Ripples #870: Meaning!
Jan 25, 2016
PEBBLE
Most humans feel the transcendent temptation, the emotional drive to festoon the universe with large-scale meaning.
-Paul Kurtz, shared by Ryan in Arlington, TX
BOULDER
Every experience that we have
contains purpose and meaning.
Each event, each person in our lives
embodies an energetic fragment
of our own psyche and soul.
-Caroline Myss, shared by Pete in Sedona, AZ
PONDER
Each week as I sit down to prepare the next issue of Ripples, my intention is to assemble a sixty second splash of inspiration that elevates the spirit and provides something meaningful to contemplate as the week begins. I often hear from readers who let me know that a particular issue seems to have been assembled just for them. My best guess as to why they and many of you enjoy reading these quick splashes is that Ripples invites you to deepen your understanding of yourself, the people and events you encounter, and the world in general.
We humans are eager to make sense of things. We long for meaning. One of the best current guesses as to why we dream at night is that it is our mind’s attempt to create meaning out of the random bits of information and emotions that are zooming around in our psyche as we slumber. We take all these facts and thoughts and feelings and ideas and memories and weave together a story. (It’s one of the reasons that we can sometimes incorporate into our dream a noise or disturbance that doesn’t completely wake us–we’re so eager to create meaning that will just add that into the story line we’re dreaming about!) This doesn’t just happen when we sleep, of course, because we are *always* trying to deepen our understanding of things.
Because people tend to seek and/or create meaning from a variety of sources (religion, philsophy, science, literature, etc.), I’ll admit that at times I find it tricky to share a few ideas in a way that can be received by folks with a wide array of perspectives. Sometimes when I’m feeling feisty I’ll admit to pushing the envelope; for the most part, however, I’m trying to gently nudge us all to be curious, thoughtful, mindful meaning-makers.
Let’s try to be a little more conscious this week of when and how we draw conclusions and make decisions about the people, events, and circumstances that cross our paths. Perhaps a bit more mindfulness will lead to a bit more useful meaning? Let’s find out!
Peace,
Paul
The Ripples Guy
P.S. We are always seeking fresh and fabulous quotes to unleash each week. It helps if you submit quotes one at a time via our Quote Submission page: https://theripplesguy.com/submit-quote/ but you can also simply reply to this email as well. Thanks!
