A while back I received an email from a listener asking about the meaning of life according to nonduality. He reasoned that if we are not individual selves – if personal existence is an illusion and not real – then what is the meaning and purpose of our human lives. It all seems rather pointless, he reasoned. Those are not his exact words. In fact I cannot find the email, so I am not sure he asked the question in those exact words but that is the gist of it.
I want to address the sense of meaningless of human existence if we are in fact not really individual persons and have no future existence as persons. Some teachers embrace this meaninglessness openly. Tony Parsons for example calls human life “wondrously, gloriously meaningless.” If you have heard Tony on video you can just picture him saying that and laughing. Here is another quote by him. “All that is happening is meaningless, but it is so beguiling and fascinating that the mind is absolutely sure it has meaning.”
That is how Tony approaches this question. He celebrate meaninglessness. Others are not so happy about it. One Amazon reviewer of his book “The Open Secret” call his approach “meaningless nihilism.” I like Tony Parsons. He has a radical and simple approach that appeals to me, without all the religious and spiritual trappings. I like that. The strength of his message is that it is blunt and uncompromising, which is exactly what many people need to hear!
But I would use different words. Nonduality is expressed in and through everyone differently. People express it differently. I would not use the word meaningless. I do not think that human life is meaningless. In fact it is very meaningful. But it not meaningful because we are persons. It is meaningful because we are not persons. And we sense that meaningfulness not as persons but as nonpersons. Yet this meaning is expressed through persons … like Jesus and like us.
As a Christian I look to the teachings of Jesus. Nothing against Tony Parsons. I think he is great and I recommend his videos and books. But Tony Parsons is no Jesus Christ. I want to look at what Jesus says is the meaning of life. But first I explore where most people seek meaning in life and then compare it to what Jesus says.
The Meaning of Life … Nondual Style
A while back I received an email from a listener asking about the meaning of life according to nonduality. He reasoned that if we are not individual selves – if personal existence is an illusion and not real – then what is the meaning and purpose of our human lives. It all seems rather pointless, he reasoned. Those are not his exact words. In fact I cannot find the email, so I am not sure he asked the question in those exact words but that is the gist of it.
I have heard other people struggling with this teaching about nonduality as well. Especially when it comes to the loss of a loved one by death. The thought that the person is completely gone forever is a hard pill to swallow for a lot of people. That is why all the religious traditions of the world have come up with theories of the afterlife that allow for some existence of the individual person after death in some way.
I have dealt with afterlife elsewhere so I am not going to rehearse it again. But I do want to address the sense of meaningless of human existence if we are in fact not really individual persons and have no future existence as persons. Some teachers embrace this meaninglessness openly. Tony Parsons for example calls human life “wondrously, gloriously meaningless.” If you have heard Tony on video you can just picture him saying that and laughing. Here is another quote by him. “All that is happening is meaningless, but it is so beguiling and fascinating that the mind is absolutely sure it has meaning.”
That is how Tony approaches this question. He celebrate meaninglessness. Others are not so happy about it. One Amazon reviewer of his book “The Open Secret” call his approach “meaningless nihilism.” I like Tony Parsons. He has a radical and simple approach that appeals to me, without all the religious and spiritual trappings. I like that. The strength of his message is that it is blunt and uncompromising, which is exactly what many people need to hear!
But I would use different words. Nonduality is expressed in and through everyone differently. People express it differently. I would not use the word meaningless. I do not think that human life is meaningless. In fact it is very meaningful. But it not meaningful because we are persons. It is meaningful because we are not persons. And we sense that meaningfulness not as persons but as nonpersons. Yet this meaning is expressed through persons … like Jesus and like us.
As a Christian I look to the teachings of Jesus. Nothing against Tony Parsons. I think he is great and I recommend his videos and books. But Tony Parsons is no Jesus Christ. I want to look at what Jesus says is the meaning of life.
But first I want to explore where most people seek meaning in life and then compare it to what Jesus says. Most people think the meaning and purpose of life is found in what we do and believe and the relationships we have. People want to be sure they do not waste their lives. Or miss life.
