Dear Dev,

I can’t give your life purpose or meaning. I just thought I’d throw that out there. I’m also astutely aware that we aren’t incredibly close, so any desire to completely disregard my advice shouldn’t make you feel guilty.

I’ve asked a lot of questions in my life, about a lot of different things. Since we’re on the topic of religion, I’ll use that as a context. There are many different religious interpretations of life’s meaning; many Christians will tell you that life’s meaning is to serve God and get into heaven. Buddhists will tell you that the life’s purpose is enlightenment and nirvana, while many Hindus will tell you that we must be the best people possible in order to be reincarnated into a better life next time. Personally, these all seem a bit selfish to me. In Judaism, one would argue that the word t’shuvah–healing the world–is the most important. And while I’m not completely adamant that one should be constantly giving back to the world, it raises an important idea:

The future does not give your life meaning. (Sorry Frankl). You give your life meaning, and that should be enough. The future is too uncertain to count on for meaning–what if you never finish that book? What if your child dies in a horrific accident? We as a culture are too obsessed with the idea of a meaningful life, to be honest. What is most important, I believe, is what you do with yourself now. The idea of healing the world is only one facet of a broader idea: that you do as much or as little as you want to to give your life meaning. In the end, you are the one who is empowered.

In life, we derive meaning from the things that we do and the experiences that we have. People grasp meaning and significance from completely different things, so how could there possibly be a single meaning or purpose for life? If you stop asking, you may realize that the question itself is an awful one. Asking about the meaning or purpose of life leaves an opening for the realization that life has no explicit meaning or purpose. If we rest all of our beliefs on the fact that life is meaningful, why continue on when we find out there is no purpose?

Because life is beautiful. It is an adventure of the human spirit. Just learning, experiencing, loving, losing, and being alive are worth living. I couldn’t care any less if my life has any meaning, as long as when I look back on it it’s a life I wouldn’t regret living.

My advice is not to live in the future (to an extent–goals are always good), or in the past, but in the present. Right now is the only thing you will ever have any real influence over, and even that isn’t much. You have so much more to do and accomplish, you won’t need any explicit meaning.

I’m rambling, but I want to leave you with something I came up with a year ago when I was being reflective: “You are no more important or significant than a single living thing on this planet. That includes plants, bugs, animals, and other humans. But take solace in the fact that you are also no less important than a single living thing on this planet. That includes plants, bugs, animals, and other humans.”

Aaron