The constant seeking and renewal through external experience to fulfil the internal place of comfort and pleasure is what drives people. Some find it with loved ones, some in their work place, others in nature, wherever it is, it will end. Nothing survives, nothing remains, everything is apt to end.

Most people do not enquire this deeply and simply live their lives without too much questioning, others question for a moment and then step back onto the wheel of life. Some cannot help but to question because where others feel content to simply operate and live out life, others never reach a place of satisfaction with their external affairs.

I belong to the last group.

I have experienced many things in my life but however much I do or have never leaves me with the lasting fulfilment I truly desire. I do not mean this in an ungrateful way but more of an honesty about how I have experienced many things. When I talk of satisfaction I am speaking of a deep level of consistent joy that can never elude me.

All experience in this world will end. Nothing lasts and anything we have, do, consume etc. will always come to an end leaving a constant desire for more.

The above comment could be taken as quite a dark and depressive approach to life but it is a fact and that fact once realised can be the catalyst to a beautiful and profound way to live one’s life.

The greatest freedom is in realising that contentment in external affairs will never last.

Satisfaction and happiness can never be sustained using this method for we are attaching our happiness and satisfaction to things which inherently die.

When I realise this a great energy comes alive within me and I feel enthusiasm towards taking part in life, I am no longer bound by the craving and sustainment to attain a sense of satisfaction in what I do because I know that nothing I do will ever provide me with the lasting satisfaction I crave.

In this realisation I am freed from the trap of never being satisfied because I have overcome it by not making it my goal.

This is not a morbid, negative or gloomy approach to life rather a free, liberating, revitalising way to live life. There is a great freedom in the realisation that nothing external will ever last. By understanding this truth of the world we are no longer susceptible to trying to hold onto things, people, places and whatever we use to gain a sense of inner peace; we now understand that we have access to this inner joy regardless of circumstances and we do not have to rely on constant external stimulus and experience to provide us with satisfaction.

Life really takes on new meaning when I access it from this awareness because life is now an expression of what I have opposed to seeking to obtain in order to be content, a simple shift yet dramatic in consequences.

“…….so should the goal be to get out of this world?”

I don’t think there is a goal.

I think if you’re fine with life and don’t have any issues with lack of satisfaction then you needn’t worry, just get on with it and enjoy life while it lasts

- but for those who come to find a deep underlying lack of satisfaction in most things and each experience leads them to want more and more then the realisation that they will never be satisfied with external affairs because external affairs are apt to end will provide a great freedom.

But I don’t think a person really gets the realisation until they truly find themselves in the place of being deeply dissatisfied with the fluctuation, decay and ongoing change that governs external experience.

Once they are dissatisfied with this non-consistent form of satisfaction they then may search for a deeper consistent source of satisfaction (and consequently happiness) and reach the space of knowing that the search for satisfaction in external experience is futile, this understanding bringing with it the vast liberation of attachments from which they can then live their life.

But this may only apply to a few and make sense to a few however the principle is hugely liberating if we all applied to our lives.

Acceptance of the growth and decay of life is a major key to happiness.

Most live their lives not realising they are always chasing something, or trying to gain something, or clinging to what they have, or fearful of losing what is precious to them etc.etc. They do not have the awareness that they are in these ongoing states, instead they are living them and at the mercy of the constant flux of life which we have no control over.

What then happens is they are constantly controlled by external events as they are placing emotional fulfilment and satisfaction upon events which inherently change and die.

True happiness and freedom can come from the non-requirement of circumstances to provide inner peace, satisfaction and security, I guess the freedom of not being attached to outcomes.

I guess if there is any goal that could be applied to all – it could be in the knowledge that we don’t have to attain anything in order to achieve an internal state, we’ve already got it and so the constant drive to satisfy that I see a lot of people chasing and subsequently having to acquire x,x,z or be in relationships that are damaging or unfulfilling – could be alleviated if they could come to the realisation that they have everything.

So we can be in the world but true freedom comes when we do not rely on the world to provide internal satisfaction as this will ultimately be doomed to fail due to the inherent nature of life and the cycles of growth and decay.

If I do not place value on something then I do not have to care if it is taken away from me, I am free.

We choose meaning, we don’t find it.
This is a paradox. Of course we find meaning, in life we are always finding meaning, but take away the events, people and conversations and sit alone in a quiet room and find meaning. You won’t find any, there isn’t any; there is only pure consciousness which is directly experienced.

When we are driven by needs and wants there is always a meaning because we are trying to get “that” in order to be “this”, achieve “this” in order to be “that”. In a nutshell, we are striving for something – “an end”.

When you take away the needs and wants, each moment becomes alive to what it inherently is, a “moment” and whatever you ascribe to that moment is your decision. You can take another route and experience that moment as a direct experience. The direct experience you experience can differ according to the level and state of consciousness /awareness dominant in that moment.

Life is a moment to moment existence and there is no meaning to anything apart from what you give it. Each moment in itself does not provide any meaning, so it’s useless trying to look for it. Events, conversations, books, experiences – all provide meaning, but to try and look into the glass without a reason and hope to find something, isn’t going to work.

If we remove all the needs and wants and sit in the empty room, after long enough, we may then decide to apply some meaning. We create a meaning. We decide what is important to us, what we would like to experience, what holds our interest, something we would like to encounter and so we begin our meaning and the whole process starts.
We go out into the world armed with our meaning and find an adventure.

It’s once we begin the adventure that the meaning really starts to take on meaning.