Believe it or not, I had a phonecall the other day from a lady enquiring whether her son could jin our Academy Group. I provided all the usual information and after a few minutes of chatting she asked me “So, what do you think the meaning of life is?”. To be honest, for once I was completely lost for words. Obviously its a subject we all think about from time to time but when it is aked in a professional context, you feel obliged to give an answer that in some way benefits the querent.
Later that day I started looking through my books, surfing the ‘net and generally asking all and sundry what they thought about the subject. For the sake of brevity, here are some of the responses:
“What is worth living for? What is worth dying for? What is must music, poetry, and art written about? What does all self-help books preach and what does every psychology book say we need? What question does philosphy ask but never answers? What is every spiritual practice based on? What do you want more than anything? When we get quiet, we all know the meaning of life. Love”
“Life is for the Living!”
“I want to live my life until I die.”
“People say that what we’re all seeking is a meaning for life. I don’t think that’s what we’re really seeking. I think that what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances within our own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive. That’s what it’s all finally about, and that’s what these clues (myths) help us to find within ourselves.”
“What is the meaning of Life? I’m not sure, the server is down at the moment, can you call back?”
“42!”
Personally? The answer is found by dropping the question about the meaning of life and to start living life. Its like the difference between talking about Aikido or actually training. Being “There”.
For me, being lucky enough to do something I love and being able to pass on even some aspects of that to other people before I finally become worm food is enough.
Life is a game. Play fair, enjoy it and remember there are no rules – Dunken Francis 2009 ;o)
www.aikido4beginners.co.uk
