The Implications of our Lives
As we go through significant events of life, experienced both consciously and unconsciously, they are incorporated into all previous such experiences. Over time, they form a complex and personal story. Within this story, we find a recurring theme where, in particular moments, we are immediately brought back to one of those significant events, and strong feelings arise. This theme contains the implications of our lives. This is the place from which we can live out a purposeful life. The implications of our lives may be best understood as the emotional and psychological impact perpetually bestowed upon us by those significant events. In other words, those experiences that always seem to reveal their depth and complexity to us as we age.
It could be said that the impact of those events is either joyous or painful. There are those fond memories of having fun, bonding with loved ones, and achieving a challenging goal. Then there are those memories of things we regret, heartbreaking loss, and great disappointment. But this dichotomy of either joy or pain would make the impact of each significant event incomplete. Even the joyful moments will become painful as we reflect upon the losses of loved ones and our earlier identities. Conversely, the painful events can later shed light on what once only seemed tragic, revealing meaningful insights that were merely hidden from us until we were ready. Therefore, the implications of our lives begin as undifferentiated events; their impact on us is initially experienced as either good or bad. But as we continue forward, we see their paradoxical significance as painful events become meaningful while joyful events later bring heartbreak.
The implications of our lives are further denoted by the cyclical nature of the impact of those events, oscillating from joy to pain and from pain to joy. This oscillation is experienced as recurring emotional reflections that swell up from below as our present experiences remind us of those events. Sometimes the same memory of an event that gives rise to joy will at other times give rise to pain. The oscillation eventually merges both pain and joy into a source of suffering, to which we must give meaning. While we can give meaning to any experience, what serves as a way to live out a life of purpose is the endeavor to give meaning to the suffering rooted in those significant events. We cannot escape the implications of our lives. Attempting to do so will only delay and amplify the suffering, likely causing more pain than necessary.
To give meaning to the suffering caused by those joyful and painful events, we must strive endlessly to manifest something from our pain that benefits the world. This is carried out in our attempts to make people better through our interactions with them and in our conscious efforts to create a legacy that leaves the world better than when we came into it. And that is unspeakably difficult, for we must admit into our lives the suffering inflicted upon us by those significant events. Without them, we have no chance to live a life of completeness. To better illustrate this universal human condition, let us turn to the story of Christ and one of its many inspirations—the imitation of Christ. Jung believed that the imitation of Christ in the Christian tradition is not to be taken as “copying his life” but instead living our lives as truly as Christ lived his, in all its implications. In Matthew 16:24, Jesus instructed us to take up our cross and follow him. He did not say, “take up my cross and follow me.” To take up our cross is to live our lives wholly and completely based on the implications of our lives. Therefore, we must go in search of those implications, which means exploring the heavy thoughts and feelings of whose existence we are often in denial.
Have your knowledge of the world and your preferences on how best to navigate it. Stand up for what you believe in. Practice your morals and virtues. But if you are to live with purpose, you must live your life as fully as possible in all its implications. Therefore, know what painful and joyful events persist in their impact on you, see how this ultimately brings suffering, and strive to give it meaning in all your affairs.
