by Peter Löcke //
What is the meaning of life? Why am I on earth at all?
A column seems unsuitable for dealing with existential questions. Philosophical questions of existence seem too big, perhaps even too melancholy, to be dealt with in a short text. Moreover, the answers to questions about the meaning of life are highly individual.
Nevertheless, I ask the question of meaning, because despite all the differences in the answers, there is a human commonality. Regardless of whether and what someone believes in, there is a basic need that drives almost everyone in their actions. This is the human longing for life to have something that goes beyond our own lives. People want to leave a mark deep inside themselves.
He wants to leave footprints that are still recognizable when he himself no longer walks the earth. These can be physical traces. This desire is reflected in an old saying. You can probably already guess which one I mean.
Building a house, fathering a child and planting a tree.
This motto of life has been valid for thousands of years. Depending on the source, Luther, the Talmud or writings from ancient Persia already said it. There is something comforting and meaningful about creating and leaving something lasting that outlasts one's own existence. The physical shell may be buried, burnt or in another place, but not the footprints that this shell called man has left behind. The traces live on. And this is not limited to tangible things such as the house, child and tree.
The most beautiful thing a person can leave behind is a smile on the face of those who think of them.
Yes, these verses come from an ancient poetry album and may sound cheesy. And yet they are true. Do you know these moments at family celebrations or at the bar during spontaneous small talk? Suddenly you remember two deceased friends with a smile. You remember Jutta fondly because she always made the whole party laugh. You remember Georg because he had the talent to repair anything and always did this for friends without ever asking for money. The two of them may be dead, but they live on. They live on because they left a deep impression, a footprint in people's hearts. In turn, you have the hope that something similar will happen to you. At the risk of being really cheesy, I'll make it concrete.
In particularly dark corona hours, I was comforted by one thought. At some point, my descendants will ask me at the bakery what I was doing back then, when the marginalization and propaganda was at its peak. And the elderly woman selling bread rolls will say the following.
Not participating. He didn't take part.
I, like probably most readers, have left this historical footprint and it will outlive me. The feeling of knowing that is extremely satisfying. It's important to leave footprints in the real world as well as in the minds and hearts of the people you care about.
At least that was the case for thousands of years. This has changed a little in the last twenty years and has in part been reversed. Today, every footprint is a sin. Don't build a house or have a child, because both are climate killers. Planting a tree is still okay, but a small wind turbine would be better. The question is academic anyway, because you would have to own a plot of land for that and that is boomer thinking. Avoid or cover your tracks! Cover your tracks on earth like a burglar covers his tracks to avoid being caught. Your ecological footprint, your CO2-footprint is definitely too big. No matter how sustainably you indulge in sustainability and live ascetically - every breath you take and every step you take is a climate sin. You should be ashamed of your ecological square pegs and give absolution in the form of taxes!
I, at least, should be ashamed of myself, because I took the climate test [1]. Only 7.86 tons of CO2! According to the WWF, my personal footprint is below average for a German. So I live on a comparatively small footprint. And yet. If everyone lived like me, we would need 1.89 planets. That has to improve. I simply move around too much and use the wrong means of transportation, I consume too much, I eat the wrong food, I live the wrong way. In a nutshell? I leave too many footprints. An exemplary life would consist of 7.86 tons less carbon dioxide consumption. An exemplary life consists of not having one.
Not with me! Because there is another footprint. The footprint I would like to leave on many a politician's backside with the introduction of climate taxes such as the water tax. I almost forgot. The term "water footprint", which was introduced a few years ago, can increasingly be read in popular climate gazettes. What exactly is it supposed to be? As far as I know, only one person could walk on water and he left footprints in the form of a world religion. But who knows? Perhaps the water tax will soon be called the Jesus tax.
Please ignore my borderline humor. Don't make the mistake of covering your tracks. Leave traces in your life. At best, these are traces that bring a smile to other people's faces. This is exactly what gives life meaning. What's more. It is sustainable.
Articles identified by name do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the publisher.
Source
[1] https://www.wwf.de/themen-projekte/klimaschutz/wwf-klimarechner
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12 Responses
I have a thought about the "social year" for us boomers! I volunteer to stand behind Pinocchio M. with a laurel wreath and say to him every hour: memento mori in vanitas
Allow me to respond to the two columns by Mr. Langemann and Mr. Löcke. I would like to add another perspective to their thoughts on humility and footprints.
About humility, footprints and the dream of the circle
from Zeitgedanken (Roberto Haslinger)
Mr. Langemann has brought out the humility, Mr. Löcke the footprints. Two terms that are deeply rooted in our culture and give the impression of providing stability. And yet both terms carry a heaviness that binds us more than liberates us today.
Humility - it sounds like a virtue. In truth, it is a child of the logic of power. It has worked for centuries, not for people, but for the systems that used it to ensure obedience. Those who were humble bowed - to God, to rulers, to institutions. For the individual, humility often remained self-denial; for the powerful, it was a useful tool.
Footprint - it sounds like a trace, a memory. It used to mean what remains of people: a laugh, a gesture, a memory that lives on. Today, however, it has slipped into the discourse of guilt: carbon footprint, water footprint, climate sin. The footprint is no longer a consolation, but an accusation. Here too: a term that diminishes.
