I was on a beach at sunrise pondering life and a visitor appeared through the mist walking on foaming seas. He deftly stepped onto the beach and sat down in front of me, and said, “Hi Tom, I’m Nemesis. You have some questions.

After my astonishment dissipated, I asked, “What is the purpose of life?”

“It is self-evident that man has purpose, but not that life itself has purpose. You ask the question because man has purpose.”

“OK....then what is man’s purpose?”

“Whatever purpose he wants. Each person decides for himself.”

“There has to be some ultimate purpose for life and for man’s life.”

“Why?

“I don’t know. It just seems like there should be.”

“Because you think there should be is why you asked the question. Maybe a better question might be, ‘Why do you think there should be?’

“I’m just trying to make sense of life.”

“Yes, and probably so has every deep thinking person since the dawn of man. Maybe it would be a good idea to ask about man’s thinking.”

“OK....what about man’s thinking?”

“Maybe it’s man’s thinking that creates the problem.”

“What problem?”

“Your dissatisfaction.”

“What dissatisfaction?”

“If you were satisfied, would you be asking the question? You are asking because you are dissatisfied without an answer.”

“Yes....I want an answer, one that satisfies my wanting to know.”

“Maybe you should ask, ‘Why do I want to know?”

“Because I’m curious.”

“Curious also means you are concerned.”

“Ok....I’m concerned that without an answer my life will be purposeless.”

“Now we are getting down to the root of your problem.”

“OK.”

“Can you not give purpose to your life without knowing if life itself has a purpose?”

“What if the purpose I give my life, is not the purpose of life itself. What if I’m wrong?”

“So what you are really talking about is your belief in an after-life.”

“What?”

“Unless you believe in an after life, there can be no wrong purpose in your life. When you die, and there is no after-life, you won’t know if you were wrong or right, but if there is, you fear punishment for choosing wrong.”

“Yes. I guess so.”

“Do you believe in an after-life?”

“Yes.”

“There’s your problem, belief.”

“What do you mean?”

“Have you experienced an after-life?”

“No.”

“If you haven’t experienced an after-life (if it is not in your experience) you don’t know. So your problem is your belief. Stop believing what is not in your experience and choose a purpose for your life. Problem solved.”

“Well what if there is an after-life?”

“You can live your life with a million ‘what if” or you can live your life for what is. If there is an after-life, maybe then you’ll get an answer to your question. Until then, believe less and enjoy life more.”

And then Nemesis disappeared and I woke-up from my dream.