How is life meaningful when it can end at any moment? At what point does it become meaningful? When you’ve accomplished what you think you’re supposed to accomplish? When you fulfill your goals?
Many people feel their lives lack meaning and purpose and that they have to find that meaning, or find their purpose. Some people identify what they think is their purpose and suffer when circumstances prevent them from pursuing it. “If only I had more time,” they say to themselves. “If only I had more money…” Or they may feel deficient in some way and feel their personal issues are preventing them from succeeding: “If only I had more drive…” “If only I was more emotionally healthy…”
Other people go out and successfully achieve their goals, get everything they thought they wanted, and find they’re still not happy and can’t understand why. Despite their apparent success, something is missing; something is unfulfilled. They’re still coming from a place of struggle and achievement, an energy that is inherently about grasping and attaining and is therefore impossible to satisfy.
The true meaning and purpose of life is to be at peace, to be fulfilled—to be happy! It’s really that simple. That can happen for you regardless of your circumstances, regardless of whether you’ve gotten everything you wanted in this life or achieved all the so-called goals you set for yourself.
Goals and achievements either happen or they don’t. There’s no guarantee either way. What is guaranteed is that you can be free of goals, free of success or failure, regardless of what you choose to do with your life on a practical level. You may still have goals, and if you do, you’ll still be more or less successful at achieving them at different times. The difference is that now your identity is no longer wrapped up in those achievements. You no longer need those accomplishments to supply your life with meaning.
Remember: This existence is like a bubble in a stream—at any moment it can pop. The purpose of life is to live it fully as much as possible, every moment. Not just when you’re getting what you want, but also when you’re not getting what you want, and even when you’re getting what you don’t want. Even when things are not necessarily easy, when circumstances seem quite adversarial, you can still live life fully. You can still be deeply, completely engaged.
From the awakened perspective, life is its own meaning, its own purpose. You become one with the life force, fully present and available for whatever is in front of you. Does that mean every single minute is going to be peaceful, or even look happy? Probably not! You’re still a human being. You will still have challenges, but the way you meet those challenges will be transformed. The real beauty of this process is that transformation continues, endlessly.
As I’ve repeated throughout this book, awakening is not an endpoint. It’s ever evolving, changing all the time. Now in my early sixties, I feel like I’m growing more as a human being than ever before. It’s fabulous!
To awaken is to be fulfilled, to be happy, to be alive, free to live fully in each and every moment. I wish for you that fullness, that happiness, and that freedom.