What Is the Meaning of Life?
What is the meaning of life? It’s a question that can surface like a quiet echo in the middle of an ordinary day — or as a desperate cry when life shakes the very foundation we stand on. For many, this question rises during times of crisis, illness, burnout, or profound upheaval. For others, it appears right in the midst of comfort and success, when everything seems to be in place… yet something inside still feels empty.
In this article, we explore why we are truly here: the purpose of the soul, the mysteries of incarnation, and what creates genuine meaning. Drawing from my own life journey and more than 20 years of shamanic practice, I share insights on how we can return to our true essence — and begin living a life that feels real, vibrant, and deeply aligned with who we are.
I still remember the desperate months before and after my complete collapse in 2003 — burned out, broken, and in a life-threatening state.
On the outside, everything looked perfect.
I had everything I thought I wanted: success, career, recognition, fame, material comfort, and financial security. My life — at least on paper — was the picture of achievement.
But inside, something had shattered.
Despite all I had accomplished, a hollow ache kept growing. A quiet frustration that refused to fade. A deep, unsettling sense that I had lost my way.
My thoughts circled endlessly:
“Is this it? Is this really the meaning of my life? Is this why I’m here?”
When modern medicine failed to explain why my body had collapsed, I realized I had to search for the answers myself. That moment marked the beginning of a journey I could never have imagined—one that eventually led me into the profound and transformative world of shamanism.
More than 20 years later, this path remains the most meaningful and life-changing part of my return to health, wholeness, and inner fulfillment.
Through shamanism, I found the answers I had been searching for all my life:
– Why I am here
– Where I come from
– What gives my life meaning
– What mission my soul carries in this incarnation
These insights changed everything.
Today, as a Tradition Bearer and teacher at Yggdrasil Shamanic School, one of my most important roles is helping others discover their own answers—those inner truths that open the doorway to a life that not only “works,” but feels authentic, alive, and deeply meaningful.
The Great Misunderstanding
We live in a society that — at least from my perspective — is slowly losing its grip on what truly matters to us as human beings. The deeper existential questions, the ones that quietly shape the course of our lives, are often drowned out by noise, speed and expectation.
And it’s usually only when life shakes us a little — when crisis hits, when stability begins to crumble — that the truth we’ve ignored suddenly rises to the surface.
Have you ever stopped and asked yourself:
How does our economic system actually work?
What is it fundamentally dependent on?
Most people I meet have never reflected on this. Many are genuinely shocked when they discover just how fragile our economic structure really is.
Every time consumer spending drops by only a few percentage points, or when the GDP doesn’t rise quite as fast as the year before, the alarm bells begin to scream. Overnight we’re met with dramatic headlines like:
– “Crisis – The Economy in Free Fall!”
– “New Shocking Numbers Shake the Market!”
– “Dramatic Surge in Unemployment!”
– “The Nation Trembles!”
– “Everything Is Collapsing!”
Media fills with a kind of apocalyptic frenzy — even when what’s happening is simply a natural, temporary downturn.
But when we lift our perspective, when we look at this with clearer eyes, something becomes painfully obvious:
Our entire economic system rests on one fragile assumption:
That you and I will keep buying —
a lot,
often,
and preferably things we don’t actually need.
Whenever a crisis emerges, the instinctive, healthy response is to pause, take a breath, spend less, and focus on what truly matters.
And yet, this is exactly what “experts” fear the most.
Because both the national and global economy hinge on a level of consumption that is not natural for us, not healthy for us — and not aligned with our deeper human nature.
Consumer Frenzy
We live in a time where consumption has quietly become a lifestyle — almost a reflex.
Many people buy new clothes every month, even though their closets are already overflowing. We replace perfectly functional phones as if they were perishable goods. We buy robot lawnmowers and robot vacuums even when the old ones still work. We lease new cars, undergo cosmetic treatments, and fill our homes with more jewelry, shoes, watches, computers, and TVs than we could ever possibly use.
We’ve been conditioned to believe this is normal.
That this is what a “good life” is supposed to look like.
Every part of the system around us whispers the same message:
The more you have, the happier you will be.
