We Are All Nobody

In the grand scheme of things, in the entire 14 plus billion year history of the Universe, and the 4 plus billion year history of our own little blue pearl in a sea of black void, the time any of us are here on the planet is the blink of an eye. So no matter what grand accomplishments, no matter the accolades and awards we may have accumulated, in the end, we all face the darkness that is the end of our lives, and whatever lies beyond, whether that is heaven, hell, blackness, or the end product of all of our thoughts and actions encapsulated in a non-physical environment of our own creation. And after we are no longer among the living, very little will remain of even the most accomplished of us. And that’s OK. In a way, it levels the playing field. Because not everyone is going to be famous, or accomplished, or rich or even just good looking. But we all share something. We all are, or were, a living, breathing nobody.

So then, the question remains why do anything if it has no meaning in the grand scheme of things? The answer is that our existence is its own justification. We are the end product of billions of years of evolution. Or the creative output of an omnipotent being. It doesn’t matter in the final analysis. What does matter is the inner richness of our lives. How many people have you touched in a positive way? How many days have you brightened for someone with a song, with a smile, with a hug, with a meal? Have you ever cared for a baby? Or a beloved pet? Has anyone looked at you with love in their eyes? If so, then you have lived a meaningful life and enriched the Universe with your very existence. 

Of course the quality of our own personal subjective experience of existence is impacted by many factors; our personal characteristics, our health, our wealth, our environments and our basic disposition towards the world. But the good news is that while some things are rather fixed, like our height, our basic intelligence or our eye color, how we approach each moment is up to us. Whatever our circumstances, we always have a choice about how we face our reality. So we can choose to be nobodies whose lives are meaningless, or we can choose to be nobodies who fill each day with personal purpose, with amazing everyday adventures, with loving relationships, with treasures of the heart, together with our fellow nobodies.