As I sit here on my porch with the faintest of breezes moving the humid air through the trees and the puppy on my lap I feel great comfort in the pause that it took to read your piece and take a step back into nothingness, just space. Letting go of the striving, the me-ness, the task orientation is a relief in this moment. Just maybe, that’s what life is. You described what life isn’t with great clarity. Thanks Don.
That’s so lovely, Margaret. I am also, at this very moment, sitting on my porch, feeling the morning breeze. I have a kitty, not a puppy. She is sitting right next to me. 😊🩷
the meaning of life I don't know, but gazing into your tender eyes in this picture, enjoying and appreciating your words and seeing your beautiful soul is already quite meaningful. Thanks for the meaning you bring to life 🙏
First of all, I'm not mad at you I promise. I think explaining the meaning of life is humanly not possibly, because Life is simply meant to be lived, and experienced as it is. It's our human nature that drives and pushes us to find meaning in each and every thing that we do and experience. In it's true sense, Life is simple but it's our complex emotions and actions that cause us to experience life in a complicated way. That being said, You have summed up our human experience wonderfully in this essay and these 600 words were a profound reminder to keep seeing the bigger picture.
When the podcaster Lex Fridman asked the historian Yuval Noah Harari about the meaning of life, Harari answered that he can't provide a satisfactory answer to that question, because we usually expect some kind of story as the answer. But the answer is not a story. The answer is, of course, life itself, and really, actually, fully living it – not watching it like a movie, thinking about it, or dissecting it. That is delusion.
That being said, I really enjoyed this read, Don. Thanks for the reminder.
This is perilously close to communism, Don! hahaha -- just imagining what a beloved human being who might vote for a certain guy in a red cap would say about this.
Seriously -- yes, I think you're completely tuned into the meaning of life with this one. Though I am also fascinated by a kind of paradox that I believe exists .... while we are completely of the same fabric, completely interwoven with each other, I think it's also true that each of us homo sapiens is unique and has something to offer the whole that is quite unlike anything else. Maybe the tricky part is how to realize that without identifying AS it, without reifying it, without grasping onto the need to feel special and more powerful around that.
I'm reading Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower right now, and this verse from that book reminds me of what you're writing about as well --
“All struggles
Are essentially power struggles.
Who will rule,
Who will lead,
Who will define, refine, confine, design,
Who will dominate.
All struggles
Are essentially power struggles,
And most are no more intellectual than two rams knocking their heads together.”
That’s a great quote, Maia, thank you for sharing it! That book has been on my to-read list for quite a while.
You also hit upon the exact fear I had about this essay. I left out all the wondrous and fantastic and joyful benefits of those minute differences. Differences that, when viewed up close, create the dynamic and colorful relationships we have and lead to creative beauty and pretty much life as we know it . Those very same differences, as you say, when codified, can lead to violence and war.
When I wrote “nearly identical” I obsessed on it for a little while, considering these exact things, and decided to leave all this out. It would have been a 1200 word essay lol!
Thank you for your awesome reply, Maia. I love hearing from you!
I think U2 tackled the paradox really well in that song from decades ago.... "We're one, but we're not the same, we've got to carry each other, carry each other...."
In high school I had a synchronized swimming coach who often said to us nonchalantly “I lied”. It infuriated me. She’d say 10 laps and the. Make us do two more saying “I lied”.
When I started teaching high school, and then yoga, I found those two words often falling out of my mouth in the same tone she used.
I still use it today.
I’m still friends with her, we go walking once a month. She’s an Episcopalian pastor who has a deep relationship with God and her Self. We have amazing conversations about all the lies we have told ourselves in life.
This is all to say, I’m not mad at you in the same way I was never mad at her.
Society tells us to be the best, but in the end, all we want is to matter and feel loved. I think at our core, we want to matter, which is different from special or unique. It's more relational, we are social creatures after all. The reason we are here is to love each other. We lose that when we get sucked into the values of the culture/capitalism/patriarchy. When we tap into our true humanity, our oneness, all the other crap falls away. At our core we want to feel seen, heard, loved, and that we matter.
