Becoming Aware Of The Meaning Of Life
The media overwhelm us with information about the crisis but all that information doesn't really tell us anything. We are only touched by it when it affects ourselves, when we hear that our money in the bank is gone, when we are threatened with redundancy, when I hear that my child is incurably ill. I have known people who were instantly changed by the news that they were incurably ill. They became aware of what life is and what it is all about.
Only in those moments do we realise that life has been given to us as a gift that comes to us. We have done nothing for it and have no right to it. The paradox is that we can nevertheless say YES or NO to this life in complete freedom. Throughout our lives, we have our own responsibility to reject or accept in gratitude the reality of our life with all its consequences.
Why are we doing this?
Our greatness consists of the freedom to make something great out of the opportunities life offers us or become addicted to the momentary results. It is about awareness as an insight that goes deeper than intellectual knowledge and analysis. We can taste and savour this reality of our lives inwardly, so to speak. As a weather expert, I can know all about the weather, but it is different when I am enjoying the setting sun at the beach.
In a crisis, all the familiar rational certainties fall away. It is a growth process that takes us to a higher level where the old certainties no longer offer a foothold. This makes us anxious. Awareness is needed as a deepening of insight from the level of thinking to the deepest level of being of our existence. It is like being able to survey from the top of the mountain the winding paths where we got lost from a higher level.
This spiritual deepening process can arise in crisis when the certainties of our work and existence fall away. But they can also come about through reflection through the question of why. Toyota asks the question "why are we doing this?" five times when it comes to a new product or major problem. In this way, they poke through to a deeper sense of the problem.
In her book "What's Your Excuse?", Esther Jacobs recounts this experience. "As I stared out through the plane window, I thought. Suppose for some reason this was to be my last day? How would I want to spend it? To my surprise, I came to the conclusion that I would do exactly what I was currently doing".
She became aware of the gratuity of her life that she only had to accept. She had no money and no job but started her action 'Coins for Care' through which she collected leftover coins for charities around the introduction of the euro. She then became aware of the meaning of her life and was able to overcome setbacks with a smile.