Being and Somethingness

This morning over a bowl of cereal I asked my six year old Quinn what the most important thing in Life was.

Without hesitation he said “Being Alive.”

I told him that was a valid point, and asked him what the second most important thing in Life was.

“Staying Alive.” Quinn replied.

It’s peculiar how we age and lose this clarity of thought. This is, in four words, the essence of Existential philosophy. And there is a certain magic to it, to frame all experience in the wonder of your existence and the knowledge it is limited in scope.

At the heart of the Singleton Pattern is a recognition of our special status in the universe. We don’t need a Deity to anoint us to comprehend our uniqueness. We just need to observe the night sky, the vastness of the sea, or the victory of a single seed of grass in its climb toward the light of the Sun to understand our purpose.

Our continuous existence is our frame, our stage, to act out our parts.

And we do not need expensive costumes, or disco balls overhead, or even an audience for our play to be meaningful and beautiful. The act of living our myriad, prosaic lives is the purest act of expression and Art we can make, and only the weakest among us try to gain power by disparaging the play of others.

The goal can be to thrive, but first, we must exist. Then, we must survive.