That the things we buy — the endless stream of products and services we don’t actually need — will somehow fill the emptiness, give us meaning, bring us joy.
We’re also taught that the goal of life is a successful career, a nice car, a big house, a mountain cabin, and financial abundance.
And unfortunately, our society and economy rely heavily on us believing exactly that — on us constantly striving for more, better, bigger.
I believed it too.
I followed the formula perfectly.
But eventually, I discovered a hard, yet liberating truth:
This is one of the greatest misunderstandings a human being can live by.
Because the pursuit of “more” never nourishes the heart.
It doesn’t lead to real joy, inner peace, or a deeper understanding of why we’re truly here.
It simply traps us in an endless hamster wheel — spinning farther and farther away from ourselves, our soul, and the authentic path our life was meant to follow.
From Beginning to End
We enter this life naked — with no possessions, no titles, no achievements.
And one day, we will leave it in exactly the same way.
None of what we accumulate along the journey comes with us.
Not the house.
Not the car.
Not the watches, clothes, cabins, or status symbols.
So why are we humans so obsessed with filling our lives with things?
Why do we spend so much of our precious time, energy, and attention building our own little treasure caves of belongings that ultimately have no lasting significance?
The simplest answer is this:
We were taught to.
From a young age, we’re conditioned to believe that happiness is something you can buy, own, or perform your way into. Advertisements whisper to us that if we just get that body, that cabin, that car, that iPad, or drop those extra five kilos — then life will finally fall into place.
Then we’ll feel worthy.
Then we’ll feel whole.
But the truth is that this promise is almost always an illusion.
When we look at ancient indigenous cultures — like the Aboriginal peoples of Australia before Western influence — something extraordinary becomes clear:
Most of the values we in the Western world believe are essential for happiness were virtually nonexistent there. And at the same time, the illnesses that define modern life — depression, anxiety, cancer, cardiovascular disease, dementia, chronic fatigue and countless others — were almost unheard of.
How is that possible?
Because their focus was completely different.
They lived in deep, intimate connection with nature, with their community, with the timeless rhythms that sustain life itself.
They had no word for “economic success” — the concept simply didn’t make sense in their worldview. And yet they lived with a wholeness and balance that many modern people can barely imagine.
It’s a striking paradox:
We live in the wealthiest era in human history — and yet we have never been more stressed, more sick, more anxious, more exhausted, or more dependent on medication to sleep, cope, or simply get through the day.
Does this mean we should return to cave-life?
Of course not.
I appreciate modern comforts just as much as you do — the internet, mobile phones, and not having to sit on an outdoor toilet in minus ten degrees.
But we must understand one thing:
Everything we are taught to chase in the modern world — all the things we’re told will make us happy — has very little to do with the deeper meaning of life.
It has nothing to do with why we are here.
And the sooner we wake up to that truth, the closer we come to the freedom and inner fulfillment we’ve been searching for all along.
Time — The Silent Force That Makes Us Sick
Our natural rhythms are woven into the heartbeat of the earth itself — the rise and fall of day and night, the dance between light and darkness, the slow shifting of the seasons. For our ancestors, this was obvious. Life moved with nature, not against it. We went to bed when darkness fell, and we rose with the sun.
Spring and summer called us into movement, creation and activity.
Autumn signaled transition and grounding.
Winter opened the door to stillness, reflection, rest and renewal.
For thousands of years, nature was our compass.
(For more on this, see the article The Art of Living According to Nature’s Healthy Rhythms!)
But something changed when the mechanical clock was invented in the late 1200s. What had once been a natural rhythm became a measurement. And slowly, the clock turned into the judge of our existence — whispering constantly that we must hurry, that we’re behind, that we’re not enough.
Today, our modern relationship with time has become one of our greatest sources of illness.
Everything must go faster.
We must accomplish more.
We chase time as if it’s an enemy we must outrun.
We glance at the clock as if our worth depends on it.
