I’ve Figured Out the Meaning of Life and It Boils Down to One Word
Choice.
“We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” — Legendary psychiatrist Viktor Frankl from his time in concentration camps.
One of the few certainties in life is that every moment provides us a choice — no matter how good or bad that moment is.
In a world where scientifically speaking, life is meaningless, (we’re organisms composed of atoms and molecules which adapt and evolve and survive as best we can) and a conscious choice to give life meaning is all we really have, everything boils down to the choice you choose to make.
Isn’t it liberating to know how you see, perceive, do, notice, react, respond and shape your reality is a choice you can control?
What’s sad is to see so many people who “have everything” and not know this hard fact and watch them get mentally fat, lonelier and empty on the inside.
The emptiest and loneliest I ever was was when I lived all by myself in a massive apartment in the center of Manhattan “living the dream”. Clinging to constant satisfaction and novelty. I too fell for the trap and believed those things were my purpose that brought eternal happiness.
As Frankl said it was the people who found a will to assign meaning to their action in the smallest ways in the gravest of situations that had a higher chance to find the will to survive:
You have a choice to have an optimistic or cynical attitude no matter what obstacles are thrown at you. Yes, even the “hard” dire choices because it’s never as bad as your monkey mind perceives it to be.
The monkey mind that makes you feel like you’ll be banished from your tribe and face death even though you have a thousand friends on FB. It’s not life and death though we’re still wired to have it feel that way.
You have the choice to have kids or not. And you have the choice to feel good or bad about that decision, no matter the outcome.
You have the choice to care about what your peers say.
You have the choice to face the fear of your ego and speak in public at the risk of looking stupid. What’s the downside? People think you’re stupid. You have the choice to be fearless or fearful about that, and the choice to have courage or not. What’s the point of not acting as if you’re fearless and confident? The opposite is a choice.
Is it you who feels stupid or your ego? Why does that matter? You aren’t your ego, you’re the human being that’s left over. Observe the ego all day every day. Eradicate it by embracing situations that create fear. Easier in theory, harder in practice I know.
You have the choice to find the will to assign meaning to your actions and discover a life purpose. You also have the choice to not have a purpose and that’s fine.
Isn’t it refreshing to know you’re a spec of dust on this Earth that’s been spinning around for millions of years and will be spinning around (hopefully) after you’re long gone? Isn’t the universe and how we got here so fascinating? You and I are a tiny speck in the grand scheme of matter, so rest in that peaceful place of nothingness and pay close attention to each moment and live a fearless life until the end of your time.
If everything boils down to choice, why not choose to be fearless, joyful and happy at all times?
The truth is you may not want to. I certainly enjoy a good reaction or argument for fun every now and then. Being stressed out feels good, believe it or not. It makes the ego feel important and pain is a subconscious addiction like most other addictions.
It’s a shame that mastering this skill isn’t taught in school from a young age. I’d have saved so much misery from my college years to my twenties because I’d have understood that happiness is a skill.
Perhaps physiology and sociology need to become mandatory courses for us but earlier in our growth like in high school more so and not optional in college?
There are so many studies that have been done that scientifically prove that money and things don’t create more happiness than things that are free. Again it boils down to choosing.
This Harvard study where a large sample size was tracked for seventy five years showed the quality of your tribe (relationships) is the single most important element to live a whole, fulfilled, prosperous or happy or whatever you want to call it life. These are the things that matter when you’re laying on your death bed. As Bronnie Ware reported in her piece on the regrets of the dying. I try to remind myself of that daily.
Happiness levels in prosperous America are lower than villages in the far East. Why? Happiness is based on chemicals in the brain. Serotonin and dopamine. If I can get the same bump of serotonin and dopamine by reading a book or staring at the sky and it takes you millions of dollars and a yacht, I win. Don’t I?
Again it’s choice.
Most of what we do and why we do them is out of illusion and ego. The Director who was promoted to VP is an illusion. Yes it stands for something but it’s because other people buy into that illusion. Is that still not an illusion? Shocking to see how much illusion and myth can control man. You watch Game of Thrones and see how Gods keep humans in check, perceived power and fear keep us slogging a long. I’m not talking about immediate fear either. Yes, if the state threatens you, that’s an immediate reason to be fearful. I’m talking about the fear that comes from simple guilt or religion or your boss or yourself for any number of reasons that’s internally perpetuated.
The evolution of our brains haven’t kept up with the pace of human progress. We’re living in the Jetsons age with about the same brains as the hunter gatherer tribes we evolved from from several million years ago. That’s a long time to make exponential progress in just the last few millennia and our brains haven’t kept up. That’s not including the exponential progress that’s been made at ultra high rates the past hundred years. How different was the world just one hundred years ago? It’s mind boggling really.
Every moment can be embraced with joy — made a game. Solitary confinement for a year? Practice your meditation and count the bricks. You physiologically have that ability. Embrace it for growth. Flow makes life worth living and getting into flow is a choice. Make it daily in each moment.
