Prepositions: The True Meaning of Life

Have you ever asked a Sage the true meaning of life? Imagine yourself, seated there, in front of a Sage (Enlightened being, Wisewoman, Mystic, Monk, Seer, Visionary, etc.) asking: “Teacher, what is the meaning of life?” The steady, knowing figure before you replies: “The prepositions.”

What the “prepositions”?! That is not an answer. In fact, it is a classic non-answer. Yet, the Sage is very small…so, perhaps the Sage knows something we do not.

There is a certain stature we associate with the wise. Yoda is wise. You know this even before Yoda speaks. How do you know? The sages of this world (and of worlds from galaxies far, far away) are shaped small to remind us that the brilliance of the cosmos is found in unassuming vessels. The axiom of wisdom flows along this archetype. The stature is the unexpected doorway to the dialectic. Often the profound words of the Sage are posed softly yet firm, slowly yet surprising, and questioning yet certain.

Stereotypically, they answer simple questions with rich and expansive riddles. Then they answer complex questions with impractical practicality. One could ask, “Great Seer, what is the weather outside today?” The Sage’s answer: “You know the weather inside. Then why ask the weather outside? You can only know the condition of the other when open to the conditions within.” One could then ask the incomprehensible: “Wise Wonder, why do bad things happen?” Only to receive the brief response: “To seek good from those who can give it.”

This is not to dismiss wisdom nor the wise. The shared offering of an enlightened soul is far more than intentional obfuscation or haphazard misdirecting. In part, the replies are meant to free one from attachment. The value in the answer is not that it brings something certain. Instead, it opens us up to discover new meaning. Answer the very complex simply. Answer the very simple complexly.

Is there a universal agreement on the meaning of life? No. Is there universal disagreement on the meaning? Also, no. There is often convergence and common themes when answering this question. Still, how is/are “prepositions” a simple answer to a seemingly unanswerable question? Prepositions are referential. They provide context to the relationship between vital elements. I go to the store. We fly on the moon. What about “life”? What prepositions do you use to create your relationship to its meaning?

Life: Among whom? For what? Before when? Within where? On account of why? The answer to the question is as nurtured by the “preposition” as it is natured by the element with which life is associated. Like tree limbs growing outward through channels of exposed light, the result of the growth is determined by the direction of the channels and not entirely by the light itself. To grow within life, to cultivate meaning, one must choose channels by which that growth functions.

Should a diminutive Sage endorse life’s meaning is “the prepositions”, then we understand the meaning does not exist without our relationship to it. What meaning have we identified in our lives? Choose how to nurture those relationships. With/Without? Before/After? According to/On account of? Above/Below? Toward? The answer is not as important as our relationship to the answer. It is the state of being expressed in relationship to that which we choose to honor.