We are what we're able to do for one another

​What is the meaning of life?

For too long, I thought it was happiness.

On happy days, that life puzzle felt put together just right. But unhappy? - oops, I guess that piece didn't go there after all.

But I no longer believe happiness is the meaning of life. Happiness is unsteady, it's too fickle; it shows up without warning some days and then disappears just when you thought you'd secured it.

Whether you believe we were created by God or that we just showed up here - how could the ultimate meaning of life be rooted in something that comes and goes, something we don't actually have much control over?

The way I've come to see it, the source of some of our unhappiest moments is rooted in this belief that we DO have contol over happiness. So much so that when we're not happy we fall into blaming ourselves or someone else for messing it up.

It's an endless cycle. A lot of the world is out there bouncing off one another spinning in that endless cycle. I wonder more and more if bouncing off isn't the opposite of the true meaning of life.

Ryan Holiday says the meaning of life is "what we are able to do for each other."

His definition isn't dependent on happiness. On days when we're happy - we can do for one another. On days when we aren't happy - we can do for one another.

Hillel, a 1st century Jewish sage, once explained the bible this way: Love thy neighbor - all the rest is commentary.

I wonder, sitting here writing this, if the day will come when God will have our complete attention. He'll look out at the history of earth and all of its inhabitants. The zillions of us. We will be sitting there, in a heavenly auditorium, on the edge of our seats, waiting for the ultimate Ted Talk.

Finally - The Meaning of Life.

I wonder if God will climb on to the stage and stare out at the zillions - grab a microphone and walk slowly closer to us - walking right past the pulpit that had been placed there for him - a golden GOD placard on the front of it.

I wonder if he'll tap that microphone a couple of times just to make sure we're all going to hear the answer to the question we've spent our whole lives grappling with. And I wonder if after a moment of silence he'll say, love your neighbor.

It was always love your neighbor. Now let's eat.

If you're stuck in a cycle today, a cycle that feels complicated and complex and dizzying - stop and wonder for a minute if you might be part of that complication.

If you've come to a place where you're saying, oops, that piece didn't go there after all. Take time to consider that maybe it wasn't the wrong piece, but maybe the wrong puzzle.

The meaning of life isn't happiness.

But maybe happiness is most often found when we chase a different meaning in life.

A much simpler one.