It's little wonder that people feel the meaning of life is the pursuit of happiness...it's even written into the Constitution of the United States. But as Jung observed, the goal of life is not happiness but meaning. Ironically without suffering from time to time, as we all must, life would become stagnant, without growth. Without spiritual maturation we would remain unconscious, infantile and dependent. We may experience moments of happiness, but happiness is transitory, cannot be willed, nor perpetuated by hope. True meaning comes from growth, to experience and go through the 'swamplands' where nature intended we spend a part of our journey and from where the most meaningful moments of our lives derive. As I mentioned earlier in the thread, the meaning of live is to have a life of meaning. Happiness is part of life but without our inevitable suffering from time to time we could not experience the true journey, the true meaning...to grow, to serve and to love.
"It is not given to us to grasp the truth, which is identical to the divine, directly. We perceive it only in reflection, in example and symbol, in singular and related appearances. It meets us as a kind of life which is incomprehensible to us, and yet we cannot free ouselves from the desire to comprehend it."
Personally it makes me feel sick to hear threats like the ones banded about by religious fanatics, such as "the wrath of god." Down the centuries people have been threatened and persecuted by followers of this evil.
Bible in one hand...broadsword in the other.
To suggest that what happened in the Phillippines will happen to most of the worlds population...with interest, is an insult to those who have suffered this terrible natural disaster.
Some more dangerous than others...might be to do with the amount of firearms around...according to this list the United States is only slightly more peaceful than Angola...
You're right, courage is not the absence of fear, it is the perception that some things are more important to us than what we fear. It's actually driven by the opposite of fear...love.
Anxiety for some can result in panic attacks, a most extreme form of irrational fear. It can also be the cause of phobias...eating disorders etc, especially if it's not made conscious...it has to go somewhere, into a projection, even into the body. Fear is necessary and normal, we need it for survival, but all too often it's the root cause of many psychological disorders, not to mention most negative emotions, illness and disharmony in our world.
Sometimes fear manifests itself in the form of anxiety. Anxiety is normal, until it becomes neurotically crippling and prevents us from living our lives as fully as possible which is usually the result of some childhood or early life emotional wounding. It's the degree of affect and the nature of our responses to anxiety or angst that determines our vulnerability to life's inevitable challenges.
"One of my dogs, to get her favorite bed would run to the door barking until the other dog would get off her bed and join her at the door. She would then run back and get on the bed."
Instead of doing that, why not try a sturdy walk up Bray Head? Or perhaps any other steep walk in the Wicklows...after all, the meaning of the word 'Bray' is hill.
Almost correct, can't say I've ever heard of an animal telling lies though...
But you are right, so far as we know, ours is the only species which feels driven to find meaning, the only one which differentiates between how things are and how we think they ought to be. Once again all these negative traits are rooted in fear, mainly irrational fear or unauthentic fear. Ruled by the ego, as most of us are, we often seek rescue from our fears in the ways you mention. None of this though can remove man from the very essence of his being...that is to love and be loved, it's just that for most, the connection has been almost severed in the pursuit of illusory goals.
bodleing2 Forum Posts (6,132)
RE: Do you believe in God?(please explain your answer)
And what do you believe god is?