This relentless race against time pushes our nervous system into chronic stress — a state it was never built to handle. The autonomic nervous system stays in alarm mode day after day, year after year, laying the foundation for:
• chronic illness
• burnout
• depression and anxiety
• cardiovascular disease
• fatigue, frustration and inner emptiness
(I explore this more in the article How to Measure Chronic Stress and Burnout in a Simple Way! (coming soon))
And as if that weren’t enough, our relationship with aging has also become distorted. Instead of seeing aging as a natural, beautiful part of life’s circle, we treat it as a threat — something to fight, hide or delay at any cost.
It’s no wonder our bodies break down.
Neither time nor money has anything to do with why we are here. They are human inventions — useful for organizing life, but utterly irrelevant when it comes to meaning, purpose, and the deeper journey of the soul.
When we let clocks, calendars and financial goals dictate our lives, we lose touch with what truly matters: the rhythms of nature, our own inner balance, and the quiet voice of the heart that always knows what we are really longing for.
What Is the Meaning of Life?
If we lift our gaze and look at life from the soul’s perspective, something becomes strikingly clear:
Our modern chase — for time, for success, for perfection — is profoundly meaningless.
We run after time as if we could ever catch it.
We pour our energy into building wealth, status, recognition, and the “perfect” body — even though none of these things follow us when we die and step into our next incarnation.
From the soul’s true nature — a realm without time, space, limits or form — this obsession makes no sense at all.
So we may ask:
Why would the soul willingly enter a kind of cosmic “straitjacket” — a life bound by time, a physical body, forgetfulness, and uncertainty about who it truly is?
The answer is simple:
The soul incarnates to learn. To experience. To grow in ways that are impossible in its unlimited state.
Because in its natural form, the soul cannot taste, touch, long, rejoice or ache.
It cannot smell the forest after rain.
It cannot love a child and feel a tiny heartbeat against its own.
It cannot sit on a mountaintop and watch the sun sink into the sea.
It cannot tremble in fear, burst into laughter, or melt into new love.
Only here — in the body, inside limitation — can the soul experience all of this.
That is why it chooses to return again and again.
Each incarnation cycle — often spanning dozens of lifetimes (if we view it linearly) — is dedicated to specific themes the soul wants to experience.
And these cycles themselves are part of even larger meta-cycles that can stretch across hundreds or even thousands of lives.
These themes may include things like:
- learning how to use power in a loving way
- understanding freedom through free will
- healing fear, darkness or depression
- discovering meaning and joy even under difficult circumstances
- opening the heart again after loss
- staying true to oneself in the face of resistance
- living with deeper wisdom, love and integrity
These are experiences the soul cannot have “at home.”
They are only possible in a life like ours — complex, beautiful, limited, full of contrasts and opportunities to grow.
This is why you are here.
And it is why your life — your challenges, your joys, your losses, your longing — is infinitely larger than time, money, achievement or external success.
It is about the soul’s journey.
Your journey.
If you want to explore this profound and fascinating walk through life, death and new incarnations, you’ll find a deeper explanation in the article “The Secrets Behind Death and Reincarnation – What Happens After Death?”
And in the podcast “The Journey to Self-Realization” (coming soon), where we explore these themes and many more:
- Episode 9 – What Your Soul Truly Wants, Why It Is Here, and How to Find Your Life Mission (coming soon)
- Episode 10 – Gaia: The Soul’s Elite University — A deep dive into life as the soul’s training ground (coming soon)
- Episode 11 – Soulmates, Soul Families, Karmic Relationships and the Great Twin Flame Misunderstanding (coming soon)
No Learning Without Karma and Dharma
Karma and dharma are not distant, mystical concepts from Eastern traditions.
They are the fundamental laws of cause and effect — the very framework that makes learning possible within the “straitjacket” of human existence. Every action, thought, and intention we carry creates a consequence that either expands us or limits us.
When our motivation and action springs from the ego’s shadow — fear, jealousy, control, insecurity, or anger — we create karma.
When our motivation and action comes from the heart — love, integrity, compassion, and respect for others’ free will — we create dharma.
Let’s take an example:
Imagine that the central theme of your incarnation cycle is “using power in a loving and constructive way.”
If you repeatedly misuse your power — manipulating, controlling, or pushing others against their free will — you create karma.
