Skip to main content

Who are you? Who am I? | Week 48

December | Meaning of Life | Week 48 | 12/3/2023
What is the meaning of life? Part 1 

Of all the questions one might ask themselves most intently and with the deepest sincerity, there is none more sobering than "What is the meaning of life?" This is indeed a beautiful and complicated question. 'Life' can be interpreted as the collective noun or the singular. It can refer to one's own life, or to the conscious experience of life on aggregate. It can reference the purpose of one's own existence or the reason for existence at all. Meaning can be applied to the subjective feeling one gets from an experience or the objective purpose of one's life. These 6 words, punctuated with a question mark, have occupied the minds of billions since the very first mind could be captivated by a question. I feel there is no better way to conclude this introspective journey that I've embarked on over the past year, than to ask myself the deepest, most elusive, most profound question of all. It is now, and will remain a goal of my life, to add to the generations of philosophical pontification, to add a stich to the golden thread of history, by contributing and perhaps even progressing, the perennial search for wisdom that our species so valiantly and reluctantly betrothed many millennia ago. As I sit with the soothing piano sounds of Ludovico Einaudi in my ears I fear the abdication of that responsibility, and therefore am inspired to record my thoughts clearly and concisely, so that I may return to this essay in many decades with affection and admiration. 

My mind is pulled in many directions simultaneously when I query my soul for the answer to this difficult question. Not only, what is the answer, but what do I truly believe? How do I act in reference to this question? Do I treat my life as though it has a singular meaning? Do I behave as if other's lives have meaning? Does that meaning extend to the species or is it specific to me? Is 'life' an accident or a divine gift? Do accidents have meaning if they're not directed towards an end? Gifts are given because they have meaning from the sender, but the subjectivity of the recipient can nullify the meaning adorned by the gift giver. Am I even capable of being objective in answering the question? Or is my subjectivity the injection of value which gives this question credence to be asked. My mind races, and I ask for wisdom. From my mentors in the East, I'm reminded of the Zen Buddhism terms Satori and Kensho - the 'deep comprehension' and understanding of reality that can and will arise from Zen stillness and the 'observation of nature'. From my mentors in the West, Psalm 46:10 and Matthew 7:7 - "Be still and know that I am God. "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." So, I engage patience and stillness, riding the proverbial waves of thought which arise, not fighting them, waiting for a pattern to emerge, for a clarity of direction, for truth. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Just what is out there?

Just what is out there? Indeed, when we look up at the night sky we observe and are captivated by the distant specks of light that scatter the dark canvas. But what else is out there? And what even is "out there"? I talk of this natural progression of curiosity. The way our brains discover and ask, discover and ask again, and the cycle continues. We aren't satisfied. It seems the universe has an equal incline. Every time we think we've figured something out, about the going-on's of the cosmos, a new event or strange arrangement of matter appear within our reach, almost as if to say, "are you sure, you've got me pinned?" This is why I fell in love with astronomy, cosmology, and quantum physics. It is everything. It is nothing. One could spend a lifetime studying a singular conundrum such as a quasar, and die mostly ignorant. How daunting a task, and how beautiful. This essay is a dissemination of my thoughts on the subject of the cosmos. A humble ap...
2 comments
Read more

To 2025

I recently stumbled across the written correspondence of Vincent Van Gogh and his younger brother Theo Van Gogh, which is well preserved apparently. I read numerous letters that Vincent wrote to Theo from the years 1880 to 1883. Ever since I first saw an exhibit of his work at the Biltmore in 2020, I've had a certain fascination with Van Gogh, particularly by the way his work became increasingly dark and disillusioned as his mental health declined over the course of his life. In reading the correspondence to his brother, which would have been intimate and honest, I feel a particular empathy and relatability to the busyness of his mind, which clearly caused him angst and separation from society and loved ones. He was brilliant and it was that brilliance which was both the cause of his legacy and his demise. Dostoevsky summarized this phenomenon in Crime and Punishment, "Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men mus...
Post a Comment
Read more

Who are you? Who am I? | Week 26

July | Philosophy and Religion |   Week 26 | 7/2/2023 Talk about the synergies between Eastern Thought and Western Thought Theologians and philosophers alike develop silos of ego, compartmentalized into self-containing rationalization, all born of competitiveness. It is a natural inclination to prove and disprove. It is counterintuitive to subject matter expertise to find similarity rather than identify difference. I grew up Catholic and rarely did I consider the larger philosophical and religious landscape of the world, until I learned of the world. Upon reading the texts of the stoics, who predated Christ, I saw parallel conclusions about fundamental features of the human nature. In deep diving the Old Testament, I discovered archetypes which could be found in ancient Egypt and ancient China. And in Japan, visiting the Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines, I learned of the connection between observation, self-regulation, nature, and enlightenment, a central theme in both Stoicism ...
1 comment
Read more