“There is not one big cosmic meaning for all; there is only the meaning we each give to our life, an individual meaning, an individual plot, like an individual novel, a book for each person.” (Anaïs Nin, The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 1: 1931-1934) “The secret of […]
“About once or twice every month I engage in public debates with those whose pressing need it is to woo and to win the approval of supernatural beings. Very often, when I give my view that there is no supernatural dimension, and certainly not one that is only […]
Excellence Reporter: Dr. Habito, what is the meaning of life? Maria Reis Habito: The meaning of life – that is a very big question, not easy to answer. From my point of view today I would say: the meaning of life is living it. Fine, but how? Simply […]
Excellence Reporter: Ven. Courtin, what is the meaning of life? Robina Courtin: There’s a saying in Buddhism that a bird needs two wings: wisdom and compassion. Compassion is the point, but, as the Dalai Lama says, compassion is not enough; we need wisdom. What’s wisdom? That’s the work […]
Excellence Reporter: Henry, what is the meaning of life? Henry Shukman: I’m not too sure about the meaning of life so I’ll start with the purpose. “What is the purpose of life?” a student once asked a master. The master replied: “Play.” The student was disappointed. “I’ve come […]
Excellence Reporter: Gillian, what is the meaning of life? Gillian Reid: When I as much as think of the meaning of life, my heart pounds in response. For me, the sole purpose of the meaning of life resides in being true to the ultimate language of our heart. […]
Excellence Reporter: Dirk, what is the meaning of life? Dirk Oellibrandt: We humans often first look for the meaning of life in order to become aware of what life really is. This will lead us first to self-consciousness. We need meaning if we miss direct experience. As soon […]
Excellence Reporter: Ben, what is the meaning of life? Ben Connelly: I do not know the meaning of life. I have chosen to give my life meaning by making a commitment to healing and liberation from suffering for all. Not knowing the meaning of life is helpful to […]
Before we can ponder the meaning of life, we must first recognize that life is not outside of us, or something happening to us. We are life. The life we live and the life we are, are not two separate existences. When we obstruct this union, we look […]
“Basically, when you get to my age, you’ll really measure your success in life by how many of the people you want to have love you actually do love you. I know many people who have a lot of money, and they get testimonial dinners and they get […]
Excellence Reporter: Bhante G, what is the meaning of life? Bhante Gunaratana: In my view the meaning of life is understanding life as it actually is and liberate oneself from repetition of birth and death. One must understand that between birth and death there are moments of pleasure. […]
Excellence Reporter: Rinpoche, what is the meaning of life? Or the purpose of life if you will? Khensur Rinpoche: Most all of us fall into the trap of believing, at one point or another, that amassing wealth, fame, power, friendships, and even happiness itself is the purpose of […]
Excellence Reporter: Mark, what is the meaning of life? Mark Van Buren: This question has produced billions of answers over the many years of human existence, which makes one think, could there be an inherent ONE meaning everyone can align with? I’ll be honest, I’m not going to […]
Excellence Reporter: Annette, what is the meaning of life? Annette Kaiser: The meaning of life is to become a conscious human being, that loves, what is. At the core this is a way of living, understanding the essence of human existence: “Love says, I am all, Wisdom says, […]
Excellence Reporter: Leonard, what is the meaning of life? Leonard Jacobson: There are many levels to my answering this question. At the most superficial level, I would say there is no meaning to life. We are born. We live our life and remain unconscious for most of it. […]
Nobody needs to ask the question: “what is my purpose?” It will always be found in service. If you can just, for one day, put your attention on making life better for someone else. If you can focus on thinking like that, that’s how God thinks. It’s an […]
Excellence Reporter: Mary, what is the meaning of life? Mary Reed: It would be easy to answer this question by saying that the only meaning of life is that which we give it. But as a mystic, the question feels a little like asking, “Does your mother know […]
There is a story of a student who was with his teacher. And his teacher was teaching him all these truth principles, and how to awaken and become free, but the student kept asking: “Master how long will it take me to get there? How long will it […]
The meaning of life is that it is to be lived, and it is not to be traded and conceptualized and squeezed into a patter of systems. You can never step in the same water twice, my friend. Like flowing water, life is perpetual movement. There is nothing […]
Excellence Reporter: Karsten, what is the meaning of life? Karsten Ramser: The meaning of life is connected to our state of consciousness, therefore it is an individual expression. There does not exist an objective meaning of life. It is senseless, useless and a waste of time to discuss […]
Excellence Reporter: Andreas, what is the meaning of life? Andreas Müller: There is no answer to that question, because there is no one who could answer it. And there is no answer to that question, because there is no such thing as “life” in the first place. All […]
Excellence Reporter: Fred, what is the meaning of life? Fred Davis: The meaning of life is whatever you assign to it. Your life purpose at this moment is to read this sentence. Meaning and purpose both beg the question, “To who?” Life has no inherent meaning or purpose. […]
Excellence Reporter: Rebekah, what is the meaning of life? Rebekah Maroon: My first thought is, what does that question even mean? We automatically think that this question is valid, that there is actually some kind of conceptual meaning that we can find, and then kind of stamp it […]
The meaning and essence of life is to live with Truth, Freedom, Creativity and Happiness! Is to unfold our potential in all aspects of our existence, to create inner harmony and reach a higher state of consciousness; to explore life, learn from experiences, develop our capacities (physical, emotional, […]
Knowing oneself fills our lives with meaning, so when we ask ourselves, “where do we come from?” we respond — to ourselves; and when we ask, “where are we going?” we respond — to ourselves. When answering the “meaning of life” question we can answer in a thousand […]
“Just one more moment, a single moment of rest in the wind… and another woman will conceive me” >> Khalil Gibran, “The Prophet” << What is life? Every human being, at one time or another in his or her existence, raises this question. But do you have an […]
Excellence Reporter: Gilbert, what is the meaning of life? Gilbert Schultz: What is the meaning of life, other than this immediate self aware presence, this unmitigated livingness? Life is spontaneous. The word spontaneous means uncaused. The question ‘What is the meaning of life?’ is based upon an assumption […]
Excellence Reporter: Paul, what is the meaning of life? Paul Hague: The meaning of Life, in my experience, is to realize the exquisite sense of mystical Wholeness, which is the True Nature of all of us. I have come to this realization through the creative power of Life, […]
What is the meaning of the question “what is the meaning of life?” What does “meaning of life” mean? Whatever the answer, it will always be a human mental construct. Every mental construct is created by the human being based on its social, cultural, political, religious, ideological, economic, […]
All events in life are shaped according to the divine plan. What is bound to happen will happen. What is not to happen cannot be brought about by any human effort. On this point Ramana was quite categoric. When Deva Raja Mudaliar questioned him as to whether only important […]
Excellence Reporter: Swaha, what is the meaning of life? Vasant Swaha: The ultimate meaning of life is to realize that you are an expression of God’s love, peace, light. Therefore, be a light in the world. To live as consciously as you can in every moment, and that will […]
Excellence Reporter: Prajnaparamita, what is the meaning of life? Prajnaparamita: This question contains an assumption: life has meaning, we just need to figure out what that is. But does life even have a meaning? Life just lives. It is neutral in itself, expressing itself as it does, in […]
Transforming Difficulties Into Triumphs and How I Came to Create a Self-Help Workbook to Help Others Discover Their Unique Life Meaning and Purpose In 2012 I attended an introductory course in Logotherapy at the University of South Africa. There I met the course leader Teria Shantall and I […]
Excellence Reporter: Dr. Whitney, what is the meaning of life? Leanne Whitney: When the living is in the moment to moment of the body, the fullness of the body and its presence is known. Here. Now. In a world where our musculature and nervous system interacts invisibly with […]
“You’ve got to turn around, Bodhi,” the woman said with a chuckle to her dog. Bodhi was stuck in place, his leash wrapped around a pole. Yet he continued to pull forward anyway. In this situation, even the smartest dogs can’t seem to grasp that continuing in the […]
Excellence Reporter: Regina, what is the meaning of life? Regina Dawn Akers: The meaning of life seems to vary by individual, since each person gives her own meaning to the events and circumstances in her life. Yet, if we look deeper, I think each person ultimately wants the […]
*** ~Allan Morelock My birth took place January 7, 1949 on a small rural farm in East Tennessee, and somehow the pure memory of my spiritual nature was retained as the process of incarnating into human form unfolded. As a child, I remembered myself being free from the […]
When we embrace the Real Beauty of relating as Man and Woman, we are invited into the natural expression of male and female. It is not an idea, that there is a Deep Fulfillment waiting to unfold in their surrender to each other – in their embrace of […]
There is a story about Buddha and the courtesan. One day Buddha and his devotees were going through a forest and they came to a town. The words spread through the town that Buddha was coming. And there was a beautiful home where there lived this courtesan, this […]
This is a question that has come to me many times in different ways. What is the meaning of this life? Or rather, what gives this life meaning? In my early twenties, I met my first spiritual teacher Eunice. She spoke of “being a soul in continuous life […]
Excellence Reporter: Zahir, what is the meaning of life? Zahir Khan: To know thyself is the meaning of life I would say. We can get caught up in so many of the dramas and stories of life that we don’t stop, even for an instant to contemplate or […]
Prior to inquiring into this question, let us first acknowledge that it is impossible to discern or describe the totality of the meaning of life in conceptual terms, from the standpoint of Mind, regardless of the length, depth or breadth of our expose. The best one might do, […]
Excellence Reporter: Andrew, what is the meaning of life? Andrew Cohen: The meaning we give to life is entirely dependent upon the self we understand ourselves to be. All the thoughts that I share here about the meaning of life are given in the context of the different […]
Except in the narrowest sense, the question, “What is the meaning of life?” is ludicrous. That is unless you can clearly define “life.” Is life biological? Social, spiritual, political? Is it all of these? None of these? You see? When we finally define life for ourselves, does our […]
Imagine you are walking along a street in town, or along a path through field or forest far from the ways of women and men, and you catch a scent in the air; there is a fragrance which is unexpected but strong, sweet, and delicious, (it could be […]
We are born. We eat sweet potatoes. Then we die. ~Easter Island proverb What if we fully faced the fact we are going to die. That there is a physical end to this life we are living. And what if we embraced the profound uncertainty of not knowing […]
“And she lifted her head, looking out the window. The Sun shone directly into her eye with just a slight angle and she chose not to waver in the face of the strong light, but to let the suns rays penetrate her vision and give her Eyes for […]
Excellence Reporter: J.Jaye, what is the meaning of life? J. Jaye Gold: Questions of this nature can really only be explored, not answered. For this inquiry, let’s explore the purpose of an individual human life. It is fruitful to examine human life as a “process,” rather than a “product,” […]
Excellence Reporter: Dorothy, what is the meaning of life? Dorothy Rowe: Life is the spark of Divine essence within all things, the Source of creation, simultaneously manifest and unmanifest. This spark of life is self illuminating. As such it appears as the phenomenal forms of the world. We […]
What is the meaning of life? I silently laughed as I read the question. Where was Socrates when I needed him? But I don’t need Socrates to have an opinion, and, of course, Socrates, true to form, would expect me to answer the question myself. That’s the problem […]
Excellence Reporter: Pernilla, what is the meaning of life? Pernilla Lillarose: I would like to answer this question from 2 angles: What is the meaning of life to me? What is the meaning of life itself? The answer will depend on who this ‘me’ is and what life […]
This question was Present as far back as I remember… possibly lifetimes. After much searching and eliminating, not this, not that… The meaning revealed itself to be at the deepest core of all Being. The True meaning and whole point of life is not to be found on the […]
Excellence Reporter: Daniel, what is the meaning of life? Daniel Schmidt: Only the limited mind wants the meaning life. The ego structure wants to know, but what we really want at a deeper level is the full experience of being alive. The flowering of human consciousness is realized […]
Excellence Reporter: Gail, what is the meaning of life? Gail Brenner: This is a beautiful, fierce, and illuminating question, and here’s my story about it. For over 20 years, I lived in the painful process of struggling to discover the purpose of my life. The days seemed to […]
To say ‘I love you’ one must first know how to say the ‘I.’ Love is our response to our highest values, and can be nothing else. That love is reverence, and worship, and glory, and the upward glance. Not a bandage for dirty sores. But they don’t […]
Excellence Reporter: Reb Brian, what is the meaning of life? Reb Brian Yosef Schachter-Brooks: Let’s look at Deuteronomy, 11:26-28 רְאֵ֗ה אָנֹכִ֛י נֹתֵ֥ן לִפְנֵיכֶ֖ם הַיּ֑וֹם בְּרָכָ֖ה וּקְלָלָֽה “See, I set before you today blessing and curse” This is the message to us in every moment: life is both blessing and […]
Why am I here? What is my purpose? What is the meaning of life? Meaning and purpose are among life’s biggest questions. The answers are not simple and require self-exploration. Meaning is what we give to our experiences. How we interpret and relate to life leads to the […]
Excellence Reporter: Mani, what is the meaning of life? Mani: When I hear this question, I feel a warmth in my heart, not my physical heart but the heart of my being, which I call my Soul. Each Soul is the repository of the essence of many lives and […]
Right at your heart! That’s where we start! Somebody recently sent me an early birthday present. It must have been very urgent for me to receive because it was four months early. It was the story of a man who raised goslings from the egg to flight. So, […]
Excellence Reporter: Rev. Peter, what is the meaning of life? Rev. Peter Panagore: Love is key. Love is the meaning of life. We keep the love we give away, and we keep the love given to us. Love is the treasure of Heaven. Give love freely. The flow […]
Excellence Reporter: Mukti Apollo, what is the meaning of life? Moksha Mukti Apollo: This question has become a cliche, and have been answered many times by many so called authorities and experts. So, I propose metaphysical yet scientific approach to answer this question, and I’ll answer in two […]
The evolution of our souls follows these steps upwards towards enlightenment (not necessarily in this exact order and some happen simultaneously). To be read from the bottom of the page upwards… The Absolute / the Nature of Reality is Good / Pure Being /Enlightenment ↑ Discovery of Nature […]
Excellence Reporter: Gloriji, what is the meaning of life? Gloriji: I don’t know, but I can share from my experiences. In our relative experience of being in the world, our search for the meaning of life begins as we mature. We’re acutely aware of the pain and suffering in […]
Excellence Reporter: James, what is the meaning of life? James Waite: We often go looking for meaning in all the wrong places. Indeed, there are no right places, outside of our self, to find real meaning. Meantime, it seems most of us are launched by our cultures and […]
A 21st century scientific revolution is underway that will transform our understanding of our Universe at every level and crucially at the scale of our everyday lives. Even more important, by reconciling scientifically-based evidence with universal spiritual experience, it will revolutionize our understanding of the nature of reality itself. It’s revealing that […]
In answering a question like this I think that instead of answering with an opinion, it’s best to look together and try to come to know something that is undeniably true, for all of us. Otherwise, one person’s opinion is no more or less valid than another’s, and […]
Excellence Reporter: Tree, what is the meaning of life? Tree: The ultimate meaning of life is to discover who we are. To have an embodied experience of, “I Am That.” We are all searching for this either consciously or unconsciously or is it searching for us. To experience […]
Notice that the word “love” has no intrinsic meaning. Instead, someone chose to correlate the word “love” with kindness and compassion, two concepts that already existed. From that point forward, the word “love” could be used in a practical way as long as everyone agreed with this definition. […]
Excellence Reporter: Alice, what is the meaning of life? Alice Grist: I write a lot about the dirty and the divine, about how one is lost without the other. That holds true to this question, that question about the meaning of life that we find ourselves contemplating, usually […]
Excellence Reporter: Swami Khecarantha, what is the meaning, or the purpose of life? Swami Khecarantha: The purpose of life is to discover the ultimate truth, that God dwells within you as your Self. It is the direct experience that all of life is simply One Thing, beyond all […]
Excellence Reporter: Dr. Gustin, what is the meaning of life? Kate Gustin: To ask any question about meaning is to venture into narrative, language, story, mental constructs. The mind is absolutely fabulous at generating answers to such inquiries; it will pull from individual history, from culture, from personal […]
Excellence Reporter: Jan, what is the meaning of life? Jan Esmann: Asked that question I at once thought you could write a dissertation about it or nothing at all. Both replies would be equally meaningless, but allow me to summarize my experience contemplating that very question for 59 […]
From time to time, we happen upon people who own nothing, yet give everything they can. These special people possess the spiritual gift of giving. To others, this may seem like givers cannot possibly make a real living. On the contrary, those who give unselfishly create extremely meaningful […]
Excellence Reporter: Amoda, what is the meaning of life? Amoda Maa: There’s a precious pearl inside each of us. It’s so easy to ignore in the pursuit of more profitable acquisitions in life, such as finding the perfect partner or rising to the top of our profession or […]
Excellence Reporter: Vera, what is the meaning of life? Vera Helleman: This is a question that people ponder about when the primary necessities of life are fulfilled and an itching feeling says: ‘what now?’… ‘how do I make my life meaningful?’. There is an inner longing in each […]
Excellence Reporter: Michael, what is the meaning of life? Michael Speight: Of course if one is a fan of “The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” the answer is “42” and we could just leave it there and just enjoy the fun of that. Life is an opportunity. According […]
Excellence Reporter: Hans, what is the meaning of life? Hans Wilhelm: I once found this poem on a Starbuck coffee cup that explains the meaning of our life perfectly: Life is a school for angels. Love is the teacher, so you do your homework without fear. Death is […]
Excellence Reporter: Michael, what is the meaning of life? Michael Roads: In the most simple terms possible, the meaning of life for humanity is the meaning of you. Truly, that’s it . . . in a nutshell. Of course, being a complicated species this statement is far too […]
Excellence Reporter: Rev. Bill, what is the meaning of life? Rev. Bill McDonald: I have given much thought and time to contemplate that very question ever since I was a child facing death in the hospital at eight years of age. I had “died” in my hospital bed all […]
Excellence Reporter: Mr. Harsanyi, what is the meaning of life? Gabor Harsanyi: To answer this question in the most loving way… without making anything right or wrong, I refer to a quote from my book “Functional Silence: De-mystifying Awakening for the Spiritually Exhausted”: “Bees love to fly from […]
Hobart, Tasmania, Australia What makes a compassionate city/community? Kate White: A compassionate city is one where everyone feels they have a place, are included, welcome, important, valued and seen. I believe a compassionate city or community is one where anyone of any age is able to be safe, […]
Excellence Reporter: Daniel, what is the meaning of life? Daniel Moler: Growing soul. But, what is soul and how do we grow it? We often think of the soul as an individual thing, a part of our personal identity. However, in the shamanic arts there is another interpretation. Soul is […]
Excellence Reporter: Hans, what is the meaning of life? Hans Laurentius: In my view life has no meaning in an absolute sense. This however does not mean that your life cannot be more or less meaningful. To be is a challenge, and to be in a fully grown […]
Since I was a young child I asked myself this question ‘What is the meaning of it all?’ Why am I here?’ What the hell is going on here? I was surrounded by facades and people pretending to know a lot of apparently very important stuff. There were […]
“Knowingly or unknowingly, consciously or not, we always seek Beauty. In fact, we might say that we don’t even seek God – that we actually, secretly, seek Beauty, because it is the most perceptible, experientially available communion with God.” Every joy – however fleeting, however intense – one […]
The “art of being in the world,” the art which deals with the present—ourselves. It is in us that God meets with Nature, and yesterday parts from tomorrow. The Present is the moving Infinity, the legitimate sphere of the Relative. Relativity seeks Adjustment; Adjustment is Art. The art […]
A shaman with the insight of a god came from Chi to settle in Cheng; his name was Chi Hsien. He knew whether a man would live or die, survive or perish, be lucky or unlucky, die young or live out his span. He would predict the date […]
Seatbelts have become the most important features in a car as far as safety is concerned. But it so happens that most drivers and passengers ignore their importance, perhaps just because it’s a short trip, including other excuses. However, it is advisable that as long as you are […]
“Wabi-Sabi is a beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete. It is a beauty of things modest and, humble. It is a beauty of things unconventional.” “Things wabi-sabi are usually small and compact, quiet and inward-oriented. They beckon: get close, touch, relate. They inspire a reduction of the psychic […]
“I came here to say that I do not recognize anyone’s right to one minute of my life.” There must be only three supreme values which govern a person’s life: Reason, Purpose, and Self-esteem. Reason, as his only tool of knowledge–Purpose, as his choice of the happiness […]
December 21, 2018 is our 50th wedding anniversary. We got married during a snow storm in Buffalo, New York at 7pm in the evening. The church was filled with candlelight and poinsettias. My uncle played the organ, my sister-in-law sang and the minister learned Hebrew prayers for our combined Jewish […]
“Don’t aim at success—the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of one’s dedication to a cause greater […]
Excellence Reporter: Jacqueline, what is the meaning of life? Jacqueline Straub: I’m a fighter. I fight for reforms within the catholic church and for years I have been committed to structural change. Since my youth I have wanted to become a priest in the catholic church. That is […]
In 1924, Nikola Tesla was asked why he never married? His answer was this: “I had always thought of woman as possessing those delicate qualities of mind and soul that made her in her respects far superior to man. I had put her on a lofty pedestal, figuratively […]
The path of a thousand miles begins with a single step. ~Lao Tse There was a master. He was called Master Heavenly Heart. He was called so because His spiritual heart was connected with the Infinite Tao and opened for the worthy — the gate to the Abode […]
“The purpose of life is to be defeated by greater and greater things.” If your daily life seems poor, do not blame it; blame yourself that you are not poet enough to call forth its riches; for the Creator, there is no poverty. The deepest experience of the […]
Devote yourself to spiritual practice and go forward. Through practice you will advance more and more in the path of God. At last you will come to know that God alone is real and all else is illusory, and that the goal of life is the attainment of […]
“Love is the only sane and satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence.” “The only way of full knowledge lies in the act of love; this act transcends thought, it transcends words. It is the daring plunge into the experience of union. Love means to commit […]
Excellence Reporter: Dima, what is the meaning of life? Dima Nashawi: Life is a journey of appreciation of oneself and their connection with nature and the world. In this journey, the meaning of life to me is being explored and hence translated into artistic visuals. A platform for […]
Excellence Reporter: Prof. Steward, what is the meaning of life? Helen Steward: I believe the meaning of life is work. But before you object to my miserable, stunted vision of life, let me first explain what I mean by ‘work’. I don’t mean in speaking of work merely […]
