I looked for meaning in the world.
With the same zest as most of you.
I looked in the Vedas, the Gospel of Buddha, the Bible, the Tao te Ching and in various books of philosophy.
I liked reading these books as they gave me insight into the heart of man, rather than the heart of God.
And I found a common thread through all these books, that I’d like to put before you now.
It is this:
Man craves meaning.
I can’t put it more simply. We have a longing, a desire, a burning want for meaning.
Meaning.
I have so many friends whom I can’t describe in any other way except to say that they are all dead on the inside. They are cynical, bitter, disappointed, robbed of peace, consequently restless, and very upset with the world.
They all have sad backstories, which I won’t delve into, but I will say that they have one thing in common and that is: they are looking for a reason to live. A reason to wake up in the morning and not want to go back to bed. A reason to strive. A reason to hold on. A reason to be.
Hamlet, anyone? Yeah, right.
I can, however, offer hope to angst-ridden people who are craving meaning in a world that seems filled without it.
The first thing you ought to do is believe in a Creator God.
Nietzsche might have killed God, but it’s time we resurrected and reinstated him.
Believing in a Creator God removes the confusion in our minds concerning our origin.
If we believe that we are created by God a portion of our angst evaporates. We now have a point of origin. A womb of creation. A starting point in a race. A seed. A sperm. An egg. A soul. Nebulous. A figment of someone’s imagination. Something. We are not fluid or random or semi-solid jelly. Nor are we ether.
That is some structure worth clinging onto.
Belief in God as the creator of mankind gives us that “Father” or “Mother” figure that all of us long for when we discover that our own parents fall so short of the ideal.
The belief that we come from a “Father” or from a “Mother” comforts us and gives us confidence in times of trouble that we can run to this figure for counsel.
The next thing one ought to believe in is that the Creator God is loving.
No one wants an oppressive Father or Mother figure.
I believe that’s probably a part of the reason Nietzsche killed God in the first place.
As people who have destroyed all kinds of authority in our life, we hold very little as sacred.
That needs to change.
Having an authority figure eliminates chaos and creates structure which is very necessary for life to flourish. The right kind of authority leads rather than oppresses, and loves rather than demands.
Also, having an authority figure means that Truth is no longer subjective, or controlled by a narrative, rather, it is inviolably true and immutable.
The minute we have established the truth as immutable, order enters are lives. The spirit of confusion flees and there is beautiful symmetrical peace.
I believe that for starters, the belief in a Creator God and a loving God are the two important foundational stones for the rest of one’s life. Holding such beliefs simplifies matters. Worship, duty, obedience, come much later.
Bottom Line
So, if you are looking for meaning in a meaningless world, the first thing is to believe in is that we have a Point of Origin and to believe that the aforementioned Point of Origin is good.
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