What is the meaning of
life?
We all have our
favourite answers to this question, but it’s a mistake to think meaning exists
out there in the world somewhere, just waiting for you to discover it.
Of
course, you can take your sense of
meaning from outside yourself, in family, career or accomplishment, but this
leaves you wide open to disappointment and disillusionment.
Whatever you invest
with meaning has power over your life. If you invest meaning in something
outside yourself, you render yourself powerless. You will constantly be thrown
back on yourself, never feeling the master of your life.
Meaning puts your life
and experience into context. It is built from the narrative you create in your
head, the stories you tell yourself about who you are and why you live as you
do.
To be creative and live
creatively, this process of contextualisation, of making meaning, must be
engaged with deliberately. It must be willed. To make a meaningful life you
must have self-knowledge.
Socrates said the
unexamined life isn’t worth living. A bit harsh, I think. I would say the
unexamined life is a tragic life.
You are not making
meaning when you’re living passively – drifting from one experience to another
with no attempt at understanding. This can only lead to chronic boredom and a
kind of living death. You become a cipher for every empty sentiment the culture
throws at you. A puppet. An automaton.
If something is
meaningful it is worth engaging with. If it’s meaningless, it’s worthless.
Being creative is
always meaningful.
What is the meaning of
your life? Share your reason for being below… Next time: Doubting
Image: Footprints
First posted here: http://jessicadavidson.co.uk/2014/04/21/living-creatively-in-a-mad-world-meaning/
