Meaning in life and death
Beyond achievements, grounded in kinship, find resilience in presence
Que sont mes amis devenus,
Que j’avais de si près tenus
Et tant aimés?"
("Where have my friends gone,
those I held so close
and loved so dearly?")—Rutebeuf’s poem La Complainte Rutebeuf
One may truly say, that the fortunes of this world are not stable. It was fortunate for him to save his life; and this miraculous escape ought to be to him a remembrance his whole lifetime.
—Thomas Johnes, Sir John Froissart’s Chronicles of England, France, and Spain
It fascinates me the epiphany’s of my mind, working to grow, grapple, and search for meaning through the noise of this world.
For years, I saw my strengths as isolated islands, disconnected from the broader landscape of my life.
But as I explored deeper virtues—wisdom, humanity, courage, justice, temperance, and transcendence—I realized they were not abstract ideals; they were pillars guiding me through life’s uncertainties.
This insight didn’t arrive with fanfare but through mindfulness, seeping in quietly, one breath at a time.
Gnothi Seauton
Looking back, I remember the joy of childhood as an insatiable curiosity—a glimpse into the deeper core of who I was becoming.
I would lose myself in books, each page fueling a love for knowledge that, at the time, felt like pure play.
Yet, in hindsight, that joy wasn’t merely play; it was the first spark of wisdom, an early sign of the virtues I would later lean on.
In science, this stage is like the rapid growth of neural pathways in a child’s brain—a process of boundless exploration and learning.
Neuroscience shows that early curiosity strengthens critical thinking skills, laying a foundation for lifelong learning1.
As we move into adolescence, however, the brain begins a process known as synaptic pruning, where it eliminates connections that are rarely used and strengthens those that are essential2.
This parallels the challenges of growing up: we confront insecurities, fears, and struggles, finding strength in what endures.
Just as the brain refines its pathways, we discover courage and resilience through repeated acts of facing uncertainty, a quiet strength beautifully embodied in Michelangelo’s David.
Carved from a single block of marble, reflecting both curiosity and readiness in the face of what lies ahead, embodies resilience in its calm yet resolute expression; the young figure’s gaze captures a moment of introspection, standing as a testament to the quiet courage we often overlook within ourselves.
Each of us has our own version of this journey: building resilience in silence, gathering quiet courage through countless small battles.
Like neural connections strengthened over time or marble shaped into a masterpiece, our own stories of perseverance form the foundation of who we are, subtly shaping us as we confront life’s challenges.
Humanity’s connecting strength
As adulthood dawned, I recognized the strength of humanity within me, in the simple actions connecting me to the greater moments fulfilled in actively listening.
Humanity became my cornerstone, not in seeking approval, but in valuing the beauty in mentored understanding, mentioned across various cultures as the same emergent principle:
Japan’s Sampo Yoshi teaches that success lies in mutual benefit for all parties involved
Albania’s Besa emphasizes trust and loyalty extended beyond family
Ánattá in Buddhism encourages connecting beyond the self
Yoruba’s Omoluabi values integrity rooted in communal respect
Taoism’s Zěng Wén Xiàn promotes quiet humility over self-assertion
Haere Mai of the Māori welcomes all with inclusivity and mutual support
Bartan in Punjabi culture reflects trust without scorekeeping
Hygge from the Greenlandic Inuit’s forms communal warmth in harsh conditions
Jam Board of the Sami strengthens collective decision-making through inclusivity
The mind, like the earth, is shaped by forces both tender and untamed—each crucible and glimmer of courage mutely imposed alongside us, molding the forged strength through unsung forbearance.
We find, over time, that tenacity dawns not from momentous ascendancies, but from subtler triumphs, recurring in readiness to confront ambiguity to venture mysterious trails (or trials).
In the jungle, survival is not merely the domain of the lone hunter, but of the community bound together, each creature thriving within an interwoven system: the strength of one is the strength of all, for nature’s creatures move not in isolation but in unison, with each life protected, each space respected.
Here, every step taken is measured, every path walked upon woven bonds concealed by fortified kinship.
In the end, the primogenital rites of the untamed murmur the purest bedrock, not wrought in solitude but in camaraderie to fealty, veneration, and self-abnegation; the sheering shepherd steers the steps, securing our spirits to the sprawling spawn span to the ages (or sages).
Within lies the soft-spoken vigor of solidarity, safeguarding the lives beside us, drifting with tender intent that we find our being grounded to; the abiding alliance, communal to grit and grindstone, enriches stabilities that course underfoot.
The Laws of the Jungle
In Kipling’s antediluvian law, as sonorous as the stars pinned to the night, unfolds a tempestuous, primordial accord.
The wolves, bound to an eternal covenant, fathom that “the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack,” a line drawn as much in blood as in the wild grasses.
Here, in the charnels of nature’s creed, hearken resounding’s of Goethe’s own words on the twin forces of unity and solitude, for it is the wolf’s loyalty to the pack that ennobles him, just as his solitude whets his spirit3.
