Live 1.2

So out of the blue Kak Ayu, a friend and a senior in spirituality, sent me a line message, asking me to check out a particular life-changing seminar. So in turn, I asked her a few questions which turned into a lengthy conversation. I learned a lot from the exchange, but obviously the conversation left me thinking. (And you know the rest, it is the typical me overthinking about stuff  just to irresponsibly dump them on my blog. But hey, isn't it why these things were created?)

Anyway, she told me how we are here in the world because we voluntarily chose a physical body to live in, and we also chose to have our memories erased. There will be parts of us that guide us along the way, but with our physical manifestation they are in the process of learning whatever lessons they have not learned yet in the past. (Let us not bring in how in the nonphysical dimension time is not linear, which makes it confusing to define when is the past and when is the future. In truth, the past is the future, and the future is the past.)

Thus then, I pondered: What is the meaning of life? Why live, just to suffer along the way, just to make others suffer, and to meet death in the end, and then to live again? Do we owe our life to other people, or to some higher beings, or does it belong solely to us? Sounds morbid indeed, and as Liam said, we must use the chance between the start and finish line to live a happy and meaningful life, because a rich man can be buried next to a poor man. He continues by saying that finding these things that make you happy and gives you meaning is the purpose of life.

Mbak Ayu discussed that another way of looking a person's level of "development" is by intently observing how the person reacts to difficulties in his or her life. I roughly know how a developed person will react, but does it seem right that the person will still go through difficulties although he or she is already developed? I have a feeling that it is the wrong way of thinking: a) everyone undergoes difficulties in their lives, it's just the question of when, where, how difficult, and how he/she reacts to it. b) It is because they are developed, they intently put themselves through the suffering (no I am not talking about making a conscious decision to jump into a pool of piranhas or something similar, I am talking about the pre-life decision) and it won't last forever. Although I am far from being a Christian, let us take the example of Jesus Christ, for instance. He willingly chose to die on a cross. Mahatma Gandhi who lived his life through poverty and suffering. Nelson Mandela, imprisoned and tortured several times.

I believe that the meaning of life can be seen anywhere, but especially in the darkest hours, the hours of glory, and the passing mundane hours we take for granted. Whenever there is life, there is death, whenever there is darkness, there is light. So probably life is about transcending the two extremes? Anyway, before I close, another thing came to my mind: If your body bleeds it will heal itself soon enough for most people, but for some, wounds in the heart never seem to heal. Are we more afraid of the physical knife or the psychological knife?

Well.

Truly Indonesia's Finest,