Despondent View of Life

Question:nnI have a lot of trouble with living in this time. I don't think this is how life was meant to be. I am nearly finished an engineering degree, and soon I'll be working at redesigning some gadget that nobody really needed in the first place, making money to buy things I don't want but require to fit into society, and there's no way to opt out of all this. I am 21 and I already feel like I am just running out the clock.nnI have studied many different religions and philosophies, and have come across so many inspiring ideas, but I am always brought back to the feeling that this world is dying, the experience of being human, a live animal, is disappearing into a culture of narcissism and entitlement. In my lifetime, it is only going to get worse. I can meditate all I want but every time I open my eyes I'll still be watching the world die.nnIs there really any way to come to terms with all this? I feel better about things when doing hard manual labour, but only so long as I can forget that the rest of the world exists. That, at least, feels right. Otherwise I just feel out of place, and sometimes angry that this life is all I get and that I have to spend it now while everything is turning to garbage.n nAnswer:n nYour true status in this universe is not as an impotent, passive victim of circumstances. You have the potential to awaken yourself to your essential nature and transform the world around you into something that reflects the beauty and goodness within you.n nIf you see the world as dark, hopeless and dying, it is because the darkness of your own awareness has tinted your vision to see it that way. You look out and see the world turning to garbage and dying; another person sees the same scene and notices a child’s smile or a new sprig of green growth coming through the concrete and feels inspired and hopeful.n nIf you meditate, you clean the windows of perception, so that the next time you open your eyes you don’t have to see the world die, you can become a co-creator in making the kind of world we all want to live in.n nLove,nDeepakn nImage by NMCIL ortiz domney via Flickr