Love to you. I have been in South Africa for exactly one week and finally feel like a normal person!  Even with jet lag It is wonderful to be back in nature with the backyard menagerie of Warthogs, Kudus, Nyala, Guinea Fowl, Franklins, Hornbills, Monkeys and of course, Bush Babies. No Lions, Elephants, Leopards, Hippos or Cheetah yet, however we are going out on safari this coming Sunday and Monday, so tune in next time!

Each week while I am here in South Africa, it is my goal to experience and share at least one spectacularly inspiring idea. My first inspiration, surprisingly occurred on the plane ride from Miami to Dubai. It was a segment from the BBC special, “Big Little Journeys”. The series covers the epic lives of 6 tiny creatures which includes the Lombardi Chameleon from Madagascar. To summarize, the entire population of the Chameleon’s mate and lay eggs during the first rains of November. Immediately following the laying of the eggs, the entire population of adult Chameleons die. In March, all the hatchlings emerge at the same time, and begin their 5-month journey to find a mate so that they can lay their eggs in November. Once the eggs are safely planted in the soft soil, this entire generation of adults, male and female, go out in a blaze of vibrant color. Each year an entirely new global population of Lombardi chameleons are born and die. Remarkable!

My inspiration begins with the question - why? Why would the creator of all that is, create a species whose life, outside of the egg, would be a mere 5 months?  For what purpose? Being one who believes in an infinite something that we call Creator, or God, or the Quantum Field – I can’t help but muse about the purpose of such a life. Why?

After days of contemplation, I think for me it might be self-evident that maybe there isn’t any meaning or purpose – maybe LIFE is its own purpose. No matter how short or how long. Every living thing in nature knows this and lives it without any emotional, mental, or spiritual baggage. It is natural. There are no religions, no dogma, no anti-depressants, residual anger, resentment, guilt, or shame. Life for the sake of life.

If you have ever seen a herd of antelope prance and dance in a downpour after a long hot dry period – you will know there is an ecstatic celebration going on. Life for the sake of life. A pride of lions greeting one another after a long separation with nuzzling, soft growls and such obvious happiness at being together again. And of course, the Lombardi Chameleon, happy to hatched, to be in the world, ecstatic to find her mate and happy to have laid her eggs – and in that burst of color, apparently also happy to die.

If only humans could be so in the moment, so alive and so open?

All humans have two distinct aspects of the self.  A psychological identity developed through the process of learning, experience, and knowledge. This is referred to as the ‘conditioned’ self, the personality, or the ego.  For As long as we occupy these gorgeous bodies, this will always be the case.  Regardless of how ‘spiritual’ you become, the ego is still an ever-present asset or ‘hindrance’ to your life experience.

However, we have another relatively underdeveloped aspect, which is our real, true, or natural self.  That part of us which has been created by Creation. It is the larger container for the totality of our living experience in this dimension. Though it eludes most of us at this time in our human evolution, it is always accessible to discover, get acquainted with and ultimately identify as to a greater degree.  This is a very good thing because this spiritual aspect is our hope of unconditional happiness, personal and global peace, and higher states consciousness, which bring us the experience of bliss and joy.

. What if we are just confused? What if life is amazing all by itself without anything added, like money, power, prestige, or stuff?  What if it doesn’t matter one bit whether life expresses for 5 months or 100 years.  What if life knows how to live, lives what it knows and then, in a state of completion, dissolves back into the all-that-is?

As humans, we are unique in that we, unlike animals, find all kinds of ways to avoid experiencing the life that we are by thinking, planning, strategizing and the endless, perhaps pointless, search for meaning and value. Do we not have an incessant need for these as well as the compulsion  to acquire, accumulate, accomplish?

Of course we are different than insects, reptiles, birds, animals, and plants. We are a sophisticated and complex life form, capable of directed thought, designed to solve problems, build futures, and create into our world through the power of our minds. We are also capable of imagining ourselves in self-imposed prisons while mired in worry, doubt, and fear.  We are capable of incredible violence towards ourselves and others. We are addicted to almost everything from sugar to television and through our misguided behaviors and stress, seldom give our bodies the opportunity to express natural health and vitality.

Who you are as a unique expression of life is whole, perfect and complete right now. How you are called by your natural self to live your life, regardless of how long or how short, is perfect.

Every spiritual teacher I love and respect says that our purpose in life is to be full of the joy of life. Express. Express. Express. Create, create, create. And do all of that expressing and creating from a place of joy and love! What if we could just be satisfied with what is at any given moment?  Moving through our lives with the same kind of clarity and certainty that every other life form exhibits?

“Every moment there are a million miracles happening around you: a flower blossoming, a bird tweeting, a bee humming, a raindrop falling, a snowflake wafting along the clear evening air. There is magic everywhere. If you learn how to live it, life is nothing short of a daily miracle.” ~ Sadhguru: Inner Engineering

As a spiritual teacher and someone committed to living on the green growing edge of my own evolution, as well as being a conscious contributor to the human landscape, I absolutely love the big idea of releasing the constraints that keep us seeking and never finding. All stories about animals are about a life form striving for the fulfillment of its existence. Though the elephants, the chameleon and the rose bush might not be as sophisticated a form as we are, we are inherently like every other living thing. Like all of nature, from the moment of our birth something inside of us is willing us forward to express life into life.

Our sophisticated form plays in life by creating. In this process you will eat, wear clothes, buy things, own things. You might pick up a rolls Royce along the way.  The trick is to let these activities be like the antelope prancing in the rain, the lioness greeting her family or the Chameleon going out in a blaze of color and fulfillment.

The purpose of life is life. The meaning of life is to live. It matters very little if that life endures in physical form for 5 months or 102 years. Whenever your final moment comes – and it will come – let us be satisfied with our experience of life. Be happy.