Bill Custer's thought sphere

When a natural disaster strikes, and the realization that but for grace, you would be the dead one, or the homeless one, or the one who lost a family member, you have to wonder, do I matter?

When Jim Carrey caught a mic at an event this week, he commented on how meaningless it all was. Is that true? Is going to a fashion show somewhere in Europe meaningless? Well, it would have been for me, unless to be a voyeur.

But seriously, we have to think, what does what I think, say, and do matter, in the long run, and how much should my happiness depend on “meaningful” things? After all, many of us look forward very much to a Game of Thrones show, or something like that. Is that meaningful, or entertainment?, and to what extent is entertainment meaningful? These could be deep existential questions.

Yet, the simple truth is, there is meaning in every single thing we do.

Yes, its true. And what really matters are only two things:

We increase the world by increasing the information in it: adding our smarts and thoughts, and pursuing education so we can create even more information. Or even staying home, raising children, why yes: their DNA is also increased information, and so is educating them to be productive adults — this is increasing information too. We are engines of information.

With love, we improve situations, which make people happier, and magnify our abilities as individuals, families, and communities. Love is beneficial change. That’s really all it is, because its the acts that create the emotion — the other way around is a short dead-end street. When we love someone, whether family or stranger, the mechanisms are all thoughts, and actions of creating beneficial change. If you analyze a long-term situation closely, you will find there is always a pathway from outset to outcome, of incremental beneficial changes. Short-term situations are enveloped by the long term beneficial change.

Then no, this is not a meaningless existence, no matter what wise men might say. Even an event like a dance or a party makes people a little happier. We need our pursuit of happiness, as much as we need to be high performance engines of information, and this will transform the world by creating beneficial change.