Both images stem from a circular logic: they close, they contain, they repeat. The circle is the symbol of completion, but also of captivity. Nature, however, knows no circles. No star, no river, no life runs in a circle. What we see everywhere are spirals: galaxies, DNA, vortices, blood streams, hair whirls. The spiral is the actual image of becoming - open, dynamic, renewing.
Perhaps that is why we should let go of old circular concepts. Not humility, but respect - respect as a self-imposed limit that respects the other without submitting. Not footprint, but resonance - traces that resonate in others, without a measure of guilt. Not equality that levels out differences, but equivalence that recognizes differences.
Man is not an accomplished person in a circle, but a wanderer in a spiral. And therein lies his dignity: not in subordination, not in guilt, but in open becoming, which is never complete.
This commentary is also nothing more than an attempt to create a resonance. Not a footprint that leaves a lasting impression, but a thought that perhaps continues to turn inside some readers - like a spiral that does not end, but continues.
In respectful recognition
Your thoughts on time
Great comment, I think, thank you very much. Just like the whole site here...
Why can't I find you on the Internet, Mr. Haslinger - neither under Zeitgedanken nor anywhere else. Are there any more of you?
Best regards
My experience of humility also includes respect, but not only. I really like this idea of respect, because some of the people I told about my humility were also very bothered by this concept.
This was preceded by a threatening illness, which ended well after all. After that, the world was a different place for me. From then on, I noticed everything around me much more intensely or for the first time: The blue sky, the first green in spring, the chirping birds. I was able to experience all of this.
During this time, I saw in my mind's eye: a woman bending over her newborn child.
What did that mean for me as a childless person?
For me, this woman symbolized humility as she bent over the incipient life, protecting it, giving it warmth and security. The woman bent down and respected the precious child on her knees; she was completely there for the child.
There was a magnificent nature that intervened in all areas of life in a spiral (I really like this idea) and I as a human being was allowed to marvel at this and yet was also a part of it; small and important at the same time.
Humility before a great whole.
Humility in relation to the limits of scientific knowledge.
Humility before nature.
In my example of "woman protecting child", I realize today, and in the meantime also more maturely, that the roles of "woman" and "child" can also be swapped at any time. (At first the child was "nature" in my case, but then it changed to the woman.) This eliminates the bland aftertaste when "humility" is mentioned.
Good day Mr. Löcke, wonderfully written, I have a story that comes to my mind, there was a couple who came late to the wedding celebration of a relative, had just missed the church wedding and went to the restaurant where the celebration was to take place. When they entered they heard a lot of fun and laughter coming from the big room on the right, there was also a party in the left room, but they were told at the reception that there were 2 parties going on today. They went into the room on the right.
Here but there were no known relatives present and you asked if you were here wrong? No came the answer,the wedding is in the room opposite,here is a funeral service.... there too everyone had told stories about the deceased.I like to put a smile on people's sometimes overly serious faces,that's when I'm happiest.
As always, great clear words thanks for that unfortunately no humility but remut .... That gets lost in this system you are already educated like this as a child
The motto in early childhood is to adapt and only open your mouth wide at the dentist ♂️weiter so
Making the traces left behind visible.
In a mourning process, I had learned how to visualize the traces of the deceased.
I painted a heart mandala in the most beautiful colors of our shared love and hung the picture up. Whenever I walked past it, the picture radiated this great, all-encompassing love towards me and filled me with it. There was so much overflowing love that I really wanted to give it away. Feet came to mind... What good could I do with people's feet?
I was able to wash and massage the feet of elderly people who were no longer able to walk well. They were then able to walk better again, move and spread their toes better and even walk longer distances again. That was another feeling of happiness for me, to have made someone's difficult life a little easier before they died.
Peter Löcke! You are my very own private magician! Egel, how late it is... I still have to read your column! Today is no exception. I actually wanted to lie in bed asleep, and now this column, which not only put a smile on my face, but also made me laugh out loud from the bottom of my heart.
But now to the topic.
As an individual psychology consultant, I have studied the findings of the psychologist Alfred Adler intensively. Among other things, he wrote an entire book entitled "The Meaning of Life" and one entitled "Why Do We Live?".
Now I would love to give a complete lecture on Alfred Adler! Perhaps on another occasion...
But back to the topic!
Adler's summary of the meaning of life is: "The meaning of life ... is ... to use all the powers we possess for the welfare of mankind!"
The purposeful question "What for?" (Why is a person doing what they are doing? What goal do they want to achieve with it?) saved me from the corona madness. A "why?" wouldn't have done it.
Heinke Reuter from Berlin wishes you a smiling good night
And thank you again and again for your well-placed, accurate, subtly humorous, clever words.
May I add the meaning of life? Everyone should be aware of this expression: "The meaning of life is not money and goods, but love and wisdom!"
How would the world change if everyone had this awareness?
A professor I know from Austria went into a bakery during the Corona period when the bakery saleswoman guiltily pulled her mask over her face as the customer entered. He calmed her down with the words: 'Take the mask off, I believe in God and not in Corona...'
I'm sure the sales clerk's smile will be lasting when she thinks of the professor.
Thank you for this nice anecdote! I wouldn't be surprised if I (and not just me!!) were also familiar with this professor, as he, a practicing psychiatrist, regularly expresses himself publicly, intelligently and competently, on the relevant topics and problems of our time with his podcast.
Musicians... 😉