Thanks Matt and Inky. It is pretty deep kinda stuff.

Hi N @chameleon

I have not heard of the guy’s name whose u-tube you have watched. However, I will share my perspective based on the title of this post, “meaningless effort”.

When I first started to read up on spirituality and gain more understanding on WHO AM I, I came across many such opinions and it was very confusing. If everything is nothing or somewhat pointless, then why waste time doing anything ? Why don’t we all just go and sit on Himalayas and meditate with DL until we are ready to leave the body, yeah ?

After doing regular meditation for couple of years now, I have come to understand that when we are happy, life is flowing well and all our wants are being fulfilled, we don’t question anything as nothing. Everything is meaningful and beautiful on earth. Life seems like a bed of roses and if we had a choice, we wouldn’t let go of this state of being. However, like everything in nature, nothing is permanent so the mental state of calm is also limited for non-enlightened beings like us.

Bring in meaningless tasks, unfulfilled wishes, unhappy relationships, unmet basic survival needs etc and all of us start searching for some form of relief. We beg subconsciously for peace, calm, happiness and contentment in life. Some people turn to spirituality, some to religion and some to D/A 🙂 etc

If we could continue in the state of bliss in all circumstances, I doubt any of us would question anything as nothing. What provides bliss in life ? An awareness that everything is impermanent in this dimension and all things exist in duality. If there is sadness, there is happiness. If there is death, there is life. If there is darkness, there is light. If there are meaningful tasks, then there are non-meaningful tasks etc. By understanding this, we can enjoy being in the moment and truly embrace all that life has to offer without getting attached to anything or anyone. Attachment comes from falsely feeling and believing that someone or something is never going to leave us. This is against the natures law and this law works the same for all.

What makes a job or anything pointless or even meaningful ? OUR MIND. Someone has nicely quoted that our mind is our biggest friend and it is also the worst enemy. Our mind helps us to come out of any adversity but it also helps us to remain attached to impermanent things if we do not take control its activity. This is probably the biggest difference between Dalai Lama and us. He still does all the mundane tasks that we all do but he doesn’t get attached to the outcomes. His mind doesn’t get disturbed by the outcomes. Whatever happens will be perfect and he accepts everything that comes his way. And what does this achieve ? A constant state of bliss and minimal mental chatter.

How can we achieve a similar state and still fulfil all our worldly obligations ? I have found that meditation; selfless service to our bodies, families and community; acceptance of self and others; and unconditional love for everything and anything can go a long way in achieving above.

What can take us away from this state of bliss ? Chasing things or people without questioning their purpose in our lives. And perhaps, this is what the you-tube guy is referring to when he says, “they sometimes strive at things that are ‘meaningless”. When we are constantly chasing money, fame, status, people etc without appreciating the beauty around us on a daily basis, everything becomes meaningless.

Another thing I have come to learn is that we cant fully appreciate the “I” until we fulfil our worldly obligations as the “attachment to things and people” will keep dragging us back into the worldly dramas. We can truly only proceed to the highest levels of our spiritual quest once we are able to look after our and our families well-being to the fullest capacity.

Until we reach that state of higher consciousness, everything that we do for living and surviving is very meaningful and necessary. We cant do a Phd until we go through all the levels of school, college, uni etc, can we ? Spirituality is very similar – we cant skip the steps by making an excuse that hey, what’s the use of it all ? Everything is a stepping stone and things become clearer as we move higher in our consciousness.

Hope this makes sense.

Jasmine

Hello all,

Some wonderful posts here. Thank you all.

N, I noticed that you went from “sometimes striving at things that are meaningless” to “everything is meaningless” quite quickly! Based on your first chapter, and not actually watching the video, I was thinking that people tend to do things like “if only I would have a nicer car, then I would be happy”. Then they decide that they are unhappy for as long as they don’t have that something, and they put their effort into getting that car or lamenting over it’s non-existence, and completely forget to do things that would actually bring happiness. The car isn’t going to bring lasting happiness anyway. It’s fun for a while and then emptiness sets in again, if happiness isn’t found from life itself. That’s just an example, but that’s what seems to be rather prevalent in my culture.

Perhaps I’m oversimplifying things 🙂 At last!

Hello N,

I just read your post and wanted to share something with you in hopes that it might put your mind at ease.

I’ve been through that self-examination and that feeling of emptiness, and yes, I felt like panicking as well. It was really, really scary. But I stayed with it, for several reasons which are unimportant now. After a while it kind of stopped being empty.

I am no longer a religious person, so to me it’s not really about searching for God. It is not because I would be overly rational, but because I have accepted that there are things that I do not know and can no comprehend, so it’s better if I focus on the smaller things, which actually are within my grasp. It is not my job to define a God or what might happen after death. I will do the best that I can as a human being, and will surely make a lot of mistakes, but we can’t be expected to be perfect.

All that said, I have found the stories of near death experiences very interesting and how people have repeatedly told that it’s not someone else judging them, but rather, they themselves have judged their own lives, and subsequently process it and then forgive. I find that same thing happening in life in general. We can be so harsh towards ourselves and judge ourselves and hold onto those past mistakes. It is as if we’d rather carry some guilt with us than rip off the bandaid and face and deal with the things that we regret and then move on after learning from those mistakes.

You say that you are not ready to accept His love yet because you haven’t put the work in, but you have heard of unconditional love? If you had to put some work in, it would make it conditional 🙂 Meaning that you are already loved, accepted and forgiven. Whether you want to accept that is up to you, but unconditional love does not judge or value you according to your thoughts and deeds. Also, paradoxically, if you do accept that you are loved, the thoughts and deeds start to change as well from destructive to loving.

You are not the first one to have gone through such thoughts and fears, so don’t fret that you are going crazy.

Sometimes when I have trouble with too complex thoughts and wondering what’s the point of me or anyone, I tend to think about plants. They strive to grow regardless of their environment. A small flower can push itself through asphalt. It doesn’t just decide to stop growing or to be alive. This growing, and tending to life and blossoming regardless of the obstacles is somehow a very invigorating imagery for me. A flower doesn’t think that it’s pointless, so why should we? We are here, we’re alive, so let’s live!