The Meaning of Life and Other Vegetables

Hello.

Lately, I have been conversing online with many young adults who feel lost and confused about their life path. I’m not a psychologist, a career counsel or a guru. Certainly not. But I enjoy hearing about people’s life stories and situations, thinking about them deeply, and maybe trying to impart some (second-hand) wisdom. I hope that on average I do more good than damage, but I guess I’ll never know.

One of the common questions that comes up is:
“What do you like doing?”
or
“What do you love doing?”
(Which is not exactly the same)

I feel that these are poor questions, simply because “like” and “love” are poorly defined; and whilst we each feel quite strongly about each of these terms internally, they can mean very different things to the other person.

Other words that come to mind in the context of finding a path:
Passion
Desire
Drive
Pleasure
Satisfaction
Fulfilment

Each of which with its own set of issues and difficulties…

Lately I started using Enjoyment. “What do you enjoy?”

Today I read something interesting, and related, in the Vigyan Bhairava Tantra. Verse 15 of the ancient text states: “One may experience the joy of God within oneself…” To that, Ranjit Chaudhri (the translator / commentator) adds: “God’s nature is joy.” (he further explains and elaborates on that, but for today’s post it’s not critical to go there).

That got me thinking – “enjoy” is actually en-joy. So I went on a quick search to better understand the “en-” prefix.

It turns out that that suffix apparently originates in Proto-Indo-European language, with the meaning “in, into”. From there it morphed into the Latin prefix “in-“, and from there to the French “en-“. English borrowed “en-” from French, and today the meaning is either “in, into” or “to put in” / “to cause to be in”. It takes a base word (noun or adjective) and turns it into a verb that describes going into said state.

Enlist – put into (add to) a list
Enroll – put into (add to) a roll (of names)
Enmesh – put into a meshed state
Enslave – turn into a slave
Enclose – put in a “closed state”
Enshrine – make holy, as if put in a shrine
Enrich – turn into rich
Encircle – put inside a circle
Enable – turn into able
Enforce – put into (under the effect of) force
Engrave – put in a grave?… Haha
Entail – grow a tail (not really)
Enter – ?
Entice – ?

Even words like empower (put in power) derive from the same root – the “n” had shifted to an “m” in this (and similar) case(s).

Long story short – to enjoy is to put into joy. If the essence of God is joy, then to enjoy is to connect with God. If God is in each of us (as the Vigyan Bhairava also tells us), or we are each in God / the One (as Spinoza tells us), and it resides in our Soul (as Dr. Hollis tells us – I am yet to write about it here), then to enjoy means to connect with one’s Soul.

So, without realizing it, when I was talking with those young adults about enjoyment I was actually talking with them about reconnecting with their Soul; or, as Hollis sometimes says, “the mystery”; or, as Hoffman called it recently, “the transcendent”.

Enjoyment. How to find joy, how to find our Soul, how to find “God” – that is the question.

Peace to all.