Meaning

If you need a meaning with your life, you have to invent it,

or get it from someone else.
The meaning is not out there somewhere in the yard
like an Easter egg placed there by an Easter hare. 

It's wonderful to find a meaning with life. It feels good.

To live a life without meaning or purpose is hard.

We're not made to live without meaning.

Historians have identified 22 000 different Christian churches, 
denominations and sects in the history of Christianity. 
Isn't that amazing, 22 000 different interpretations 
of the same book?

There are also tons of different kinds of Hinduism,

different kinds of Islam, different kinds of Buddhism.

This must reasonably mean that you are free to invent 
your own religion or your own interpretation of a religious teaching,
if you feel like it.

You can, off course, also invent a secular philosophy of life
or some other kind of belief system.

You're free to concoct whatever beliefs you want.

Most people, however,

don't have to worry about the meaning of everything.

They simply believe what they have been told to believe

by their family, school, church, MSM and society.

What is real?

Suppose there is no inner reality 
and no outer reality,
no inner space and no outer space.

Suppose there is just one reality, just one space.

Suppose everything is real:

hallucinations, dreams and fantasies,

common sense, planets and stars,

fear, snowstorms and spiders,

etc. etc... You name it.

Who are you really?

How do you deal with your inner idiot?

Do you try to talk sense to him?

Do you keep a low profile to not upset him more?
Are you under his thumb?
Is he under your thumb?

Do you pretend that he doesn't exist?

And how do you deal with your inner dullard

or your inner sissy?

Is the sensible part of you like a clever psychologist,

or is he like a dutiful police officer?

Do inner parts have a gender?

Is your inner idiot a female?

Have you noticed that there is a part of you 

that is not an idiot, not a dullard, not a sissy,

not a psychologist and not a police officer?

The true self

You are not acting from your true self
when you are drunk or stoned,

stressed out, depressed
or possessed by a crazy idea...

Are you yourself 
when you're on antidepressant medication?
What do you think?

Who are you really?
Maybe you are not the one you think you are.
Maybe you are someone else.
Maybe you are a bunch of people.

Is the true self an illusion, as the Buddhists say

or is it the eternal core of your being as the Hindus say?
Is it the part of you that goes to heaven or hell when you die?

Is it just brain chemistry?
Is it just an idea, a thought?

What do you think?

Bad advice

"Know thyself" is not a wise exhortation.

To say “Know thyself” is like saying "Know it all". 

You will never get to know yourself fully.

You can search till the cows come home 
for your true self.
Maybe you can learn a little bit more about yourself
through self-inspection, meditation or psychoanalysis
but you will never get the full story.
Self-awareness is like a movie trailer
to a movie that is not finished yet.

Everything is in constant flux.

You are not the same person today 
as the one you were last year.
and the one you think you are right now 
will be gone in a few years.
You will grow old and frail,
demented, senile or mentally confused.

Once upon a time you were a fetus
and looked like a little rat pup.

Children and mindfulness meditation

Children are fantasizing too much.

They spend too much time in their fantasy worlds.

They must learn how to sit still 
and pay attention to what the teacher has to say.

It´s important with mathematics, grammar and spelling.

Fairies, ghosts and imagined fighter jets

have nothing to do with the real world.
There is no pilot inside a house fly.

Children can benefit from mindfulness meditation.

Children can learn how to be present, here and now.
Children need discipline.

Mindfulness meditation critique

CEOs endorse mindfulness meditation.

Mindfulness meditation improves performance 
and it is lessening the employees health care utilization.

The receptivity for mindfulness is greater in the business community 
than in general academic circles.

By practicing mindfulness, 
the workforce does not get distracted by meaningless questions like:
'How the hell can I work for this company that is selling this crap?' or
'How the hell did I end up in the arms industry?'

Mindfulness practitioners become more and more narrow minded and focused.

The University of Miami offers mindfulness training to combat troops. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBg2i7ZsXgk