Like stones in a backpack, this karma grows heavier each time you act out of alignment with your soul’s intention. Eventually the weight becomes so great that you cannot move forward until you stop, turn inward, and begin to learn.
This is what karma is for.
Without consequences, we would never grow.
Without resistance, we would never evolve.
Without a link between intentions, actions, and outcomes, incarnation cycles would lose all meaning.
Imagine a life where nothing had consequences — where you could do anything, and nothing changed.
How would you ever find the motivation to work through a challenging incarnation theme over hundreds of lifetimes?
Karma is not punishment. Karma is the engine of learning.
Unfortunately, many people view karma as something negative.
I see it completely differently.
For me, karma is a gift —
a steady, unshakable guide that gently but firmly directs me back to what my soul came here to learn.
If you want to explore this more deeply, listen to the podcast The Journey to Self-Realization (coming soon):
- Episode 22 – Karma: The Choices That Shape Your Life (coming soon)
- Episode 23 – Karmic and Dharmic Synchronicity: The Invisible Laws Guiding Your Path (coming soon)
Karma and Dharma in Real Life
When I burned out in 2003, I had spent years driven by fear — fear of not being enough, not having enough, not being seen enough. My ego was running the show. I chased money, status, success, and recognition.
Looking back now, I see clearly how I built up an ever-increasing karmic pressure — until the backpack grew so heavy that my entire system collapsed.
But that collapse was not the end.
It was a restart — one of the soul’s most powerful ways of saying:
“Now you must listen. Now you must return to what you truly came here to do.”
That experience became the doorway to my deepest transformation.
It led me back to my soul’s intention for this incarnation and opened a life filled with meaning, joy, depth, and wholeness.
And one important clarification:
Not all illness or suffering is caused by karma.
Many life challenges have entirely different roots, and it is essential to approach every situation with nuance, compassion, and respect.
The Path to Discovering Why You Are Here
Why has your soul chosen this life — with this body, this family, these challenges, and these exact opportunities?
It is one of the most profound questions a human being can ask.
And yet, it is also one of the most intimate and personal ones. There is no universal answer.
Every soul has its own reasons, its own themes, its own unique trajectory through lifetimes.
For many years, when students asked me, “Why am I here?”, I used to give them the answer.
Through shamanic work — looking behind the veil, listening to their guides, and reading the Akashic Chronicle where the soul’s developmental history is recorded — it is not difficult to discover a person’s incarnation themes and how those themes have played out in previous lives.
But over time, I realized something essential:
It didn’t actually help them.
Even though the answers were often fascinating and filled with powerful “aha” moments, they rarely led to real change. Most students made no meaningful shifts in their lives. They became more informed — but not more transformed.
The same thing happens when a skilled astrologer offers someone profound insights into their birth chart and life path. It is inspiring to hear… but very few people change their lives because of it.
Eventually, I understood why:
My role as a shaman and spiritual guide is not to tell people who they are —
but to help them return to that truth within themselves.
The doorway to the soul’s purpose only opens when the inner obstacles begin to dissolve: old wounds, fear-based patterns, limiting beliefs, and the subconscious structures that keep us disconnected from our essence.
When these layers begin to heal, the answers don’t come from the outside.
They rise naturally from within — not as information, but as remembrance.
And this awakening cannot be achieved through books, articles, or YouTube videos alone.
Those can absolutely inspire.
They can open curiosity and plant seeds.
But true transformation requires walking an actual developmental path — over time, with proper guidance, consistent practice, and the support of a safe and committed community.
It is a journey that must be lived and experienced, not simply understood with the mind.
A glimpse of what such a journey looks like is something my student Amina and I share in the podcast The Journey to Self-Realization (coming soon).
There we explore how inner work, daily practice, and steady development gradually open the doors to the deeper answers we long for — including the greatest question of them all:
Who am I, and why am I here?
A Fascinating Journey Toward the Answers
I see the active spiritual development path — the journey of discovering who you truly are and what is real in this world — as one of the most fascinating and life-changing adventures a human being can embark on. It is deep, rich, challenging, and profoundly rewarding.
But it is also a journey that is extremely difficult to walk alone.