Some seek meaning in adventures. They travel the world and have wonderful adventures trying to live life to the fullest. Going to exotic places and eating exotic food and doing exotic things. Some people cram as many wonderful experiences into their lifetimes as they can. That is what the idea of a bucket list is all about. Others find meaning in exciting activities like extreme sports. Living on the edge risking their lives gives them an adrenaline rush and a sense of being alive.
Others think that fame and wealth can give their life meaning. They want to be widely known now and remembered after they die. They seek fame and fortune. Some want to be a celebrity. That seems to be a popular goal for a lot of people in our society. People want to be wealthy and comfortable and have the respect and adulation of others. Americans seem to be infatuated with celebrity culture, idolizing the rich and famous.
People seek meaning in all sorts of other things. They seek it in a vocation or occupation – a meaningful job or volunteering. Some seek it in their art or music. Some seek it in religion and spirituality. Some seek it in family and friends – in relationships with other people. Others seek it in what they call “making a difference in the world” or “leaving the world a little better than they found it.”
They give themselves self-sacrificially for others or for a cause bigger than themselves, whether that be politics or social service. Sometimes they heroically protect others from harm by serving their country in the military or in other front line vocations – whether that be first-responders like police or firefighters or EMTs. There is something noble in risking one’s life for others. Jesus echoes that. He says, “No greater love has a man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”
In traditional Christianity that is exactly what Jesus is understood to have done when he laid down his life on the Cross. He is seen as a spiritual hero and being a hero is seen to give meaning to life. Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”
Of all the options so far this is the closest to selflessness, which is very close to nondual personlessness. People are willing to give their lives because they know intuitively – if not consciously – that they are more than their individual selves. Who they really are – the Bigger Self – is willing to give up their smaller self, including their physical existence because they know they are more than that.
This is an indication that we know deep down that we are more than our physical and personal selves. Some people give their lives for a group that they identify with strongly and are willing to die for it – whether that be family, or tribe, or country, or a cause or an ideology or a religion. That is the allure of being a martyr. That testifies to our innate knowledge that we are more than our individual personal self.
So what is the meaning of life? It is not 42 as Douglas Adams famously wrote in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Jesus has a better answer. What does Jesus say is the meaning and purpose of life? He says, “I came that they might have life and have it abundantly.” He says that the purpose of life is to live. Immediately after that comes the line about laying down his life. To live is to lays down one’s small life to live the bigger Life that is Eternal life.
He says that he came that people who listen to him may have life and have it abundantly. In other words the meaning and purpose of life is life. That is it. You certainly can do all the sorts of things that I have mentioned a moment ago if that is where life leads you and makes you feel better, but it is not the meaning and purpose of life. The purpose of life is life.
Simply by being alive you are fulfilling your purpose in life. You have fulfilled and are fulfilling your purpose now. So you can relax. Notice that Jesus adds some extra words. He says that he came not only that we might have life but that we might have it abundantly. Some translations say “more abundantly.” What is Jesus talking about here?
He is talking about consciously knowing the purpose of life as life and rejoicing in that. Our lives can be “wondrously, gloriously meaningful” to coopt Tony Parsons phrase. That happens when we are willing to lay down our small life for the Big Life. To lay down our physical and psychological and social life for eternal divine life. To know that life in awareness and rejoice in its fullness.
The word Jesus uses here is the Greek word zoe. There are lots of words for life in Greek and Jesus uses them each in different settings. The word he uses here is not the word bios, which means physical life or the psuche, which means the individual psychological life. He uses the word zoe, which means eternal spiritual life. Jesus came that we might know that our life is not just physical or psychological or social but spiritual and eternal.
The meaning and purpose of life is to have and know we have this abundant spiritual eternal divine immortal life. The life what was in Christ is in us. In him was life and that life was the light of men. That light enlightens every man who comes into the world it says. This is what we are. This is meaningful and purposeful life. We know this abundantly when we lay down our small lives for this Big Life. That is what Jesus did. That is the meaning and purpose of life according to Jesus Christ.