“As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere being.”
— Carl Jung
There are moments when life feels strangely hollow. You wake up, go through the motions, handle responsibilities, absorb news, tend to relationships, react to stress—and yet somewhere inside, a quiet emptiness hums beneath the noise. People describe this feeling in different ways: burnout, confusion, numbness, existential fatigue. But Carl Jung had another name for it: the darkness of mere being.
To Jung, life without meaning is just survival—functional but spiritually starved. And the deeper truth is that meaning isn’t something you accidentally stumble upon. It is something you must kindle, nurture, and return to again and again. A candle lit not once, but constantly relit whenever the winds of life blow it out.
Today, in a world overflowing with information, distraction, pressure, and comparison, learning how to kindle that inner light is more important than ever.
This is a guide to finding it again.
1. The Human Search for Meaning: Why Modern Life Feels So Overwhelming
The brain wasn’t designed for the world we live in. We scroll through tragedies we can’t fix, compare our lives to curated perfection, and juggle expectations that don’t belong to us. It’s easy to look around and think:
Is this all there is?
People often mistake this feeling for a personal failure, when in truth, it’s a natural response to a society that prioritizes productivity over purpose. Jung observed this decades ago: when the outer world overwhelms us, the inner world begins to dim.
But here’s the secret:
Meaning isn’t found outside of you. It’s created within you.
2. The Inner Light: What Jung Really Meant
Jung believed every human carries a spark—an instinctive pull toward authenticity, creativity, and self-discovery. He called this process individuation, the journey of becoming who you truly are beneath the masks you wear.
This “inner light” isn’t dramatic or mystical. It can be as simple as:
- The feeling you get when you’re doing something that aligns with your soul
- The quiet voice inside that knows when something isn’t right for you
- The natural pull toward certain ideas, art, people, or places
- The unique emotional patterns that make you you
The challenge?
The world teaches us to silence that voice—to be efficient, compliant, busy, and numb.
Jung believed meaning comes back the moment we stop ignoring ourselves.
3. Building Meaning in Daily Life: Small Rituals That Change Everything
People often imagine purpose as a grand calling or profound awakening. But meaning is usually built quietly, in moments that look small from the outside but feel huge on the inside.
You build meaning when you create connection instead of isolation.
You build meaning when you express instead of suppress.
You build meaning when you choose authenticity instead of performance.
Here are practices that consistently help people feel alive again:
1. Rituals that ground you
- Morning journaling
- A daily walk without your phone
- Lighting a candle and sitting in silence
Small rituals anchor you in yourself rather than the chaos around you.
2. Creative expression
Not art for perfection—art for aliveness. Sketching. Writing. Music. Movement. Photography. Poetry. Creativity is how the soul speaks when words fail.
3. Community & connection
Humans weren’t designed to live as islands. Meaning flourishes through belonging—having people who see you as you are, not as you pretend to be.
4. Doing what aligns with your inner compass
Even one action a day that feels authentic can shift your entire emotional landscape.
Meaning isn’t the goal.
Meaning is the practice.
4. Confronting the Darkness: The Purpose of Shadow Work
Here’s the part many people avoid:
You cannot build meaning without facing the parts of yourself that live in the dark.
Jung called this the Shadow—the suppressed, rejected, or painful aspects of yourself. Things like:
- Old wounds you never processed
- Habits that sabotage you
- Fear of failure, rejection, or vulnerability
- Pride, resentment, or guilt
- Emotional patterns learned in childhood
Ignoring your shadow doesn’t make it disappear.
It makes it louder, controlling you from behind the scenes.
Shadow work isn’t about judgment. It’s about compassionately asking:
What part of me is hurting?
What part of me needs attention, not denial?
When you illuminate the shadows within, your inner light becomes brighter, steadier, and more genuine. Meaning becomes something that grows from acceptance, not avoidance.
5. Meaning Is a Daily Choice, Not a Destination
Some people wait for meaning like it’s a sign from the sky or a cosmic message. But Jung believed meaning is something we create, moment by moment, through our choices:
- Choosing honesty over avoidance
- Choosing creativity over numbness
- Choosing compassion over cynicism
- Choosing presence over distraction
- Choosing to listen to your inner voice
- Choosing to be fully alive
The world will always have noise. It will always have darkness. But meaning is your way of choosing how to navigate it.
Your light doesn’t have to be bright.
It just has to be yours.
And when you kindle it—day after day—the darkness of “mere being” becomes something else entirely.
It becomes a landscape you can walk through with purpose, clarity, and soul.
TheSpiritualExplorer 