While I ponder on this deep thought of human existence, I can resonate three recent experiences which makes this statement true – Everything is meaningless but every moment is meaningful.Recently I was at School Riverside, witnessing the master teacher Kiran Bir Sethi probing kids about a presentation they’ve prepared on Seva (helping others). While the conversation was going on, the 4th graders were shown photo of Mother Teresa. They were asked who she was, from the looks of there faces it was clear that they didn’t know who this lovely sparkling eyes lady was. One of them tried and said she is a nun from the outfit, which was a perfect guess. But they didn’t know the name and the inspirational work Mother Teresa has done for the people. The point is if you think all the things you do is remembered and respected by everyone, that is not going to happen. It is going to become meaningless for someone after a while as the impact is not felt directly by him/her. Should this meaninglessness of the future stop you doing what you are doing in the moment(NOW)?

You might be wondering like me, what is the point of living when at the end everything becomes meaningless? I think you live to feel. The whole human existence is around experiencing different emotions and finding meaning in those moments. If you think everything is going to be meaningless at the end, your whole life would be wondering around emotions like sadness and sorrow. Instead of thinking that everything is going to disappear someday, you’ve a choice in every moment. In the moment you can choose to be happy or sad or kind or loving. Those moment to moment experience makes life meaningful and rich. You’ve a choice to accept the challenges life throws at you and take action towards what matter.

Before I go too deep with my philosophical rant, I had another experience. My 6 year old son has been given 15 minutes meditation to do during his short school break. For me 15 minutes is a challenge so I have all my empathy with him. But we sat down and did a 5 minute guided meditation together. At the end

I ask him, how was it? What did you feel?

He said I felt relaxed but….

But what? I asked

Why am I doing this? It is boring. He says

I told him that this is good for your mind. Makes you super strong.

Although he found this 5 minute as meaningless activity, I say the moment where he felt the blissful relaxation is meaningful. This could be one second or half of a second. But the meaning is in the moment, hope you can understand this little fella 🙂

This is also a challenge doing meditation for everyone (including me) as we do not see any tangible result at the end of the practice. But do you get your super muscles after lifting weights in one session at gym. No it takes time and consistent effort. The neurological changes take time and might not be visible like muscles.

With my little friend. Who made me happy for time to come

The other incident comes from my recent act of Kindness (yes, I’m bragging about it). I was on a holiday recently, we met this skilled kid who was doing magic on the streets. While I’m always curious about people and their stories. I asked him about where he lived, how did he learn the trick, does he go to school etc… After he show the trick and even explained how he did the trick I gave him 50 Rs (around 1 AUD). His eyes were shocked with joy as that is what hardly he would earn in a day. He got that in 10 minutes. Remembering his eyes feels me with joy and sense of gratitude for what I’ve. I think in weeks and months, I’ll forget about this and even the kid would. The whole episode will become a distant memory. Being this much self aware of what will happen, should I stop doing acts of kindness now? No I should keep doing it to feel this joy, in the moment (NOW). Feel the smile on someone’s face because of me. The joy and meaning is in the moment, and NOW when I write this.

Everything would become meaningless someday, the meaning is in the moment.

Take a pause and think,

What type of act makes you happy in the moment?

Are you doing them enough?

Write in comments below, share your meaningful moments.