Everybody will face this life challenge. Some will step in. Some will stop for fear of the unknown
There comes a time in life – usually between 35 and 45 – when an entirely new question arises in the mind:
“What is life truly about?”
It’s a deeply uncomfortable and unsettling question. This question marks the end of the personal era defined by doing/action. And it marks the beginning of a new era – the era of…
- Self-reflection
- Cutting ties with dogma, indoctrination, unexamined societal values, beliefs, etc.
- Deciding who one truly is
- Beginning to accept the big paradoxes of life
- Cultivating inner peace
- Rapid growth of personal wisdom (lived experiential knowledge devoid of emotion)
The problem…
We have a manual for the first part of life – the building, achievement, and proving ourselves phase. But there’s no manual for this second phase.
Why?
Because it’s deeply personal, entirely defined by:
- facing the big questions of life
- and one’s inner experience in contemplating these questions
And nobody can give you the experience. Experience is unique, private, and non-reproducible.
That’s why the best elders, mystics, and guides can do is guide. But they can’t give you the experience.
In the words of one of these mystics, “Each one of us has to go there naked.”
This is the challenge in transformational coaching, too: Clients want tangible results, but nobody can promise such results. Because nobody else can “have the experience” of contemplating the big questions for them.
In this sense, a transformational coach is an elder, a guide. And that’s the most they can be.
I guess what I’m saying is… Each one of us will have to find our own answers about Life and Existence. And the only help we can get from others is.. pointers.
But no answers.
Each one of us must find the answers ourselves.
Depressing? Only for those still in the achievement phase.
Past that, it’s just
Life