Adam Blatner

It’s gloriously complex, to begin with. Each person has an incredible complex of challenges:
  – to heal the various hurts arising from areas of particular weakness, general weakness, lack of talent, physical disability (even slight), body form, too much this, not enough that, so many things to feel ashamed of. Then there’s the subtle guilt for being extra-talented as one realizes that one is different in this way.
  – to heal also from the various complexes and misunderstandings that arise from one’s family of origin, birth order, being a little too “spoiled” in this way or not protected or supported enough in that way, any limitations of having to live with a relative who is also limited or challenged…
  – to find meaningful work or service that combines what the world needs with what talents and interests one has and enjoys using. (Sometimes a talent may be present that is not fun to use!)
  – to find one’s social group with whom one feels most congenial, and one’s mate; often this involves a good deal of trial and error and consequent pain.
  – to generate balance among various roles: health maintenance, leisure, work, meaning, home maintenance, celebration, relationship maintenance, status, achievement, etc.
  – to discover roles or skills that have not been appreciated by family or society during childhood, and perhaps not even during adulthood.
  – to “adjust” regarding appearance, clothes, hairdo, behavior, enough to get by and yet still find some outlet for individual expression
  – to construct some myth or sense of meaning about the cosmos in a time when many cultures are mixing and there is more freedom to pursue such a goal than ever before
  – to find relevant projections in sports, movies, popular culture, legends, and other contexts, which turn again and inform the evolving sense of identity
  – to participate in helping others—family members, tribe, other affiliated groups, to thrive, heal, grow, expand, and in a broader sense be a functional “we”
  – to create in a multiplicity of ways, books, poems, art, interior decorating, self-adornment, variations on a game, people-helping, etc.
  – … and so forth.

The point is that there is no single meaning of life, nor a single life goal. The expectation that it can be boiled down to a simple formula feeds the childish mind’s desire: “What’s the bottom line?” “There must be a single underlying common denominator.”  But all this is folly, indeed, because in fact the world is complex, biological life is complex, and the life of the mind in society is phenomenally far more complex. This has the advantage of allowing each individual to find his or her own story in this amazing matrix! I think we should learn to enjoy this about ourselves and each other!