The Meaning of Life

Someone I know recently wrote to me about searching for the Meaning of Life. My first thought to reply was - The meaning of life? That's easy, it's 42. *grin* (for the confused – it’s from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe by Douglas Adams)

But seriously... the Meaning of Life, in my opinion and experience, is living it. That's the meaning and the lesson - living life the way you were meant to live it. Each and every one of us was born for that purpose - to live as ourselves to the best of our abilities within this lifetime. What meaning could be greater than that? So... if you were born to be a tree you grow, you shed leaves every fall, you endure storms and woodpeckers. If you were born to be a tiger your Meaning would lie in camouflage and hunting and long grass. If you were born you... well then you have to be figuring the end of this sentence out for yourself. For some people that means searching deep for answers, but the truth is, just like the tree, you could simply LIVE and still be living your Meaning of Life. Trees don’t know to ask what does life mean? What is my purpose? They simply live. Even Jesus commented on this fact; that we should try to be more like the lilies of the field. Lilies never worry over their purpose or Meaning, they simply grow and live and enjoy the experience of life.

We humans tend to think the Great Mysteries have to be just that – great, mysterious and vastly complex. Yes they are, but they’re also incredibly simple. Like those pictures of a Mandelbrot set, where the patterns repeat into infinity, everything is simple and/or complex depending on how deep you choose to look… and when you do look to the deepest levels you realise the pattern was always there in the simple things from the very beginning. I think God hides the Meaning of Life and Great Mysteries in seemingly complex patterns not because it’s complicated, but because it’s actually very simple. God understands that humans are creatures that love a mystery and a puzzle. We don’t learn from having facts placed in our hands, we learn from poking and prodding and digging deep… because we find puzzles and mysteries fun and humans remember lessons learnt through fun better than any other method.

The only problem is that sometimes humans think those that struggle long on the puzzles are somehow superior to those who simply live. We tend to be an animal that is rather self-aware and “brain snobby”. We think that the very fact we think deep and complex thoughts makes us more important and superior than a tree… or a lily. I’m not convinced it does. It’s like comparing air to water and asking which element is more important to the Earth’s survival. In my opinion there’s nothing wrong with digging deep for answers, if that was your life purpose when you were born, but there is equally nothing wrong in choosing to live simply in trust or faith without searching for deeper answers. I still think there is no greater Meaning of Life than living your life as you were meant to live it – as the best YOU that you can be. Once you accept that then you really are no different to the lily in the field – simply being what you were meant to be and trusting that being yourself really is enough.