What Are You Doing with Your Life

What's in it for you?

At some point or the other, this question has definitely arisen in all of our minds, what is the purpose of our life? You may have also wondered how some people succeed in finding and maintaining happiness in their lives. Maybe you have thought a lot about the problems existing in the society and have also tried to find some solutions. In this summary you will find answers to some such basic questions. However, you will not find any easy answers here. Whatever you learn later in this summary may provoke you. For example, what if there is no such thing as 'sustained happiness'? What if searching for the purpose of life is the wrong way to understand things? Whatever you learn next will not only challenge your preconceived notions but will also inspire you. In this summary you will know, how have the conditions of your culture affected you? Why revolution will not change anything and what is the difference between intellect and intelligence.

So let's get started!

Because of your conditions you are not able to see things as they really are.

Stop for a moment and think about how or what you understand about this world. For instance,

Take love or love only. Ever since you were born, you have known about this word and because of this knowledge, your thinking about love has developed. It is possible that when you hear the word love, the thought of a happy couple and their wedding day comes to your mind or you may think of receiving lots of flowers as a surprise gift as love. Whatever it may be, you see love as dependent on your social, economic, cultural background, as a condition. This shows that your understanding of love is very limited. And you don't know about its complex concept. When your previous knowledge puts a condition in front of you that yes the world is like this, then you are not able to understand the world with its reality and complexity. Life is never the same but because of your special perspective on the world, you think that life is fixed. Your mind is tied to your cultural background and belief system.

To know how life is in reality, you will have to change your mind and perspective to understand its ups and downs. If you do not connect yourself with the changing nature of life, you will never be able to see the whole picture, you will simply remain trapped in the small circle created by yourself.

For example, if you see a flower playing and then withering, your thinking about it will keep changing every day, if analyzed honestly. Life is exactly like that. Any single thought about this cannot last long, it needs to be given a lot of attention. To understand life and its truth, you have to ignore all those theories and systems that claim to understand life completely. This task can be a bit difficult, especially if you combine your identity as a socialist, capitalist, Christian or Hindu. If you follow a religion or ideology, you will try to fit any situation into your view of the world, even if the situation is completely different from your belief system. How to connect to? You have to notice where your mind goes. You have to observe its working as if you were observing from a distance. Only then will you be able to understand how your conditions limit your perspective on the world. Only in this way will you begin to understand yourself and your relationship with the world. And this is the first step to solve the everyday changing and increasing problems of life.

Before changing the world, you have to change yourself

Just think about a revolution. Inspired by the idea of fighting injustice, people come together against the system that is oppressing them. He plans a general strike and stops everything. He overthrows his government and the people working with the government. He presents a constitution which claims to bring transparency, bring forward the weaker sections and end violent conflict. When people hear "Change the World", some such pictures come to their mind. The author says that if we are waiting for something like this then the situation will never change.

We already know that if we try to understand the world based on big ideas and past stories, we will never be able to understand it clearly. It can also prevent us from bringing any kind of positive change. If we are waiting for some revolution, spiritual transformation to make the world better, then we are not able to understand the reality, the reality is that change comes from within us and not from outside. Many people in this world are interacting with each other. Our problems do not start from any big political or religious level but from small issues. The reason for our problems is not fascism, capitalism or religion but our brain not functioning properly. Whether we talk about economic inequality, wars or psychological diseases, the real cause of problems is ourselves. According to the author, the biggest problem is our own structure, which pits us against everything going on in the world. As a human being, we desire power, position and various types of influence which create problems around us. We destroy all things for our own benefit. The author believes that we should get out of the feeling of 'I' and move forward. But one cannot free oneself from this 'egoistic' problem just by thinking too much about it. For this, the special thing that needs to be done is to observe the way your brain works. After that, only by understanding yourself well, you will be able to know when because of your ego you are doing wrong or doing something that harms others.

Happiness comes for a very short time, the sooner we understand this, the happier we will be. Happiness is something that every one of us is searching for. After all, the pursuit of happiness is the purpose of life? Be it love, career or family, happiness in any form is the only thing for which we do everything. The problem here is that it is difficult to find happiness that lasts. And when we are looking for it, it seems that it is hidden somewhere. What is the way to find and control happiness?

When we are children, we find happiness in small things very easily. We remain happy without even trying. We feel happiness in playing, running, swimming and different feelings we get from nature. As we grow up, it becomes difficult for us to live such temporary happiness. That's why we adopt complex methods to achieve happiness. We think that by gaining power, status and money, we will get the same happiness. The problem is that as soon as we get what we were trying to get, we start feeling afraid of losing it, whether it is a perfect partner, a beautiful house or a good job in a big company. You may feel very beautiful while falling in love with someone, but after that the fear of that love ending or becoming too dependent on that person starts haunting you. What was so simple and beautiful turns into a mixture of anger and fear. As we grow up, the desire to attain happiness starts turning into nonsense. When we search for happiness, we also search for a kind of security, as if someone would always hold us in his arms. We always want to feel psychologically better and safe. And we seek it in our relationships with others, through marriage, family and friendship.

But the reality of life is that there is no long-term security of any kind in it. Life changes like the wind and we are really alone. Even our parents, partners and very close friends cannot give us that security because they too are alone in this world. So what is its treatment? The author believes that the only way to escape this despair is to give up the search for any happiness that can last for a long time. It means coming out of that identity of yours and that existence whose only purpose is to collect happiness. If you spend every moment of your life in the light of the reality that nothing is permanent, not even happiness, only then will you be truly happy.

