Dearest Readers,
When I landed home over the weekend after two months away I found a big pile of The New Yorker magazine waiting for me. My father gave me a subscription a couple of Christmases ago and after my initial anxiety over the frequency of their arrival (“How am I ever going to read them all?”) I soon became hooked.
In the May 31st issue there is an article on the great writer Somerset Maugham who is most well-known for his novels Of Human Bondage and The Razor’s Edge, neither of which I have read. I recall reading one of his short stories in university but I don’t remember its title. His name, however, has stayed with me.
The writer of the NY article writes that the protagonist in Of Human Bondage discovers “that life has no meaning other than what one makes of it.” I found this very interesting. It’s kind of like the old riddle “when a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?”
If we were not here to experience Life, would It have any meaning? Without us, without the human experience, is there any meaning to anything at all?
In my own search for meaning I’ve often thought that we exist in order for Existence to know Itself. Hmmm, I might be getting a little too deep for a Tuesday morning. Let’s go back to the quote.
“Life has no meaning other that what one makes of it.”
If I believe Life is meaningless, it will be. I’ve tried the Way of No Meaning. It doesn’t feel very good. Conversely, if I believe Life has meaning then I will come to experience Its Meaning in All Manner of Things. This, too, I have tried. It not only works, it makes Life worth living.
It’s a rather simple formula, isn’t it? Much more suited to a Tuesday morn.
Inspiring Message of the Day: “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.” ~ Julian of Norwich
