imagination

A search for meaning

What then is meaning? It' a personal reason for our existence. It's a reason to get out of bed in the morning. It is not a matter of searching for some ethereal, profound, and mysterious meaning, but merely of choosing what to dedicate our life to, for the purpose of life is to live a life of purpose. In other words, the meaning of life is to live a meaningful life. We create ourselves with the power of thought, and we create our meaning with the power of choice.

The meaning of a word is its role in a sentence, and the meaning of a person is their role in society. When we take on a role and contribute to society, we become meaningful by being useful. Our role gives us value and significance.

The world is in great need. It requires peacekeepers and bus drivers, janitors and shopkeepers, factory workers and salespeople, schoolteachers and philosophers, artists and musicians, accountants and politicians, plumbers and physicians, engineers and electricians, computer programmers and dishwashers, cooks and architects. The list is endless. No role is too small; all roles are vital, and every role is an opportunity for someone to find meaning.

It is not the nature of the role, but how we express it that fills us with purpose. Taking orders for food and serving it may be the job of a waiter, but putting people at ease, helping them make their selections, serving them courteously and promptly, and making their dining experience enjoyable is the mark of a professional, the mark of someone filled with purpose. It is this intention to serve others to the best of our ability that elevates even the simplest job into one of great dignity. It transforms a common task into an extraordinary event that touches the lives of others. So, it is not the nature of our job, but the nature of our attitude toward our job that makes our life worth living.

Is 'What there is' all there is?

A great Jewish theologian of the twentieth century, Abraham Joshua Heschel once put it this way:
"The grand premise of religion is that (human beings are) able to surpass (themselves), that is, we are able to 'lift our eyes and see' beyond the horizon of the mind, that we are able to see not just what is there but also that which 'what is there' suggests, what it represents, what it points to that is real beyond itself."

The tale of the odd bead

Chris was traveling in Kenya and, as usual, was shopping. In the Masai Mara, there are no malls. Instead, shopping is done predominantly in the open marketplaces. Of course, being a typical female, she immediately gravitated to the jewelry stalls.

The Masai are expert craftsmen at creating exquisite beaded jewelry. One particular bracelet caught Chris' attention and, without hesitation (the price being right), she purchased it and slipped it on her wrist. Back at the tent that evening, while dressing for dinner, Chris noticed an imperfection in her bracelet, one odd colored red bead stood out among all orange ones. The evening was ruined. Chris was unable to rest until she could exchange the bracelet for a new one.

The very next morning, even before breakfast, she took a taxi back to the market. Locating the same vendor, Chris requested replacement for the defective bracelet.

The Masai laughed and shared the meaning of the odd bead with her. The Masai are humble people. They believe we must always be mindful of our humanness, and so they intentionally add an odd colored bead to all of their adornments. This reminds them that being human means being imperfect and our beauty and our uniqueness reside in our imperfections.

The suffering of the audience

"I don't think art should give answers. I think art should only pose questions. And art should not fill in blanks for people, or I think that's what's called propaganda. I think art should only raise questions, a lot of which may be even dissonant and you don't even know you're being asked a question, but that it creates some kind of tension inside you."
--David Chase, creator of "The Sopranos"

From Newsweek:
The Sopranos' Pauli Gualtieri (aka Paulie Walnuts) put his cigar-like index finger on the director, David Chase's, ultimate goal in dropping another plot line that will dangle forever: the fate of a Russian mobster who escaped a whacking. "He just wanted the audience to suffer," he said.