What Is The Meaning Of Life?
The most honest, provocative, if not scariest, truth about the reality of life is this: there is no moment beyond this one; there is nobody outside yourself.
Though an often-communicated platitude written in any hundred of spiritual texts, this, for the truly consciousness of its actual meaning, can be the scariest revelation of all. We are each in an infinite moment pursuing whatever it is in that moment we truly desire. If you desire lethargy, you will become complacent; if you desire knowledge, you will go seek it out; if you desire accomplishment, you will eventually attain it.
Having now found myself achieving many personal bests I never thought I would be able to before (swimming in ice cold water, backpacking around the world for 5 months, developing my own Academy, attaining multiple black belts, exploring the mind through consciousness, becoming certified in yoga, gathering university degrees and college certificates) the hollow question still remains: "So, what's the next mountain to climb?"
For many over-achievers like myself, also looking to maximize and get the most out of life, you will continue to seek out something grand and work tirelessly towards it until you have attained it. What a truly sad state of affairs if the only time you come alive is when climbing mountains.
Without knowing it, you will have lived your entire life (much like everyone else in society) collecting stuff. “I’ve climbed mount Kilimanjaro,” “I’ve sailed the seven seas,” “I’ve gained a million dollars,” “I’ve found the cure for caner.” All just stuff. Accolade after accolade, accomplishment after accomplishment, forever turning the hamster wheel of production until one day you can turn no more. What is the worth in living if one solely lives for the big things? For the achievements? For the awards? For the accolades? — The sun can’t shine all the time.
Between the awards, the accolades, and the mountain tops lies the true Gift Of Life. The little things. Do not live for the big things, because they come few and far between. Rather, live for the little things so that your entire life becomes a wholly grand affair.
Living for the big creates a lag-time; living for the little allows you to live for each passing moment. Why is climbing a mountain any more special than going for a walk with someone you like? For telling your significant other that you love them? For just hanging out with a great group of friends, solely for the sake of hanging out with them?
Let life become your perpetual summertime. Let life be filled with the little. The big things will come, but they most certainly will also go. However, between each major new event lies the little things that carry life and are easily worth living for; the little moments that get you all the way from here to here.
— live a little.