Life with Meaning
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I am currently reading a wonderful book by Viktor Frankl, “Yes to Life In Spite of Everything”. I am truly enjoying this book about finding the meaning to life and what it means to live a meaningful life, quite apt in the continuum of World in Pandemic. During the Second World War, Viktor Frankl spent three years in a number of camps including Auschwitz, and unlike many survivors, he insisted on returning to his home town, Vienna. As a survivor of the Holocaust and a world-famous professor in neurology and psychiatry, and author I could never fathom to compare his experiences with most of ours. But the bottom line of his book is a life full of meaning is a life full of giving and to help others find purpose: a life full of humanity.
Perhaps this is a relevant choice of reading for times where changes worldwide unfold in front of our very eyes, where many of us have awakened from our lull of the Status Quo that we got so used, addicted or enslaved to. Living in the fast lane, the need to be seen to be busy, work for the retirement that you may not experience as health issues cropped up in your early forties! The fallacy of the working better under pressure, that we create for ourselves, for no reason whatsoever! The pressure we put ourselves to surround ourselves with more things that we will perhaps hardly ever use…I am perhaps guilty of judging such individuals as to me life is for investing in something meaningful, such as developing knowledge and meaningful know-how.
Life is ostensibly meant to be enjoyed and lived with purpose, but I feel we still have a long way to go. Many of us have chosen that alternative life, a different mindset and alternative ways of thinking. Many of us are still searching for that very purpose to raise and empower humanity to different levels. Many of us still work hard on ourselves to set out to raise other souls in search of a purpose. Some rigidly stick to old ways just as some rigidly stick to conspiracy theories. Truth is in this our reborn World, there is no right and wrong but eventually, humanity will feel stronger and far more resilient than it has ever been. We will question more and more our old ways and learn that perhaps these were not serving our better selves.
But what is it that makes life truly meaningful? There are no right or wrong questions as the experiences of our journeys are not linear and neither is our thinking. Nothing is ever black or white, and as we evolve our definition of meaningful will inevitably change. But I do believe in living in higher consciousness, with an essence of altruism. Not to be seen as being charitable but truly just to give ourselves for better outcomes. It could well mean small changes in ourselves, small changes that can ripple along. Less clutter more minimalism for example? Less consumerism, more sharing? More passing of unused household items along? More reading, less Netflix? Less toxic gossiping and criticising and more constructive discussions and invaluable exchange of ideas? Simply put, there is no fixed formula as there is beauty in making our own rules.
There are immediate actions that we can take for us to address our inner angst as the solutions are always within us. Our beauty as Homo Sapiens is that we adapt to changing demands. We can re-programme ourselves to relearn to respect the environment and view all living beings as just being as equal to us. Can we see the World with meaning and purposeful eyes, where we re-teach our children to respect their immediate surroundings, respect one another regardless of differences and above all our home, Mother Earth? When we truly see one another in a meaningful way, we see our lives as such. Perhaps cultivating gratitude and compassion makes our journeys more meaningful and brings us to our true selves.
Tween often says that making friends in a shallow way is comparable to us collecting beautiful plastic things that do nothing for us in the long run. Perhaps he has a strong point here as cultivating deep rapports with one another brings a beautiful meaning to our lives. I love what Frankl writes, that, I quote, “we can fulfil the demands of existence not only as active agents but also as loving human beings: in our loving dedication to the beautiful, to the great, the good”.
I hope and pray that we can all find more meaning to our ever-evolving journeys. I know somehow we will get there…
