Pondering Life and 21 Pilots Car Radio

I recently was flipping back through old songs on my external drive and came across this amazing song by 21 Pilots and it just made me stop… and listen, and think. And think. So, please, hit play on this video – watch it, and read, read, and watch…

“I ponder of something great.”

“I ponder of something great.”

Do you guys ponder of something great? Or do you not? Have you sat down and listened to the silence lately? What about the metronome of your heart? Have you slowed down and pondered the passing of time between beats? I love this video, and this song – and the way they are asking the hard questions about this one life that you get, this one chance to make sense of the insanity of the banality, day in and day out.

The Psalmist says that life is but a vapor. A myst in the early morning, that wafts once and then is gone. Right? No matter how old you are – if you are reading this, you’ve lived just long enough to wonder where your short/long life has gone. No? I personally wonder how I’ve come to have this particular career, and my life in these cubes, and this daily grind of a career (that is rewarding and lofty, don’t get me wrong, but even so, how did I end up here?)? How did I end up with these houses, and these mortgages, and these commitments? How did I decide not to learn to play piano, and avoided going to art school? How can I do something great? What is doing something great?

Do you ponder of something great?

 

And what happens when you’re stuck at the mechanic’s, … and your iPhone is dead, and the TV’s broken, where does your mind go? Do you watch the mechanics? Do consider your day? Do you consider the fleetingness of life? Why is it that we do not consider our life? The shortness of it. The banality of our choices?

I recently had a long winded conversation with an atheist (I am a Christian if you were unaware) and I was asking him this very question about whether he considered the meaning of life. And he laughed, and jokingly said… “doesn’t everyone? It comes up all the time.” Which told me – no. He doesn’t. Which was surprising to me. (Which is why I adore talking to different people of different walks of life, and different faiths, and different jobs, etc. To see through their eyes is just amazing to me… don’t you guys want to know how a Peruvian who lives in the jungles of the rain forest lives? Do you not want to know how an artist lives his life in London? Stop and talk to that homeless guy… or the guy selling you the gyro on the street. Stop and chat with the person on the elevator, and ask them something beyond the standard… ‘hey… how’s it goin?’ – why not… ‘So, what do you do for a living? Do you love it? Why?’

When I go on vacation, I talk to everyone. Bellhops. Pool-boys. Taxi drivers. Hotel management. I remember on one vacation to Cancun that I talked to one of the guys that worked at the pool bar and beach areas of the hotel… and he invited me to his home and his church later that night. And leaving the “safe zone” we headed out together. It was one of the most eye opening experiences of my life. And all because I chatted with a guy that was invisible. That gave towels out and didn’t say a word.

And to be clear, sometimes the silence really is destructive. And it should be. “Sometimes quiet is violent”, Sometimes it screams and screams and screams. Sometimes the quiet is malevolent. Sometimes the quiet is violent. Sometimes the quiet is malevolent. And shouldn’t it be? It should make you reconsider.

When was the last time you were forced to deal with what you feel? When was the last time you honestly considered your own mortality? When was the last time you really grappled with the dashed dreams and the shattered realities in your life?

“I ponder of something…

terrifying”

and

“‘Cause this time there’s no sound to hide behind
I find over the course of our human existence
One thing consists of consistence
And it’s that we’re all battling fear
Oh dear, I don’t know if we know why we’re here”

I don’t know if we know why we’re here
I don’t know if we know why we’re here.

Oh we do not know why we are here. We really really do not know why we are here. Is that acceptable to you? That we don’t even care to ask why we are here? And most of us don’t even want to know why we are here. And this is acceptable to you? Not knowing? Is it possible to know? What if I told you it was possible to know?

“Oh my, too deep, please stop thinking
I liked it better when my car had sound”

 

We settle. We just settle for too little. Everyday. We settle. For not asking the questions. We settle for not asking why. We settle, all the time, we just don’t push for more. Why is it that we choose to settle? That we don’t stretch, and grow, and learn? Why is it that we choose to settle? We get one go at this? And we settle? There’s but one go at this… and we settle?

Don’t settle. Whatever you do, don’t settle… Strive for peace, and LIFE with a capital L. STRIVE FOR LIFE with a capital L. Don’t lowercase your life. Whatever you do, don’t lowercase it. You and I may disagree on the meaning for life, but for the love of God don’t stop searching for it. My two cents anyway… Don’t stop searching for why we are here. Do not let a marketing machine tell you why we are here. Don’t let a Super Bowl define your reason for existing. Or a trophy. Or an award. Don’t settle for that. You are way way more important than all that.