What are you doing for the rest of your life?

One of the existential questions has to do with life meaning or meaninglessness, and associated with that is one’s purpose in life. I am not here to answer the question; because you are the only one who can answer the question. However, this post will attempt to probe into the rising of the question, the inquiry itself and its context.

When we ask about the meaning of life or equally our purpose, it is an attempt to give significance to the ‘I’ that is asking the question. ‘I’ want to be significant, ‘I’ want to help, ‘I’ want to give meaning to life. That is by no means to be taken lightly or as a sign of withdrawal from asking the question. It is an invitation to stay with the question, and let the rest unfold.

If one observes attentively, one may notice that the inquiry into life meaning is also associated with another existential matter which is isolation. Simply, by asking what is the life meaning (to the ‘I’), or asking what is ‘I’ purpose, we have immediately isolated ourselves in the form of ‘I’. There is the ‘I’ and there is the world for which ‘I’ am looking for a meaning to it. This isolation is an illusion. So, find out who is this ‘I’?

This is not a small task at all. It requires enormous energy. This energy is usually fragmented as we have fragmented ourselves. We do one thing, and think of another thing, perhaps even more than one. We are doing something but we are also remembering the past and we are yet thinking into the future and planning some event, busy achieving a goal, or fulfilling an ambition.

This movement between past, present, and future is a movement of desire and attachment. The Past: I am attaching myself to my memories of the past, my past achievements, my past regrets, my past suffering, and by doing this I am remembering them in the present.

The Present: I am remembering the past, I am planning for the future, I have a desire for the future, I am attached to something in the present, and I am not really present.

The future: although it did not happen yet, I am imagining what may take place based on my past experiences and my present desires.

All this movement is a distraction, it dissipates the energy that is essential to realize who you are, in the here and now. Find out who you are, and the rest will take of itself.

Remember

BE

Here

Now