Illumination Writer’s Challenge
Is It Possible for Me to Glean Any Meaning From My Life?
If not, then what am I here for?
Before I begin, let me thank Joe Luca for tagging me in this prompt.
I’ve included his story at the end, together with those of another three writers.
Each approaches the subject from their unique perspective, and I recommend you read them.
Here is my contribution to the conversation.
When I’m stuck in the ditch of bitching that life sucks, I’m struck how messages emerge from unexpected corners set me back on tracks of moving smoothly, thoughts coiled and oiled, heart pumping, ideas jumping, hands thumping keyboard, feet floored, what more could I ask for.
This quote arrived in my inbox with the newsletter from my favorite news source in South Africa — The Daily Maverick.
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” — Albert Einstein
(I can hear some of you tut-tutting, sighing, wanting to know what that first paragraph comprising one lengthy sentence was about: my first attempt at spontaneous prose a la Kerouac and I’m not a competent ad libber. Like Ringo Starr sang — or tried to — it don’t come easy.)
Four years of psychotherapy in my forties was enough for me to discover that life has the meaning you give it, rather than searching for it as if some Holy Grail that, once discovered, will ease your sorrows and guarantee happy tomorrows.
Einstein’s all-or-nothing theory of miracles is a little extreme on first reading.
But when you think on it, life IS a miracle — birds, animals, plants, rivers, mountains, stars, planets, galaxies — not forgetting people!
Every moment of every day has meaning.
We just need to see it.
I could wax lyrical for hours, but I should stop wasting time and wax my legs.
Let me throw in more clichés while we’re here:
- Life’s too short
- Life goes on
- Life stinks
- Life’s a bitch
- Life is not all beer and skittles
If we haven’t met before, you might think I’m shallow and facetious. But I wear many masks (figurative and literal) — everybody does.
We adopt a different persona, as Jung called it, suitable for each occasion — office, home, family, religious, social.
We don’t reveal an aspect of our personality that is not fit for purpose. Such as swearing in church or cracking jokes at a disciplinary hearing.
Enough to say I’m a spiritual being. Sometimes I suffer from too much empathy and sink into sorrow.
But there’s always the promise of tomorrow. And laughter.
Seriously though, life is what you make it.
Philosophers through the ages have asked the same question about it.
“Plato defined man an animal, biped, featherless, and with broad nails (thereby excluding plucked chickens); but another, much better definition that he gave was a being in search of meaning.” — Psychology Today
As psychotherapy developed, Freud and Adler entered the discourse — the former claiming that pleasure was the driving force and the latter that power was our purpose.
After World War II, the psychiatrist and neurologist Viktor Frankl wrote Man’s Search for Meaning chronicling his ordeal as a concentration camp inmate.
He said that those who survived the longest were those who retained a sense of control over their surroundings.
He founded the school of logotherapy, the aim of which is to discover each individual’s interpretation of life.
The three key principles are:
1. Experiencing reality by interacting authentically with the environment and with others.
2. Giving something back to the world through creativity and self-expression.
3. Changing our attitude when faced with a situation or circumstance that we cannot change.
Whether or not there’s a Divine Creator, what a waste it would be if we believed we are preordained for a particular purpose which remains hidden to all but a select few.
Reading the Conversations with God books by Neale Donald Walsch many years ago confirmed what I’d always suspected — that the outcome of our lives is a direct consequence of the choices we make.
“Don’t be pushed by your problems. Be led by your dreams.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
I second that sentiment.
We create our own path.
Taking it a step further–our thoughts, the language we use and the images we conjure in our minds have a direct influence on outcomes.
We can move that argument to a deeper spiritual level, which quantum physics confirms, that we construct our own reality in every moment.
Whether agnostic, mystic, religious or any human being navigating their way through this miracle called Life — I don’t believe anyone on Earth has the answer.
- All of us have the power to give love and compassion freely without conditions
- We can choose how to respond to any situation — as an obstacle or opportunity
- Through simple actions such as a smile or kind word, we bring a joy to others which will linger long in their hearts.
So, I repeat what I discovered in therapy twenty-five years ago.
Life has the meaning we give it
No more and no less.
I leave you with a message from this consummate actor:
Anthony Hopkins Shares an Important Life Lesson on Jimmy Kimmel Live
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