I think you have hit upon a truth, one I didn’t mention, that we also need to be aware of. Yes, we are social creatures. Being a valued member of the tribe at one time could have meant life or death. We’ve partially inherited the need to be liked from that necessity.
So, to completely conquer our needs is not the goal. Rather, it is simply to be more aware of who we are and why we do what we do, so that we don’t cause chaos in the current society that we must live in
Thank you so much for your valuable thoughts, Janine!
The truth is a wet bird never flies at night. Life has no meaning except what it gives to us and what we give in return. I'll leave you with that and catch up later.
I agree, Gary. Life has no meaning, except the meaning we give it. It is our obsession with finding some sort of exterior, ultimate meaning (like god), That leaves us ever unsatisfied.
I have operated on the principles of "Ask and it will be given to you; Seek and you will find; Knock and it will be opened." I suppose that comes from listening, looking, and paying attention. There's something about sensing the presence of the transcendent that speaks from and to Spirit. During my college years, I had a little sign above my desk that said, "Be content. Do not be concerned about being satisfied."
Awesome, Don. I think you hit the nail on the head. Very well written, and your voice is coming through with more crispness and depth than ever before with your new mic! I also enjoyed noticing the small edits to the text you made post-recording. These are a bonus, and let me peek behind the curtain of your creation just a little bit. (And your edits were good ones! I learn from your powerful clarity.)
Yes, I think that very feeling of "I'm not enough" or "what should I be doing right now?" is kind of equivalent to our sense of self. Yes, it's all an illusion.
And yet, what a curious illusion for God to dream up! Even the illusions, or at least the mechanisms behind them, are part of this interconnected, inseparable universe.
Sometimes I think the pain itself is what we're here for. We could all be one, and be a literal homogeneous lukewarm soup, with nothing like the illusion of self at all. Perhaps some universes are that way. But in ours, there is this constant striving going on, this blockage, this wanting. Even the aching exists.
Donald Hoffman (I know I've mentioned him to you before) is a fascinating researcher and writer who posits that maybe all the struggle really is another form of cooperation. I know it's grim to think that all the genocide and other horrors going on right now are somehow "natural" or even "purposeful."
But would we exist, with our complex nervous systems, capable of experiencing the present moment with such rich multisensory resolution, if early single-celled organisms never decided to try to eat their neighbors, thereby kicking off (or really, continuing) an evolutionary arms race?
I’ve been wanting to write about ego, the false sense of self, myself. I love the approach of this essay, thank you. My angle will be from my personal experience of choosing to crush my ego and the peace that emerged from that.
I am not mad. I am grateful. Finally somewhat gets it. Without human connection we are never going to find any meaning to our individual lives. Of course, this is a complex issue. The point for me is, if we let our egos drive our meaning, rather than our spirits, we will constantly be fighting ourselves and others. I believe we are here on this planet to help each other. Living a selfish life perpetuates the illusion of separateness. Your wisdom is comforting. Thank you.
Everything you stated rings particularly true for the good people of the U.S.A. where EVERYONE sits in their palace of self-regard (homage to Iris Murdoch).
I LOVE that you mentioned Iris Murdoch. Are you paraphrasing a particular book? I used to be a big fan. Well, I still am, I just haven't read her in a long time.
No, not one particular book. Vonnegut started me down the path looking inward at our not so evolved big brain. Murdoch gave me a little hope. Have you read Easy Beauty by Chloe Cooper Jones?
There are male fish 🐠 who draw ✍️ designs in the ocean floor to attract a mate.
Females need to pick a mate based on some difference that they find attractive, oftentimes strength.
Interestingly, female Jacanas behave much like male lions.
In species where both parents need to work together to raise offspring females may compete to partner desirable males, this happens in kingfishers and of course in humans.