William James too speaks to this delicate duality, remarking, “I can’t act as appeaser till I know s’thing of the quarrel.4”
He calls for cognizance and will preceding intercession, akin to the Head Wolf, who venerates the sanctuary of each den, that most sacrosanct soil where even he dares not trespass.
Kipling’s jungle is not merely terrain; it dwells as a domain, ordained by forbearance, a fane wherein each being’s gait is fettered by a sacred duty, not vanity.
“Kill not for pleasure of killing,” the law decrees, a token of the soil’s substance in preservation, not desecration5.
It’s a muted point troth upon marrows interlaced union to primeval stone and root, tempting a portent repose of tempering steps, the earthbound gait of tranquility beneath the earth’s breath.
It’s an ardor within the clay, a covenant tacit yet ardent, with reverence that borders the binds upon flesh and spirit, to grasp temperance in the face of raw hunger.
It’s the serene might of the psyche, fastened to the pulse of the land; vehement yet concordant, the breath offered to mystery past the mortal shell—a psalm of grace carried across eons—entwining flesh to spirit, spirit to soil, in the perennial revel of what is wild and what is whole.
This is no mere obedience; it’s ensnared, quintessentially, to the vibrational forms beckoned at the bosom of our eldest groves, firmly set to creedal thrums within the bones of beasts and men alike.
Strength here is not the shout of conquest but the whisper of belonging, marking a path not by dominance but by reverence, the tempered might held steady as stars in their watchful course.
The twin shadows dance
Life and Death, the eldritch twins entwined in an endless revel, beckoning us to join their cadence of fervor and stillness, vigor and surrender.
Like Orpheus’ descent and Persephone’s return, we hover between life’s ravenous clasp, to the velvet hush, lured by fate’s circlet6.
Sōphrosynē, Temperantia’s twin, is the delicate poise between ambition’s fire and rest’s balm, moored to ethos’ more bounteous that scant appellations or ephemeral acclaim, stirring a quest for foundations outside corporeal measures7.
Bound by life’s brevity society summons our outer laurels, often dimmed and subdued by inner thirst for wholeness, casting us into an “existential chasm” of hollow pursuits: the endless little succor of this fevered chase risks the self, fading upon the “hedonic wheel,” as fleeting as smokes satisfaction.
The shadowed waltz of life and death beckons the bounds, binding us to life with a purpose in charnels moored to intimations perpetuity, a vitality as primordial and immutable above our own being; it’s where yearning and relinquishment entwine on a pilgrimage through forbearing passages, each bards weigh worlds in fire, as fleeting as dusk.
In moments of stillness, I unraveled my own drives, steeped in the world’s gaze, probing the question, “What is life but borrowed breath from the depths?”
Does the shadowed hand of death beckon me home?
Transzendenz: Jenseits des Selbst
The German intellectual tradition has long pursued Transzendenz—the search for realms Jenseits des Selbst (beyond the self)—exploring a journey that spans from philosophical ideals to existential insight.
In the 18th century, Immanuel Kant laid the foundation for this exploration by distinguishing between the perceivable phenomenal world and the unknowable noumenal realm, setting a boundary on human understanding while simultaneously awakening a longing for the infinite8.
Johann Gottlieb Fichte, in Grundlage der gesamten Wissenschaftslehre, expanded on this by examining the inner struggles of the self.
He proposed that the concept of Nicht-Ich (not-I) fosters transcendence through moral action, as the individual aspires toward unity with the universal.
This quest for unity continues in the works of Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, both of whom suggest that nature itself embodies a transcendental spirit, bridging the self and the cosmos9.
It’s a suggestion that nature itself is infused with the transcendental spirit envisioned in a cosmic plurality between the self and all creation, where singular boundaries through nature point towards a spiritual absolute.
In the 19th century, Friedrich Nietzsche redefined transcendence as an inward transformation through his concept of the Übermensch (Overman) focused on self-overcoming, while Martin Heidegger framed it within Dasein (Being-there), proposing that by confronting mortality (Sein-zum-Tode, or being-toward-death), one transcends superficial existence to embrace authenticity.
Moments where individuals confront life’s boundaries—suffering, guilt, death—to reach beyond themselves, opens Grenzsituationen (limit situations), where encounters with life’s ultimate limits provides a quest for pathways, evolving through centuries of thought.
Through these evolving perspectives, German thinkers have expanded the meaning of Transzendenz, navigating the edges of selfhood to reveal paths toward universal truth and understanding.
This sojourn intellectualizes an existence envisioned in the transcendental self, blossoming an eternal plume towards the everlasting, universal verities—a ceaseless significance aspired above the interwoven identities clung upon the ego—through which human thought and stillness reverberate our inner inquires.
État de Présence (State of Presence)
As we move from moments of childhood curiosity to mature reflections, we carry with us the sapience of cultural legacies that esteem loyalty, humility, and collective spirit, ushering us unto a life with a raison d'être, surpassing mere titles and accolades.
Like the laws of the jungle, where each creature moves in unity rather than isolation, our lives garner stamina by way of mutual devotion to affinity and deference, fashioning firm underpinnings that sustain us amidst the seasons of existence and the mysteries further than.
