"Is life meaningful, worthwhile, valuable?" Often, we are tempted to agree with Shakespeare who says in Macbeth: Life is "a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." But can we apply this value judgement to Life? The only alternative to life is "death," and we then have to weigh the worth of living against the worth of dying.
Some of us have hurriedly concluded that there is no meaning to life. To some, life is a repetitious, cyclic activity, which never comes to anything. We set for ourselves short-term goals. So long as we have some goal, we feel our life is meaningful. But almost all our goals are transitory. We realize one goal and then we are after another. We must realize that the quest for life's meaning is a spiritual quest, which each one has to undertake.
Hence the importance of understanding life as a drama, a school and pilgrimage—and man as an actor, a pupil and a pilgrim. But which "man"? It is the "Individuality," the Ego, who is the actor, experiencer and also an Eternal Pilgrim. It is this Ego or actor who chooses the "stage" for performing the drama, before taking birth, life's circumstances, the role he is going to play as well as the co-actors. In other words, it is the Ego who chooses the family, the parents, the personality and the circumstances of life in which to be born.
In a given life we might be playing the role of mother, father, brother, daughter, clerk, officer, business magnate or sweeper. We must try to give the best performance, no matter how insignificant the role.Our attitude towards the role and the work involved in playing our part must be such that people should want to emulate.
Life is also a school. There are certain archetypal experiences, like motherhood, poverty, etc., which each ego has to experience, in one life or the other. We are bound to come across those who play their roles so admirably that we are inspired. Perhaps the greatest thing we can learn from the school of life is the spirit of giving without expecting any return.
One of the lessons we must learn in life is the "art of caring." We hurry, rush and run, to save time. What do we do with the time we save? We are always too busy to care for others. A smile, a kind word, a friendly gesture—just a little caring—can work wonders in some person's life and he may be inspired to pass on the same warmth and care to others.
#LIVE A LIFE WITHOUT DRAMA#