Different ant 🐜 colonies go to war over resources.
David Bohm in a conference said something about competition being more prevalent since agriculture began. Implying competition is a problem.
Which left me scratching my head in wonder 💭 , why is competition wrong.
I’ve never been the competitive type myself. Always preferred solo sports. I love to excel at whatever I do, but I wouldn’t push someone else aside in order to do so.
Perhaps that’s what it is; the integrity with which one competes. An honest competitor would actually only be competing with their own last performance, striving to be the best they can be. If someone else is naturally better, faster, stronger, would that really matter? Only if they were competing for the last edible game on the Savannah.
Just some thoughts.
In reality, everything is as it is. If it is in humans’ nature to strive to feel that they are better than others, then I accept that.
It is a personal goal to figure out how my thoughts and feelings are leading me to peace or pain, learn from that, and hopefully , lean toward peace.
Aw, what a nice thing to share! I was similar. I was attracted to girls who were quietly intelligent. Unfortunately, I was too shy to ask them out lol! 😆
As I sit here on my porch with the faintest of breezes moving the humid air through the trees and the puppy on my lap I feel great comfort in the pause that it took to read your piece and take a step back into nothingness, just space. Letting go of the striving, the me-ness, the task orientation is a relief in this moment. Just maybe, that’s what life is. You described what life isn’t with great clarity. Thanks Don.
That’s so lovely, Margaret. I am also, at this very moment, sitting on my porch, feeling the morning breeze. I have a kitty, not a puppy. She is sitting right next to me. 😊🩷
the meaning of life I don't know, but gazing into your tender eyes in this picture, enjoying and appreciating your words and seeing your beautiful soul is already quite meaningful. Thanks for the meaning you bring to life 🙏
Aw, shucks, Forrest, that’s too kind! 😊
First of all, I'm not mad at you I promise. I think explaining the meaning of life is humanly not possibly, because Life is simply meant to be lived, and experienced as it is. It's our human nature that drives and pushes us to find meaning in each and every thing that we do and experience. In it's true sense, Life is simple but it's our complex emotions and actions that cause us to experience life in a complicated way. That being said, You have summed up our human experience wonderfully in this essay and these 600 words were a profound reminder to keep seeing the bigger picture.
Thank you so much, Sonaakshi. I like what you say: “In its true sense, life is simple.“
Life is much like the "42" of Douglas Adam's, "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." It's the answer; we don't know what the questions is.
Ha ha, I haven’t read that book in so long! But if I remember correctly, the answer, “42” is about as good as any other answer.
Your words seem like they are the center of it all
If we cannot forgive there will never be peace
if we cannot come together as one there will never be peace
If we cannot accept each other as human not necessarily agree there will never be peace.
If We cannot answer conflicts without becoming violent. There will never be peace.
And if we don’t value life, the most important gift we have
there will never be peace.
Thank you
Perfectly said
Thank you, Alicia!
<3 <3 :)
Thank you, Denise! 🙏💚
When the podcaster Lex Fridman asked the historian Yuval Noah Harari about the meaning of life, Harari answered that he can't provide a satisfactory answer to that question, because we usually expect some kind of story as the answer. But the answer is not a story. The answer is, of course, life itself, and really, actually, fully living it – not watching it like a movie, thinking about it, or dissecting it. That is delusion.
That being said, I really enjoyed this read, Don. Thanks for the reminder.
I think Harari, based on the one book I’ve read of his, Homo sapiens, is a fascinating individual. Thanks for your thoughts, Stephan!
This is perilously close to communism, Don! hahaha -- just imagining what a beloved human being who might vote for a certain guy in a red cap would say about this.
Seriously -- yes, I think you're completely tuned into the meaning of life with this one. Though I am also fascinated by a kind of paradox that I believe exists .... while we are completely of the same fabric, completely interwoven with each other, I think it's also true that each of us homo sapiens is unique and has something to offer the whole that is quite unlike anything else. Maybe the tricky part is how to realize that without identifying AS it, without reifying it, without grasping onto the need to feel special and more powerful around that.
