It’s a forking tv show with shirty jokes. But it is everything. The Good Place gifted us with something we all knew we needed: It gave us permission to ask questions that we’re often afraid to ask.
- Do I belong?
- What happens when this life is over?
- Why do we love when it hurts?
- What *do* we owe to each other?
- What is the purpose of our lives?
- How do we find peace?
And for most of those questions the answer was: Yes, AND. Sometimes we don’t know.
Do I belong? Yes, and sometimes I don’t feel like I belong.
What happens after this life? I don’t know, and that’s okay.
Why do we love? Because it is a gift and the greatest joy, and it will also cause us pain.
What do we owe one another? Kindness, love, justice, and we also owe these things to ourselves.
What is the purpose of our lives? To live and to love and to discover joy, and that often means not knowing.
How do we find peace? We ride the waves, and let them return to the ocean.
The Good Place is not a location. It’s in the moments. The embrace of someone we love, the smile on another person’s face when we choose to do something “good,” the quiet walk in the woods where our hearts are fully open to the earth around us, the loud voices we raise when something is not right. The moments where we feel sad, because we know it will all end, AND we are okay with that. Because there is joy to be found in every moment, even in the mysteries of the unknown. And it can all be very, very good.
