Jean Maalouf
What are you living for?OK! Youve got the house and the car of your dreams, youve got the latest electronic devices you were obsessed with, youve made all the trips of your reverie and imagination, and youve achieved what you always wanted to achieve. But somehow something was and still is missing. Where are the promises of the happy-ever-after relationships, the fun of the rich and famous, and the security of the good life these things were supposed to deliver? What is the meaning of it all? Now what?Sooner or later, we will come to the conclusion that these things, even if they are nice to have, are not what matter most in life, not by a long shot. Otherwise, why are we never satisfied and continue to want more? Why do we play the happy persons when we really are not? And after all our accumulated successes, how in the world are we still missing what matters mostour true-self realization and the fulfillment of our fundamental goal?In a unique styleboth profound and simplephilosopher Maalouf points to the very core of what matters most. His long years of studies (two doctorates) and writing experience (more than forty published books) led him to firmly suggest in this book that life is not only the total sum of the most comfortable income, possessions, position, prestige, and passion for every convenience. Life is essentially, and especially, a continuous search for a deeper meaning that can be found in that everlasting hunger of our restless minds and hearts and in our most fundamental purpose and particular life mission. We dont only exist; we live a full life that is lived in the spirit of Saint Irenaeuss famous line The glory of God is a human being who is fully alive. Otherwise, no true fulfillment is possible.Fully alive, explains Dr. Maalouf, requires us to live a meaningful life not by aggrandizing the ego but by emptying it. It takes what matters most to let go of the superficial mirages of the false self. It takes the awakening of the holy hunger and divine longing to decipher the meaning of life that constitutes the true self. In the end, what really counts is not to live according to the creatures distractions but according to the Creators statutes not to become what our culture prescribes but to incarnate what our fundamental purpose and mission inspire and not what makes a living but what makes a life. 3
