Secret to Life: part 2

In our second post on the secret to life, we are focusing on Iddo Landau, a philosopher at Haifa University in Israel, and author of Finding Meaning in an Imperfect World. Landau has a more simplistic view and says the secret to life is a “meaningful existence”, and it’s not that hard to achieve. Some people spend their entire lives feeling dissatisfied, feeling their lives are meaningless. Landau’s belief is that we focus more on what we believe is missing from our existence, rather than the failure to recognize what really does matter. The meaning of life is a sense of worth that we may all derive from differently, such as from relationships, vision, inspiration, accomplishments, generosity, etc.

Landau’s theory on resetting your mind to achieve a “meaningful existence” is to think of it as an equation. By doing this, you add or subtract value variables and secure more or less meaning. You can also increase or decrease the value of your lives through practice, effort, action, and thought. An example of this would be to upgrade, or downgrade, your health. With at least several more weeks of quarantine, it’s the perfect time to do this and enter back into society as a different person after social distancing. It will give you something to focus on, you will be making great accomplishments at the same time, and will feel good about yourself.

Even though we’re in spring, we are still having some chilly days, which makes me think of soup. I’ve always thought of soup as being comforting, even medicinal. So, today we’re focusing on a “Cozy Lentil Soup”, an adaptation from “The First Mess” cookbook (Wright, 2017). Lentils have a special meaning in the Jewish tradition. Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of lentil soup, although it wasn’t really about the soup, but the eternity of the soul, and the right and responsibility to perform the Divine service. For this reason, the round lentils symbolize eternity.