There is a longing in us, a desire to believe we are not randomly here. I don't believe any one of us, hasn't asked themselves, "Why do I exist?", at least once. It's a slippery question to ponder, especially so, if we happen to be feeling undervalued and aimless, at the moment.

One Sunday afternoon, we had mom over for dinner. As we were eating desert, mom blurted out, "Oh, honey, by the way; did I ever tell you, your father and I didn't plan on having you, or your sister? You were both accidents." I have always believed, family gatherings are not only a time for sharing, but also a time for having a good laugh. I was tickled by my mother's sudden revelation. I'll certainly live over it, even though I never considered that possibility before.

Yet, in the whole scheme of life; God, creation and where we fit into the picture, many of us would like to believe, we were created by our maker for a purpose. There must be a good reason, why we exist. The idea, we were a random pick, when dinosaurs didn't fit the bill, isn't an answer. I feel a chill grow in me, even considering; mankind is nothing more than an accident.

Mankind includes us all. We are all of the same species. It becomes almost overwhelming to ponder, "why we exist", when we see how cheap life is treated throughout so much of the world.

I have a feeling, when mankind began to question it's own existence, religion also began to take on a persona; as an answer, or solution to the problems we seemed incapable of answering for ourselves.

It is in the very seeds of our belief of early religion, mankind was able to finally become dogmatic. We were able to adopt a religious tenet, a solution to, "why we exist".

Finally, religion became strong enough, it was able to save us from the hard questions, by answering, "We exist, because of God". It was a blanket statement that needed the reinforcement and support by a body, that became known, as the Bible.

For many of us, religion may be an answer, and it certainly is thriving. Yet, when we find ourselves, lacking faith in a world that seems to have gone mad; we still find ourselves, alone sometimes, and asking the age old question again, "Why do we exist?" Moments of truth never seem to come to us, easily. Sometimes we live out our lives, without receiving our most pressing questions, answered.

I have to believe, we exist because, we are. If it was not supposed to be, then we would not be here. There are no mistakes, there is purpose in everything. I will never know life's purpose for everything. We are but a small part, playing out our lives in the bigger picture. Maybe, we exist because life would be so empty and lonely without us.

Learn more about this author, Bruce Griffin.
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