meaning

Meaning is always a latecomer. Beauty and music seduce us first; later ashamed of our own sensuality, we insist on meaning.

And if ever I'm reduced to looking for a meaning to my life, you never can tell, it's in that old mess I'll stick my nose to begin with, the mess of that poor old uniparous whore and myself the last of my foul brood, neither man nor beast.

Divine presence gives meaning to what seems to have no meaning

I love brief habits and consider them an inestimable means for getting to know many things_My nature is designed entirely for brief habits_I always believe that here is something that will give me lasting satisfaction__rief habits, too, have this faith of passion, this faith in eternity__nd that I am to be envied for having found and recognized it_But one day its time is up; the good thing parts from me, not as something that has come to nauseate me but peacefully and sated with me as I am with it__s if we had reason to be grateful to each other as we shook hands to say farewell. Even then something new is waiting at the door, along with my faith__his indestructible fool and sage!__hat this new discovery will be just right, and that this will be the last time. That is what happens to me with dishes, ideas, human beings, cities, poems, music, doctrines, ways of arranging the day, and life styles.

What you give meaning to is what causes your emotion. Before you react know why you are giving something so much energy or fear. When you begin to understand why you give things meaning you can begin to change how you react and why you do what you do.

Search for truth, not for meaning. Meaning comes from the perspective of a person who interprets the truth.

To find doesn't always require to search.

And the shower of roses spun around me, inviting me to take part in their ever-present waltz.

What else is there to do?

Was it possible to find recompense, meaning, connection with others amidst the mess and the muddle ?

Meaning comes from the unknown, from the stranger, from the unpredictable that suddenly knocks at your door _ a flower that suddenly blooms and you never expected it; a friend that suddenly happens to be on the street you were not waiting for; a love that blooms suddenly and you were not even aware that this was going to happen, you had not even imagined, not even dreamed. Then life has meaning. Then life has a dance. Then every step is happy because it is not a step filled with duty, it is a step moving into the unknown. The river is going towards the sea.

Things mean pretty much what we want them to mean.

Delay of pain: that was the meaning of life, wasn__ it?____e made some bad decisions,_ Caine said, not really meaning to say it out loud.

Not every illness can be overcome. But many people allow illness to disfigure their lives more than it should. They cave in needlessly. They ignore and weaken whatever powers they have for standing erect. There is always a margin within which life can be lived with meaning and even with a certain measure of joy, despite illness.

Often I return to the grave after leaving flowers _ tulips, lilies, carnations _ to find the heads eaten by deer. It__ just as good a use for the flowers as any, and one Paul would have liked. The earth is quickly turned over by worms, the processes of nature marching on, reminding me of what Paul saw and what I now carry deep in my bones, too: the inextricability of life and death, and the ability to cope, to find meaning despite this, because of this. What happened to Paul was tragic, but he was not a tragedy.

To say that life is meaningless is to express an attitude, not to state a fact

It is as if the Caru'ee were able to perceive an echo of the past, and unconsciously, as they built upon a palimpsest of books written long ago and long forgotten, chanced to stumble upon an essence of meaning that could not be lost, no matter how much time had passed.

Usually, meaning tends to find you, in the middle of the night, and when you least expect it.