Unexpected encounters with meaning
laughingstarphotography.com
"That urgency, that purpose has really changed my life"
Ric Elias
“It's like everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head. Always. All the time. That story makes you what you are. We build ourselves out of that story.”
― Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind
"Martin Luther King Jr. often spoke about how the greatest impediment to the civil rights movement was not the racists but the indifference of otherwise good people. Evils persist whenever otherwise good people fail to answer the why question in a way that fortifies them for action."
Dennis Ford The Search For Meaning p-21
Everywhere we look there is a story
Ric Elias
“It's like everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head. Always. All the time. That story makes you what you are. We build ourselves out of that story.”
― Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind
"Martin Luther King Jr. often spoke about how the greatest impediment to the civil rights movement was not the racists but the indifference of otherwise good people. Evils persist whenever otherwise good people fail to answer the why question in a way that fortifies them for action."
Dennis Ford The Search For Meaning p-21
Everywhere we look there is a story
Everyone is living out and actively creating their own story for better or worse.
Our decisions are the fundamental ingredient In the creation of our life story. Inevitably our choices will bring us closer to our purpose for living, or not.
Some of us have wonderful stories. Some of which possess tales of struggle, hardship, challenge leading to failure or success.
We may not feel our story is worthy of talking about, but it is very possible, that many would like to hear it, share in it and very possibly identify with it.
There is one very important fact to remember.
That the pursuit and even the desire for meaning, has the power to transform our lives and our story.There is hope that though we may very well have missed out on much of life's treasures and wealth of opportunities, in the end it can all add up to a story with meaning.
Our decisions are the fundamental ingredient In the creation of our life story. Inevitably our choices will bring us closer to our purpose for living, or not.
Some of us have wonderful stories. Some of which possess tales of struggle, hardship, challenge leading to failure or success.
We may not feel our story is worthy of talking about, but it is very possible, that many would like to hear it, share in it and very possibly identify with it.
There is one very important fact to remember.
That the pursuit and even the desire for meaning, has the power to transform our lives and our story.There is hope that though we may very well have missed out on much of life's treasures and wealth of opportunities, in the end it can all add up to a story with meaning.
"it all changes in a minute"
time.com
"Wow, dying is not scary. it is as if we are preparing for it our whole lives."
“I will no longer choose to be right but rather choose to be happy.”
Ric Elias
In 2011 there was a emergency plane landing that caught the fascination of many and was a viral media event in America as well as the rest of the world. What could have been a disastrous crash turned out to be an unusually fortunate end for over a hundred people on a commercial air flight. The plane lost its engine power and would not have made it back to even the closest airport. The quick thinking Captain put the plane down on the Hudson river saving hundreds of lives. Ric Elias was one of those passengers. Now this incident has become a part of his story, not just because of its unusually good ending, but because of what Ric gleaned from the experience.
Check out the short video from T.E.D. (technology, education, design) event in California.
Check out the short video from T.E.D. (technology, education, design) event in California.
I think there is much to be said about Ric Elias and this video. It really strikes at how life's meaning can quite suddenly come upon us in a heartbeat. His insight reminds me of many people who have had near death experiences (NDE's) I think it would be safe in assuming that not everyone has the same response or makes the same changes to their lives after their encounter with death. However, if there are many if not a majority of people who can identify with the feelings and thoughts like those expressed here by Ric Elias it may very well say something about the things that are truly important in life. Or perhaps the things we should all cherish in life.
Ric says he learned three things that day:
"everything can change in an instant.
I thought about my bucket list
I no longer want to postpone anything in life
I thought of all the things I never did in life.
that urgency, that purpose has really changed my life."
I feel on regret
In my humanity I also allowed my ego get in
I regreted time I wasted letting things that did not matter with people that mattered
my wife, friends and people
and decided to eliminate negative energy from my life
I no longer try to be right I choose to be happy.
dying is scary but it is like we have been preparing for it our whole life
I had a regret that I may not see my kids grow up
and decided that the most important goal is being a good father.
"everything can change in an instant.
I thought about my bucket list
I no longer want to postpone anything in life
I thought of all the things I never did in life.
that urgency, that purpose has really changed my life."
I feel on regret
In my humanity I also allowed my ego get in
I regreted time I wasted letting things that did not matter with people that mattered
my wife, friends and people
and decided to eliminate negative energy from my life
I no longer try to be right I choose to be happy.
dying is scary but it is like we have been preparing for it our whole life
I had a regret that I may not see my kids grow up
and decided that the most important goal is being a good father.
What I want from life in 1 sentence
amicusfoundation.org
Jonathan Harris is an artist from Brooklyn who has explored how to use the internet to tell the stories of people and gauge the overall happiness of web users through an algorithm that utilizes detection of words.
The second half of the video is photos of people he took while in Bhutan while asking them what they wanted from life. Many of these souls have dreams about things, that we in the west, not only take for granted but look upon as a right! There are children who dream of going to school to learn how to read and write. Men who only want a job in which they have privilege to work 16 hours a day 6 days a week. A girl who wants to make her own choice as to who she is going to marry.
In the end, For many of these individuals, the realization of such goals symbolizes a life of meaning. For many it would imply that their lives were not wasted and their efforts spent in vain.
The second half of the video is photos of people he took while in Bhutan while asking them what they wanted from life. Many of these souls have dreams about things, that we in the west, not only take for granted but look upon as a right! There are children who dream of going to school to learn how to read and write. Men who only want a job in which they have privilege to work 16 hours a day 6 days a week. A girl who wants to make her own choice as to who she is going to marry.
In the end, For many of these individuals, the realization of such goals symbolizes a life of meaning. For many it would imply that their lives were not wasted and their efforts spent in vain.
A purpose interrupted is often meaning found
How many times have we heard those stories of those very fortunate individuals, who on the journey of life, move from success to success with an ease most envy. It seems as if they not only have a sense of clear and uninterrupted purpose, but that purpose finds them. Yet, so many times, the lives of these individuals come to a crashing halt, by an accident, sickness, or some other terrible turn of events. It is the kind of stories tabloids love. For those in the midst of such misfortunate, life itself may loose all sense of purpose, and for a good reason, the purpose they believed so strongly in, the reason they got up everyday was suddenly and without warning gone. For those who are familiar with this kind of common scenario, the passing of time often teaches a very valuable lesson. For those attentive enough it is very often in the near complete loss of purpose that one discovers meaning. Meaning comes to us in the discovery that living is much more that ambition, success, even those good wholesome purposes we live for. In the grand scheme of things living, the privilege of breath, love and the most simple experiences that we easily forget in the many purposes of life, really do ‘mean’ a whole lot.