Sharpened by my own discernment of duty

October 03, 2019 6:20 PM

Each of us must to be very smart and intentional about our relationship to meaning.

After all, how we construe meaning dictates how we live our life. It’s the biggest thing there is. In an objective world where there are no moments of intrinsic significance which form a framework of meaning around any given experience, except the ones that we create, the onus is on us to make something out of it.

Or not make something out of it. That’s part of our meaning making mission too.

The skill of discernment. The ability to make a nuanced judgment about something in the moment that doesn’t merit our attention and energy. Those little situations, experiences and exchanges that are not really as important as our egos might suggest they are.

Like when a rude taxi driver in the lane next to us yells that we drive like his blind grandmother. Or when an anonymous internet troll comments that our latest blog post is a flaming piece of dog shit.

We must practice not giving meaning to those things. Laughing off the minor slings and arrows and inconveniences, as our existential radar runs a filter to take that criticism in stride instead of spiraling into an anxiety tailspin.

We remind ourselves, oh right, that’s not meaningful, it doesn’t matter, there’s zero nourishment in that moment for us, and doesn’t deserve even a slice of our energy.

Instantaneous discernment, this skill of taking a moment to stop our usual pinball reactions to the world, will improve the quality of our lives dramatically.

It will finally allow us to become silent before some new dimension of meaning which is being revealed.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…