Q: Many of us find ourselves reflecting on the meaning of life. Many of us develop our own theories and beliefs. Many get the meaning supplied by religious and spiritual traditions. From your perspective, what is this time here as humans really about?
It is about wonderment.
Wonderment that any of this exists. That you exist. That you have the ability to create, to manifest, or to destroy. That you live on a planet that is unparalleled in beauty, yet hide in small boxes chasing the opposite of wonderment. Money. Possessions. Acclaim.
Meditation increases the capacity for wonderment. Everything is remarkable if you truly look. People rarely do because they are busy chasing things.
Is there a grand purpose to life? That question misses the point. Life itself is grand.
Q: So, if there was a purpose to life, it’s not to learn lessons, it’s not to become something more. It is to be in a state of wonderment or appreciation as often as possible?
There are many layers to that question. At each level, the answer appears different. Ultimately, it is about wonderment. Yes, learning and growing are part of it. And what is more wondrous than that? I learned. I grew. That is remarkable. Greater understanding allows deeper appreciation. At first, there may also be sorrow, but eventually that diminishes.
You have asked an extremely complicated question. There are many ways it could be answered. Scientific answers, religious answers, spiritual answers, personal answers all exist. The list is long. None are complete on their own.
Q: I’m interested in the answer that might help us have a kind of transformation. So that we’re not so caught up in all the stuff we get caught up in. A way of looking at it all that can take us to a sense of contentment.
As long as humanity remains trapped in opposites—good/bad, right/wrong, suffering/joy, lack,/abundance, us/them—it cannot move into higher awarenss.
It always seems to come back to the sensitive person asking, Why is there suffering?
There is suffering because there is attachment. Value is placed on the wrong things because awareness of the larger picture is missing. So, anything a spiritual teacher might say in response to that question often gets received as a non-answer. Or, at the very least, an unsatisfying answer because it cannot be understood at the level where the question is asked.
So, the first step is to do everything one can to move past opposites and duality. Wonderment is a superhighway that helps you move past the roadblocks that keep you trapped in pain and fear.
The value in a deeply spiritual life is the progression of understanding that in letting go, you are not giving up. The letting go is because you have outgrown and no longer need to define yourself by those things. You no longer want those things. Freedom increases. Lightness increases. Joy becomes available regardless of circumstances. This is the value of a spiritual practice. But it’s not something that can be done occasionally or as a hobby.
Many try it that way and don’t get far. Some, instead of recognizing that it is a lack of commitment, blame the spiritual practice. “It did not change me. It did not give me any spiritual experiences. It was too hard to do.” Instead of admitting, “I lack discipline. I lack commitment. I lack finding enough resources and information to learn how to do it properly and steadily.”
This is a matter of reframing.
Modern culture is relentless in keeping people trapped in illusion, and fighting with a death grip not to let us go.
Q: So, all of this activity we’re consumed with, the idea is to not be captivated by it. Not to pay attention to it. But instead, to be more committed than ever to try to get into the spiritual discipline?
This is not about a denial of anything. In fact, it’s an acceptance of all of it. Here it all is. I turn my back on nothing. I shut out nothing because I’m attached to nothing. That is freedom.
The misunderstanding is that people will say, “You don’t care. You think you’re above it all. Which means you don’t understand what makes the world work. Which means you have your head in the clouds, You are not one of us.”
It means none of this. There is caring. But there is not an attachment to the caring. I care deeply. I do not need you to care back. I don’t need you to respond to my caring. I don’t need the caring to do anything for me or define me in any way. It is an experience to be experienced. I experience it fully and then there is nothing more to be experienced because I have experienced it fully. So, there is nothing left to be attached to.
It’s not about there it is and I must do something. There it is and it causes me to hate. There it is and it causes me to feel jealous. There it is and now I feel fear. It’s simply, there it is and I am still free.
Start with meditation. Practice consistently, and results are inevitable. If you plant a seed in good soil, it has to grow. Even in poor soil, it will still do everything it can to grow.
Stop talking about planting the seed.
Plant the seed.