The answer is 42

Douglas Adams, author of the “Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy”, proffered the whimsical view that the answer was 42, and whilst way back in class 2 our view on the meaning of life was presented it seems poignant that we should revisit this important topic in this class 42 with respect to Mr Adams.

In class 2 the idea was introduced that rather than ask what the meaning of life is, we should just consider what moments in our lives have been meaningful so far. Once we spend a moment or two reflecting on this, we realise that every meaningful moment is a moment of love and that everything we do, every endeavour, every art, sport, every music, every thing in the end becomes an experience of love. The simple purport is that to be in the flow of love, giving or receiving love without conditions or expectations or obligations, is the highest thing we can do with our life. We realised that all suffering comes from our distance from the flow of love and all happiness from our immersion in it.

Dr Stephen Covey author of the spectacularly successful “The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People” in habit 1, 2 and 3 speaks of the importance of a mission statement. He clearly details the importance of being proactive in our lives. This is the idea of having the ability to respond (“response” -“ability”) to any situation in the way we choose, we create our lives, that we are not victims (see class 40). This mission statement is really the blueprint. For a company or club or organisation, a mission statement gives the vision and goals of the group in a just a paragraph or two. He suggests that all levels of the group be intimately involved in the writing of the mission statement so that they take ownership when it comes time to enact the statement. But more importantly he suggests that mission statements should be written about our own lives. For us to be clear about our target, to be completely present and responsible for our journey, for us to be aligned with our life’s meaning, a mission statement, a proactive statement of intent, is invaluable.

As spiritual beings, we also need to be aware that the journey is equally important as the destination, that we need to be in this moment, now. That every moment is significant and meaningful because we are on target, and the destination, forever evolving.

So please consider your own mission statement. What would you write about your own blueprint? If we agree that all meaning in our life comes from the flow of love, our mission statement might begin simply “In every moment, I am increasing the flow of love in my life by…”

If you are really stuck, Dr Covey, suggests you write your own eulogy, in that way you might more clearly understand what you believe is meaningful in your life by what you would like to be remembered for.

Spend some time, meditate with this, write it down or draw it (make some concrete representation of it). Now objectively analyse what you are doing with your life right now. How much of it is on target and what are the anchors in your life? Do you need to put more focus on things perhaps you had forgotten but are important, and less on things you thought were urgent but you realise now are not important? This ‘mission statement’ becomes the hub of our life, our centre, and the spokes of our life flow from it.

This is critical to us filling our lives with meaning. For us, to know and feel, that we are manifesting the highest version of ourselves possible is incredibly satisfying and fulfilling. Just for a moment, contemplate that. Reflect on being able to truthfully and authentically say to your own self, to your own soul, to the still, silent voice of your conscience, that you are living the path of your highest version of yourself - well there is no more meaningful a life that we can live, no more perfect a journey.

When we ‘react’ to our lives, we find that we are often in crisis, often struggling to handle the daily ups and downs of the events of our lives, we are stressed, fearful because we don’t know if we can handle what will happen next, and often we tend to ‘over-react’ as if to anticipate all the ‘what-ifs’ and ‘if-onlys’ that have the remotest possibility of actually occurring. Imagine the anxiety, the pressure, the constant worry we create for ourselves. See how tied we are up to the past and imprisoned by our fears of the future.

Whereas imagine how you might feel if you felt you had the “response” “ability” to handle any thing that might arise. Even more, imagine if you were so confident about your blueprint and the flow of love in your life that you actually welcomed every moment, so that you could be completely present in all the love and joy it was offering in that moment. In this confidence you see the present moment for the incredible opportunity; the gateway it offers to the infinite flow of love and deepest life meaning now.

“Things that matter most should never be at the mercy of things that matter least” - Goethe

Take a few moments to breathe deeply and centre yourself.

Imagine walking through a dark jungle in the middle of the night. You are not scared, you are confident and comfortable and you fit in the midst of the teeming life all around you. You walk very slowly, deliberately, soaking in the energy. You cannot see a cm in front of you so you have to rely on your intuition and your other senses to guide you through the jungle.

Breathing deeply, walking slowly.

And way off in the distance finally you see a light. It is almost as though you are walking through a tunnel and the light is at the end.

You let yourself walk more quickly as the light gradually enlightens your path more and more. The whole tunnel, the jungle around you lights up more and more until it is almost like daylight when you finally pop out at a clearing atop a mountain and the full moon is brighter than a headlight beating down on you.

You sit and gaze into the moon and you feel yourself being flooded with the purest love.

It strikes you suddenly like a thunderbolt that the meaning of all this, the meaning of your life is so incredibly simple. It makes you think that every other moment in your life had been about preparing you for this one.

The simplicity is breathtaking. That all this has been about love. That every thing, every one, is on a journey to love. Even your thoughts.

You sit there in that moment and it feels to you as though every thought you have ever had in this life are there with you. Tiny energies, tiny souls that are also on a journey to love. You have given birth to every one of these little souls and you realise in a single breath, that they individually have the same goal as you have collectively and that is to become love, no longer a thought, feeble and imperfect, but a whole and complete love.

You feel such love and compassion for all your thoughts, all your little children, not so much that you feel you need to talk to each one individually but that the best thing you can do for them all is to gaze more and more deeply into the perfect love of this perfect moon, to flood every thought of yours with love, to enlighten and illumine every child of yours with the highest, freest, most perfect love.

And you realise something more that you can never be perfect until every single thought of yours has made this journey.

You gaze deeper and deeper in to the moon, and the love floods you. You feel it expanding you, broadening your identity, your sense of self, past your body and your ego, into your real and pure self that flows through all.

As each thought ecstatically completes its journey into love, you see another child of yours completing its journey and your ego dissolving in to your real nature, your real self, the One.

As your ego melts and its restrictions loosen upon you, you feel yourself relax more and more into the space of God, into the space of us all, into the infinite and eternal freedom of the highest love.

You gaze more and more deeply into the moon and it feels like a doorway now into everyone and every thing. The more you look, the wider it becomes.

Breathe deeply and relax, you are home and safe. All is well.

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