Food Chain
I've got my friend Ron reading Ram Dass' latest book, Still Here: Embracing Aging, Changing, and Dying, too. We were talking today about the meaning of life. We both come from nonreligious families, and we're struggling with theories about the meaning and purpose of life and what happens after death. Our pull is towards existentialism, but existentialism is so depressing, and we would prefer to believe something else. I've tried really hard to adopt a spiritual point of view that includes the concepts of karma, a soul, and reincarnation, but deep down in my heart, I don't know if I believe it.
I think it's difficult to break away from ideas that we learned as children, and I was taught that when we die we're gone -- period. There is nothing after death. There is no reason or purpose for being here, and there is no heaven or hell waiting for me after I die. Basic existentialism.
Last week Ron was saying that all beings (including human beings) are food for each other, and what meaning is there in being food? I want to think that there's some greater purpose for being here than providing dinner for a bear or for worms, but I don't know what it is. Are we just putting in time, or are we here for a reason?
I think it's difficult to break away from ideas that we learned as children, and I was taught that when we die we're gone -- period. There is nothing after death. There is no reason or purpose for being here, and there is no heaven or hell waiting for me after I die. Basic existentialism.
Last week Ron was saying that all beings (including human beings) are food for each other, and what meaning is there in being food? I want to think that there's some greater purpose for being here than providing dinner for a bear or for worms, but I don't know what it is. Are we just putting in time, or are we here for a reason?
posted by Cassandra at 8:27 PM
1 Comments:
It's hard, but I think it's possible to break free of what I learned as a child, especially about un-proven stuff. Ram Dass says in the aforementioned book that our Ego is what does die...and that this is the part of us that most people pay attention to at the exclusion of other things. The awareness/spiritual part of us, the part that's part of the One (or a part of God, if you will) is usually overshadowed by the ego, so much so that it's hard to see anything else.
I'm just at the surface of understanding any of this, so if anybody else can help, jump right in!!
I still don't know what any of this means -- and if I should change what I do with my life, change how I live, etc.
Post a Comment
<< Home