The Meaning of Life

22-10-2025

Many people search for the meaning of their lives. I'm also a theosophist - I've read forty books by Rudolf Steiner, supplemented with some Wicca and other trivia. No, I don't practice anything; I was just curious.

When I was eighteen, a teacher wrote that I would work in art and literature.

My mother committed suicide on my fifteenth birthday. I was literally living in nowhere at the time - a village somewhere in Soviet Ukraine.

The first studies I took were here in the Netherlands and related to economics. It wasn't until I was forty-eight that I completed a degree at Leiden University: art history and intercultural management.

This year I published two books, which I wrote very quickly - within a few months. Now I'm working on my third book: a novel.

I can paint, I pick it up immediately, and I'd make a good artist. But oil paint gives me eczema. I'm a contrarian...

I wanted to be a ballet dancer, but we lived in a village.

I could dance very well, but I developed a herniated disc with sciatica in my left foot – the fifth disc.

In my country, I could write beautifully. After I turned twenty, I moved and discovered that the Dutch language doesn't have that sensitivity. That slows me down.

I started trading in gold jewelry with diamonds. I love gold jewelry, but a white gold necklace gave me severe eczema. I'm allergic to jewelry.

What's the meaning of life if all your talents are being thwarted?

But ultimately, it's your choice. You decide. Not the eczema. Only ballet won't work out. You can do the rest. Like? Painting with gloves on. And also: writing... reading, writing, reading. Training yourself.

Focus - you choose, and then action follows.

Professions like cosmonaut or ballerina? Leave those aside if you're over fifty, have a herniated disc, are claustrophobic, and have a fear of heights. What is the purpose of life?

The purpose is: to be human. People are connected - even when they don't want to be.

And you choose: whether you sink into your traumas and rot, or whether you move on. And help so many others.

What you can do depends on your will. How strong is that will? No, it's not because of some bogeyman out there.

When you have the will, energy moves. Energy spins around you - not the other way around.

Before you make wishes you have to make a choice: "I'm allowed to be here because I have myself."

Your eternally living self, which now resides within your self. At that moment when your body is in charge of your mind (your little self controls your big self) you are weak. But your big self must take care of your little self. (Your mental state is closely connected to your body.)

If you ignore your vehicle (your body), you will mentally collapse. Everything is interconnected.

You must use a holistic approach to activate the energy machine.