I'm reading Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower right now, and this verse from that book reminds me of what you're writing about as well --
“All struggles
Are essentially power struggles.
Who will rule,
Who will lead,
Who will define, refine, confine, design,
Who will dominate.
All struggles
Are essentially power struggles,
And most are no more intellectual than two rams knocking their heads together.”
― Octavia E. Butler
That’s a great quote, Maia, thank you for sharing it! That book has been on my to-read list for quite a while.
You also hit upon the exact fear I had about this essay. I left out all the wondrous and fantastic and joyful benefits of those minute differences. Differences that, when viewed up close, create the dynamic and colorful relationships we have and lead to creative beauty and pretty much life as we know it . Those very same differences, as you say, when codified, can lead to violence and war.
When I wrote “nearly identical” I obsessed on it for a little while, considering these exact things, and decided to leave all this out. It would have been a 1200 word essay lol!
Thank you for your awesome reply, Maia. I love hearing from you!
Love hearing from you too, Don!
I think U2 tackled the paradox really well in that song from decades ago.... "We're one, but we're not the same, we've got to carry each other, carry each other...."
In high school I had a synchronized swimming coach who often said to us nonchalantly “I lied”. It infuriated me. She’d say 10 laps and the. Make us do two more saying “I lied”.
When I started teaching high school, and then yoga, I found those two words often falling out of my mouth in the same tone she used.
I still use it today.
I’m still friends with her, we go walking once a month. She’s an Episcopalian pastor who has a deep relationship with God and her Self. We have amazing conversations about all the lies we have told ourselves in life.
This is all to say, I’m not mad at you in the same way I was never mad at her.
Sorry, not sorry.
💚🩷 Whew, I’m so glad you’re not mad at me! Thanks so much for being here, Teri!
Society tells us to be the best, but in the end, all we want is to matter and feel loved. I think at our core, we want to matter, which is different from special or unique. It's more relational, we are social creatures after all. The reason we are here is to love each other. We lose that when we get sucked into the values of the culture/capitalism/patriarchy. When we tap into our true humanity, our oneness, all the other crap falls away. At our core we want to feel seen, heard, loved, and that we matter.
I think you have hit upon a truth, one I didn’t mention, that we also need to be aware of. Yes, we are social creatures. Being a valued member of the tribe at one time could have meant life or death. We’ve partially inherited the need to be liked from that necessity.
So, to completely conquer our needs is not the goal. Rather, it is simply to be more aware of who we are and why we do what we do, so that we don’t cause chaos in the current society that we must live in
Thank you so much for your valuable thoughts, Janine!
The truth is a wet bird never flies at night. Life has no meaning except what it gives to us and what we give in return. I'll leave you with that and catch up later.
I agree, Gary. Life has no meaning, except the meaning we give it. It is our obsession with finding some sort of exterior, ultimate meaning (like god), That leaves us ever unsatisfied.
I have operated on the principles of "Ask and it will be given to you; Seek and you will find; Knock and it will be opened." I suppose that comes from listening, looking, and paying attention. There's something about sensing the presence of the transcendent that speaks from and to Spirit. During my college years, I had a little sign above my desk that said, "Be content. Do not be concerned about being satisfied."
Awesome, Don. I think you hit the nail on the head. Very well written, and your voice is coming through with more crispness and depth than ever before with your new mic! I also enjoyed noticing the small edits to the text you made post-recording. These are a bonus, and let me peek behind the curtain of your creation just a little bit. (And your edits were good ones! I learn from your powerful clarity.)
Yes, I think that very feeling of "I'm not enough" or "what should I be doing right now?" is kind of equivalent to our sense of self. Yes, it's all an illusion.
And yet, what a curious illusion for God to dream up! Even the illusions, or at least the mechanisms behind them, are part of this interconnected, inseparable universe.
