the phagos blog

The last 3 to 4 weeks have been quite busy for me, between work, jujitsu class, and working on the garden. Last weekend I was moving several yards of dirt around, into the garden and various parts of the yard. Yard work is very relaxing for me. I quit thinking about things, at least intentionally, and just let my subconscious work out whatever it’s mulling over. This time, while I was working, the meaning of life revealed itself to me.

Like most things profound, it’s absurdly simple - and not what you’d expect. What is the meaning of life? Simply this: whatever you give it. You can make your life meaningful and deep, or nonsensical, or meaningless. You must make that choice yourself, no one can make it for you. There is no intrinsic meaning in anyone or anything outside of yourself besides what you give it.

It might be more accurate to say I discovered the meaning of my life.  The meaning of one’s life is an intensely personal thing.  I can’t tell you what the meaning of your life is any more than you can do that for me, unless one of us decides to let the other do that.  I’m sure there are those out there who do - in fact, maybe a large number of people.  Most of the people I’ve met don’t know the meaning of their own lives, oddly enough.  Actually, I think most people I’ve met have let the people and circumstances around them determine that, rather than deciding for themselves.

I consider myself fortunate that I’ve found this with nearly half my life remaining.  Many go through life without ever knowing the meaning of life.  I’m not special, or better than anyone, I simply went down paths until I walked one that led me there.  I wonder if every path could take you there if you walked it long enough.  I think so, I’m just not sure.  In the end, it doesn’t matter.  I know what I know, believe what I believe, and live the way I want.  And that’s good enough for me.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 13th, 2009 at 9:28 pm and is filed under life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.