Here’s a wee quote I stumbled across this morning:
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“What makes life worth living?
No child asks itself that question. To children, life is self-evident. Life goes without saying: whether it is good or bad makes no difference. This is because children don’t see the world, don’t observe the world, don’t contemplate the world, but are so deeply immersed in the world that they don’t distinguish between it and their own selves.
Not until that happens, until a distance appears between what they are and what the world is, does the question arise: what makes life worth living?”
— Karl Ove Knausgård, author
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It’s an important question all the same, isn’t it?
“What makes a life worth living?”
If you’re asking yourself that question, here’s where I think you can find your answer:
First of all, immerse yourself, with full presence, in the world and in action.
Absorption in what’s in front of you, and what’s within you is key. That’s worthy.
To put it another way:
It’s not the experience of living that brings separation and confusion to people, it’s the analysis of it.
In other words:
Don’t over think it.
Over-the-top thinking is the enemy of living, and of creativity. You must simply do, act, try, explore.
As Ray Bradbury, another author once wrote:
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“Don’t think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It’s self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can’t try to do things. You simply must do things.”
— Ray Bradbury
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The more you try, the more you’ll know what feels “just right”.
The trouble comes when we want to do the right thing, we want to know we’re on the right path. I know I used to be paralysed by indecision, afraid of making the wrong decision.
The thing is NO ONE knows, especially in the beginning of a project, where it’s going to lead, if it’s going to be a success, if it’s what they truly want to do.
No one has a clear view of the path in front of them. We’re all making up as we go along.
You can only go on a sense that you’d like to investigate something a little closer, a little deeper.
This means you gotta be free to play and explore – and that also keeps you young, right?
You have to take action, you have to do. Act filled with being, absolutely, but act all the same.
Recognise this too …
That you’ll find a project, a peak to climb, and it will give you something to be absorbed in and aim to, and that will feel fulfilling.
BUT:
All projects will end, and then you’ll have to find something else to chase.
It’s the working towards something that gives us fulfilment and satisfaction, not the completion of the project. Completion is sometimes a disappointment, a depression can so often follow.
“What next?” people ask.
So – Get comfortable with this fact:
You will never arrive. Your whole life is a process.
Be working towards something. Don’t just talk, don’t just wish, put it into action.
Have a project – and it can be anything you like.
It matters not what you do. If you’re helping someone else, all the better!
Just DO something.
Now – immersion in life itself, in this moment in time? This is something that has NO end.
Embrace the journey, immerse yourself in Being.
Here you will find unity, true completion.
Right?
There’s a whole other level of life to live.
Go well!
Arjuna