Somebody, on meaning in our lives

Friday, September 22, 2017

7:30 a.m. So let’s start with these forces that express through us. Where do they come from?

They exist. It may be better not to tempt yourselves to creating story. In a way, what does it matter where they come from? Anything you are told may or may not be true, but what you know is that you experience them. Start with what you know.

But – not even a general statement?

If you wish. Good and evil, and everything that is meant by the words, from the ultimate through to the mingled manifestations that puzzle your lives, are part of the fabric of existence. But does that really tell you anything?

It seems to tell me that they are not incidental, and I gather they are not peculiar to the 3D world, as we might be tempted to assume.

If you will associate ideas, you will see that that could not be so. The 3D world is part of the larger world you only imperfectly and intermittently perceive – so how could the forces of good and evil be particular only to the 3D and not at the same time, and necessarily, be part of the same All-D that includes 3D? It’s impossible. It is a confusion of ideas.

All right, I see that.

And as to “incidental” – what does that mean? Are they accidents? Unwanted side-effects? Illusions produced by inability to see clearly? Are they not pretty important, to be incidental?

I see your point. All right.

This is an absolutely major point. Your lives are not, and are not for the purposes, that you are accustomed to think them. That is one reason why to so many, life appears to be pointless. It is because the point is disbelieved, and no believable substitute can be established. You may seek for meaning in achievement, and find it hollow and unsatisfactory, even illusory, like Churchill in his old age.

Yes. His daughter, seeing him depressed on his birthday, said, “But you have accomplished so much!” He replied, “Yes, I have accomplished a great deal, to have accomplished nothing in the end.”

Neither is meaning found in the satisfaction of appetites or the recording of sensations. What is satisfying?

In my experience?

That is all you have to go on. Anything else is hearsay.

In my experience, the only things that are satisfying are the exercise of a skill and the assistance of someone.

And perhaps all the better if the one accompanies the other. So what does this tell you?

Not a lot, but I suppose I can think about it. [Pause] Well, I suppose if we are made a certain way, whatever skills we can develop are expressions of our selves. Maybe that satisfaction is the opposite of the sense of wasting time. As to helping people, I don’t know. it fills some inner need; I don’t know to what extent it is universal.

Now, do the exercise of skill and the helping of people provide meaning to your life, as well as satisfaction?

I don’t know how to answer that. I’ll give you what the guys used to give me: Yes but no. Those activities are more meaningful than other things, but no, they aren’t enough. Is that what you mean?

What does provide meaning? Dig.

The closest I could come to it would be to say, the same thing that is an indicator that you have found your bliss, as Joseph Campbell would say – the things that you lose all sense of time while you are doing them. And that’s about the same two things, exercising skill and helping people.

Only, those are doings. What about beings?

 I see that I took your question to be about doing. Did I fall into a trap, there?

You illustrated a point, anyway. But what about how to be? Or, you might put it, what about an attitude toward life? How can you look at life so as to really feel its meaning? Not in theory, but in practice?

[Pause] I had to think about it. I guess I’d have to say, when I feel like I’m being employed for some purpose beyond me. This.

And what does that tell you?

Hmm. I suppose it is the opposite of feeling useless, or isolated, or without purpose.

Connected, perhaps.

Yes, I suppose. Are you implying that the sense of connection is the reward? Is an indicator that we’re on the beam? Or what?

Draw your own implications, remembering that one size does not fit all. The point here is, what makes you feel most alive, most fulfilled, most – well, most real? Different people will get different answers, but we’ll say this: The answer you get will tell you more about your role and how to stretch or transcend your role than anything else could.

And this is another good place to pause.

All right. Thanks.

 

2 thoughts on “Somebody, on meaning in our lives

  1. This newer dialogue has progressed very quickly. Really good, Frank! The intermediaries used in the last few days seem to have made a substantial difference in coherency and flow. It is very interesting to me as a reader that both you and this ‘somebody’ had to make adjustments early on to increase this flow.

    And, as this “somebody” has come forth, I have been reminded how TGU could not see beyond a point when asked questions about what was next (or just beyond). And, Miranon mentioned the same type of “limitation” (e.g., not quite the right word) when working with Monroe. Therefore, I was wondering a bit earlier this week … “How are they going to do this?”

    This was also a topic (e.g., what is beyond the All-D) that I felt was left incomplete when the singular dialogue with Rita came to a close earlier this week. However, I am feeling more connected with the process after your efforts (from all involved in the dialogue) in the last few days.

    So, thanks to all!

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