Jun. 13, 2021

On the Meaning of Life

When we were born, we were programmed perfectly.  We had a natural tendency to focus on love.  Our imaginations were creative and flourishing, and we knew how to use them.  We were connected to a world much richer than the one we connect to now, a world full of enchantment and a sense of the miraculous. 

So what happened?  Why is it that we reached a certain age, looked around, and the enchantment was gone?

Because we were taught to focus elsewhere.  We were taught to think unnaturally.  We were taught a very bad philosophy, a way of looking at the world that contradicts who we are.  We were taught that we're separate from other people, that we have to compete to get ahead, that we're not good enough the way we are.  We were taught to see the world the way others had come to see it.  It's as though, as soon as we got here, we were given a sleeping pill.  The thinking of the world, which is not based on love, began pounding in our ears.

Love is what we were born with.  Fear is what we have learned here.  The spiritual journey is the relinquishment -- or unlearning -- of fear and the acceptance of love back into our hearts.  Love is the essential existential fact.  To be consciously aware of it, to experience love in ourselves and others, is the meaning and the purpose of our lives. 

~Excerpt from "A Year of Miracles" by Marianne Williamson