survival is needed for life, but, survival is not the yardstick for living.

We should not live to survive, instead, we should survive to live. What this means is that in as much as we have to survive first before anything, we should not allow the precepts of survival to govern the whole aspect of our living.

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The beauty of sunrise should be enjoyed fully with our mental faculties free of the day-to-day anxieties that bother with what we have to eat, drink and wear. The same goes for the need to venture and explore, the fundamental human need to move and behold new stimulus, the priority of survival should not hinder these “excitation energy points”.

These energy points are the markers that pinpoint our joy of living, the joy that balances our minds and directs our psyche towards continuity. If this joy is hindered in some way by the overshadowing tenets of survival, there is a strong tendency that our psychological flow might cascade one way or another and then we lose our rudder of reasoning, this event robs us of our joy of living and makes us anxious, unsettled and belligerent in some way.

“We should not live to survive, We should survive to live”

This can be done by harnessing the creative power that abides inside all of us, we all have something, a talent, an ability that the other man needs and can conveniently pay for, but we quite seem not to be able to connect to it because of the rigors and strains that mainstream society imposes on us. Why we have to find a way to emancipate ourselves from this “trap” is because the essence and joy that inspires us to continue living lies in the extent to which we exercise our creative energy and human potential

Ifwe objectively scrutinize joe’s story, we can conveniently deduce that Joe might eventually get proper employment in the long run and start earning well, but does he really escape from that “survival trap”? an increased salary is only most likely to also increase joe’s responsibilities, he sure would like to get a nicer apartment, get married and have kids and then continue incurring expenses. Not that this projection actually means that joe does not get to live properly, but it just hinders joe from actualizing his cosmic potential.

In the story that started this article, we didn’t mention that Joe is a born comedian, his sense of humor and hilarious interjections was his trademark during college, some of us his peers couldn’t help but call him “Chris Rock” and a few even advised him to pursue a career in comedy. But no, Joe never saw himself becoming a comedian, it was against the value system he was brought up with.

His parents were profound academics and he was programmed to never see himself any different. Whence, he ignored this subtle talent he was naturally gifted with and pursued the high ideals an academic education projected. But the simple catch is this, Joe always felt fulfilled anytime he cracked a joke and people laughed at it, he usually felt a fullness, that innate release that came with knowing that he was quite powerful enough to say something that got other people to laugh and be happy.

This was his power but he didn’t know, Why? Because society makes us believe things that come to us easily are not worth paying attention to, the conditioning that man must toil before he can live. Even though seemingly practical, this concept can be quite destructive

The true essence of living is to manifest joy, for in the fullness of joy do we attain bliss and soul freedom at its peak.

The degree of joy in a person’s life is a direct consequence of their personality, relationships, and professionalism. Joy is the singular testament of spontaneity in life, this spontaneity is the psychological rudder of adventure that motivates us to discover newness in thoughts and perspectives about our consciousness. This motivation is what makes living a continuously enjoyable experience, which in turn is why we find reasons to look up to waking up tomorrow.

We can only manifest joy when we are in our mental state of rest and flow in the volition of our fundamental psyche, so in the case of Joe, who was conditioned to abandon a natural gift because of the tugs of parental control and modern-day society, sooner or later he’d realize that personal peace supersedes all worldly pursuits and that the sense of power he feels anytime he cracks up anyone with his jokes is the most significant essence of living, the very core of life, that we leave a cosmic signature while fulfilling our own needed sense of self-actualization.

This type of joy cannot be attained by “surviving”, just surviving is a continuous loop that we might not break loose from if we don’t see a reason to live beyond surviving.

Abraham Maslow, the renowned American psychologist that postulated about the hierarchy of human needs, deduced that the principal human need that sits atop the list is self-actualization. This means that he ultimately realized, that self-actualization is the pinnacle of the psyche that a human must attain, to optimize their sense of self and maximize the horizons of their productivity.

Sadly, self-actualization cannot be attained when an individual does not think beyond the confines of survival, his/her creative faculties are stifled by the day to day anxieties of what to eat and what to wear, even so, the proliferation of society doesn’t even make this cycle pleasurable enough for him since prices keep going higher, and this means a downgrade of his standard of living if he doesn’t work harder to compensate for this price increase.

Survival living brings about stagnancy in the evolution of a person’s consciousness, which means it hinders spiritual growth. Moreover, it connotes a waste of potential if a person’s life, instead of being navigated towards contributing to bringing a form of satisfaction to other people (the cosmic whole), is short-circuited in the direction of being able to survive day to day, this in a way is actually an insult to the essence of the beauty of life and creation if we cannot be free enough to explore and create according to our personal flow

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If we bring Joe back into the foray and this time, yes, let us eke out a “release” for him, the only panacea to his frustration with the below-par jobs he was getting can only be resolved if Joe resorts to a state of inner humility and detachment by fully honing his comic skills.

The better living standards he seeks and even the social reputation he probably craves can be conveniently achieved by growing his popularity as a naturally gifted comedian. Humor in itself is a never regressing industry, people sure need to de-stress from time to time, this means joe would never be out of work if he becomes a comedian and more so if he finds new media to spread his tentacles of comic expression since the digital age is in full bloom.

But would this be quite easy for Joe? Such a radical change would require a mental reconfiguration on his part, one that would need him to go deep into his subconscious and rewire his mind. This can be done through spiritual practices like mindfulness, meditation, breath control e.t.c.

In simple terms, Joe just has to learn to surrender to completely being himself and understand that he is cosmically equipped with the power to actualize the maximum essence of his existence, he has to rescind on the previous thought patterns of the superimposed class ramification of academic stratification, he has to start thinking beyond the “social coverage” of being a graduate.

And finally, he has to surrender to a sense of earthly purpose, this would mean that joe would have to embrace the fulfillment and joy he got from knowing that he had the power to make a person happy by just ordinarily being his hilarious self.

This fulfillment and joy that we get from being ourselves but yet making a positive impact on the cosmic whole is the singular reason for living in the first place, this approach to life makes us “LIVE” and conveniently fly over the occasional psychological pitfalls of frustration, anxiety or lack.

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Living this life gives us the privilege of making the best of ourselves and in turn, bring the best out of other people by the amount of joy we sell them. This in itself is the significant essence of creation, that we should not live to survive but survive to live. By this, we can “mean something”

Stop Surviving and Start Living Today