Category: Meaning

What Brings You Spiritual Fulfillment?

There is something in the human condition that calls out for spiritual fulfillment. How do you get yours?

Throughout recorded human history, the human species has sought out spiritual fulfillment. There have always been philosophical questions that have been asked: why is our world the way it is? What happens after we die? How can I find meaning in my life? Why is there something rather than nothing?

To try to answer some of these questions, some people turned to a supernatural explanation. There might be one or more gods, that are responsible for everything.

One god might drive a flaming chariot across the sky each day that appeared to us as the sun. Another ruled over the oceans, and his temper caused the frequent storms that would toss ships hither and yon.

Or there might be just one god, like the one in the Jewish, Christian, or Islamic traditions (they all derive from the same origins). That one created the heavens and the earth, the story goes, and everything we know.

Alternately, there might be a strictly scientific approach. As we learn more about how the world works, we delve deeper and deeper into the rules for matter and how it interacts. Elements, atoms, the quantum world, and so on. This approach might answer some of the big questions, but left others untouched.

Still others choose to look inward, including meditation, or internal energy that can be harnessed or manipulated. Some cultures use mind-altering drugs as the vehicles for spiritual exploration.

How do you connect with something larger than yourself? It might mean going to a house of worship, reading a sacred text, or spending some time each day in quiet meditation. What brings you spiritual fulfillment?

Related questions: What does spirituality mean to you? Do you have a personal philosophy? Where do you find meaning in your life?

How Do You Make It Possible To Do What You Love?

Even if you know what you want to do with your life, there can be many things preventing you from doing it. How do you overcome them?

There are many obstacles that can get in your way. The most obvious, of course, is that you may not know what it is that you love to do. Finding what fulfills you is one of the great projects in life.

If you are lucky enough to know what you love to do, there are still several things that may stand in your way.

For instance, you may not have the necessary skills or attributes. If you love playing basketball but are only five and a half feet tall, the most you can be is an enthusiastic amateur.

Similarly, health concerns may prevent you from doing what makes you happy. A musician might lose their hearing, say, or a writer could lose their eyesight.

Financial obstacles may get in the way as well. If you love something that requires a lot of money but you don’t have it, what then? Do you learn to live without, or find some way of doing an expansive activity on the cheap? Or maybe find an extra way to earn the necessary funds?

There may also be time restrictions, geographical limitations, too much competition, or any number of other potential problems.

When faced with such an obstacle, what do you do? Can you think of a specific instance in your life that fits this description? How did you overcome it, or did you reluctantly give up on your passion or your dream? How might you handle a future issue that could arise?

Related questions: What are you passionate about? What do you do best? Why do we like what we like? What gives you purpose? What are you willing to sacrifice?

How Are You Misunderstood?

One of the most difficult things about being human is how isolated we are. No one truly knows us, and every day we are misunderstood — sometimes in big ways, sometimes small.

Unfortunately, it is all too easy for misunderstandings to arise. At work, at home, at school, our image of ourselves is different from what others see.

You mean one thing, but say something else, even if what you say is close to what you meant. Your actions are misinterpreted. Your motivations are misassigned.

No one knows what goes on in your head but you. No amount of exposition, no amount of explanation is sufficient for complete understanding.

Despite our best efforts, our inner monologue is something that is unknown to all but ourselves. Even the people that know us best — our parents, our spouse, our loved ones — often misunderstand us.

In what ways are you misunderstood by those around you? How do you act, what do you say, which of your written words are misinterpreted? What traits do you have that go unheralded or unappreciated? And what do you do to address this?

Related questions: How do you think others see you? How are you underappreciated? Do you feel lonely? How do you talk about yourself?

What Makes A Perfect Day?

If you can imagine in your mind a perfect day, what exactly would that mean? What are the necessary ingredients?

There are many things that can make a day nice, or pleasant, or even pretty great.

Maybe you wake up feeling particularly refreshed. Or the weather has lots of sun (or even rain, if that is what you prefer). Perhaps you get some good news, or some bit of luck comes your way.

However, what would make a day perfect? What are the components that would need to occur for a day to achieve that lofty adjective?

Related: Listen to an episode of the Intellectual Roundtable Podcast, where Lee and Michael discuss this question: ‘What is one thing you feel the need to do every day?’ We also discuss another question as well, ‘What is truth?’

Or is it the case that we don’t really know what goes into a really wonderful day? Can a day be full of surprises, and be perfect — or at least, fantastic — because of it?

Time spent with loved ones, lovely weather, doing a beloved hobby, helping someone in need, an extra hour in the day — what makes a perfect day?

Related questions: What could you do to gain an hour each day? What was your best day? What do you do with a day off work? Perfect or good enough?

 

Why Are We Sad When Someone We Don’t Know Dies?

When someone dies who had an impact on us — a beloved entertainer from our childhood, for example — we are sad, even though we don’t know the figure personally. But why should that be?

There is no doubt that there is an emotional reaction to the news of someone’s death. For people we know and interact with, that is understandable. That person’s place in our life is missing.

However, we also feel sadness for some we have never met. For instance, a musician who sang a particularly meaningful song, or an author who wrote a touchstone book.

But why? The meaningful part — the song, say, or the book — still exist. They are not being erased from the public consciousness, and in fact may gain some awareness from the creator’s death.

Is it that the person will no longer be creating anything that might move you similarly? Chances are, unless you are a completist, there is music from that artist you have never heard, or books by that author you have never read. There is still new material  — new to you, that is — to be discovered.

Perhaps it is general empathy. We are sad to hear of someone’s death. A life with value has come to an end, which is a cause for mourning.

And yet, people with value die every minute of every day. With eight billion people on the planet, we cannot mourn the passing of each and every one — we would live in a constant tsunami of sadness.

So why, then, are we affected by these individual deaths? Why are we not happy that the person existed in the first place, and created such impactful works of art? Why not take joy that our world can produce such people, who in turn create such meaning?

There is no doubt that we are saddened by the news of these passings. It seems obvious that the feelings exist. But is there a reason why? Why do we feel sad when someone we don’t know dies?

Related questions: Why are people afraid of death? What is the nature of celebrity? What makes you nostalgic? What are you sad about?