“The purpose of everything is itself.”
I’ve been watching my son Issa move happily through life — wondering, what is the secret to childhood joy?
I noticed that he approaches everything he does, as a GAME: brushing his teeth is a game. Changing-table time is a game. Eating breakfast is a game (blueberries are “Baikinmon’s eyes” — Baikinmon is the blue-ish antagonist in a Japanese cartoon series).
Games are fun because we play them FOR THEIR OWN SAKE.
The act of playing a game is itself fun. Games are, by definition, “in the moment.”
Yet, somehow, as we grow up, we get tangled more and more in webs of expectation, next steps, future, etc. — we lose sight of what’s right in front of us.
As Heidegger says, things that are closest to us, are hardest to see.
For Issa, “the purpose of everything is itself.”
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