A medium-close-up, outdoor photograph of James Shaw speaking into a microphone. They have short dark hair, a beard, and are wearing a black zip-up jacket layered over a bright red collared shirt. On the left chest of the black jacket is a white circular logo with the text 'WE THE PEOPLE' above the letters 'ACLU'. They are holding a black microphone to their mouth with their right hand and gesturing openly with their left hand. The softly blurred background features the exterior architectural columns of a building, likely Tampa City Hall, illuminated by cool twilight lighting.
James Shaw outside Tampa City Hall on Jan. 18, 2023. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay

When they sit still long enough, humans inevitably start wondering why the hell they even exist.

Tampa lawyer and songwriter James Shaw shares some of his answer with the congregation at the Unitarian Universalist church near the University of South Florida’s Tampa campus this weekend.

“How come we are talking space-monkeys? What’s the point of being one, and what are we supposed to do in this brief moment before we return to oblivion?,” Shaw asked Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, adding that most people just don’t give it that much thought. “Or we find one of the canned answers from one of the many who claim to have it all figured out for you already and just say, ‘Sure, that.’ But I demand an acceptable answer and think maybe I have one.”

His talk comes after an extended period of study, meditation and fasting—which means if you listen you might not have to do all that nonsense.

There’s no cover to hear James Shaw’s Why Are We Here and What Are We Supposed to Do While We’re Here? talk at UU Church of Tampa on Sunday, May 24.

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This article appears in May 14 – 20, 2026.

Read his 2016 intro letter and disclosures from 2022 and 2021. Ray Roa started freelancing for Creative Loafing Tampa in January 2011 and was hired as music editor in August 2016. He became Editor-In-Chief...