Best-Of Advice

On all that matters

So wait, in one post you said both “We’re social animals with a biological imperative to reproduce. That’s it. That’s all. Love is a neurochemical response with a shelf life long enough to perpetuate the species.”  and “All we have in this world is relationships with other people. At this stage in our evolution, nothing else matters.”  I mean, yell at me all you want, but I’m confused.  Is love not a relationship with another person?  Does that mean it doesn’t matter or it’s all that matters?  I don’t get it.

Both. It’s both, my friend. Love doesn’t matter, and yet it’s all that matters.

This doesn’t have to be confusing. You just have to be willing to accept the premise that nothing matters. We’re all dust. Not just our individual selves, but the entirety of the human experiment. It’s all going to be a pile of ashes one day.

Most people recoil at the thought of annihilation. It terrifies them. They invent silly gods and ridiculous myths of armageddon or eternal life, all to stave off the creeping inevitability of the nothingness to which we will all return.

Don’t recoil from your own impermanence. Accept it. Embrace it. Gaze into the abyss, and let the abyss gaze back into you, because if you can let go of your fear while maintaining eye contact with nothingness, the singular importance of love will crystalize right in front of you. It will be an unavoidable revelation.

Love doesn’t matter, and yet it’s all that matters. The contradiction melts away once you come to terms with not just yours but everything’s eventual annihilation. Sure, love is just a neurochemical response with a shelf life long enough to perpetuate the species, but so what? It’s all we’ve fucking got.

Standard

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *