Find Greater Meaning and Purpose (continued)

We naturally seek meaning and purpose in our lives. If something seems meaningless, it has no power to motivate us and gives us no sense of fulfillment. And if we have no purpose—no purpose other than to eat, sleep, and otherwise look for physical, sexual, emotional, and mental gratification—we soon find ourselves getting depressed and wondering what the point of it all is.

Even our Material Nature—our brain, in particular—constantly looks for meaning, constantly looks for larger patterns in the pieces, and constantly looks for frameworks and explanations that will bring together the otherwise scattered pieces of ourselves, our lives, and the world around us.

The simplest example of this is when traumatic or challenging things happen to us; our first reaction is usually to ask, "Why? Why did this happen to me?"

On an even more basic neurological level, another example is the way, when we see a person out of the corner of our eye, the brain automatically looks at all the sensory cues—what we see, hear, and smell, for example—and tries to find a match in our memory in order to recognize the person or not.
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(Often, we'll be mistaken after looking a second time, because the brain generally stops looking after the first "match." This strange and limiting feature of our perception is part of what we're up against when dealing with our Material Nature and when striving to expand our perception of things.)

Although looking forward to the next meal, the next period of leisure time, or the next romantic interlude can provide a temporary sense of meaning and purpose, it can't ultimately satisfy something inside us that Longs for greater meaning and purpose—that part of us that Longs to find the answers to the four great human questions: who am I, why am I here, where have I come from, and where am I going?

Many people have turned to religion and other spiritual paths in order to find this greater sense of meaning and purpose. They have looked to something higher than themselves for answers, for a larger Picture, and to stave off feelings of meaninglessness and purposelessness.

It's been said that a person can only find true fulfillment if they have a purpose larger than themselves. This might be an intimate partner, a family, a club, a community, a nation or race, an ideology, or some higher cause.

What's interesting about this is that this larger purpose most often revolves around feeling a part of a larger group of people. This holographically mirrors what we as individuals actually Long for when looking for greater meaning and purpose, i.e. we Long to bring together all the pieces of ourselves—all our personas—under the unifying force of a higher aim, a shared understanding, a common cause, and a singular Quest for enlightenment, healing, and wholeness. This new unity of consciousness is what connects us to our already-unified Spiritual Nature. Material Nature and Spiritual Nature then become One.

So, when we talk about "greater" meaning and purpose, we're not talking about Material Nature needs and desires, like the need for safety and the desire for comfort, although these are important, too. Rather, we're talking about the sense of being a part of something larger than just the passing sensations, emotions, and thoughts that make up our usual sense of self—something that brings with it a wordless fulfillment, a sense that there's more to heaven and Earth than meets the Material Nature eye.

Something in us already knows that this is true, but this something gets buried, repressed, or shoved aside by the insistent concerns and demands of our Material Nature.

So, again, our first steps toward finding greater meaning and purpose consist of observing, understanding, honoring, but then detaching from our Material Nature and its conditioning and needs. These things put up a screen, so to speak, between our material existence and our potentially higher spiritual existence. They prevent us from finding greater meaning and purpose in ourselves and in our lives.

Back to beginning of "Find Greater Meaning and Purpose"

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Copyright S.O.L.A.R.® 2008