Do we find meaning or make meaning? Let’s start with one of my favourite quotes.

“The meaning of life is to see.” ~ Hui Neng

This is the quote that guides my life and photography. But, what does it mean? Don’t we all see? How can seeing be the meaning of life? What is the meaning of life, anyways?

This question is one asked by human beings everywhere. Especially at times of terror and horror, we wonder – what are we here for? Yet, the meaning of life is not something elusive, something we have to search for, something hidden somewhere else that we have to find. It’s not a puzzle to solve.

I believe that meaning is something we create. 

The book, Die Wise: A Manifesto for Sanity and Soul by Stephen Jenkinson, is one that transformed me at a cellular level. He describes meaning in a way that might help.

Imagine that meaning is decided by how you live and die, while you live and die. Imagine that the meaning of things is itself a made thing and imagine that you can make meaning every day. The crucible for meaning in your life is how you wrestle with the way things are. ~ Stephen Jenkinson, Die Wise

This is contemplation – “how you wrestle with the way things are.” Seeing is paying attention to the way things are. Jenkinson uses the world wrestle in terms of its original meaning, as a sort of choreographed dance. We bring ourselves to what’s happening in the moment and sometimes we struggle with it. We take a closer look, try to understand how it came to be, look at it from many angles and decide how to respond, rather than react.

It’s dancing with life.

This is where meaning is made – in the struggle. We don’t turn away. We may grieve if it’s something difficult but we don’t deny that it’s happening. We’re right in there, dancing.

• We make meaning when we let go of things that come to a natural end.
• We make meaning when we realize that our words and actions have an impact and then go about helping to shape the kind of world we want to live in.
• We make meaning when we tap into the wonder that’s always available to us.
• We make meaning by noticing our judgments and limited perspectives and begin to listen.
• We make meaning by celebrating the life that we have.

Dorothea Lange said that “the camera is an instrument that teaches us to see without a camera.” I’ve found this to be true. Photography can be a tool for helping us to see what’s happening in the moment and seeing from many different perspectives. Our world needs this kind of seeing – a contemplative way of seeing – where we don’t turn away, but see what’s right in front of us. It needs people who pause before reacting, who focus on the truth, see possibilities, and act from a deeper, wiser place.

To see is our true nature. To see is not to grasp a thing, a being, but to be grasped by it. To see is that specifically human capacity that opens one up to empathy, to compassion with all that lives and dies. ~ Frederick Franck, The Zen of Seeing

The meaning of life is to see and make meaning in the moment. 

** Books mentioned have Amazon affiliate links, meaning I make a few cents if you purchase through my link. I only recommend books that I’ve read.

Watch: This short video with Stephen Jenkinson