Point

Staying on point is a practiced skill for many human beings. My science education was very helpful in developing this skill. My study of Latin and German were also helpful, since they are languages less idiomatic than some. They require rational structuring of words to make the proper point. 

Nuance has its value in diplomatically or sensitively dealing with people or situations. But we are becoming a culture of all nuance and little pointed discussion. This is related to media fixation on abstract political and social ideas, such as "safety net", "government overspending", "entitlements" and so on. Inane statements like "It's all good." cloud the skeptical and logical assessment of the quality of daily life. Such assessment yields a very different result: It ain't all good. Increasing discrepancy in wealth, climate change, deteriorating natural resources, human overpopulation, deteriorating public education, etc.. 

As individuals, we can practice staying on point. What is the point of your daily life? I frequently ask the question of myself. There is, of course, no real existential "point" to my life. I have no delusions of grandeur. I was not ordained by some supernatural patriarch to save the human race, to rule or to live in aristocratic luxury. I am simply the result of the sexual enthusiasm of my parents. That is why I am here.

I make points in conversation and in action. I have daily goals. I have my own master plan for the quality of my daily life. I assess and maintain a point of my humanist practice: Mental and physical health within a peaceful and harmonious environment. That is the point of my humanist practice. It is not about saving the planet, anyone else or even myself. I am mortal. I am aging. I will die. The scope of my life span limits my impact on my environment. I am satisfied to work within that realistic scope. 

Many people lead pointless lives while thinking they are on point by following the scripts of parents, bosses, politicians and religions. They constantly drink someone else's Koolaid. They consequently lose the pointlessness of their individual being. Rediscovering that pointlessness ironically liberates. This last statement makes me feel very French.

I encourage you to find the point, or pointlessness, of your own life. It's quite a quest if you have been living an existence dictated by the points (agendas) of others. Finding the point of my daily existence brings me firmly back onto my path of mindful living with evolving compassion.