Sometimes I think the pain itself is what we're here for. We could all be one, and be a literal homogeneous lukewarm soup, with nothing like the illusion of self at all. Perhaps some universes are that way. But in ours, there is this constant striving going on, this blockage, this wanting. Even the aching exists.
Donald Hoffman (I know I've mentioned him to you before) is a fascinating researcher and writer who posits that maybe all the struggle really is another form of cooperation. I know it's grim to think that all the genocide and other horrors going on right now are somehow "natural" or even "purposeful."
But would we exist, with our complex nervous systems, capable of experiencing the present moment with such rich multisensory resolution, if early single-celled organisms never decided to try to eat their neighbors, thereby kicking off (or really, continuing) an evolutionary arms race?
Unanswerable question, I know. Gotta love those!
Yes, you gotta love those unanswerable questions! And you pose the best, Mike! 😀
I’ve been wanting to write about ego, the false sense of self, myself. I love the approach of this essay, thank you. My angle will be from my personal experience of choosing to crush my ego and the peace that emerged from that.
I would love to read it, Michaela! Thanks for reading mine 🙏💚
I am not mad. I am grateful. Finally somewhat gets it. Without human connection we are never going to find any meaning to our individual lives. Of course, this is a complex issue. The point for me is, if we let our egos drive our meaning, rather than our spirits, we will constantly be fighting ourselves and others. I believe we are here on this planet to help each other. Living a selfish life perpetuates the illusion of separateness. Your wisdom is comforting. Thank you.
That’s so nice, Laura, thank you! You’re sure right; we’re all in this together! 🙏💚
Everything you stated rings particularly true for the good people of the U.S.A. where EVERYONE sits in their palace of self-regard (homage to Iris Murdoch).
I LOVE that you mentioned Iris Murdoch. Are you paraphrasing a particular book? I used to be a big fan. Well, I still am, I just haven't read her in a long time.
Thanks, Lola!
No, not one particular book. Vonnegut started me down the path looking inward at our not so evolved big brain. Murdoch gave me a little hope. Have you read Easy Beauty by Chloe Cooper Jones?
No I haven’t heard of it. Just looked it up. It sound really good. I just added it to my to-read list.
Thank you, Don for an interesting topic!
Humans are part of nature.
Competition is an aspect of nature.
Isn’t it??
There are male fish 🐠 who draw ✍️ designs in the ocean floor to attract a mate.
Females need to pick a mate based on some difference that they find attractive, oftentimes strength.
Interestingly, female Jacanas behave much like male lions.
In species where both parents need to work together to raise offspring females may compete to partner desirable males, this happens in kingfishers and of course in humans.
Different ant 🐜 colonies go to war over resources.
David Bohm in a conference said something about competition being more prevalent since agriculture began. Implying competition is a problem.
Which left me scratching my head in wonder 💭 , why is competition wrong.
What place does competition have in humanity?
I’ve never been the competitive type myself. Always preferred solo sports. I love to excel at whatever I do, but I wouldn’t push someone else aside in order to do so.
Perhaps that’s what it is; the integrity with which one competes. An honest competitor would actually only be competing with their own last performance, striving to be the best they can be. If someone else is naturally better, faster, stronger, would that really matter? Only if they were competing for the last edible game on the Savannah.
Just some thoughts.
In reality, everything is as it is. If it is in humans’ nature to strive to feel that they are better than others, then I accept that.
It is a personal goal to figure out how my thoughts and feelings are leading me to peace or pain, learn from that, and hopefully , lean toward peace.
Thanks for your comments, Nature!
Oh, and thanks for subscribing!
Your welcome ! 💖
By the way, my preference for mates is shy guys, ever since my first boyfriend when I was 12.
He would keep his head down, and peek up at me. So endearing.
Aw, what a nice thing to share! I was similar. I was attracted to girls who were quietly intelligent. Unfortunately, I was too shy to ask them out lol! 😆
Not mad!