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Open Poetry #35
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Finding Meaning
| Open Poetry #35 |
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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 2005 Sharran WindWalker - All Rights Reserved | |||
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Startime55 Member Elite
since 2003-04-05
Posts 2148Alberta, Canada |
BRAVO!!!BRAVO!!! How simple but easily forgot are the wisdom of your words...No searching is needed...we just look within and fill our cups with the purity of who we are...I love the path your words lead me on and I love the way they open my eyes to the beauties of the world....Well done, my friend...**hugs** |
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wandering glider Senior Member
since 2001-04-04
Posts 501aloft |
Indeed! Today is the only day that is. glider |
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ThisDiamond Member Rara Avis
since 2002-02-22
Posts 9353Michigan, USA |
Splendid write WW...truly felt it here. TD |
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