Existential Nihilism to Buddhism!

Usually, I do not talk in terms of abstract concepts or any -isms. However, when there are pertinent terms describing what we have in mind, it may be a good idea to at least mention them as a homage to the great thinkers who thought similar thoughts. 

Last evening, while discussing the meaning of life, something became quite apparent to me. The question of "what is the meaning of life" has been bothering me for a while. It bothers one more when one is about to make some decisions (be it a simple one like whether to go for a movie or to the museum or a seemingly more complicated one like which career to choose). 

The search for the meaning of one's life is closely tied to the fundamental search of the "why" ("he who has a why to live for can bear almost any how"...Nietzsche).
The more we search for a meaning in life and the creation, the more we see the lack of one. What if life has no meaning? What if life has no purpose? What if there is no bigger divine plan?  The meaningless of life followed by personal definition of meaning is something that the great thinkers of existential nihilism (like Nietzsche, Sartre and Camus) tried to muse upon. 

Let us take the thought process one more step forward. What happens when we realise that everything is meaningless; every action is meaningless; every event is meaningless? Then in such an understanding where everything is meaningless, nothing is more or less meaningful. The very word "meaningless" implies that there are things which are meaningful. Without the existence of things which are (relatively) meaningful, the word "meaningless" will have no existence! Saving a dying person becomes as meaningful or meaningless as boiling your soup. Every action gets the potential of making us equally happy. 

Let us take one more step. The word meaningful or meaningless also has a strong sense of time embedded in it. I want to focus on meaningful things, things with a "lasting" impact. Meaning of an action or event is always measured by what impact it will create in the future. When everything and every event become of similar importance (or the lack thereof) then "time" won't bother us much. Anything we are doing at present is as meaningful (or meaningless) as anything that may come in the future. So we focus on the present engulfed by what we might be doing. When everything is the same (like every part of a fractal) what is the need of thinking of different parts? Rather, we can just give our undivided focus to the current.  That is one of the major philosophical teachings of oriental thoughts (be it Buddhism or Zen or Taoism or Vedantism).

However, it is one thing to follow a logical flow of thoughts and another to live it. It is one thing to understand it and another to "feel" it.