There is a difference between intellect and intelligence

What does intellect mean? As soon as we hear this word, images of scientists solving complex problems and A grade students come to our mind. Intellect means a kind of analytical and deductive thinking. It also means something that can be trained in a direction. In fact, modern education does just this. For example, a mind cannot be sharpened through education by training it in mathematics, physics or economics. However, the author believes that if you use only your intellect, you will not be able to understand this world completely. To understand this world completely, you will have to use your intelligence.

If intellect and intelligence are not the same thing, then what is the point of intelligence? This means that along with feeling, one has to be aware of the logic behind it, one has to live comfortably with feeling and reason. Academic understanding of the world does not make full use of intelligence because it ignores feeling. So how can you use your intelligence instead of just your intellect? The author believes that first of all you have to calm your mind. You will be able to understand anything, whether it is a person, a painting or a city, only when your mind and thoughts are calm.

If you try to understand things with a busy mind and find out the reason behind them, you will not be able to understand anything completely. The truth comes out only when you don't try to control it, it is too deep and cannot be caught. If there is something inside you that is constantly telling you about the world, then you will never be able to understand anything completely. So how can you avoid your racing thoughts? Is this impossible? This is possible only when you understand your mind very deeply. You have to understand that your intellect is a product of the conditions created by your education and your background, not a quality that will show you the truth. Because of all these conditions, you understand and analyze things the same way you have been doing. When you know this truth, you will be able to create some distance between your intellect and the thing you are trying to understand. And maybe for the first time you may understand the truth of something.

When you are feeling bored, instead of getting rid of it, you should lose yourself in this boredom.

You are bored. You feel completely exhausted and have no reason to do anything. What would you do? You book a movie, try going for a jog, or call a friend and ask if they'd like to meet you for a drink. But what if you are bored with your life? What if you don't see anything in your life? To replace it, you find a new job, go somewhere far away. Basically want to get out of that boredom as soon as possible. But what if I say that you are doing wrong by doing this? Who knows, this boredom might be trying to tell you something fundamental about your identity and existence? If so, then you should face it and try to learn as much as possible about yourself from it.

If you are bored then it is better that instead of getting out of it, you try to understand it. Apart from this, if you do something then it will again be an attempt to get out of boredom which is nothing more than a distraction. And is doing something to distract yourself enough of a reason to do that, especially something big like becoming politically active or changing careers? No, not at all. In this way huge loss can be caused.

So stop for a moment, and feel that boredom. There is no big deal in this. After that try to search yourself from within and ask why am I bored? Often the truth is that we wither ourselves completely. You tire yourself by doing a lot of work or for some other reason. Even after you understand this, instead of trying to run away, sit and feel it. Allow yourself to feel tired and uninterested. By doing this you will learn to live with those feelings and then they will remain just a feeling and not something that forces you to do something different. If you face your boredom and accept it, then you can also get rid of it. Because as soon as you accept this feeling with its reality, you start healing. If you are not able to do this then you will remain wandering. You have to understand that trying to do different things to escape from boredom creates more boredom. Once you achieve something, whether it's an interesting person, a job, or a lot of money, you're bound to get bored of it. And by understanding this you can live comfortably within yourself.

The purpose of life is life itself

What is the purpose of life? People have been asking themselves this question for centuries. Many philosophers, religious leaders and gurus of different groups have tried to give satisfactory answers. Many common people have also racked their brains in search of the answer to this question. Perhaps you are also asking yourself the same question. According to the author, it is wrong to start with such questions. We think that by following thinkers and successful people we will be able to know the purpose of life. We look to those who came before us and our cultural traditions to give shape and purpose to our lives. Our mind is filled with many examples of living life which we see as models for our life. We do all this because we are looking for a road map for our life, we try to know how to have a purposeful life. But when we are busy looking for examples of a purposeful life, we fail to recognize its reality. Our life is personal, and everyone's life is different. There is no such authority in this matter who can help you in understanding a purposeful life.

If you keep looking for any justification about life, then you miss those things which are already extraordinary. When you ask yourself the purpose of life, you feel that your life is already very dull and repetitive. For example, if you feel that the purpose of life is to "seek out" or "to succeed," you may view life as something to be endured rather than something to be accepted and appreciated. Trying to escape. Instead of thinking of life as full of various objectives, focus on what is in front of your eyes at the moment. If you look at your life very closely and you see something wrong in it, then it is your duty to know the reason behind it. Only by facing your problems and feelings like confusion, you will be able to move forward with your desire to find your purpose. Life itself is very special and deep. Life is enough in itself.

overall

To change the world, you have to start from yourself, no revolution or political theory can solve the problems around you. You have to understand that because of the way you have maintained your perspective, you are not able to see the world clearly. This means that you already have an idea in your mind about basic things, such as the importance of happiness in life and psychological security. And if you do not look beyond this pre-existing thinking, you will be disappointed. Overall, life is enough in itself. Trying to find its purpose is a wrong step.

What to do?

Observe the way your brain thinks and note the pre-fed thoughts you have about the world.

The next time you have a very passionate opinion about something, whether it is political or personal, just pause. After that, try to think as to where did such a thought come to your mind regarding that particular thing. What is it in your case that caused your opinion? It could be cultural or economic background, nationality or sexual orientation. Do these things encourage you to think again about your opinion? Are you able to see the other side of the coin? Maybe you are wrong too?

 

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