“Dear Your Holiness, What is the meaning of life?”

[majormojo]

That was the question asked by an 11 years old girl. Bet she was put up to this!

This afternoon I went for the Dalai Lama’s (yes, THE Dalai Lama) public talk, which was held, at the park RIGHT opposite the House. How could one not attend these things when it’s right at your doorstep?

His Holiness did not impart any earth shattering philosophy. On the contrary, I think his influence or his charm comes from his down-to-earth attitude. He is almost like you and me, except that he is, of course, THE Dalai Lama. He talked about communicating to each other as human beings, the new reality, universal responsibility, and compassion.

Like I said, no starling revelations, but rather gentle reminders on how we could achieve happiness. For example:

1. The concept of ‘me’ and ‘them’ in terms of nationalities, culture and ethnicities. People should just communicate with each other as human beings. Rather than attaching identities to each other.
2. Unconditional compassion is something we should strive for. When we learn to have compassion even towards those who was mean to us, we learn inner strength. With inner strength, we would never feel lonely, jealous, or insecure. This was something that struck a chord. It’s stupid though, all of these seemed like common sense, and things that I have figured out on my own, but still, why can’t I practice it? Also, at the end of the day, all of it sounds like noble rhetorics, but how can it be achievable or even practical? He said that all this negativity stems from us having lost faith in the fellow humans. Too true. Is cynicism necessary?

Lately, my personal answer to the question the little girl asked had been: “There’s no purpose to life”. We just exists and die- natural biological cycle.

Lately, my viewpoint has been, why ascribe value to life? Why does our lives need to have a purpose? It is so narcissistic to think that there have to be a purpose to our lives, and that we’re too good to live a purposeless life.

Anyway, it’s sleep o’clock now.