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Open Poetry #42
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Finding Meaning
| Open Poetry #42 |
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Finding Meaning |
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WindWalker Senior Member
since 2001-10-12
Posts 1218 |
A story is told of a man who realized one day his life had no meaning. He was going on in years, entering retirement and all he saw of himself seemed meaningless. So he took a vow that before he died he was going to put meaning in the remainder of his life. He walked snowy, stormy paths in the Himalayas and talked at length with Buddhist monks; He went to Rome and got an audience with the Pope. He met shamans and teachers and elders, spent several seasons with Australian aborigines. He studied and pondered, cloistered in a monastery; read tome upon tome of Christian history and philosophy. He studied the life of Gandhi and Mother Teresa, read biographies on Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr. And he observed people in far away towns and villages; crossed Africa and trekked through the Middle East. He encountered wars and famines and strange customs. He ate foods that made him sick, drank polluted water and tried an endless number of rituals. Eventually all his retirement money ran out and he found himself back in his own town, on his own street, in his own home – alone. Thought a fool, by all, including himself, and none the wiser. Then he had a dream one night: He was reading a simple novel, in his den by the fire when he saw a word he didn’t know the meaning of so he reached for his dictionary... and he got it! Meaning! Right there, in his dictionary where it had been all along... “Meaning: that which is intended to be, or actually is, expressed or indicated.” That simple. In a dictionary. Meaning of life? What that life is. It has no other meaning! No one finds meaning by searching for it. What is is all the meaning there can be. No one can fill a cup that is already full; if one does not like the contents thereof, one must empty the cup, wash it, and refill it. But life does not allow such a luxury for the cup of life comes without possibility of a refill. |
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| © Copyright 2008 Sharran WindWalker - All Rights Reserved | |||
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Larrysmom Senior Member
since 2008-04-03
Posts 533Florida, USA |
WOW! This is powerful… So true and beautifully expressed… Tammy<333 |
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Robert E. Jordan Member Rara Avis
since 2008-01-25
Posts 8541Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
WindWalker, Oh, I don't know. There are a number of possibilities with the full cup--everything from changing your tastes, to dilution, to flavoring, to playing musical cups, etc. You're correct about the meaning of meaning however. It's a nice poem to think about. Bobby |
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Marchmadness Member Rara Avis
since 2007-09-16
Posts 9271So. El Monte, California |
Your poems always leave me with food for thought, Windwalker. I really like this one. Now, my friend always tells me that I am a pessimist and that my cup is half empty (not true, I am just a realist) but I am now wondering if pessimists get to fill their cup the rest of the way up. Ida |
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Marge Tindal 
since 1999-11-06
Posts 42384Florida's Foreverly Shores |
WindWalker~ A cup full of ponder~ I toast you for this write~ *Huglets*  ~*Marge*~ ~*The sound of a kiss is not as strong as that of a cannon, but it's echo endures much longer*~ |
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Seoulair Senior Member
since 2008-03-27
Posts 807Seoul S.Korea |
Wonderful, wonderful!!! very good. I say, deeper the cup of one's mind, heart, emotion and feelings because they are all very, very flexible.  great poem. |
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shyvl Senior Member
since 2008-04-11
Posts 531texas, usa |
This was awesome- A poem to sharpen the mind. Thanks for dusting the cobwebs off mine. Pleasure reading sharyn |
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JamesMichael Member Empyrean
since 1999-11-16
Posts 33336Kapolei, Hawaii, USA |
If this man happened upon me I would have told him to seek the truth...James |
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