The Art of Living a Meaningless Existence: Ideas from Philosophy That Change the Way You Think

by Robert Pantano

a self-referential thinking that denies its ability to be a single, concrete, and universal thought that answers or understands what might exist beyond itself. Zen and the lesson of the kōans suggest that we should flow with life, ask questions, contemplate them, but not become tricked by any singular idea or answer that might tempt us into a final resolution. This is, of course, extremely difficult, especially since we tend to extract our identities out of our beliefs and ideas, and thus, our minds work very hard to hold onto them. Arguably, it is unlikely that we will ever be able to fully avoid being tricked by this function of the mind and ego. Even holding onto the idea of not holding onto any ideas is in fact holding onto an idea. However, perhaps by considering the lesson of the kōans, the more practical point is to help remind us of the playfulness of most things, see through the contrived, take ourselves a little less seriously, and open ourselves up to the likely paradox of all the ideas, experiences, and people we encounter. Just like how the center of a tornado is calm with little to no motion, despite it being surrounded by a coil of rapid, violent wind, we can live in the center of the tornado of knowing and unknowing and still remain calm and at ease.