What is the ‘meaning’ of life?
What is the ‘meaning’ of Life?
This sounds like a reasonable and rational question. Certainly it is the perennial pondering of many a person and the making of philosophy for many millennia.
However could the question be wrong?
Might the question be based upon a false assumption; the assumption that there is a meaning to life and that we need to find out what that meaning really is in order to have a meaningful life?
Could it be that there is no implicit – underlying meaning to life?
Could it be that Life simply is and that it is what it is?
From this vantage point we can see that the idea that there is an implicit underlying meaning to life is just that – an idea.
Where has this idea come from?
Obviously it has come from our minds, and especially from our self.
The self; of which I have spoken and written extensively, is a helpful psychological relational tool; the self or ego or I – is a reference point for working from. The self is a mediator and moderator for mind and body , between mind and body and in relation to other minds and bodies. The self is the ‘self operating system’ (SOS).
Thus we see that the psychological self creates the idea that there is a meaning to life, that there must be a meaning to life, and that the self now has a most important task which is to find the meaning of life.
At different times in ‘our’ life, life will have different meanings.
This could be that – the meaning of life is – fun, to be successful, to raise a healthy family, to live well, to make a difference, leave a legacy or even to realise spiritual truths – enlightenment – freedom.
All these could be valid and meaningful and give purpose and potential to what is happening – life!
Thus we could say that our self, the self, is a meaning making device. Beyond just a sensory experience; a sight a sound, a smell, a sensation, a taste, a thought – the S O S – makes meaning, gives meaning, creates time- past and future and perpetuates itself with somewhere to go in time and place together with meaning and purpose!
So next time we ask or are asked, what is the meaning of life; allow space, no thought, no meaning making – just life happening, just now, just this, as is, simply so, nothing more, nothing less – perfect!
How does that feel, when all the searching and seeking and self-ing – stops?
Peace.
John Barter
