Life, or something close to it.

Life. The undying mystery of our existence is astonishing, amazing and quite frankly exasperating. How far does a man have to go before he finds his answer to the ultimate of all queries, what is life? And it will be his answer because I think each of us has a separate answer to be found. In fact, each of us has a separate answer for the separate periods of time that we are going through. What I felt life was, around ten years ago, isn't what I feel now. The meaning of life for me has changed, drastically but also inevitably. Our definitions of life change with time, and so it should. Nothing stays the same. Change is unavoidable. So, for me, (believing that it’s meaning is ever transient), life is the present. And it’s not necessarily along the lines of 'live life as if it’s your last day' mantra. No, none of that, because more often than not, circumstances dictate our course of actions, or rather we let it. Life simply put, is the present. What you are going through now, is life. It might be a rainbow of happiness, with sunny skies and rosy beds. If it is, that's really good. There is no reason why it can’t be so. Or, your present maybe horrible, a dreary tread through the unrelenting motions of frustration that echo day after day after day. If that's what it is, well, tough luck, that is life. The future may change everything. But the future is an illusion and nothing more than a fictional apparition. There is every possibility that things may get better and the struggles you put in today may reap you benefits that you so deserve and you may bring about a change. But change isn’t a guarantee of better things to come. You then plunge into another phase in your life and find a new definition, it may be more blissful or it may be more miserable. Life knows no justice. It knows neither compassion nor disdain. It doesn’t measure out equal amounts of happiness and sorrow to hand out to everyone, so each of us is happy and sad in equality. Happiness and sorrow are your achievements. All life gives you is your present, what you have now, this moment that's alive. The past is gone, it’s dead. You may linger with your memories of how good it all was once, but that is nothing more than a few thoughts circling in your head. It is romantic to remember the good old days, but unfortunately futile. The future is just a hollow promise. It’s something to pin your hopes to, just so to avoid the feeling of absolute dejection. Hopes that maybe based on nothing more than a sincere, illogical wish. The present however, is real. The present is all you have. The present is all you'll get.

"Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment" - Buddha.