Life is not merely about doing but about being.
Our drive for self-betterment often blinds us to the value of presence and self-acceptance.
Yet, when we stop to reflect, we find that true resilience lies not in control but in surrender, in allowing ourselves to be shaped by life’s uncertainties.
I invite you to pause:
Take a breath
Step out of autopilot
Reconnect with what truly matters
Each breath, each connection, each moment of stillness is a reminder that we are already part of something enduring in the beauty of presence.
If life is but a borrowed breath, as fleeting as dusk, how might you honor both the vigor of existence and the quiet call of eternity?
How do you navigate your own being, between the boundary of striving and surrender, ambition and acceptance, in pursuit of a purpose beyond your mortal self?
Notably, Matthias Gruber and colleagues at the University of California, Davis, demonstrated in a 2014 study published in Neuron that curiosity activates both the hippocampus, involved in memory formation, and dopamine pathways.
Curiosity-driven exploration engages the dopaminergic system—associated with reward, motivation, and enhanced memory retention—thereby fostering critical thinking and forming neural pathways that support sustained learning over time.
Recent MRI studies support the concept of synaptic pruning, revealing decreases in gray matter—signifying synapse elimination—alongside strengthened white matter connections, particularly within the prefrontal cortex, a region crucial for cognitive control and decision-making, as the adolescent brain refines its neural circuits by removing rarely used connections and reinforcing essential ones for optimized function and efficiency.
[For more information, see Sakai, J (2020)."Core Concept: How synaptic pruning shapes neural wiring during development and, possibly, in disease."]
Goethe’s metaphor of the foundation stone, from Elective Affinities, emblazons the natural and necessary union of individual strength with collective structure.
He writes, “This foundation-stone, which with its angles typifies the just angles of the building… it would rest in its place with its own weight. But even here there shall not fail of lime and means to bind it. For as human beings, who may be well inclined to each other by nature, yet hold more firmly together when the law cements them: so are stones also… united far better by these binding forces.” (210-11)
This passage strikes a chord with Kipling’s law of the jungle, as Goethe’s foundation stone gains purpose and stability when cemented within a larger structure, just as the wolf’s individuality finds fullest expression and timbre through its allegiance to the pack.
In both, an espy of melodic friction amidst unity and solitude casts back the poise, where distinct aptitude bestows and tempers the collective’s stature.
On page 136 of James’ Selected Unpublished Correspondence, 1885-1920.
The principle of restraint and reverence for life is central across diverse religious, cultural, and legal traditions.
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam emphasize kindness and stewardship, as seen in Genesis 2:15 and Leviticus 19:18, which call for respect toward all beings, and Isaiah 11:9 envisions a peaceful future without harm; Qur’an 5:32 highlights the gravity of taking life and permits it only for necessity
Hinduism and Buddhism uphold Ahimsa, non-violence toward all life, with the Bhagavad Gita asserting the soul’s sanctity (2:19-20) and the First Precept of Buddhism forbidding harm to any living being, while Sikhism upholds compassion (daya) and service (seva) in Rehat Maryada.
Taoism promotes Wu Wei (non-action) and respect for nature, and Laozi’s Dao De Jing advocates love, humility, and restraint.
Each of these traditions corresponds with Kipling’s law: “Kill not for pleasure of killing,” affirming that life, in all its forms, warrants preservation and respect.
The references to Orpheus’ descent and Persephone’s return are drawn from Greek mythology, where each figure’s journey symbolizes the interplay between life and death, presence and absence.
Orpheus, a legendary musician, descends into the Underworld to retrieve his lost love, Eurydice, facing the boundary between the living and the dead, exploring themes of loss, longing, and the perilous edge between worlds (Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Book 10).
Persephone, the daughter of Demeter, returns from the Underworld each spring after spending part of each year with Hades, symbolizing the cycle of death and rebirth in nature.
Her story is detailed in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, which reflects seasonal change and the human experience of renewal amidst darkness.
Sōphrosynē, a Greek ideal of self-control and balance, parallels the Roman Temperantia in embodying moderation between ambition and repose.
From Kritik der reinen Vernunft (1781), where Kant discerns the phenomenal world is accessible through our senses, while the noumenal—or the "Ding an sich"—remains beyond direct comprehension, thus establishing a limit on human knowledge, which simultaneously inspires a longing for the infinite and the unknowable.
In his Philosophy of Nature (Naturphilosophie) and System of Transcendental Idealism, Schelling proposes that nature is not merely passive but actively embodies a divine, transcendental force, as each part of nature reflects the Absolute, pointing to an underlying spiritual essence.
Hegel, in Phenomenology of Spirit (Phänomenologie des Geistes), interprets this unity dialectically, with his concept of Geist (Spirit); this unfolds through nature and history as a self-realizing process, with each singular boundary contributing to an Absolute unity of Spirit.
Both thinkers suggest that nature and the self are interwoven with a transcendental essence, where individual existence and cosmic unity converge in a greater spiritual Absolute.