One of the main reasons is that we are inherently subjective to ourselves.
We don’t see our own blind spots.
We are guided — often unconsciously — by patterns, habits, and automatic reactions rooted in fear: fear of change, fear of losing control, fear of opening doors that feel unfamiliar or uncomfortable. These inner mechanisms pull us back toward what is known, even when the familiar no longer nourishes us.
To rediscover our essence — the deep wisdom and the divine spark that lives within all of us — we must transform exactly these parts of ourselves. We must heal what blocks us from hearing the voice of the soul and what prevents us from living in alignment with the truth we secretly already know.
Many great philosophers and spiritual teachers have said:
“All answers lie within you.”
“Enlightenment sits right under the tip of your nose.”
When I first heard this, it frustrated me.
I wanted the answers immediately.
I wanted to understand everything at once.
I longed for a clear formula, a simple explanation, a “here is the truth.”
But eventually, I discovered something essential:
The journey itself is the answer.
It is the walking that opens the doors.
It is the inner steps — one after another — that gradually prepare us to see what has been there all along.
And once we begin walking this path — supported by a skilled and grounded guide — the journey becomes not only transformative, but deeply exciting, energizing, and filled with both subtle and profound revelations.
Where You Can Begin
If you feel that this journey is calling you — but you’re not yet ready to seek out a spiritual teacher or step into the deeper transformation we talk about in the podcast “The Journey to Self-Realization”(coming soon) — that is completely okay.
Many people begin exactly here: alone, curious, open… carrying a quiet hope of coming closer to something real.
The most important thing is that you take the first step.
And to make the beginning both safe, meaningful, and inspiring, I recommend starting with these articles:
- The 9 Pillars for Finding THE PATH OF THE HEART – The Way to Happiness, Meaning, and Shamanic Magic
- This May Become Your Most Important Decision: Learn How to Live a Happy and Meaningful Life in Your Situation (coming soon)
- To Spark the Flame of Life, We Need Hope and a Positive Life Perspective (coming sson)
- Free Yourself Through Forgiveness! Learn the 7 Pillars of True Forgiveness
- Forest Bathing: Nature’s Powerful Medicine Against Stress, Anxiety, and Burnout
- The Intelligence of Trees – Our Natural Guides to a Fulfilled and Joyful Life
- The Art of Living According to Nature’s Healthy Rhythms!
These articles are gentle openings — doorways that help you reconnect with your inner landscape, your intuition, and the deeper wisdom that has always lived within you.
When you are ready, the journey will unfold step by step.
Find Your Right Spiritual Guide
Walking this path alone can be both challenging and lonely. Not because you lack willpower or talent – but because we all carry inner fears, old patterns, and a natural resistance to change. When we try to find all the answers by ourselves, the journey can easily become heavy, confusing, and at times deeply frustrating.
That’s why there is an easier – and far more nourishing – way to walk this path:
To find a spiritual guide who can walk beside you.
An experienced teacher can help you see what you cannot see on your own, support you when resistance arises, and show you the shortcuts back home to your inner light. You’ll find practical tips on how to choose a safe and competent guide in the article “ABC Guide to Finding Your Spiritual Teacher.”
I have walked a long and demanding path to find my own way back to the light within. My life today looks completely different from how it was when I collapsed from burnout in 2003.
Now I live in a 240-year-old rustic house of oak and clay in the countryside – surrounded by silence and the natural rhythms of the land. I don’t miss status, constant updates, or having a brand-new phone every year. I buy clothes only every three to five years – solid, organic garments that last. I don’t need fame or a polished career to feel whole.
What truly matters lives somewhere entirely different.
One of the most meaningful tasks I have today is to help people reconnect with their own light – with the divine spark that lives within them. Because in that spark lie all the answers:
Who you are.
Why you are here.
And what the deepest meaning of your life truly is.
For students who feel called to walk this extraordinarily exciting and life-changing path, I offer a profound Premordial Shamanic development process in the training programs at Yggdrasil Shamanic School.
There, I walk closely with each student – step by step, for as far and as long as they wish – all the way back to the core of who they really are.
