“As one grows to understand life less and less, one learns to live it more and more.” This quotation was in a fortune cookie that came with my meal at a restaurant. The quotation resonated with me immediately. I am in my 60s so I’ve been on this earth quite a while. And although I have learned a great deal over the years and understand many things, there are certainly things I don’t understand and some that I never will. I have needed to learn to live with mystery.
I find it hard to understand cruelty. There are psychological theories about why people commit cruel acts, but I still find it hard to understand. I also don’t understand why some children are born with disabilities or become seriously ill and die, that they and the people who love them have to suffer in this way. There are many occurrences such as these that I don’t understand. There are also beautiful aspects of life I don’t understand, such as the presence of faith. But I’m thankful I have the gift of faith that helps me in many ways, including helping me to better accept mystery.
Because the quotation in the fortune cookie didn’t include an author’s name, I did an internet search because I wanted to acknowledge who the author is if I was able to find that out. My search didn’t lead me to the exact quotation; instead it led to a very similar one. Jules Renard, a French author and dramatist who lived from 1864 to 1910, said this: “As I grow to understand life less and less, I grow to love it more and more.”
This is also a meaningful quotation. But to me the difference between “living life” and “loving life” is significant. Because I believe the Creator created each of us as unique individuals with a plan for how we should live our lives, I believe I must try to follow the Creator’s direction for me whether I love life or not. I love certain aspects of life very much and I’m thankful for my many blessings, including being thankful for the people I love and who love me. But there are parts of life I do not love, such as those I mentioned above. I’ve found that trying to do what seems right for me makes living meaningful–trying to follow my path and doing the actions that involves. And through those endeavors, I do live life more and more.