What’s the Point?

The other day I was driving about in my new yet familiar hometown to which I have recently returned to live, and I passed by a small stone church. The name displayed on a sign in front of the church took me by surprise. The ministry is called “What’s the Point?” I looked it up online and that is indeed the name of this local church. It focusses on doing things of service to help those in need, I presume regarding getting people together to give such good samaritan sorts of service as “the point.”

I have been mulling over the broader question of ‘what’s the point’ ever since seeing this church placard. It strikes me as a waking dream sort of riddle. For what indeed, after all is said and done, is the point of it all: of life or exeistence itself; of love, of service, of relationships or places and things; of getting up every morning or to sleep and dream at night, loved ones beside one, or alone?

I used to think I had this question squarely boxed in. What’s the point? Love. Service. Fulfilling responsibilities, or even just experiencing Beingness itself as It Just Is. But in times of a global pandemic and social unrest, the point lately has seemed to shift more to being about just doing the best we can, day after day, to stay in good health and help our loved ones or anyone we might encounter also to be as safe as possible and as sheltered from the fray as can be.

I guess there’s a bit of a Maslovian imperative at work: the basic needs of physical and social survival are taking center stage for the general collective. So for now, the point does seem to be about staying safe and helping others be safe. And maybe that is a very excellent point, even a strong spiritual focus, for now, since that’s where we are at. HOW we stay safe and help others be safe or supported is perhaps where lies the underlying opportunities of this Moment. Exercising caution, expressing concerns, being resourceful, sharing goods and services for the benefit of our families and communities is life affirming, after all. We develop and distribute the Life Force through these times of unusual requirements for fortitude and balance, self-discipline and gratitude for all good things given and received with unconditional love. We are growing, perhaps, through all of this giving, through mindful concern for the welfare of all. Is this then at least a point worth embracing?

Maybe not everyone is in the same boat but that’s okay. Many are suffering, from want or need or from contracting a potentially deadly illness from which they truly might not survive. Many are scared, others are angry and acting out from fear or loathing. That’s not where I am at or where we are at as a whole, I believe.

For there’s a little church in my home town named “What’s the Point” which shows that many are still looking to answer the fundamental riddles of life and to help their loved ones or neighbors in what ways they can. So there is something worth sharing through all of this; whatever happens to each or to all, we are in this together–and apart–in ways both old and newly emerging. Despite the divisions among us, we are One.

images are from pixabay.com