What the Birds Know That We Forgot: The Curse of Choice

Earlier today, I was sitting out on my terrace reading a book, sipping a cup of coffee, and looking up at the clear blue sky. A single bird flew past, completely effortless. In that stillness — a realization hit me. I understood what it means to be human, and exactly why we are all so exhausted.

Sally: Nature by default gives every living being a purpose. Look at any animal — birds flying, fish swimming, cheetahs running — and bang, their purpose is instantly recognizable. They’re born with the exact toolkit required for their existence, moving through life with effortless certainty. But humans? Nature didn’t give us a direct purpose. It gave us something else, and that something is the ultimate cause of our despair and sadness. It gave us a choice.

Maddy: Choice? You make it sound like a curse. Most people see it as our greatest gift.

Sally: It is a curse. The choice to select our own purpose is a dangerous pivot because a self-made purpose can be creative or destructive. And more often than not, we choose destruction. Either the destruction of the world, or worse, the destruction of our own lives. Instead of building our life, we destroy it bit by bit through our desires and this endless search for purpose.

Maddy: So you think our intelligence was a mistake?

Sally: Sometimes I wonder if nature cursed us by giving us a brain, thoughts, and intelligence. Maybe we were never meant to live with a rigid purpose, and our endless search for one is exactly what is killing us. Perhaps nature knew we had become top carnivores, so it gave us choice as a built-in mechanism to ensure we became our own worst enemy. Think about it: humans are the only species on Earth with the intelligence to destroy not just ourselves, but every other living thing around us.I don’t think nature anticipated just how selfish we would become.

Maddy: But look at everything we’ve built, Sally. The technology, the progress…

Sally: Because we lacked a clear biological purpose, we just began to steal from the rest of the animal kingdom. We wanted to fly, so we built planes. We wanted to swim deep, so we built submarines. We wanted the speed of a tiger, so we engineered bullet trains and sports cars. We wanted the moon, so we designed spacecraft. And yet, we still couldn’t find our purpose. We kept on making choices — more technological advancements, more modern civilizations — and along with them, we chose more destruction.

Maddy: That’s a pretty dark way to look at human civilization.

Sally: We became a virus inhabiting a host body, strip-mining natural resources in a desperate need to fill an internal void. The reason I call it destruction is because if we were truly meant to live in today’s hyper-modern, technologically advanced world, it would bring us peace. We would feel a deep sense of contentment. Instead, we find an insatiable hunger. We accumulate wealth, chase luxury cars, and buy jewels, only to realize that a lavish lifestyle still leaves us feeling entirely empty after a while. There is no limit to our desires, which proves we are living a life that was never meant for us. We completely misunderstood the true meaning of life.

Maddy: But nature destroys things too. Forest fires, volcanoes, extinctions… How are we any different?

Sally: Nature is ambitious too, which is why it didn’t stop with just one living organism. Evolution still exists, but the difference is that nature creates along the way, and if it destroys, it has the power to rebuild. A small seed can transform into a whole jungle one day. Humans don’t have that kind of power. Once we destroy something, it’s gone forever. We create things, but they don’t last.

Maddy: Oh, but we do have one thing that remains forever, something even nature can’t seem to destroy — plastic. Even our creativity is destructive sometimes. If we weren’t meant to build and find a purpose, then why are we here? What did nature want from us?

Sally: If you ask me, nature never created us to do something. Nature created us to witness something. We were designed to be slightly higher-IQ beings who could actually comprehend the labor, science, and sheer beauty of creation. We are meant to be the audience for the universe and appreciate the creations around us. We all know how much work it put in over millions of years of evolution.

Maddy: I guess… when you put it that way, it makes sense.

Sally: If you doubt this, just imagine yourself in the most scenic place you have ever been. Picture the towering trees, a crashing waterfall, the smell of wet soil, the woody scent of the forest, and birds gliding across the sky. In that moment, you don’t feel the urge to achieve, conquer, or build… you feel so relaxed just appreciating all this beauty.

Maddy: It’s true. When I’m actually out in the woods or at the beach, everything else just kind of fades away.

Sally: Exactly. As soon as you are out in nature, you forget every desire, every purpose — or at least the purpose you were chasing. That’s why humans enjoy watching sunsets and sunrises. Even an empty blue sky with a single cloud makes us forget everything in life for a moment. We become the moment. No matter how high up you live in a concrete building, you still wish for the moon and stars when you look out the window. Time slows down. It’s only you and your appreciation for nature. You are no longer bound by the grueling desire to live. You are life itself. You are one with the air around you. You become one with yourself.

Maddy: **(Staring up at the moon alongside Sally, letting the silence settle for a beat) A life without purpose… because you are the life, and nature is simply flowing through you.**

Sally: Exactly.