I’ve been focused lately on the importance of finding meaning in life. With it comes a heightened aliveness. And today I came across these words of Albert Schweitzer from The Philosophy of Civilization:
Only when we are able to attribute a real meaning to the world and to life shall we be able also to give ourselves to such action as will produce results of real value. As long as we look on our existence in the world as meaningless, there is no point whatever in desiring to effect anything in the world.
Can there be anything of more importance? Without meaning, there is no purpose for anything, and without purpose, what is the point of living? It can even be argued that a life without purpose is a life not worth living. So what can you do if you don’t perceive any meaning?
An absence of meaning in one’s life is indicative of consciousness being overpowered by the mind. It’s a lack of awareness, of perception. Consciousness, when freed of the mind‘s desirer to control life, is awakened to the present moment. In the present moment, and in the present moment only, is it possible to experience the unifying principle of love, oneness, beauty, and bliss. It is also in the present that we feel the suffering of others. It’s a process of getting out of the head and into the heart.
Using Albert Schweitzer as an example of finding memaning, we can see someone who had a brilliant mind but who didn’t let that run his life. He had the great capacity to feel. His decision to set up a clinic in Africa came about by an experience of his heart. The sight of the Bartholdi statue of a dejected African slave in an Alsatian town square moved him to such an extent that he quickly changed the course of his life. By 1913 he had set up a missionary hospital in what was then French Equatorial Africa, treating thousands of Africans for leprosy and sleeping sickness. His work there led to him being awarded the Nobel Prize in 1952. He spent the rest of his life there except for occasional trips to Europe and to America. He died in 1965 at the age of 90.
Finding meaning was also exemplified by Vivekananda, whom I referred to in my post about communication skills. He was totally invested in his head before he met his master, Ramakrishna. Before meeting Ramakrishna, all of his faith was in reason and logic. But his heart was awakened once he was in the surcharged atmosphere of Ramakrishna. Suddenly, Vivekananda’s life had great meaning. He became convinced beyond any doubt that finding the source of all being was the most important thing in life. Oneness permeated all of his perceptions, feelings, and thoughts. When he spoke in Chicago in 1893 at the Parliament of the World’s Religions, it was no wonder that everybody gave him a three minute standing ovation after just a mere five words: “Sisters and Brothers of America.” It was the feeling in the words, feelings of brotherhood and sisterhood, that gave the words power.
Meher Baba, the silent awakener from India, said that there is no limit to love, but that the mind is in the way. I believe that deeply because the mind can never understand the unfathomable infinity of love, which is beyond the finite capacity of the mind. The mind is an affirmation of separateness. The heart, when unlocked to infinite love, is an affirmation of oneness. And when that is experienced, even faintly, finding meaning becomes possible.
When finding meaning guides what we do, there is a certain sweetness in life. Our actions become enlivened by love. That is the path to oneness, discovering that we are in our purest essence formless consciousness, infinite and eternal; spiritual beings having physical experiences.
John Lennon was right when he sang with The Beatles, “All You Need is Love.” At least that is all you need when it comes to finding meaning. The rest is easy once you have that.
