In my view life has no meaning in an absolute sense. This however does not mean that your life cannot be more or less meaningful. To be is a challenge, and to be in a fully grown way seems to be the only way it can have any meaning. My point is, and has been throughout my life as a non-duality teacher and author, that one needs to outgrow the infantile states of being as quickly and profoundly as possible. Like Heidegger said, one needs to have many births in this single lifetime to really ‘get here’. Many people don’t get (t)here, and their lives will bring a lot of chaos and suffering, to themselves and those who come across them or are linked to them in whatever way. One will need to address issues, feel through emotional residues, inquire into illusions and beliefs to ‘really be’.
The fear driven ways of life, the neediness, the affirmation seeking, the resentfulness, the tendency to find excuses and all that will have to be left behind to be able to shine like a true human being. Then still, life has no meaning in an absolute way, but every movement of life will be its own reward. To yourself, as well as to other living beings and the planet as a whole. A true Individual will be able, competent, open, brave, honest, clear minded, creative and caring, and not afraid to do what’s right whatever it takes.
A true Individual therefore is not a ‘member’, nor a slave to praise or rejection. She will go her own way, not the way society subscribes or the ‘social’ group imposes. To be free however demands a lot. To grow beyond the manipulations of social pressure, inner and outer expectations, the multitude of convictions and socially induced ‘goals’ is quite something. To awaken to Consciousness itself is even rarer. As Ramana said: it takes a lot of effort to reach the effortless state. Indeed.
It requires thinking, real thinking – in stead of clinging to judgments and beliefs (old feelings). It requires the ability to truly feel, feel through pain and suffering, in stead of trying to get rid of it, in stead of avoidance or suppression. It requires clarity and a keen ‘ear’, so one can ‘hear’ the whispers of intuition, our own and unique and creative navigational device, and to not override these whispers with anxieties and fearful thoughts. It also requires time and space in our lives, in stead of being busy every single minute. To contemplate life, to read, to write, to inquire one also needs time alone, undisturbed, away from the herd, the hive, the noise of man.
Otherwise, one will be swept away with of by the common, the easy, mediocre, and empty notions, goals, dreams and illusions of the masses, and remain a half-ling, a child-man or child-woman. That will be meaningless, in my opinion, and even worse, it may be damaging to oneself, to others, to the planet.
(This was written because of a request.)