What do you want?
You see, I'm faced with a bit of a Catch-22. See if you can follow me...
When I read The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis, I was struck by his call for humility. Almost every section of that book is about lowering yourself, letting go of your pride, and putting to death everything within you that seeks to exalt yourself above others.
So I felt called to be humble to lower myself before others. But I soon realized, by lowering myself I can't raise other people up. If I want to help people, I have to teach them to be humble as well.
You see, so much of what we think is helping people, might in fact be raising their level of pride and enabling them to think of themselves as better than others. Rather than using our humility to teach humility, are we rather breeding more prideful people?
So how do we help people become humble? How do we serve others without reinforcing negative mindsets?
So I want to help people. I also want my life to have a purpose. I want to live a rich and full life (not in the sense of rich with possessions and power, but rich in the sense of depth and meaning).
Is it just me, or is it that when people have kids, they put so much focus on raising their family that it's almost like reaching out to other people doesn't even matter anymore? I think family is important, but who's going to help the families that aren't taking care of themselves?
Hmm, I feel like I've been random and all over the place in this post. This is all connected for me, but I'm not sure how to put it altogether so it makes sense outside my brain.
The first question that needs to be answered is "What is the meaning of life?" Do you agree? Is that the first question? Haha, actually the first question is, "What is the most important question?" Hey that's what Douglas Adams said in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy!
The hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional beings created the supercomputer, Deep Thought, to answer for them the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything. After 7.5 million years Deep Thought computed the answer to be....42!
"Forty-two!" yelled Loonquawl. "Is that all you've got to show for seven and a half million years' work?"So, now I leave it with you...
"I checked it very thoroughly." said the computer, "and that quite definitely is the answer. I think the problem, to be quite honest with you, is that you've never actually known what the question is." (p. 121)
What is the ultimate question?
1 comment:
"what do you want?" cant be the primary question for every individual. it's too self-focused. i think most find that in and of themselves, they are not satisfied and this is a main reason why many turn to God and religion, to be a part of some bigger meaning.
i think that only once you know yourself can you begin to practice true humility. otherwise, you forfeit your own identity and self-worth in the process of lowering yourself. those who have a strong sense of self are the ones who will touch others with their humility. similarly, those who are weak and timid will draw no attention from their humility; it will be seen as cowardice. they will touch others only when they begin to show courage and stand up for themselves.
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